Category: Traverse City (Page 1 of 8)

An Old Mission Morning

February 9, 2024 / scott.stoecker / 0 Comments

In the summer, Old Mission is usually a no-go zone for me unless visitors come to town. M-37 is really the only way to get around quickly, and during the summer, there are too many cars looking at too much beautiful scenery to get anywhere quickly. Add to that Traverse City’s infestation of Subaru Outbacks, the slowest car on the road, and it’s a frustrating ride.

Next year will be even worse, with the construction on Grandview Parkway coming next month, getting to the east side of town from my home on Leelanau will be a painful process, one not worth taking unless necessary. Sorry Jimmy John’s, my visits will be falling off quite a bit until the fall.

But during the off season, especially in the morning, it’s not a bad ride, and it’s not too difficult to zip around the slow drivers to get to the tip of the peninsula. My mission was the Old Mission State Park where I did a long hike. This time of year, the trails aren’t attractive – brown is the main color, with leafless trees, muddy trails and dead grasses.

The real draw is the water. While the path doesn’t follow the water the whole way, there are a few nice views along the way.

Alley by Night

December 10, 2023 / scott.stoecker / 0 Comments

Traverse City does a great job of lighting up its downtown area. Front Street is always well done, but let’s not overlook the J. Smith Walkway.

J. Smith was Jay Smith, an editor of the Traverse City Record Eagle and the co-founder of the National Cherry Festival, one of the defining events in Northern Michigan. It’s an easy piece of real estate to overlook as a connection between Front Street and the parking lots to the north, but it’s a neat little park.

There was once a fountain, but that was removed last year – it hasn’t worked in several years.

The houses are coming

December 8, 2023 / scott.stoecker / 0 Comments

Shortly after we moved into our house in Leelanau County in 2021, news came that a new housing development was coming to the corner of M-72 and Bugai Road, a partnership between Habit for Humanity and New Waves United Church of Christ to provide affordable housing, something that is needed around here.

The roads to the subdivision were put in later that year, and then… nothing happened. For a long time.

But things are on the move! The first two houses have started going up and progress is being made.

That area has seen a lot of changes since we moved in. Edge 72, the apartment complex, was just an empty piece of unused field on the southwest corner when we arrived. And a non-functioning windmill was on the northeast side. And the solar panel array expanded quite a bit last year.

I’ve heard rumors of other changes to that area, such as a gas station on the south side of the road (in Grand Traverse County). But there is no doubt the metropolitan area of Traverse City is expanding west.

Traverse City’s Ugliest Fence

December 3, 2023 / scott.stoecker / 0 Comments

By far the best ugliest fence belongs to this house on Fourteenth and Cass:

Adding more colors to something doesn’t make it look better, it just makes it more garish. The Biblical verse is nice, though. Love thy neighbor even when they have no sense of style.

Strange things are afoot…

November 20, 2023 / scott.stoecker / 0 Comments

Traverse City has gotten its very own Circle K! Yes, at the corner of South Airport and Cass, the legendary convenience has arrived, though it is still being rebranded from a Holiday station:

Perhaps “legendary” is too strong a word. Perhaps “excellent” is a better one. Circle K will always remind me of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, the place where their adventure through time starts.

Unfortunately, that particular Circle K (in Tempe, AZ) closed last year. We perhaps if there is ever a “Bill and Ted’s Part 4” movie, they’ll film it here.

The gas pump is tougher than it looks

November 17, 2023 / scott.stoecker / 0 Comments

This is why we can’t have nice things.

This the Speedway at the corner of Grandview Road and M-22. That was quite a shot, getting around the pole and hitting the pump hard enough to take it off the cement. There were no explosions or billowing clouds of smoke, so evidently the safety measures on the gas pumps work.

Perhaps it was someone that finally got fed up with the Speedy Rewards card scanner not working. I’ve been there, too.

Just a jump to the left

November 5, 2023 / scott.stoecker / 0 Comments

A long time ago (when I was still a teenager), in a city far, far away (Lansing), I used to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show every Friday night at the Spartan Theater. I wouldn’t call it a good movie, and I would question the taste of anyone who says it is, but it was something to do at midnight on a weekend.

Well, decades later, lo and behold, Rocky Horror is at the State Theater here in lovely Traverse City:

No, it wasn’t a midnight, but it was also sold out, something that never happened at those midnight showings, except perhaps on Halloween, which is when I saw it last week here in the north.

It was also my first visit to the State Theater, and it was a beautiful place to see a movie. They usually show things I’m not interested in (like lefty documentaries), but this time they made a great choice of films, and I couldn’t resist reliving parts of my youth. The theater was beautiful, and I loved the stars on the ceiling and enormous red curtain – it was like being in theaters before they became the standardized version you see in every mall out lot these days.

There were some old pros in the audience who knew all the things to say, which warmed my heart. No, there was no 2:00AM meal at Don’s in Lansing on Oakland, but I’m looking forward to seeing Rocky Horror at the State again next year.

Doesn’t seem very inclusive

October 24, 2023 / scott.stoecker / 0 Comments

I was perusing a Traverse City events site – I’m always looking for interesting things to do – when I saw this description:

Description: Join GTCD and partners from across the state for Pollinate 2023, an inclusive conference for women and non-binary professionals in agriculture and natural resource conservation.

Do you remember when the word “inclusive” meant including everyone and not excluding half the population of planet Earth? George Orwell called it “doublespeak”, saying one thing when actually meaning something quite different.

I’d like to help the GTCD with their description. Here is what it should say:

Description: Join GTCD and partners from across the state for Pollinate 2023, an ~~inclusive~~ conference for women and men pretending to be women in agriculture and natural resource conservation.

I’d be happy to review any future posts by the GTCD.

Lost Lake – Found in the Fall

October 22, 2023 / scott.stoecker / 0 Comments

If you are a fan of fall colors, this is the time. Right now! October 22nd, 2023. Things are at their peak, and if you read this next week, you’ve missed the best of the colors and will have to wait until next year.

But in case you do, here are some photos of yesterday’s hike at Lost Lake Pathways.

Lost Lake Pathways is north of Interlochen. I’d give directions, but you have Google Maps. Or Apple Maps. Or MapQuest, if you’re still in 2005. There is a generously large dirt parking lot to begin your hiking pleasure. Or if you’re the camping sort, there is a campground. I don’t camp much – found memories of when I did – but for whatever reason, I do like wandering around empty campgrounds. And in the fall and winter, Michigan is full of them.

And what looks nicer than clouds and colorful trees and their reflections on water.

I realized as I passed the duck hunters that I needed to start wearing neon for the next several months. But I safely navigated the trails and waterways to make it back to that fabulous dirt parking lot.

Construction!

September 22, 2023 / scott.stoecker / 0 Comments

This is going to be a familiar site along Grandview in the coming months:

For now, they are tearing up part of the median between Division and M-72. I believe they are going to have a turn lane onto Elmwood, but I could be wrong. I don’t know that this will help with anything, but some MDOT employee in a cube in Lansing decided this is what we needed three hours away, so this is what we get.