This past year I turned 50, and with this milestone I became a bit more reflective of my past. I began thinking about the childhood days of the Northern Michigan family vacations with my brothers and parents. Back then there was genuine excitement dealing with the fact that we would be going away, even if it was just a simple trip north to go camping. I have been to destinations all around the country and witnessed some fantastic sites but something has always pulled me back to these simple trips north.
I currently live in the Detroit area and it is on a yearly basis that my wife and I take a vacation making the trek north up I-75 and across US-2 to visit her parents. These are the same places I had visited as a child, and maybe now I can begin to make sense out of why this has always been special. It is hard to put your finger on just one thing that separates activities up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula from life at home. How can a person choose between the first inhale of Lake Superior air, biking for hours, sunsets that saturate the skyline or wordless hours of contentedness spent in Adirondack chairs smoking cigars.
Yet for all of northern Michigan's abundant treasures, something has to be said for realizing that all of the daily necessities from home become unnecessary up there while on vacation. Alarm clocks, blackberries, cell phones, tending to physical appearance, and diets and alcohol consumption limits become somewhat meaningless.
Whatever the particular fondness, it is safe to say that the northern Michigan state of mind can not be replicated back home. So it is a kind of ode to my own rational way of thinking that here are my latest reasons why I am now becoming fond of this trip all over again, and possibly why I felt so good about the vacation as a child.
o Appetites abound because everything tastes better cooked up there, especially the homemade pasties which I only have once a year.
o Riding a bike and experiencing the joy of the rolling hills and winding turns knowing that with every last aching pedal up the hills the reward comes in the glide down.
o Falling asleep after watching old movies, which somehow seem better then the current releases even with the lack of High Definition special effects.
o Being the only human being on the beach after bathing in the lake.
o Sitting on the porch looking at a sky so clear you feel as if you are in a planetarium.
o Fishing in the early morning, even if it does not really matter if the fish are biting or not
Unfortunately, the experience only lasts for a few days, and then the reality of the real world sets in again, but for the short period of time, I think I remember why my past and my present meet up once a year, and how good the feeling is to experience this once again.
Earl Campbell
