The beautiful colors of autumn have surrounded us the past
several weeks. This year’s display has been the greatest
I’ve seen in several years. This year has also allowed
me the most opportunities to enjoy the variety all around the
state.
My
enjoyment began with a trip to Petoskey in mid-September.
I had an assignment to cover the 35th annual International
Antique & Classic Boat Society Meeting held in Bay Harbor.
The Society has chapters in all 50 states and Canada with
about 16,000 members. The event spanned an entire week, with
activities
that included visits to surrounding harbors and communities.
The in-water boat show on the weekend was the climax, and
it took place along the dockage of Bay Harbor Lake and Village
adjacent to Petoskey.
Bay
Harbor Village is a development residing on a location that
once held a cement plant. It is known throughout the
boating world as the, “Nautical Center of the Great
Lakes.”
The bay has pristine waters; the village offers luxurious wonderful
shops and accommodations and the marina has amenities to please
all boaters. Host for the event were The Water Wonderland Chapter
of ACBS, Michigan representatives of the Classic Boat Society.
They worked with Bay Harbor to promote and showcase the entire
surrounding area.
When
we learned the boat show was going to take place in northern
Michigan, my wife and I invited our friends
from
Bad Axe to
accompany us. We try each year to make a color tour
together and agreed it might be a bit early, but they said, “sure
lets go!”
Once
we arrived at Bay Harbor my work — (if you can call
it that) began with gazing at an array of classic vessels the
likes of which I had never imagined even existed. After viewing
and enjoying the atmosphere of the event, I got busy interviewing
owners of a number of the classics. One fascinating vessel
was a 96-foot long 1930 Ted Greary “Canin” Yacht,
whose captain kindly invited me to look him up at
Harbor Springs where she berths for a tour and cruise
next
season. Now that
will be an invitation I will accept. After interviewing
several owners from all over the country and taking
enough photos
to fill a studio, we decided to take a ride and look
for some
color.
We continued our trip by crossing into the Upper, Peninsula
where we only found a few brilliant displays. People we talked
to explained it had been a very dry summer so the leaves fell
early. The next day, we started our trip home via I-75 and
crossed the Mighty Mac headed through the lower top of our
state. There was a splash of color here and there, but it was
only beginning. So we encountered leaves already gone and just
starting to color in one day. We all agreed it would be two
weeks before the lower peaked.
We were lucky enough to take a break from work and team up
with our friends near the end of September and head back up
north. We started up the coast of Lake Huron and beautiful
color was displayed in patches of wooded areas along the highway.
When we reached East Tawas, we shopped in a few of the delightful
stores along Main Street. It was a warm day so we had an ice
cream lunch and headed back up the road.
We
had been invited to stay in a cabin owned by our friend’s
daughter’s family that was tucked back in the woods in
bear country (Alcona County). We were told a big black bear
had been spotted in the area and one had been recently shot
nearby, but we did not encounter any. We really didn’t
try very hard, but we sure enjoyed the tranquil
setting. We were reminded of the old days,
before 40 TV channels,
can you
remember when there were only 2? What a relaxing
experience and as a bonus when we made our
return trip along some
lesser traveled highways, we saw color displays
beyond description.
It’s now two weeks later and we are thoroughly enjoying
our local Thumb color, especially in our friend’s
back yard, where they have dozens of maple
trees with an array
of colors.
As I see it, it will soon be time to get out the rakes.