A dreary, dreary day in the Grand Traverse region and a cancellation meant that we wound up killing some time between vendor meetings on Friday morning in an outlet mall. The good news is that we got some cakes to taste and take home, even if the two vendors we got them from probably won't make the final cut. In the afternoon rain, up to the club and an evening with family.

Saturday started out poised to follow Friday's weather trend but made a late save. After a walk around the marina and park, we had lunch, Buzz Aldrins, and then decided to go for a ride in the boat up to Gladstone. On the way back, it got dead calm and the sun tried to come out so we 'pulled over' and did a little waterskiing - when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Back on the patio, we delegated dinner duties to Robin, who created/concocted a wonderful Thai meal that wrapped up with several southeast-Asian fruits over sticky rice and coconut milk. Sunday we took it easy, did some Rapid River visiting and hit the Dairy Flo before meeting the fam at Maywood for a trip down proverbial memory lane. We poked around the house and were absolutely amazed at the decreasing water level (or increase in beach). Then, in a long-standing but also long-unobserved tradition, we went to Peninsula Point for a late summer photo op at the lighthouse. We found some half-buring coals and made dinner, moving quickly in an effort to move the party back to Escanaba where skiing and Dad's birthday celebration waited. Back on Stonington, later, Bill and Sharon arrived from Bristol, TN, with a NASCAR-sized barrel of energy after a long day in the car and an even bigger-sized barrel of swag.

Monday was the last day of our little trip, so we started early with a final round of waterskiing in Escanaba, in which Jenelle learned to ski and there was much rejoicing. We spent the morning and then signed off, heading to RRHS for another trip down another Memory Lane. We spent the afternoon on Stonington and jumped into the car for a late night trip south to Michigan's other peninsula.