Nighttime Symphony

When I was about 17, I went with my dad to Kansas in order to help him build a Renaissance booth.

It was a miserable three weeks- sticky heat, hard work twelve to sixteen hours a day, and only my schizo dad for company. I learned how rice smells when you accidentally leave it, closed, out in the summer heat for three days (really, really bad). I learned how to put up a roof truss, and how it feels when one swings down and whacks you in the back all of a sudden (knocks the wind outta you for half an hour!) and I learned how concerts sound from the back of an amphitheater (pretty awful, especially Hootie & the Blowfish)

Construction work, while never my strong point, is incredibly satisfying. Watching a structure of our own design take shape and go up was incredible, and even though my dad and I fought a lot, we also bonded.

One night our wrists were in particularly bad shape after a day of stapling and air nailing. The heat prevented sleep, the tendons in our arms were tingling and buzzing all the way up to our shoulders, and a Pantera concert was raging away next door. I lay awake just trying to massage the pins and needles out of my right arm. My dad had outfitted the van (our 'camper' for the interim) with an ingenious velcro & screen system that enabled us the keep the creepy-crawlies out while letting air pass through. The bugs that night were particularly energetic, flinging themselves bodily at the fiberglass van with enough force to make actual clunks.

They were probably trying to escape Pantera as much as we were...

Nearly as suddenly as it began, the din from over the fence ceased. When abruptly left with an absence of noise, your ears sharpen for the tinier sounds around you. I heard cicadas in the distance start their song, then a pair nearer me answered back. A few trees over, a similar but different song rang out, with staccato answers from the trees near the shower house. Then the frogs in the creek started up...

Within ten minutes, the entire fairgrounds was enveloped in sound. Not just sound, but a cacophony of insect, bird, and animal noise. It soothed me, and I lay back on my sweaty little pillow, forgetting about my tingling arm for a moment. Then I realized something- it wasn't just a random pattern of chirps and croaks- it was a melody. I mean this in the most literal sense.
I know very little about music, but I know a rhythym when I hear one. This was a rhthym: click, chirp, bzz, click, echo. Repeat. The bugs in that area of the U.S. are massive- we found cicadas over two inches in length and a luna moth with a five-inch wingspan- and apparently talented!

The sound got to be nearly deafening when the roadies next door packed up and left. As human activity ceased, the creatures around us became bolder with their music. Tree answered tree, frogs called for and found their mates, and the forest resounded with a symphony. It was, by far, the most beautiful thing that I have ever heard. I slept well that night, despite the heat and extreme fatigue.

God had set His very own creatures in motion to sing for me a lullaby, and they were so joyous at the prospect that I received, instead, a concert.

Summer in Northern Michigan

Lake Mitchell ~ Cadillac, MI

So, it's not officially summer yet, I know this. But until recently we hadn't seen the sun in nearly six months, and there is no snow on the ground, and you can no longer walk across the lake successfully, so- we're calling it summer.

Summer in Northern Michigan is nothing short of glorious. People from the Detroit area (downstaters, we call 'em) have been apprised of this information for years, and many summer or weekend up here regularly. We have people who live in Florida or Arizona during the winter months, coming home to green grass and twinkling lakes for the short hot season. We have people who just rent a 'cabin' for a week or two, and we have die-hards who set up camp the first weekend the parks open and stay until the snow flies.

For anyone remotely interested in visiting this area, here are a few little bits of local stuff:

Playing in one of Cadillac's many parks

If you plan your trip right, you'll be able to hit one of the many festivals that dot the Midwest throughout summer. We have the National Cherry Festival in July- with spectacular food and decent entertainment. There is also a Dulcimer festival, a Lilac festival, and plenty of others. These are all within a couple of hours of here, and Cadillac is a great and economical starting point to get to these events.

Of course, being the land of this many lakes, there is plenty of fishing, boating, waterskiing, and all of those other things that I have never bothered to do. Maybe it's time I got out there and claimed my Michigan heritage, huh!?

Sleeping Bear Dunes, Michigan

Cadillac is divided into two parts: Cadillac, and Cadillac West. To get to the main part of town, you can come in on Business 131, exit off of the 131 expressway, or come in from the east on M-55. The main part of town has modern chain lodging, shopping, dining, and entertainment venues, as well as a charming downtown district.

You can get to Cadillac West from M-115, or come in from the west on M-55. If you are already in the main part of Cadillac, you can drive around the lake to get to the westside, or take Sunnyside Dr, Division Rd, or Thirteenth St to M-115.

Cadillac West has more lodging, including the Sands which sits right on the water and has a little bar. There you will also find another bowling alley, a skating rink, more waterfront that you'll know what to do with!

