But this one particular year we were driving back from an outing at Hessel, the town that holds the annual Antique Wooden Boat Show, the 34th this past August. The sun was bright and I caught a glimmer of something on the shoulder of the road. I convinced my husband to turn around and see what it was. He reluctantly did so.  As we turned and found the shiny object that caught my eye, I jumped out of the car to see what it was. It was a man’s class ring, with a bright blue stone attached to a chain that also had two dog tags. I reasoned that someone must have lost them jogging. Cedar Campus, a Christian camp, was very close, so we thought perhaps it was someone from there. The ring said “ Jennison High School 1982. Okay, I would call the school when we got back, and see where that would lead, using the information from the dog tags.

Upon returning home, I DID call the Jenison High School Administrative Building. But the nice voice at the end of the line, flatly told me that they had no way of tracing the person belonging to the ring, even thought I supplied names. In time, I gave up and hung on to the ring hoping that someday I would be able to reunite the owner with his beloved possession.

So that was in the late 80’s. In my deep cleaning this past week, I ran across the ring again. So I sat down with my laptop using current searching methods,  looked up the name on whitepages.com. This owner was a Jr., and I came up with a Sr. currently living in Florida. So I called hoping this was a lead in solving the mystery of ownership. No one answered, so I left a long detailed message and waited. Well, I didn’t have to wait long, I received a call the next day from the ring owner’s father. I missed his call, so HE left ME a message, saying that he was indeed the owner’s father and his son was in the military, apparently a career man, in the Army. I repeated the story of finding the ring and thanked him for returning the call. He told me his son’s birthday would be in 10 days and the ring would be a great present. He told me he had just spoken to his son that day, but did not mention the ring.  He thought that it would be a good surprise in the coming week. We had a five minute exchange about living in Michigan versus living in Florida, then closed our conversation, with me promising to send the ring out on the first business day of the following week.

So today, I bought a birthday card, and on Tuesday I will UPS the ring to its owner, after 30 plus years. I will also thank him for his years of service defending our country since graduating from high school. One mystery remains, why does the ring have two dog tags attached to it?  Perhaps the other tag is from a fellow fallen soldier, a friend.  Maybe, in time, I will know that connection,as well. But thanks to the advancements in technology, I have been happily able to drawn closure to this piece of jewelry that I have hung on to for so long.

We, as the Ebbinghaus family, were introduced to Trail’s End by our Grandfather, Willard R. Ebbinghaus, around 1947 to 1948. We all came north into Michigan from Dayton, Ohio. Grandpa was moved by General Motors to Lansing as an Engineer for Oldsmobile. He would go further north exploring every chance he had. He finally left GM bound to find work “Up North”. He found work in Traverse City. He worked there as a foreman in a large Tool & Die Co. He drove to Traverse from Trail’s End, every work day until his death. I have vivid memories of the cabin being built.  I was six and my brother Jim was one. We watched my Grandpa, our Dad and uncles stripping the bark from the logs to set and cure for the future building. The finished cottage was beautiful:  natural pine logs with white caulking and split pine for the interior walls. Grandpa even built his own beautiful stone fireplace. I remember the stones and interior like the back of my hand. As they started building they tried to all stay in a large tent, that didn’t work well, so Grandpa bought the white cottage nearby. It was small but adequate and was used afterwards for over flow from the log cottage. This was all pre-national park.

 After he passed there was no family close enough to maintain the logs and caulking so it was sold. The new owners did not buy the white cottage so it went the way of other structures, after being taken over by the Park Service, and torn down. The red cottage you see to the left was the cabin my grandfather built. The new owners encased the log cabin with siding for ease of maintenance.

   Losing Grandpa’s cottage was very sad for me because I think I had the best memories being with him.  When I was in High School I would call Grandpa and tell him I would be coming out that night to go fishing. I would get there about  10:00 PM. He would be snoring in his chair and I would have to wake him. He loved it anyway, late or not. We would take the boat out in the dark to our favorite bass beds. Using a black jitter bug we would cast into shore, hoping not to get into the weeds. I would start cranking in the bait and all of a sudden a bass would hit it and fly out of the water. It was very exciting! 

