The Michigan Vacation

I’ve been home for a few days now, but this vacation of seven whole days away with Mr. Pete and some of our kids was really a special time for me.  Seven days is a lot for us.  We only get to go away once a year and in the past we’ve only done three or four days – one year we didn’t get to go away at all!  So to string seven together was special in and of itself.

We started our trip to our old home town of Flint Michigan and had dinner with some old friends of ours.  It has been years since we have had a chance to reconnect just couple to couple, so it was really great to visit with them.  The next day we introduced our children to some of the sights we remembered from our childhood in Flint.

Since nothing opens in the Flint Cultural Center until noon, we decided to eat our lunch first at the downtown Halo Burger.  Halo Burger is very special to Flint and  I haven’t found that particular burger taste anywhere else.

Almost as famous as Halo Burger is the Vernor’s mural right next to it!  That has been there since I was little too and has been touched up a few times since! Interestingly the building with the mural used to be the Peerless Mattress Store, where Mr. Pete and I bought our first mattress as a married couple and slept on it for almost 17 years before we got the NEW mattress – which come to think of it, was 17 years ago!

After lunch, we visited the Flint Institute of Art and saw their resident collection.  For a small town, Flint has some awesome pieces!

Of course the one that always struck me with awe and wonder as a little girl was the Bray Renaissance gallery – which looks much the same as I remembered it when I visited with Mama and my sister, probably back in the 70s!

Then it was on to the space show at the Longway Planetarium entitled, Off the Beaten Path.  I have very strong memories of visiting the planetarium as a child and watching the shows on the stars and the planets. I remember sitting in the round and watching the sky move and feeling as if I was moving too.  This particular show was about the many moons, asteroids and comets in our solar system, so it was a little beyond just the usual presentations about the planets.  We all enjoyed it very much.

This is how I will always remember the Planetarium  but alas the reflecting pool is no more.

We spent three of our six nights in motels.  The Red Roof Inn in Flint had us coming and going and it was reasonably priced, roomy and clean.

We also camped for three nights at the Betsie River Campsite. Mr. Pete and I had been there ten years ago or so and remembered that it was a very charming and quiet place to camp.  It is still very clean and quiet, but last week end every single site was occupied! Still it met our needs very well, especially the clean bathrooms and showers. My only complaint was that they advertised wi fi availability and since I’m still trying to wrap up a sale on some of my property, it was disappointing not to be able to get online to check my e-mail.  We found out if we parked by the town library we could pick up their signal

There were two highlights of the trip for me.  The first was reconnecting with extended family at our 65th annual family reunion.

and making memories with my children…

Then on the way back home, we ran into an old friend unexpectedly at the local Bob Evans!  He treated us to breakfast and to his fine company.  It was great to catch up on everything in our lives.

Then we got to stop at the cemetery and remember my grandparents and my uncle – the folks I grew up with in my unusual childhood home. In a unique way it felt as if I had closed a circle to bring my children there to share stories and pray as well.

All in all, a fulfilling and fun-filled vacation.