Staying in or around the Cadillac, MI area is easy as there are plenty of places, from budget options like RV parks and cabins, to better lodging like Hermann's European Inn, with a wonderful restaurant and café below the rooms. There are numerous tiny rentals, a lovely State Park with hookups, and my couch. Kidding. Any of you show up here with your sleeping bag and... well, I really don't know what I'd do!

Food is abundant, as one of Michigan's official pastimes is eating. Just look at us. Ugh. Anyhow, since I'm one of the foodies, I may as well advise you on gastronomical entities. Dining on the westside tends to be a bit better. There is Lakeside Charlies, which sits on the water and serves a pretty broad menu of nicer foods and wine. The Marina sits on the other lake and has a nice boat theme inside, very comfortable dining. Italian food is their main fare. The Timbers is a little hike north out of town, but worth the drive for their most excellent prime rib and beer. A recent addition this year, Da Dawg House has an unfortunate name but decent coneys and grease-down breakfasts.

Travelling into the main part of town, avoiding at all costs the chains, we have Herradura's Mexican Restaurant on the south end of town. This is locally owned, with excellent Mexican food and great service. Further into town- you'll pass it if you're not looking- there is a little convenience store called G & D's. They make pizza there, and if you want to try it, I recommend buying it by the slice. Ofr some reason, the whole pizzas aren't nearly as good. I hear they put beer in their crust, but am not sure. Either way, their by-the-slice pizza is cheap, hot, and yummy!

Downtown has a few options, not the least of which is the newer Shay Station. Although the food is mediocre, the atmosphere is lively and pleasant. You can get a decent cup of tea there, read a book, listen to live music on the weekends, and shop for little gifty things that are often found in these kind of places.
The Sweet Shop is owned by a truly sweet family, and their local confections are pleasing, priced well, and fun to shop for.
The Blue Heron is absolutely one of our favorite places to eat in town. They have a wonderful breakfast, doughnuts, bread, cake, and homemade granola. I'd pass on the muffins, but their soups and sandwiches have never failed to please. Try a nutty donut- a local favorite! The Blue Heron uses higher quality flour, no preseratives, and ethics when they cook and serve. If you don't mind the clatches of old people that hang out all day, you will love this local favorite.

Of the three Chinese restaurants in town, House of Hunan seems to have the highest quality of food, and is a rather pleasant place to while away a lunch hour.

Of course, when you're all done playing, swimming, eating, and camping, you can always check out Cadillac's finest jewelry store! Not that we're biased or anything...

Camping out Neah Cape Cawd

Miles Standish State Park, South Carver, Massachusetts. A peaceful enough place, with a few ponds and some pine-shaded campsites, vernal forest edging cranberry bogs and picturesque homes.
We pull into our little spot and level out the camper, weary after a full weekend of hawking our goods at King Richard's Faire. Having already visited the over-priced grocery store in Carver (pronounced Cawh-veh by the natives), we were eager to throw our meager meal in the wok and settle down with good books- Anna Karenina and Atlas Shrugged, respectively.
Cooking inside a truck topper camper gets a bit steamy, and not in the good sort of way. Michael cranked open the windows while I put the finishing touches on whatever slop sizzled on the two-burner stove. We ladled food into hand-thrown bowls, crawled into our cozy nooks, and had just cracked open our classics when The Voice assailed our ears.
It was a nasal voice, female and loud, with a heavy Eastern Seaboard accent, obviously shouting into a cell phone,
"Yeah, hi!" The Voice carried over several empty campsites and rattled our windowframes, "I'm out camping- yeah CAMPING. Oh, yeah... in Cawhveh. Camping. Ohmigod it's so peaceful heauh. Yeah, I'm cooking trawhout- grilling! GRILLING TRAWHOUT. I caught it myself, in the pawhnd. Yeah. Peaceful."
I cannot begin to explain to you, without personally mimicking her voice over the phone (which I will gladly do) just how loud this woman was. If you have been in that area of Massachusetts, you will probably be familiar with how this certain type of woman sounds, rather like the sound aluminum foil would make if run over a cheese grater, but amplified to about 140 Db.
The woman then proceeded to call every person on her Nextel call list, repeating the exact one-sided conversation, verbatim, approximately eleventy-nine times.
While I tried not to hate Kitty Shcherbatskaya for being such a muddle-headed fool, I tried even harder to block the woman's voice from my head. It was too warm to shut the windows in the camper, but after an hour our nerves could bear no more. We peeled off as many layers as we could, shut the windows, and ran the bathroom vent fan for white noise. Still, The Voice splintered through the trees,
"Yeah, CAMPING... cooking trawhout... so peaceful out heauh."

I love Massachusetts, but next time I go, I'm bringing my iPod.