Day One: Trip up North w/ "Dad"

I met Rob at the house in Cincinnati shortly after noon on 03/17/05. We packed up the Pathfinder with boxes of lighting fixtures that have been purchased for the home...hoping that Luke the builder would have a somewhere to store them!

I started the first leg of our 8+ hour drive up north. The drive seemed to go rather fast - filled with good music and conversation. Rob took over the navigation somewhere between Toledo and Ann Arbor.

Prior to the trip, he had mentioned the idea of stopping at the Lumberjack in West Branch, MI (about 1.5-2 hours south of Traverse City). I knew that this was the place as we approached the property...a big sculpture of a Lumberjack sat proudly in front of the establishment.

Ohhh buddy....it was good....thick stew w/ large pieces of beef ladeled into a sourdough bread bowl. It hit the spot...

It was dark when we arrived in Suttons Bay. I quickly suggested that we take a quick peek at the house before retiring to the Whaleback Inn for the night. It wasn't a difficult decision to bypass the Whaleback Inn for 30 minutes or so.....we decided to drive to the site of the future vacation home. It was really dark, but was able to see the outline of the massive peak of this beautiful home.

It was a clear, chilly night with a huge collection of stars in the sky - an incredibly relaxing feeling.

We decided it was time to head over to the Whaleback Inn to rest up for a big day with Luke (and breakfast...at the Village Inn in downtown Suttons Bay).