Sounds like the title of a best selling children's book, doesn't it?
Years ago,
dear friends of mine found the perfect cottage (Felicity) for their summer retreats
in a community in northern Michigan
called Bay View.
Bay View is a community based on the Chautauqua principles,
an organization that was founded in upstate New York in the 1870's.
The 'cottages' of Bay View are summer residences
which can only be occupied from May - the end of October.
From Memorial Day to Labor Day,
educational opportunities, lectures, book discussions,
arts and crafts, concerts etc
are offered to residents and their guests
although, like everything else,
Covid drastically altered many of those plans this summer.
Still, because of its semi-isolated location,
residents can travel from their primary homes all across the Midwest
and safely enjoy
the beauty of the surrounding area,
including an easy ferry ride to Mackinac Island
and being within driving distance of multiple state parks,
including the ones I visited:
Wilderness State Park,
Presque Isle
and Lakes Huron and Michigan.
(Images from those forays in future posts).
When a smaller cottage 'downhill' (the Summer Snooze)
became available 2 years later,
my friends bought it to use as 'overflow'
so visiting families and friends could have their own space.
It's literally a half block walk
and up a flight of 30 steps to get to the 'main house'.
I was lucky enough to be offered a week at the cottage
and, after much deliberation for health concerns, I accepted.
I can't tell you how glad I am that I did.
Bay View and the nearby towns of Harbor Springs and Wequetonsing
are definitely worth seeing -
if you don't mind being faced with the economic disparity
which clearly exists in this country.
The homes are lovely,
the gardens lush,
but, truth be told, I don't have many friends or relatives
who could afford these 'cottages' as their second homes.
There's a stretch of rural highway between these towns
referred to as the Tunnel of Trees
The log cabins along this road were far more to my taste,
although still beyond my budget
as they included lakefront views and beaches.
For years, the news has been full of articles about the terrible state of the 'Rust Belt'
of which Michigan is a part;
financial hardships,
people who lost jobs as well paid factory positions were eliminated,
home foreclosures,
undrinkable water,
urban decay etc.
I don't doubt the veracity of those reports.
All I know is that whatever might be going on in the lower part of the state
clearly hasn't made it to the northern third.
I had to keep reminding myself that
vacations are a time apart.
They don't represent the totality of either an entire state
or any one persons life.
For instance,
images of expensive lakeside vacation homes don't accurately represent
how much of the state is rural.
I've found that suspension of disbelief is a good way to exist
on forays into uncharted territory.
I try to wake up every morning with an appreciation and gratitude for where I am,
taking each moment as it comes in the day that follows;
suspending judgement and comparisons,
which for me,
is generally destructive and leads to envy making.
Ever since I arrived in the Midwest
(back in the olden days; the late 60's),
I've been in love with yellow brick houses.
In Michigan,
I finally found one that might be available.
Visions of restoring it to its past elegance entertained me for hours,
even as I acknowledged that the days of house rehab are over for me,
at least in this lifetime.
As compensation, I also discovered a new love -
Vanilla Strawberry hydrangeas
I mean, seriously,
how gorgeous are they?
I was driving down a street, passed a house with them as a border -
and had to stop, turn around and go back.
They literally took my breath away.
Which led to a wonderful conversation with the homeowner
who was tickled that her yard was worth a stop.
Digging holes and fall planting these beauties I can still do.
Coming soon to a yard near me.
Aren't vacations wonderful for the surprises and discoveries they hold?
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