CAMPING UP NORTH

Here at a higher latitude, we don’t mess around when it’s summertime. We’re outside, in the water, at the campground, and among the trees as often as we can be. During the peak of summer, the sun is visible for almost 16 hours of the day, giving you extra time to squeeze in as many outdoor activities as possible.

One of our favorite spots to soak up the sun is just over the bridge, where you can set up a campsite on the north edge of the city at Marquette Tourist Park within walking distance (2.3 miles) of downtown Marquette and our Dunegrass location. Electric and water hook-ups can be found at most sites, tents and RVs are welcome, and hot showers are also available.

After your site is set up, we recommend a bike ride at Marquette Mountain Trails / Noquemanon Trail Network. Most people know these trails as the “South Trails” or “North Trails,” but no matter what you call them, you’ll have plenty of routes to choose from for a day cruising along the coast or finding the path to a waterfall in the woods.

If you’re looking for a more low-key outing, along the shores of Lake Superior sits Hidden Beach. This beach offers amazing night sky views, and summer is a great time to spot shooting stars or sometimes even northern lights. Park at Tahoe East Shore Trail, which takes you from Incline Village all the way to Sand Harbor. Enter from the trailhead and make the short hike north to the beach. There is a fee to park, but it’s an incredibly beautiful trail and one of our favorite places to wind down after a busy day.

However you like to explore, don’t forget to stop by a Dunegrass location near you. There, you can pick up your pre- or post-activity provisions while also getting details on some of our favorite local places for an Up North adventure. Visit our website, dunegrass.co to plan your excursions.

TWINBIRCHGOLF.COM • KALKASKA, MI 23 24

TAKE 3

SUN, OCT 1, 2023 - 7PM

BLKBOK

SAT, OCT 7, 2023 - 8PM

BROADWAY BOUND: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

SAT, OCT 7, 2023 - 2PM

DISNEY LIVE: WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR

TUE, OCT 17, 2023 - 7:30PM

ICA MUSICAL THEATRE SHOWCASE

THUR, OCT 19, 2023 - 7:30PM

ICA CHAMBER MUSICAL SHOWCASE

FRI, NOV 10, 2023 - 8PM

COMEDIAN LEWIS BLACK

SAT, NOV 11, 2023 - 8PM

PETE THE CAT GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

2 32 4

THE BROADWAY TENORS: TIS THE SEASON

THUR, DEC 7, 2023 - 7:30PM

ICA SINGER-SONGWRITER SHOWCASE

FRI, FEB 9, 2024 - 8PM

BROADWAY BOUND: FUNNY GIRL

SAT, FEB 10, 2024 - 2PM

THE STEP CREW

SUN, MARCH 10, 2024 - 7PM

ARTRAGEOUS

SAT, APRIL 20, 2024 - 8PM

ICA SPOKEN WORD SHOWCASE

THUR, APRIL 25, 2024 - 7:30PM

THE MOTH

FRI, APRIL 26, 2024 - 8PM

BROADWAY BOUND: SIX THE MUSICAL www.dunegrass.co Scan

SAT, NOV 25, 2023 - 11AM & 1:30PM

OR 231.941.8082

Summer 2023

It’s a Dirty Job ...

JULY

JULY 23, 30, World Youth Symphony Orchestra & AUG. 6

JULY 20

JULY 21

JULY 22

JULY 23

JULY 24

JULY 27

Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Five for Fighting

Donny Osmond

The Temptations & The Four Tops

AUG. 3-6 High School Musical Production Ragtime

AUG. 9 Dark Star Orchestra - Grateful Dead Tribute

AUG. 10 Train (LIMITED TICKETS)

AUG. 11

Lindsey Stirling (LIMITED TICKETS)

AUG. 17 The Lone Bellow Trio with Drew Hale

AUG. 18 The Concert: A Tribute to ABBA

AUG. 19 The Beach Boys

SEPT. 1 Brandi Carlile (SOLD OUT)

For the full lineup visit: interlochen.org/tickets

But it wasn’t his job. Still, Beirut Report journalist Habib Battah got his hands dirty on a recent flight from Paris to Toronto, Canoe reported. “An hour into the transatlantic flight ... I kept smelling something gross and couldn’t figure it out,” Battah wrote on Twitter. While investigating, he discovered a large, “wet to touch” stain on the floor around his seat. The strap of his backpack, which was under the seat, was soaked in it, and a flight attendant only gave him some wipes to clean it up before “casually (noting) a passenger had hemorrhaged on a flight before ours,” Battah said. He said the Air France staff were shocked because a crew had removed the seats after the previous flight’s incident, but apparently hadn’t cleaned the bloody carpet. “This is not a customer service issue -- it’s a BIOHAZARD,” Battah wrote. “There is fresh human blood on your aircraft.”