Getting back to the history of Trail’s End, one thing I always wondered about was why more people hadn’t sought out  this gem.  As you drive down the trail the first house you see sits back to your right. That is the Gibheart’s place. That property was grandfathered and allowed to remain and is still owned by the family. Next you find  Otter lake also on the right. To my knowledge, there were only four cottages ever built on Otter. Next you go over the outlet running into Otter and to your left is Bass lake. When this area became part of the National Park System all the structures that were not grandfathered where torn down. Hence you won’t see  the little white cabin next to the red cottage which was once my grandfather’s cabin, nor another landmark: Vincent’s Lodge.

Bass Lake had a little more going on. I remember in the 1950′s, just right off the dock to the west, was Vincent’s Lodge. The lodge sat just back off the beach, behind it  was six cabins. The Lodge had a dining room, but guests could cook in their cabins, as well. I remember smelling the cinnamon rolls and fresh bread in the morning so I would have to go over and say good morning to the cook, hoping she would offer me something fresh out of the oven.  Man could she cook! Anyway the Lodge finally expired in the late 50′s and was torn down by the Park Service. The beach by the dock was all man made. Mr. Vincent got many complaints from his customers that the kids had no place to sit and play in the water, so after years of sand being hauled in, you can still see the remnants of a beach. 

 At Trail’s End there are three lakes making up the chain, all spring fed. Deer lake sits to the extreme south east corner of Bass. There is a very shallow water way to get into Deer, unfortunately it is often blocked, but a portage could get you there. It’s incredible. The lake is probably the size of two football fields side by side. The water is black. My dad and uncles always said they didn’t think it had a bottom. There were some lunker pike in there “back in the day”. 

A short fish story: My Uncle Ross and I were “still fishing” in Deer Lake with sucker minnows and I got a strike, I started reeling it in. I had a 14″ pike on my line. I got him about half way out of the water and then a gigantic pike came up out of the water and grabbed my little pike and slashed its body in threads. Needless to say I about jumped out of the boat, but with a second thought I decided I’d rather stay in– it was safer. A true story, where’s the camera when you really need one?

 At the right of the dock on Bass Lake; over to the corner and up a bit has always been a great crappie and sunfish hole. Bass lake had mostly pan fish, bass and pike. Otter had perch, pan fish and pike. Deer Lake had mostly pike.  

Trail’s End is a gem in the wild and anytime you get a chance to explore you should. It has some great cross country skiing and hiking trails, as well. As you leave the Bass Lake parking lot, to your left the trail is gated to keep out motor vehicles. There is a trail that follows the Lake Michigan bluff line that goes north to Otter Creek or south to a Back Country Camping area and on further south through Platte Plains. If you head toward Otter Creek and Esch Road,  look to your left towards Lake Michigan you can see a very large tree, which is called the “hanging tree”, but  that’s another story for another time.As a final note, there is a way to get intoDeer Lake by hiking. As you turn east to head back to M-22, you pass over the connecting creek between Bass and Otter and you will  see a white cottage to your left and a two track hiking trail that winds back to Deer lake to your right. Every time I have gone back there I have seen fresh beaver cuttings. Once you get to the lake, you can walk a short distance to get a full view of the lake.

As you can see, Trail’s End is a paradise for all seasons and many forms of recreation and a wealth of memories. 

   Warren Ebbinghaus

One  VERY WINDY day, my friend Jane and I drove north into the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore, to Trails End, to kayak on the quiet and secluded Bass Lake. You do need a park pass to access this area, and it forced my dear friend, to purchase her Lifetime Senior Pass, which now gives her free access to any National Park in country. I can look forward to mine in a couple of years, which is the only good thing I can say about aging.

Upon arriving at our destination, we found a twenty yard hike with the kayaks to the lake from the parking lot.

Already nestled in was a family  lined up along a charming little dock. The adults were seated in the shade of a tree, reading, while the boy and girl tried their luck at fishing. Another woman came right behind us with her kayak to explore this little lake, too.

