Interlude Part 3: I refuse to learn/Twins score 19!

Since it's too hot to even walk to DQ, I thought I'd try to do a quick road trip entry. (PS: Go Twins! 12-5 over the orioles so far).  My apologies to Leesa, Steve and Wendy if I miss some of the wonder of our Mackinac visit.

After the aforementioned wondrous, pathetic dog and pony  "Wild West" show, we repaired briefly to the Brisson home, and then lit out for the Lilac festival parade. (Due to global warming, the Lilac Festival was curiously Lilac-Free). The clear highlight of the parade was the Clown Band, which was actually pretty good. For Leesa another highlight was all the bag piping. Then we had ice cream from ye Olde Ice Creame Parloure.



Sad "Wild West" show

At the end of the parade, the band played and encore, and then kinds freelance/walked to the other end of town. With the enthusiastic Leesa leading the way, we followed the band, and then took and exciting back-alley route back to the house. You'll soon be able to follow this route on Leesa's "Back Alleys of Mackinac" tour. I might have the sequence wrong, but I think we then got a guided tour of the new Mackinac Art Museum, which had a great exhibit on the Grand Hotel's 125th Anniversary (http://www.grandhotel.com/). Great historic photos!



Porch at Grand Hotel - longest in the world

I requested alfresco dining, so Steve and Leesa (that isn't really how she spells it, by the way) led us to a lovely restaurant in the shadow of the Grand Hotel. It was a little rainy, so we started to dine inside -- only to be driven out by the terrible performance of the singer/strummer entertainment guy, who sang as if he had never actually heard these songs. (Note: Now it's Twins 14, Orioles 5).

(Oops - this quick entry is getting less quick by the minute.)

After talking politics/museums, we watched in amazement as Steve drank the tankard of French Press coffee he requires to have the energy to sleep, and went off to bed to rest up for the next day of island living.

We woke to a wonderful, restful symphony of Sunday morning small town sounds: The clop-clop of horses, the singing of the choir at a nearby church and the distant peal of bells from the fort. As Wendy noted, it was exactly the sort of sound collage you would have heard a hundred years ago on the island -- or even in our house on that ungodly busy Cretin-Dayton intersection!

When the admirably pious, well-dressed Brisson family returned, Lisa fed us breakfast (by the way, Steve took us to a great Mackinac greasy spoon Saturday morning while Madam Director was off Being Important). Then all but Matthew (?), the outdoors-avoiding, exercise-hating middle-child Brisson (I knew I liked that kid!) clambered aboard a diverse collection of bikes (some with gears, some with brakes, some with neither) and rode to the highest point of Mackinac. Lisa, the compulsive planner, admitted that this was part of her hidden agenda. We were asked to indicate on a one-to-ten scale how much nature we wanted, and how much exercise -- and the route was selected accordingly. Thank god we could walk our bikes up that giant hill.



Yes, these are "cottages"

 Steve and Leeesa couldn't help but point out various historic landmarks - cemetery this, turn-of-the-century cottage that, etc. Despite their best efforts, I believe I retained absolutely nothing.

Leeesa then fed us a delightful dinner that we ate with her freakishly well-behaved, self-entertaining children. Then, at my urging, we got "all gussied up," as Eddie Lou used to say, and went to hear the Grand Hotel Orchestra, which the Grand Hotel website said was playing every night. Apparently this was also an item on Leesa's hidden agenda!



Anotrher "cottage"

Sadly, it was just a jazz trio with a mediocre singer, because it was Sunday night. I wanted an orchestra (or a big band at least), dammit! So we went to the cupola for drinks. (Twins lead 19 - 5 now).

To be continued...