Oops

The Presbyterian Ladies’ College in Croydon, Australia, a private girls’ school, recently had egg on its face after drone footage captured the suggestive shape of a new garden bed on the campus, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on July 5. The garden was designed by an architectural firm; a school staff member said that as they considered chairs for the garden, they “sent a drone up to take pictures. At a certain angle from up high, the garden ... took on a phallic shape which was unintended and unexpected. As a result, the architects made some alterations which were completed within 72 hours of the drone pictures.” One unidentified former student said, “The immediate response was laughter ... Photos have been circulating among the school as memes, saying ‘oh good morning’ and various kinds of jokes.”

The Golden Age of Air Travel

On July 2, as an American Airlines flight prepared to depart Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, one passenger had a massive change of heart about her trip, The Dallas Morning News reported. The woman rose from her seat and headed to the front of the plane, yelling and pointing toward the back, “I’m telling you, I’m getting (expletive) off, and there’s a reason why I’m getting (expletive) off, and everyone can either believe it or they can not believe it. ... That (expletive) back there is NOT real. And you can sit on this plane and you can die with him or not. I’m not going to.” The TikTok user who posted a video said the outburst delayed the flight by three hours, as passengers were forced to deplane and reboard; the woman was not arrested and, in fact, got back through security. American said the passenger was “met at the gate by law enforcement and removed from the flight.”

What Could Go Wrong?

Alef Aeronautics has announced that the Federal Aviation Administration has cleared the startup’s flying car, the Model A, to fly for purposes including research, development and exhibition, United Press International reported. The California company calls its invention a vehicle takeoff and landing aircraft, or VTOL, which can drive and park like a normal car. While it is not certified (yet) for public road travel, the company says the FAA’s OK will place it closer to “bringing people an environmentally friendly and faster commute ... This is one small step for planes, one giant step for cars,” said CEO Jim Dukhovny.

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

Chandler, Arizona, taxidermist Rachel Lewis, 38, has found her niche in the world of preserving dead animals: She makes piggy banks out of stillborn piglets. Metro News reported that Lewis, a former hairdresser, took a taxidermy class four years ago and just came up with the piggy bank idea in May. “Most of my specimens I get from local farms around me,” Lewis said. “I feel like they get to live a second life ... it’s kinda cool.” She called her process “laborintensive,” involving hollowing out the insides and adding a pork ... er, cork plug. “I have a larger pig that I plan on doing as a piggy bank, too,” she said. She also hopes to make objects with jewelry boxes and “secret stash” compartments.

Inexplicable

Michael Banks, 36, told Brevard County (Florida) sheriff’s deputies that he decided to go “car surfing” after he left a Home Depot store on July 5 in Merritt Island, Click Orlando reported. Banks allegedly climbed on top of a van, then jumped from it onto a Nissan truck, an SUV, a Jeep, another SUV and a sedan, causing damage to each vehicle in the neighborhood of $1,000. He faces two counts of criminal mischief and was held at the county jail.

Questionable Judgment

The Greater Muscatine (Iowa) Chamber of Commerce and Industry is apologizing after a controversial Fourth of July parade entry drew heated responses, KCRG-TV reported. The entry consisted of a man on horseback, leading a woman on foot dressed in Native American attire. The woman had a rope tied around her hands. “The group (submitting the entry) stated that their intention was to pay homage to the Cherokee Nation on how unjustly they were treated,” read a statement from the GMCCI, but “the entry does not represent our community.”