This was not an unfamiliar place to me. I have come with my own boys on an outing in Nursery School years ago; one of the parents was a park ranger. We saw beaver, and stumps of little trees that the beavers had cut down. The ranger also brought skins of other small animals that could be found around the lake habitat. My other visits were with school children over the years while teaching. On this trip, I told my friend that I was surprised the beavers just cut the little trees, her reply “Beavers aren’t stupid”, a smaller tree would be easier to move to the water. But of course!  

                                                                                                                                                        But coming to Bass Lake this time, was a visit just for me.  The day was sunny, with a bright blue sky dotted with puffs of white. The little lake surrounded by aspen, white pine and cedar remained calm and protected from the winds off Lake Michigan, just a 1/4 mile away to the west.

So we we shoved off and slowly made our way around the perimeter of the lake, noting the flowers and looking for access to other lakes, which we found were now blocked by fallen debris.

Jane, reminded me that this lake was the wedding location of a couple we know, Doug and Cindy.    

What a perfect spot.

There is only one cottage on the entire lake, the rest is wild. We did find in the shallows that zebra mussels had made their way into the lake, and there seemed to be quite a bit of small fish activity under the surface possibly invasive as well. Had we more time that day, we would have portaged over to Otter Lake which is bigger, but that will be for another trip back home.  This little lake was the perfect recipe for relaxation.  There are  also wooded trails and access to backcountry camping from this site, a little something for every interest. 

Perhaps the next visit I will bring a little lunch and a book and just float in Bass Lake’s quiet beauty.

“Lake Winnebago, which is one of the largest inland lakes in the United States and the most popular lake in Wisconsin, was the  90 mile course for the event. This is the LONGEST timed, all citizen bike race in the United States”.

This event is one of  many the local ham radio groups participate in as community service opportunities from May-September. This particular event benefits the Fox Cities, Winnebago County, and Fond Du Lac ARC groups (agencies that provide educational, advocacy, social, and recreational activities for people with disabilities). In other words, this biking event was for a great cause!

The Ham radio ARES-RACES organizations support their local communities through activities such as these and most importantly for emergency communication and coordination of Sky Warn severe storm spotting.

Knowing that this Sunday would be a bit different, Jon and I participated in our Saturday church service, leaving Sunday more like a Saturday.

I mentioned that the day started slowly for me, because going to bed late, then making sure Jon was up early, dug into my sleep time. So I slumbered until he returned from his early volunteer duty.

He wanted to get the lawn mowed and did, then he decided we needed another outing for the weekend. We loaded up fishing poles, that were collecting dust in the basement, donned fishing hats, and headed out for the East Coast of WI, and Kewaunee. Upon our arrival we drove around town a little then headed up stream to a little park where we left our car behind and trekked up a two track to an opening to the river.

Jon had to remind me how to operate and place my fingers on my fancy reel, a spin caster. I loaded up a worm on my hook and flipped it out into the river on my first try. Immediately I felt a small tug. Jon advised me to keep my line taut and slowly reel it in. OH DRAT! A bullhead! I warned him from my previous experience to not let its tentacles touch him, they are stingers. He carefully extracted it from my line and flipped it back into the river.

I reloaded my hook. He told me to try and pop it between a couple of rocks across the river. Confidently I flipped it there and more and snagged it on the opposite bank. OH GREAT! I whipped my pole back and forth horizontally and vertically and finally got it free and then slowly dragged in back in. But again, another small tug, and I pulled in a strange little guy that appeared to be a strange little fish called a Round Goby. The goby is an invasive specie brought in by foreign ballast water with good and bad points. The good merit is it dines on zebra mussels, but the flip side it also feeds on some of the cherished tiny stages of game fish. After struggling to identify it, it too, was tossed back into the river.

My last cast put my line in the tree over head after nearly missing my husband behind me. I suddenly remembered that my casting should be sideways not vertical. Oh well to late, we had to break the line and decided then it was time to go.

We then ventured back into Kewaunee to find the giant grandfather clock for a photo opp and the place where the car ferries once tied up in the harbor. Kewaunee had nicely recycled the car ferry pilings into bases for small decks that each held a picnic table. The one ancient tie-up for mooring the car ferries that remained, looked like the tail of a whale diving down into the grass.

