Sunday, August 12, 2012

A Walk Down Memory Lane

We’ll start with another picture looking out of our dining room window across Little Traverse Bay.

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The year was nineteen hundred and seventy one.  I was a third class petty officer (keep in mind that petty means small and insignificant) in the United States Coast Guard and was just reporting in for duty at the USCG Air Station in Traverse City, Michigan.  I had enlisted in the Coast Guard after graduating from college in 1969 because there was a long waiting list for Officer Candidate School and the US Army was sending me an invitation that I couldn’t refuse.

Being an enlisted man or woman is not always the ideal.  The Army Officer’s field training manual states that, “Enlisted are stupid but very cunning and sly and bear considerable watching.”  However, in my mind, being enlisted in the Coast Guard was a whole lot better than being shot at in a rice paddy in a war that I did not believe in.  Just a note here, I don’t believe in the war in Afghanistan either; Bin Laden is dead, we should be out of there (in my humble opinion).

Now, just so you know, I enjoyed the Coast Guard and the duty stations where I served.  While stationed at the Air Station in Traverse City, I met my bride to be who has been at my side for almost forty years.  “We could get lost baby I don't care, I ain't worried as long as you're there, There ain't no place that I'd rather be, Next to you, sittin' next to me.”

Okay, I said all of that just to say that yesterday we returned to the land of the fair maiden and our romance to visit some of our old haunts.  The Air Station, as we knew it, is no longer there.  All the buildings, including the hanger, have been torn down and all new buildings have been built replacing them.  Plus the Air Station only occupies about a third of the space that it used to while the other two thirds now contains ball fields.

Here is a picture looking down Union Street in Traverse City.

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And here is the Old Town Playhouse which is home of the Traverse City Civic Players.  Judy and I belonged to the Civic Players when we first started dating way back when Hector was a pup (and so were we).

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This is John, Shirley, and Judy’s grand parent’s home that is just across the street from West Bay.

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After our special ceremony back in March of 1973, Judy and I headed to the quaint little fishing village of Leland, Michigan for our honeymoon.  So we decided to take a little walk down memory lane and drove out to Leland, which is now a fishing town turned tourist trap.  Here are some photos that we made around what is known as Fishtown.  This used to be the docks with fishing shanties which have now been turned into “cute little shops”.

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And, of course, our trip wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t do a drive by past the Leland Lodge where we stayed for our honeymoon night.  I wonder if I could still carry Miss Judy across the threshold?

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Other than being tourists, we stopped by Judy’s mom’s grave site and checked in at the cemetery office to update the paperwork on the remaining site which is in Judy’s name.

Yesterday was just another w*rk day.  For some reason, it was a busy day, but that made it go by much faster.  We made a Walmart run and settled our account with the campground so now we’re ready to roll on Tuesday.  Other than that, we did a little reading and watched some of the Olympics.  Are we getting to be an old boring couple, or what?

Today is Sunday so you know what that means – it’s worship.  Speaking the Lord, I’ve been reading “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan and Judy is reading “Not A Fan” by Kyle Idleman.  These are a couple of the best books that you’ll ever read or they’re a couple of the best books that you’ll never read.  They are a must read for those wanting to become true followers of Jesus.

Have A Great Day and May God Bless - - - - - - - -

1 comment:

  1. I read Crazy Love a while back and I totally agree....great book!!

    ReplyDelete