Who knew Michigan was so long?
A trip to visit Northern Michigan University quickly became the longest road trip our family has attempted to date.
I left the mapquest planning to my husband and kept to the daunting task of the designated packer. We had 4 days, 4 people, a new Kia Sportage, and thousands of miles to cover.
Thanks goes to my son Cas who decided to stay home and play W.O.W. and also watch the dog. Had he decided to tag along, I wouldn't be writing this story.
My husband is a road warrior on long trips. He drove all night long, clear through Canada to Port Huron, and woke us to stop for gas, coffee, and a potty stop at 6:00 AM. The fog in Michigan was mystical. It was everywhere we went, traveling a path along the highway, across the overpass', and through the woods. My daughter Emily took pictures through the window in sheer awe.
Hours and hours passed until we finally arrived in Marquette. We found our motel rather quickly, checked in, and drove until we saw a Subway. Dinner was fast and satisfying.
The city of Marquette was a definite shocker for Ryan. He had expected more than this tiny town that seemed stuck years behind the rest of the world. We got out our campus maps and used the rest of day light to find admissions and the Superior Dome, both places we would be visiting the next day.
Ryan is a Senior. Who knew it would get here so fast? We are visiting Northern Michigan University in hopes that Ryan will attend next Fall as a wrestler in the USOEC (United State Olympic Education Center)program. We did the routine admissions tour and hurried to make our appointment with Assistant Coach Jim Gruenwald. What a great guy. He gave us the tour, we exchanged Ryan's wrestling accomplishments for his program requirements. There's a long journey ahead before this is a reality. Ryan was quiet all through the next meeting with Julie who is the Marketing Rep for the USOEC.
I thought it was fascinating but knew that Ryan was seriously considering the work involved in being a part of this program. He knew very well of course what lie ahead as he had spent the entire summer so far travelling all over the country wrestling at various competitions and training centers. We would pick him up from the airport and take him to the next destination. No stops at home along the way. It was a laundry nightmare. It was time to grow up.
We left NMU, and spent the evening relaxing in the pool. It was cool and Ryan was withdrawn, lost in his own thoughts. A funny thing about the U.P. (Upper Peninsula) is that it stays light much longer than at home. At 8:00 PM we went for a drive along the lake. We were tourists and planned to hike out one of the lighthouse walkways before dusk. On the way we ran into Mary White who was holding a DOOR painting expo near a local park. We got out and walked through the various tables oohing and aahing with each new surpise. When we got to Mary she asked if we were there to paint.
Who us? We looked at each other and smiled knowing we wouldn't do anything like this. Not us. Mary smiled and said we could come back tomorrow if we changed our minds...
We went on our way, laughing about the doors all the way out the walkway. The sun was setting and the lake was wild with deep black water. All I could do was worry about Emily catching her foot and falling into the frothy lake. By the time we got back to our car the door idea softened on us and we were making a plan to leave our mark. We stopped to see Mary on our way back to the motel and she told us to draw a sketch of our idea, it would have to meet with her approval and we could present this idea to her in the morning.
We argued all the way back to the motel on what to do. We argued about it so much so that I did not think my husband would consider the event the next day. We had an entire day left to explore the U.P, and Joe wanted to relax. He had driven 3/4 of the way to Michigan.
At noon we headed to the park and met Mary who had already been there for hours. We explained our dilemma and she pushed us for what we had come up with so far. She like the ideas and helped us by choosing one that sounded good to her. Direction set us in motion and we sketched out a quick 'We love the U.P. from the Macombers'. Mary gave us the okay and picked out our door. There weren't many left. Everyone in Marquette must have donated an old door for this event. We primed ours with white paint and then picked out paint and marlbes to decorate. God only knows where all that paint came from.
Amazingly we worked very well together. I sketched the design on the door with a pen. Emily painted the border, Joe filled in the print with black ink, Ryan changed the slogan to 'I love the U.P. from N.Y.', sound familiar? We worked hard until Mary came by and offered constructive criticism, which gave us all more reason to work together. We didn't like being told what to do with our door. After another hour we had the most colorful door in the Park. Our bright sun shone on the trees, waves, and city scape that covered the four corners of the door. Emily glued marbles all over the waves. We finally added an eyeball to the door knob and finished it off with a marble for the iris.
We signed the door, 'The Macombers' and it was one of the best things we ever did together. It didn't cost a cent. I only wish that Cas could've been there to do it with us.
By late afternoon we were totally starved. We stopped back home for lunch, grabbed our suits and headed out for a swim. We wanted to experience Lake Superior. We travelled to a swimming, hiking, biking area ( there are tons) in hopes of trying out a free waterslide, which turned out to be closed. Too much geese poop, I guess. This was a good thing, because we found the most spectacular place for swimming. The beach was sandy, the waves were huge, and we were together. We walked along the beach for a long while just watching the lake. It was so huge it looked like the ocean. When I remember it, I feel the white brightness of the day. Everything seemed so bright there. It was hot, but not by the lake. The breeze was tremendous. I think Emily wore us down and we waded out into the water. It was freezing at first. We got soaked fairly quickly and starting jumping and racing the waves. We stayed on this beach for hours. There were a few other people that came and went, but it felt like the place was ours.
It was one of the best days I can recall in a long time where we all just had fun together. By the time we had to go Ryan had relaxed enough to talk about the school and his expectations. It was such a relief to see him accept the responsibility of such an enormous decision. We left the U.P. that night, heading out in the dark the same way we started this trip. Maybe if all goes well we will be back next year.
Wouldn't it be neat to picture Ryan stopping at our door that Mary promised would line the bike path with the rest of the painted doors next year?
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