The car ferries began running out of Kewaunee in the late 1800’s with rail road cars filled with flour for Europe. Its history also reflects the visit of early French explorers like Nicolet, and missionaries such as Marquette. There were even rumors of gold being found up river, which was a bust. Land speculation followed the gold bust and then lumbering. Eventually the city became an important harbor and  port city. Ship building was vital to the economy in the mid twentieth century,to my surprise, as in Marinette, Manitowoc, and Milwaukee. The U.S.S. Pueblo was one famous ship that was built by Kewaunee steel workers as well as other WWII ships.

Our trek to and from Appleton took us through Wisconsin dairy farm country. We passed by many many fields of corn. The horizon was filled with new and old silos and barns as far as the eye could see, a fascinating sight. We passed through many tiny towns, that with a blink you would miss them.

On our return, Jon managed another, of many pictures, he has had taken over the years, next to the “POLAND” sign, to our amusement.

It was another great day in Wisconsin, even thought it did not put food on the Kreski table, as one of my friends from Michigan had hoped.

P.S. Jon wants to move to Kewaunee, the HF mobilinging we did while there had “full quieting”.

This trail connects Thompsonville (near Crystal Mt. Resort) with two communities on Lake Michigan.  In its previous life it was a railroad bed that once led to the car ferries that left Frankfort and Elberta for Wisconsin. Occasionally there would be a railroad car that would return to southern Michigan. I had the fun of taking it when I was in my teens. I left from the Thompsonville Depot and arrived in Grand Rapids for a weekend visit with my Aunt Jerry and Uncle Gil Stone. The passenger car was used very little and showed lots of age and wear, and needless to say I was the only passenger, besides the Conductor.

As for the current trail, there is local art expression throughout. Across from the trail head in Beulah is a  long folk-like mural that portrays highlights of the area and near the trail end, in the Lighthouse Café in Elberta, there is a beach and lighthouse scene both painted by the same friend, Connie McLaren, a teacher, artist, and former colleague.  In a flower bed below the trailhead Depot in Beulah, a metal sculpture can be found tucked away in a village flower bed, created by a friend, Kevin Short. The vintage cottages that line the trail in the village of Beulah as we headed west, are artfully decorated and painted, reflecting the whimsy of summer. Midway trailside,where the Betsie River comes into view, graffiti artist have graced an old bridge siding with the timeless plea of “PEACE”  in colorful paint along with the popular symbol from the 60’s.

I like to start in Beulah, which skirts one of the most beautiful lakes in the lower peninsula, Crystal Lake. The ten mile long lake is surrounded by high hills and the bluest of blue water that create its charm.

Part of the trail is a packed composite that eventually segues into a paved road. After leaving the lake the trail follows the Betsie River through a forest covered segment with ponds full of turtles, large wading birds like Great Blue Herons, and smaller birds like Kingfishers. The ponds are filled with ghostly gray trees whose life has ended within the watery domain. We were even surprised to see a white egret in Betsie Bay. Occasionally there are Sandhill Cranes there, too. Evidence of the glacial age sit just off the trail in the form of a huge boulder, an erratic in geological terms.

Views of the Betsie River appear now and then with opportunities to sit and ponder its beauty with the many benches scattered along the pathway.

As we neared the mouth of the river at Betsie Bay, the landscape turned from forest to open grassland filled with wildflowers that border the trail in profusion.

Thursday, we found, was  Farmer’s Market Day in Elberta. This sleeply little town had an energized bustle to it as we approached. Our destination was the Lighthouse Café for breakfast, which likely cancelled all aerobic efforts on our part.

Midway through the meal, I discovered my friend, Jane, was a Friend of the Betsie River Trail, an admirable thing to do, to support such a wonderful cause in Benzie County.

