Hey, everyone. Just a quick note to let you know that I'm still alive and well.
We went up the Upper Peninsula late last month for a end of summer vacation. It was great to get up there again after our prematurely aborted 2012 camping trip, in which black flies bit us mercilessly and certain members of the family (I won't mention names) complained about lack of WiFi in the remote area west of Grand Marais.
This year we stayed in motels with WiFi and swimming pools, so certain younger factions of our clan were kept satisfied. And though we were in Sault Ste. Marie in possibly the slowest day of the shipping season (thus, no boats, ships, or freighters passing through the locks), we did stop by my grandfather's old neighborhood on Amanda Street, and visited my great grandparents' graves in Pine Grove Cemetery. We actually made two trips to the Soo: our first stop on the trip and one last side trip to the cemetery on the way back towards the Mackinac Bridge and home.
Unfortunately, my great grandparents' house is no longer extant. Just my luck, it appears to be the only house on Amanda Street to be torn down--for reasons that are unclear to me. Maybe it burned down. If so, that would be the ultimate irony, since my great grandfather was the chief volunteer firefighter in Sault Ste. Marie for 30 years. In any case, I'm quite certain their house resembled the other modest two-story wood frame houses on this street.
What was once my great grandparents' house in Sault Ste. Marie is now a garage/shed.
We also had a mini-reunion with my aunt and two cousins at the Hilltop Restaurant in L'Anse. It was wonderful to see them.
I need to take a break now, because real life beckons. If I get a chance, I'll add to this later.
