Sunday, August 2, 2009

Michigan - Torch Lake, July 29 - 30






Bryn: Wednesday, July 29 – we drove from Cleveland through Michigan. We had a lunch stop in Ann Arbor. Randy found a great little used bookstore in this college town, and we all came away with some more books. We ate lunch at a tiny little soup and hot dog stand, carrying our food to a little corner park called Liberty Plaza. We arrived in Torch Lake after dinner, and received a warm welcome from Martie and Pat, her mother, at Pat's cottage. Martie is a California girl now, but she and her siblings flock back to Torch Lake every summer.

Thursday, July 30 – We're staying at Martie's brother's house while he's away running the YMCA camp. What a pleasure to have comfortable bedrooms again and available laundry facilities! In fact, thanks to others who also lent their washing machines to us so far - Catherine, Lynn, Cathy - you made our lives much easier!

We headed over to Pat's house in the late morning, and the boys were immediately in the water – swimming, squirt guns, and paddling. Unfortunately, it's been a cool summer and it was cloudy and only about 65 degrees! The water is incredibly clear, and it is shallow for quite aways out before it drops to 300' deep. We found a Petrovsky stone, fossilized coral which the area is known for. In the afternoon, Martie rallied the troops – Pat, brother Dave, and sister Nan all met at the boathouse and hauled the sailboat up to the put-in. Raising the mast was a group effort. Martie was at the tiller and Randy was on the keel paddling the boat back to their dock. Later, Martie got the boys involved with swabbing the deck and preparing the sails - knot tying practice! In the evening, Martie stole the boys and took them to the Family Night Potluck at the Torch Lake Yacht and Country Club. Randy and I were able to sneak away and have a lovely dinner at the Blue Pelican, so we decided this was our anniversary date.


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