Wow! I’m excited. Just bought the new Bob Seger CD ‘Face the Promise’. If you’re a Seger fan, it won’t disappoint. It’s classic Seger, beautiful new music, and a great bonus DVD. This is the guy who performed my absolutely favorite rock tune of all time….’Old Time Rock and Roll’.

I’m behind the 8 ball here with my blog. So, we’ll start this back a few days:

September 9, 2006
I spent my entire day in the kitchen to produce 38 pints of salsa. I am down to my last 2 pints of last year’s vintage and I have 2 brothers chompin at the bit for more. So…all the ingredients are in season, thus, it had to get done.

September 15, 2006

Ed has been at Crystal Mountain since Tuesday at a building code conference. Sound exciting? Our plan was that I head up early Friday morning so we could spend a couple of days/nights on our own, sort of a celebration of our 25^th wedding anniversary, which has long since passed. After working until well after noon, I headed north. Our room is comfortable but the best part for me is that awesome tub! Humungous Jacuzzi to die for. Too bad I didn’t have bubble bath, but I enjoyed the bath just the same.

We spent the evening walking & riding around Crystal Mountain, which covers a rather large terrain of dunes. The facilities are excellent and the grounds are manicured to perfection. In fact, it was almost rather annoying how ‘perfect’ everything was. Even the lettuce is evenly cut. Cookie cutter white bread, not necessarily my cup of tea. A pleasant place to visit, nonetheless.

September 16, 2006

What an incredible day this turned out to be! Went to bed rather early last night so I was up at my usual weekday 5:30A. We hit breakfast at Wildflowers shortly after 6:00A, then on to the Michigan Legacy Art Park which is 30 acres within the Crystal Mountain campus. We hiked the dunes through this magnificent display of art work and were not disappointed for our efforts.

After our hike we packed ourselves some munchies and headed to the rock shop in Honor where I purchased 2 pounds of agate and a ‘thunder egg’ geode/agate conglomerate. Heading up the back road we came to the narrows at Glen Arbor 3 minutes before the Tour de Leelanau raced west down 616 and crossed before our car as it continued southwest on M-22. What a rush – all those bikes! We were given a Tootsie Roll for our patience, although it was worth the wait even without the Tootsie!

Heading through Glen Arbor we ended up at my favorite rock beach, for which this barn is a landmark. Down Little Bohemia to this beautiful bay.

While I found several Petoskey’s at Little Bohemia, I didn’t find my usual cache. We headed north on M-22, with Leland and blue slag in our sites. Combing the public access in Leland, I found a couple tiny pieces of slag but hit pay dirt with some of the best Petoskey specimens yet.

Heading towards Leland we knew there was a Fishtown festival of some kind. We didn’t expect to find such an incredible display of vintage automobiles as we did at the inaugural Leland Classic Car Show. Beautiful automobiles, most of which were sports cars.

And then, across the street, we find a classic wooden boat show on the river. Beautifully restored Chris Crafts and others, including the Amphicar which qualified at both shows!

After a drooling visit to Becky Thatcher Designs (got my eyeball on a ring – if only I didn’t spend the money last week on a new refrigerator – where are my priorities any way!), and my unsuccessful attempt at navigating us to Fischer’s Tavern, we ended up back in Glen Arbor for a quick bite at Boonedocks, a trip to Tiny Treasures for bubble bath, and a trip through the sports store for new shoes. As we were getting ready to depart for Beulah, we were once again detained, although this time it was for 100 to 200 motorbikes, making up the North Woods Ride. We followed them to Empire where they went to the beach and we continued south on M-22. Had great success at Crystal Lake where we filled our pockets with green slag. Who knew? The sales lady at Becky Thatcher, that’s who!

A bath and nap before dinner – filet mignon at Thistle Pub & Grille – another bath….(love that tub). Night, night.

Back to September 21: Well, there you have it. A synopsis of our little trip. Crammed a lot into about 48 hours.............

1960 Jeep Surrey

Curly:
When I take you out tonight with me
Honey, here's the way it's gonna be
You will set behind a team of snow-white horses
In the slickest gig you'll ever see.
Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry
When I take you out in the surrey
When I take you out in the surrey with the fringe on top
Watch that fringe an' see how it flutters
When I drive them high-steppin' strutters
Nosy pokes will peak through their shutters and their eyes will pop!
The wheels are yellow, the upholstery's brown
The dashboard's genuine leather.
With eisenglass curtains you can roll right down
In case there's a change in the weather
Two bright side-lights winkin' and blinkin'
Ain't no finer rig I'm a thinkin'
You can keep yer rig if yer thinkin' that I'd keer to swap
Fer that shiny little surry with the fringe on the top

Eller:
Would you say the fringe was made of silk?

Curly:
Wouldn't have no other kind but silk

Laurey:
Has it really got a team of snow-white horses?

Curly:
One's like snow, the other's more like milk.
All the world'll fly in a flurry
When I take you out in the surry
When I take you out in the surry with the fringe on top.
When we hit that road, hell-for-leather
Cats and dogs will dance in the heather
Birds and frogs'll sing all together and the toads will hop!
The wind'll whistle as we rattle along,
The cows'll moo in the clover
The river will ripple out a whispered song,
And whisper it over and over
Don't you wish you'd go on forever
Don't you wish you'd go on forever
Don't you wish you'd go on forever
And you'd never stop?
In that shiny little surry
With the fringe on the top.
I can see the stars gittin' blurry
When we ride back home in the surry
Ridin' slowly home in the surry
With the fringe on top
I can feel the day gettin' older
Feel a sleepy head near my shoulder
Noddin', droopin', close to my shoulder
Till it falls kerplop.
The sun is swimmin' on the rim of a hill
The moon is takin' a header.
And jist as I'm thinkin' all the earth is still
A lark'll wake up in the meader.
Hush, you bird. My baby's a sleepin'
Maybe got a dream worth a keepin'
Whoa, you team an' jist keep a creepin'
At a slow clip, clop.
Don't you hurry little Surry
With The Fringe On the Top.