Recent Alarming Headline

Carol Dillin of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is trying to get to the bottom of a nighttime visitor that keeps banging on her back door, waking up her family. KFORTV reported on July 6 that Dillin’s security cameras have captured a flying object that may be a bat or a large moth; all of her attempts to block or scare the animal away, including plastic owls and a scarecrow, have failed. “I thought somebody was hitting baseballs against the house. Then it started sounding like basketballs,” Dillin said. Micah Holmes of the state wildlife department said his money is on a moth. “This is a good year for moths because it’s been pretty wet,” he said. “This is the time of year they’re out and trying to mate.” Meanwhile, Dillin has decided to take the ultimate step: “We have a guy coming Friday morning to give us an estimate” to close off the porch, she said.

Guest Opinion

by Julia Parton

I had a wonderful childhood living on Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City. The neighborhood was full of kids of all ages growing up together as good friends. There was the Grand Traverse Bay to swim in, beautiful beaches to enjoy the sunshine by day and bonfires in the warm summer evenings, and plenty of vast woods and orchards to explore.

I’ll never forget that charming time in my life, nor the house where I grew up. Quite by chance, I had a breathtaking walk back in time.

things I hadn’t thought about in years! The rooms were the same; no walls added or taken down. As we walked through the main living area of the house, the only difference I clearly saw was that the knotty pine paneling had been painted. The fireplace mantle my dad built was still intact, and I thought back to the many magical Christmas Eves I had spent by that fireplace with our lighted tree in the far corner. The same place we first had a color television and the same big room where I got in trouble for breaking the lamp.

in such a perfect little house with so many wonderful memories.

Five years ago, my husband and I took a trip north in the Traverse City area. I very much wanted to show him the place I had lived as a child on Peninsula Drive. We made the time during our vacation getaway and drove along the winding road I had traveled hundreds of times. There were so many new homes added in all those years, but the shoreline looked just the same to me. I remembered that familiar smell of summer and the beach. There were boats on lifts seemingly in the same places and docks leading out from the sand.

As we approached my old address, my heart skipped a beat. There was my house, still the same pale yellow color with white trim, same wooden garage door with windows in it, same unpaved driveway. It looked just as if time had stood still for 50 years. That little house held a mystery, and I anxiously wondered if it had ever been uncovered!

We sat at the end of the driveway and admired the house, as I pointed out which room was behind each window. As I was eagerly reminiscing with my husband about my first home, a gentleman walked out of the house and asked if he could help us. My husband explained I had lived in this house years ago. Unbelievably, though we were complete strangers, he invited us inside to see the house. We graciously accepted his offer, but I never dreamed what was inside that door.

We walked in the very familiar to me kitchen entrance. It seemed as if I was walking into my house as a child again. In all the years, hardly a thing in that house had changed, other than the paint colors. The cabinets were the same. The table sat in the same place, and it took me back to sitting there on dark winter mornings, wondering if there would be school since it had stormed the night before. I remembered the donuts my mom made so often for our entire neighborhood full of kids. I remembered the Sunday night summer ritual of making popcorn for the Walt Disney Show. It was crazy how memories flooded my mind of

As we went up the stairs to my old bedroom, my mind raced to the long-kept mystery spot in my former address, hoping to see that long lost treasure.

As kids, we played on those stairs and had discovered a knot hole in the paneling that was just the right size to drop things like marbles, game pieces, and most notably, my great grandmother’s 100-year-old thimble! My mom never let us forget that fateful day the thimble dropped to the bottom, and although several attempts to retrieve it were made over the years, it never saw the light of day again.

It was a tight space with a far drop. Using a flashlight at exactly the right angle, it could be seen laying there waiting to be rescued. Unless it was discovered after my family moved away, it remains in its resting place of over 50 years ago.

To my disappointment on an otherwise completely exciting trip down memory lane, the thimble will be forever lost. Sadly, the knot holes were all filled on the staircase before the paneling had been painted. I told the thimble story to the current owner, and I think he was just as curious as I was wondering if it was still there!

What a fun day being in my childhood home and to have had things remain familiar from so many years past. How wonderful to regain so many memories that were so long forgotten! I still think back to that day, and it reminds me how very blessed I was as a child, growing up in such a perfect little house with so many wonderful memories.

In my mind, that old thimble holds the legacy of that address!

Julia Parton grew up on the Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City. Now living in Florida since her retirement, she enjoys writing about her life as a child in Michigan