The day ended with a big bang, not because it was such a gorgeous day, but because I listened to my brother. He suggested I use my foot pedal straps so that I get the most energy out of each push. As I approached one of two roads the trail crosses, I couldn’t get my right foot out of the strap fast enough and came to a dead stop and promptly fell SMACK over landing on my right elbow and knee. Thank goodness I was not still moving, or in the middle of a busy road. It was embarrassing, but only my friend and I were witness to it. Moments like these remind me that what my mind feels and how my body react are slowly drifting apart. Luckily, the body is still tough enough to endure these malfunctions. The arms are still banged up and colored with bruises. The knees quickly recovered, they did not have as far to fall. A little motrin and clean up later and I was almost as good as new.

Our round trip was a little over 15 miles and took 3 hours with stops for photo opps and breakfast, but all in all, good fun! It is a trail of connections of time spent with friends, friends’ artwork and businesses at each end, and a past memory of riding on a train from Thompsonville to Grand Rapids when I was a teen, and a little  pain every night as I land on my elbow, when I hop into bed. CHEERS!

		BETSIE VALLEY TRAIL–BENZIE COUNTY-MI VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Recipe: Stuffed Peppers

Summary: This recipe came to fruition because of my recent pepper and tomato harvest. 

Ingredients

Instructions

Preparation time: 30 minute(s)

Cooking time:  20-25 minutes

Diet tags: High protein & Carb

Culinary tradition: Mexican

My rating 5 stars:  ★★★★★ 1 review(s)

I found my way to the south side of town where cars already lined the streets around the park. A few people came in senior buses, some walked and others rode on bikes. Children were enjoying themselves on the playground equipment and the adults were gathering in their folding chairs around the bandstand under the great trees. Schwan’s had a curbside ice cream offering and many concert goers were finishing up picnic fare they had toted along earlier. Instruments tuning, sound checks, and friends greeting each other filled the air. I thought this would be one of the best concerts of the summer due to the director’s retirement and because it was the last concert of the season, I was not disappointed. I found a place fairly close, with few distractions and settled in for the performance.

As I waited I thought about how summer music in the park has been a tradition in my family for many decades. My Aunt Harriet shared with me recently that my Grandpa Stone loved to attend summer concerts in the Beulah Park across from the former Northway Inn on the shores of Crystal Lake. The park had a band stand in the center which hosted concerts for the locals and summer visitors, alike. My Grandpa would get down to the park early and acquire a seat on a bench where he could visit with all who passed by before the music began. My husband retired from his long high school band directing career to directing the local community band that he helped start up. I often attended several of his concerts each summer in the various community parks throughout Benzie County. I even played one year.  Emotion welled up in my eyes, as I again, sat in my folding chair and readied myself for listening to another summer concert under now, a Wisconsin evening sky.

Presentations were made to Ike Spangenberg,the director before the start of the evening. He was presented with an original score from Irving Berlin’s “The Song Has Ended, But the Melody Lingers On”. The mayor, Tim Hanna presented Mr. Spangenberg with a plaque for his 45 years of service to the city and the paperwork which officially proclaimed Tuesday as “ Ivan “Ike” Spangenberg Day”, a very nice tribute.

Then the concert began with an opening warm up tune that sounded vaguely familiar as a beer commercial jingle, which would not be so surprising since this IS Wisconsin, then on with the marches, classic band pieces, folk and show tunes, even nostalgic war medleys. The war tunes were especially big crowd pleasers, ending with rousing applause and cheers from the many seniors in the audience. A local arranger from Waupaca, Jack Whitney, was in the crowd and honored with a Dixieland piece that he had arranged, that had many a toe tapping. The evening featured full band as well as ensembles and soloists. The audience was invited to come down front to dance if they were so moved, but only two little sister took up the offer and twirled and moved to the music, unaware of the crowd behind them.

As twilight descended on last evening’s crowd and the vast park, the band ended with the popular “Stars and Stripes Forever” with the expected encore, that,of course, had everyone clapping and smiling.

There was more to smile about: cake for hundreds was cut, plated, and ready after the finale. As I ate my cake I reflected on how quickly summer was coming to an end. A sad thing but many new memories to ponder.

