a day in Tawas

Saturday of Labor Day Weekend the travel group hit the back roads for a trip to Tawas , Michigan. Traveling north on MI 23 , enjoying the sights of small towns , we eye lots of garage and yard sales but do not stop. Just through the town of Omar we stop at Treasures Forever , an Amish furniture and craft shop. Last week Mary and her sister Carol were here so Carol could order a dinning table. Mary wants to shows Bob , Tom and Jean the handcrafted furniture and crafts available. Everything was pricey so we just look ..

Next stop was the cottage of Bob and Lynn Ransom. It is on Lake Huron and a very warm and cozy place to get away from the busy city. The view is fantastic and the sounds of the waves rolling on the beach are so relaxing. It is a great thing that this cottage has been in the Ransom family for many years and generations of family get to share it.
Now it is into the Town of Tawas for the street festival with all the tents on the street and many crafts for sale. The first stop is Norman's, a store famous for lots of stuff and cheap prices. Mostly hunting and camping items.
There are Red Wing shoes, Dickies hats, and Carhart coats. What does not say made in China says made in Mexico. We wonder at this.

Bob and Jean go through the store checking all the labels..


Bob found this enormous pair of boots that were as long as his arm..
Three blocks of the street are blocked to traffic and so off we wander looking at interesting things. There must of been a pet parade earlier because we see lots of dogs all dressed up.
We spy this cutie very relaxed with his hat on. Later we see him in sleeping in his stroller. Some dogs know how to live the good life.
We pause at Barnacle Bills for a beer and then wait for a table at G's for supper..The food was good so the wait was worth it.
An Ice Cream cone next door is a fine finish to our meal.

Back home with more stories and pictures to share.

Trees, trees, and more trees..

These are some pictures of the storm damage in Fenton. The house showing the back yard belongs to Brett and Val. Their deck survived but the surface was cleaned off. The furniture and toys in the yard are the aftermath.. The car hauler on its side is in front of their house.

The tree in Patton's yard next door came down and landed partly in our yard. It made a loud ripping sound.

While Tracy was home on leave we spend hours playing on the lake. Tracy went wakeboarding , waterskiing , swimming and tubing with her cousins. The days were unusually hot and sunny , very much like Yuma, AZ. It was fun keeping cool.

The younger ones look up to Tra and decided to try what every Tracy was doing. Alex [9] and Tracy wakeboarded double and did a great job together. Kristi [6] tried and did not give up until she had the wakeboard master also.

Lots of gas was burned the last 10 days. Thank you Lisa and the famous Momba Boat..

Carson, frogs, and the swamp

Carson Smith , 3 1/2 was frog hunting with cousin Kristi when he fell off the dock into what we call the "muck hole". He came up hollering loudly. Mom Amy and Grandma Denise ran to the rescue but thanks to fast thinking Grandma who turned around to get a camera we have this picture.

Carson learned the hazards of frog hunting.
We could almost hear the frogs laughing.

Coming and Going

People flying in and flying out..August 9, 2007

It seems this is the weekend that everyone is coming home for a visit or flying away for a visit,,,,,everyone except Bob and Mary,.we are providing the "limo" service.

On Thursday ,Tom and Jean and luggage climbed into our car and we headed for Detroit Metro Airport.. Tom and Jean are flying to Fort Worth , Texas to spend time with Barb and Larry and daughter Megan.. They are friends of ours for over 30 years. Barb and Larry have three sons and one daughter. Also 8 [I think] Grandchildren , most of whom live in the Fort Worth area.

Barb and Larry have a very pretty home in the hills south of Fort Worth. It is very bright and colorful. Barbara has a real touch with colors and decorating. Bob and Mary stopped to visit with them on the way to Texas last fall and spent time catching up with each others lives.

After dropping Tom and Jean off on the curb at the Northwest terminal , Mary and Bob did a tour of the IKEA store in Canton. Mary wanted to show Bob the room displays and how you could live in 297 square feet according to the store decorators.. Bob said that was fine but there was NO STUFF [personal possisions] in the 297 foot area. Hummm, he was right..Only the necessary items. It was an interesting idea anyway ,, gives you an idea how people in Europe move into a "box" and own everything including the cupboards and closets. When they move , Everything goes with them and the "box " once again is empty.

Bob and Mary go down Ford Road to meet Richard at a very nice resturant called Dario's. It was build and is owned by Richard's sister and brother-in-law Mary and Dave. All the food there is homemade and nothing is bought frozen , always fresh and it shows. Yummy lunch.

Next, Bob and Mary are going back to the Airport to pick up Granddaughter Tracy from her Marine base in Yuma. All of the family is looking forward to the next 2 weeks and Tracy's hectic visit. We will get to learn all about her life in the Marines. She is now Corporal Hauk and we are all so very proud of her.

With over 2 hours to wait Bob and Mary discover that the powers that be at airport finally got smart and opened "cell phone parking lanes" just outside the busy area where you pick up arrivals. This is very much like the "limo" waiting area which is on the left side of the same road. You get to sit in these lanes and wait for your arrival to call you to say I have landed and I am picking up luggage or I am heading out the door by such and such sign. Then you drive up to door and load luggage and jump in and off you go. You can tell these are very popular and well used. We get our call from Tracy and there she is standing off the curb looking into oncoming traffic for us. Bob jumps out and gets the first hug!! We load up and are off in a minute. We talk of her new and different life now and she says it is a strange feeling to be back "home" where she grew up. Trees and green grass are a new sight to her. She tries to remember a real tree in Arziona. Tracy said it it good to be back but does not quite feel like Home anymore. She is growing up and away ..

We ask her lots of questions about military life and she tells us stories and entertains all the way home. It is good to get this one on one time with our granddaughter before family , friends and Tiki Bob's take over.

Pulling into the rest area for a pit stop we see two semi trucks parked with long stainless steels blades on them .. They are very large and Mary knows what they are because she has seen them at the shipping docks in Duluth. These are the blades for the big wind turbines first seen in California. Tracy did not believe this at first. She had seen them in the distant in the hills on the way from Yuma to San Diego. Tracy said "no way, how do you turn the corner"? We walk over to take a picture and a man in the truck says "hey, pictures are 5 dollars". We laugh and start talking and learn these blades are 132 feet long and weigh 7 ton. He says the structure costs 2.6 million US.. Mary said dollars?? He justs keeps saying US,,,,

Tracy asks how do you turn , the man says by remote control. Mary says you lie,,He shows us how he follows in a pickup truck and when the semi driver radios him to turn he uses a very simple video game like devise with four buttons to turn the back wheels of the trailer to the right or left. The drivers and their load are waiting until after the 6 o"clock curfew to get back on the road. The third blade is hour and half behind somewhere in Ohio. This wind turbine is going to Canada from Grand Forks S.D.