Michigan Trip - July 2009

As so often is the case, our families took us on different paths this past weekend. Susan spent this past Saturday with her first cousins at a reunion in Macon. Meanwhile, I left earlier in the week for Michigan where I attended the Phatharaphak reunion. My sons: Dennis, Derek and Dana are all grandchildren of Choy Phatharaphak Gedney.


Of course, I'm famous for making side trips on my drives from Atlanta to Grand Rapids, Michigan. While avoiding a back-up on I-65, the "old" highway took me past the Wigwam Village (Motel) in Cave City, Kentucky. Wouldn't it be neat to spend at least one night in a tepee?


Instead I spent the night in Lafayette, Indiana and took this nostalgic photo of an old gas station.





The next day I arrived in my old hometown of St. Joseph, Michigan, visited a few former high school classmates, and tooled around town on my bicycle taking pictures. This is the south and north pier on Lake Michigan taken from the beach were I received many a bad sunburn.

St. Joe was just starting their famous Venetian Festival and the first day included an old car show. This 1955 Pontiac is very similar to the green convertible that my dad owned... for a while. I totaled it on a utility pole the same day I received my driver's license. The joke after that was something about me getting my license as a prize in a Cracker Jack box.

Soon it was on to Grand Rapids where I enjoyed visiting with the boys and their families. On Saturday I rode on an organized bike ride (40 miles) between Holland, MI and Saugatuck, MI and later in the day attended the Phathaphak family reunion. Here are all the second cousins. I lay claim to four of them: Kylie, Brittany, Mariah and Alex.