Now that both Jon and I are Amateur Radio enthusiasts, we have many local airport presets on our mobile ham radios so we can listen when we are out and about in our vehicles. (Yaesu FT 857 D).This was very cool to use a week ago, as the thousands of planes began coming in to Wittman Airfield in Oshkosh, Wi for EAA AirVenture (Experimental Aircraft Assoc.). Jon and I parked in a motel lot along the north Wittman runway and flipped on the radio to listen to the tower give incoming planes their colored landing dot, the command to  rock their wings if they understood, and then land and move off A.S.A.P. into the grass to the south of the strip. Planes were landing on the runway  every few seconds, one after another. All kinds: RV’s (home built kits), Mooneys, Bonanzas, Cessnas, all sorts of vintage planes, too many to mention. There are 4 runways at Wittman and the tower has as many as 8 people either watching or directing in-coming and out-going traffic non-stop. There is a great sign on their tower “Busiest Tower in the World” , which it is during EAA week. The numbers are still out, but EAA officials believe this year breaks the previous record for the number of planes at EAA fly-in: 12,000 for 2011!

You have to understand this is an International event, flight lovers from sixty countries attend. Families and individuals fly in and camp with their plane, others camp on the grounds to be on-site 24/7, and many stay at nearby  local motel and hotels, which is great for the economy. You may wonder why over 500,000 people attend this annual fly-in convention.  There is the historical aspect of flight, the engineering and design changes over the years, flight 1sts, military reunions, exhibits of military aircraft in War Bird Alley and brightly colored vintage aircraft, amphibious planes, movies, concerts, symposium and forums on various aviation topics, and of course the highly attended daily “AirVenture” air shows (Sat.evening has a night show and fireworks). So many topics and interest to pick and choose from. If you can’t make EAA, then on the grounds is an incredible museum that is open all year that is a tremendous exhibit venue dedicated to flight.

My favorite picks for this year at EAA AirVenture: the cutting edge Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” that came for the day on Friday from the state of WA. Also it was a thrill to see and hear FiFi the B-29 Super Fortress bomber take off on Sunday. She is the only flying B-29 in the world and is a sister ship to the Enola Gay, the 1st bomber to drop an atomic bomb during a war, on Hiroshima, Japan. To me, the sound of its powerful engines running was similar to the timing you hear on a tractor but many, many times louder. Another pick is the F-18 Harrier, which we missed at the Cherry Festival this year, but luckily caught  yesterday during the EAA’s air show. Doing the walk through of the displayed  vintage planes with their bright colorful paint and  different designs are something to behold and admire. It is like a beautiful garden of planes.

Over the years, I have dragged my two boys to see air shows and watch the deafening take offs of the Blue Angels at the airport and tour the Wright Brother’s National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Likely I have passed down the thrill of watching and appreciating aviation. I look forward to next year, as EAA will be bringing in the  surviving  historic Tuskegee Airmen. That should be interesting, and perhaps dictate some advance reading.

I have gotten rather windy on this topic, but hopefully you see the connections and why it’s nice to have EAA in our “backyard”.  ( My part 1 blog, incase you missed it  http://wp.me/p1oBA7-vq)

Official website  http://www.eaa.org/  

Very short video link on what EAA is     http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1178153116?bctid=1119252275

In the late 1960’s, Stone and Sons, our family farming partnership, owned several farms spread out into three counties (Benzie, Manistee, and Leelanau). The Stones and Mawby, Krieger, and Alpers, also fellow growers in NW Michigan were all looking at equipment upgrades at about the same time and decided that collectively they would work  together to create a non-profit corporation. They would then buy a plane and hire a pilot to do aerial spraying for the lot of them. Donovan Rodriguez, a local retired Air Force pilot and college flight instructor was hired and the group purchased a Piper Pawnee ( PA-25-235 Pawnee B) which was designed specifically for agriculture. It had a big hopper for chemicals and could hold up to 120 pounds of dry chemical and 150 gallons of liquid. The Pawnee was a single seater plane with a 235hp six-cylinder engine. The group of farmers used this experimental process for applying  insecticides and a University developed granular form of herbicide. Ground spraying was not totally out of the picture. There was some ground spraying done for comparison of ground versus aerial spraying. Also some applications would need better foliage coverage which aerial spraying might not be able to do effectively. Over all, this group of growers thought it might be more cost effective and a more efficient way to spray. Our family used aerial spraying for both Christmas and fruit trees.  We had a half mile long drive way at Thorn Hill Orchards which was wide enough to accommodate a small plane landing, which Donovan used as a runway to reload chemicals. At our Manistee county farm, Dry Hill, there was a landing strip built for the farm in that area. After about three years,  the Stones bowed out of the joint operation. The reasons for switching back to ground spraying were the chemical were not always applied as soon as needed, because of the number of farms involved and likely this method was not as cost effective as once thought. But how cool is it, to have a plane land on our 1/2 mile long driveway! Fun stuff!

