Papa’s House

We were lucky enough to meet someone very special in Traverse City, Michigan.  We previously mentioned that our friend was gracious enough to arrange for us stay at his grandfather’s house while we were there.  If the calendar on the wall is any indication, then Papa died in May of 2011.  But his presence, his spirit is alive and well in his home.  It seems as if he’s just around the corner visiting the fire station and will be back any minute.  And by looking around at all the love in that house, you wish he was.  More than that, the home feels familiar.  It’s of an age and décor that both David and I remember from our own childhood visits to our grandparents’ homes. It even smells (in a good way) like being at our grandparents’ houses.

It didn’t necessarily feel like this at the time, but we’ve since talked about how it was something like a museum. We’ve been through other museums (most recently the Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis) that capture a moment in time, and preserve history in some way.  This was an entirely more personal history, but we felt its impact just the same.

We never met Papa, but here is what we know about him, after having spent some time in his home, abiding with his memory.





He was a fireman. More than that, he was the Fire Chief. At one point he was a sheriff’s deputy, and was involved with the police department as well.  The man literally wore many hats.

















He liked to golf.  There were lots of golf mugs, and golf humor on the walls.  He collected antique fire truck toys.   And we think he played the vibraphone (there were a set of them in the basement).  He struck us as a man who was full of jokes, laughter, and love.



He loved his kids, his grandkids, and his great-grandchildren.  There were pictures of them everywhere, in every room. The photos were in places you would always see them, like above the sink in the kitchen, on the fridge, on his desk, next to his favorite recliner in the living room. 



Everywhere we found little notes of love that had been given to him by people—we assume family but they’re not signed.  Little slips of paper or post-it notes that said “Love you Papa!” and “Sending smiles your way!”









Thank you Papa, for letting us stay.  And thank you, Brian, for introducing us to Papa.

Michigan in photos

You know that feeling you had when you were in school, where you had so much to do that getting started seems insurmountable? Yeah, I’m having that feeling about blogging our adventures of the last couple of weeks.  We left off in Michigan, and since we’re currently in New Jersey, I’m behind to the tune of 9 or so posts.  So some of these I might speed through a bit, and cheat by giving you more photos and less words, since those are already done. 

All told we spent five nights in Michigan, but the first was just a night in Escanaba on our way to the Mitten.  After that, we spent three nights in Traverse City, Michigan, at the home of the late grandfather of a good friend.  Our friend also gave us some great tips on things to do and see which were wonderful.  We took a day trip up to Mackinac Island, and spent some time driving around the shoreline of Lake Michigan, hiking up some of the large sand dunes in Sleeping Bear.  First and foremost, though, we ate our way through Michigan.  There was pie in Traverse City, fudge and afternoon tea on Mackinac Island, chicken dinners in Frankenmuth, more pie in Traverse City as well as apple fritters and pumpkin donuts.  We were able to cook quite a few meals for ourselves, but I was still reaching for the maalox more than once.  We did manage to run while we were in Traverse City, along the TART trail, which goes both along the lake and a creek that runs through town. It’s a beautiful place to run, walk, or ride your bike.

We hiked the dunes at Sleeping Bear Dunes, drove down to Leland through Leelanau County, and went to The Music House, a just outside of Traverse City.  They have a large collection of player pianos and dance hall organs (and even a player violin) which were entertaining to learn about and listen to.  One of the jewels of their collection is a player piano that George Gershwin recorded “Rhapsody in Blue” on. So when you hear it playing, it’s actually Gershwin’s inflections and personality that you hear in the song. Pretty cool. If you ever decide to go, allow yourself a couple of hours—the tour takes at least an hour and a half, and then there are some self-guided portions as well. We didn’t realize how long it would take, and ended up not getting to lunch until 3pm or so because of that. Although, as we have said, we ate too much while we were there anyway.

		Michigan VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Five days in Michigan seems like a lot, given our current schedule, but we had so many good suggestions from friends (and were lucky enough to have free accommodations) that we feel like we barely scratched the surface.  We would still like to go back and see Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Detroit. Thanks Michigan for a great time—we’ll be back.

P.S. This is a longish video I took of the Gershwin player piano: