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Just in from the Great Lakes

Posted June 12th, 2009 by Jen in family life

I so wish I could sit down and write all the wonderful details of my trip to Port Huron, Michigan, but I have too many pressing duties at the moment. But, so I don’t forget, I’m making myself a short list of a few of the highlights.

1. Continental Airlines still serves meals.
2. I saw my great-great grandpa’s wood carvings of all the presidents (through Hoover) and they belong in a museum.
3. The St. Clair River is still brilliant blue.
4. I collected seashells and rocks along Lake Huron.
6. I remembered why I love the Great Lakes–just a feeling I get at the shore.
5. Six of us cousins stayed up talking ’til 3 a.m. one night. Who knew they were all terrified of my mom’s painting of a ragdoll, so much so that one cousin once slept in the bathtub at Grandma’s to avoid walking back up the stairs and passing the horrid thing.
7. Listening to my cousins speak at my Aunt Beth’s memorial was incredible.
8. My cousin Amy playing the bagpipes at the memorial was a tender moment.
9. My Uncle Marshall’s ham radio–an 83 year old trying to call Australia, but unable to remember how to make the connection; it was a mixture of hilarity and sadness.
10. Meeting the captain/builder of the Earth Voyager, the fastest sailboat on the Great Lakes, was a spontaneous moment. He’s getting the rig ready for the Port Huron to Mackinaw Island sailboat race.
11. I felt instantly at home when I was driving down I-94 out of Detroit and saw the giant tire.
12. I slept in a room full of ten thousand books–all murder mysteries. How I slept so soundly is the mystery. My Aunt Pat is a collector. She wants to add another room on their house just for her books.
13. Lunch at the River Crab in St. Clair was a treat, eating Atlantic Salmon while watching the freighters and sailboats pass by our window.
14. I wished a hundred times that my kids were with me so they could have met all their cousins.

That’s all I have time for–blessings on your weekend!

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7 Responses

  1. Heather June 12th, 2009 at 9:28 am

    That is awesome! And now I want a room for my giant book collection (though I keep lending mine out and never getting them back so my collection dwindles.)

  2. Jen June 12th, 2009 at 6:19 pm

    Heather, you should have a “check out” system for your books. Speaking of which, I just remembered I owe someone a book!

    My favorite little bookshop in town just closed its doors. It was a sad moment for me, like a friend moved away.

  3. Fencepost June 13th, 2009 at 3:29 am

    Interesting post of your visit.
    I hope there is more to come!

  4. tipper June 13th, 2009 at 4:47 pm

    Jennifer-so glad your trip went well!

  5. Jen June 14th, 2009 at 7:45 pm

    Fencepost and Tipper, thanks for stopping by.

    I remembered one more special thing about my trip–a great story my cousin told about my Aunt Beth: colors for her were never red, white, and blue. They were scarlet, ivory, verdant, burnt sienna… She would drive the kids crazy with her descriptions of color, and send the kids to the dictionary many times to find out what she meant. But this is how she saw the world–in many shades and nuances and layers of beauty.

  6. e-Mom June 19th, 2009 at 9:27 pm

    Nice thoughts! I was born in Quebec, and many of my relatives lived in Ontario. I have similar memories of the area, but from north of the border.

    My grandparents lived in Windsor, so we crossed the river (by tunnel) to visit Detroit on a few occasions. (Does anyone still live there? I hear whole blocks of houses are empty.)

    Wonderful memories.:~D

  7. Jen June 21st, 2009 at 12:27 pm

    e-Mom, hi there!! Hope you had a great break! Yeah, Detroit is not doing too well. Both my brothers-in-law work (make that past tense) for the auto industry in Detroit and actually both my sisters work(ed) for suppliers of Chrysler and GM…needless to say, both bros are now without jobs, and one of my sisters had to take a job in Ohio and move her family there. It’s desperate, scary times over there.

    The tunnel still operates as far as I know.

    Did you ever see Shakespeare plays in Stratford, Ontario? My aunt used to take me there, it’s the cutest little town.

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