NW Michigan is the home to a National Guard base in Grayling, our farm must have been on a flight training path for pilots during the Cold War. I remember jets flying low over the horizon and making things in the house rattle. Of course by the time we raced outside to see, we just saw their tail disappear over the trees and out of sight. But it was always a thrill!! As an aside, I still run outside and look when something loud passes over, one never stops looking up!

Over the years I have  gotten my aviation fix from the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City with its  air show over Grand Traverse Bay. Of course the two big draws are either the Navy’s Blue Angels and their F/A 18 Hornets or the USAF Thunderbirds with their F-16’s. Both groups enjoy performing in Northern Michigan during the heat of the summer.

Several years ago, when I lived in Michigan I discovered  I would park near the Traverse airport viewing spot on the west side of the airport and flip on the radio to a  designated A.M. frequency and  listen to “tower talk”. If I had time to kill and was nearby I did that, thinking I was very clever to know this and to be able eavesdrop.

Little would I know that in the years to follow I would find an even better way to listen to traffic controllers AND plane to plane chatting. Part 2 of My Name is Jane and I Am An Aviation Junkie – http://wp.me/p1oBA7-vD

Related articles

• My Name is Jane and I Am An Aviation Junkie Part 1 (janeofwisconsin.com)

One thing I have wanted to do since coming to Wisconsin, is go to Pulaski during Polka Days. I wanted to see how it compares to my Cedar, Michigan Polka Fest. Pulaski is about 50 miles to the North. We decided to go mid day last Saturday afternoon. Crowds were smaller then, but what a big hearted small town with townfolk very welcoming whereever we went. The population is just over 3,000.  The main thorough fare had dozens of craft tents exhibitors lining it, linking the Polka tent area with the humongous Catholic Church started by the Franciscans that the town was formed around.

My trick to get Jon to go was for the Polish food that hopefully would be found there. There was no hope for a polka, he said firmly he doesn’t know how. How you can be 100% Polish on both sides and not know how to polka is beyond me. Oh well, I could get beyond that. We would have an opportunity to hear some good music and soak in the atmosphere.

The local FFA hosted one food both and we sampled a shared mini buffet of pirogues, cabbage rolls, Polish sausage and a brat, and fried cheese balls while we sat in the shade listening to music coming from the two different tents with huge wooden dance floors.

I was amused with all the lawn chairs surround the tent. It reminded me of how parade goers set up their chairs the night before the parade to be assured of a good spot to watch. Well in this case many dancers and watchers set up their chairs so they have a comfortable station between dances or while watching. The festival provided small metal bleachers opposite the stage on the far end of each tent for those who didn’t know they had to bring their own chair, like us. I expected tables and chairs around the dance floor under one big tent. I guess most people don’t come to do much sitting, they come to dance.

Of course there was a beer station and huge plastic cages for recycling the cans. I am sure they are full by evening’s end. What’s a polka fest without beer.

In the evening the event really kicks up and the dancers come out. Besides the two tents, there is a ballroom where contestants can compete. We saw several styles of dancing while we were there.

Pulaski’s claim to fame is one of the biggest Polka Festivals in the Midwest. This festival runs Thursday through Sunday with over 20 national polka bands, mostly out of the Mid west, to entertain the crowds. Sunday, the last day, is highlighted with a parade through town. This was the 33rd event for Pulaski. I think we will have to go back in the evening another year and see what it is like. And in comparison to the Cedar, MI Polka Fest, Pulaski is on a grander scale but both deserve a visit.

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