After returning from Ann Arbor Friday morning, I had a few hours at home before heading North to continue my weekend in Cheboygan and on the Island. After arriving and giving Katie her ordered Archer Farms items from Target, we went for a delicious dinner at Mulligan's, watched the Tigers game a bit, and walked a bit around town before returning to Katie's house. There we had a strangely scrumptious desert of pomegranates while playing Life (the card game, of course) and watching "Batman: The Movie," the Adam West/Burt Ward version known for its incredible dialogue and undeniable logic.
The next morning, we caught the boat to the Island and checked-in with the proprietor of our lodging, Mr. Lee May, at his fudge shop that was 23-degrees warmer than the cold and windy outside. We spent the afternoon wandering around the sales and not buying much of anything. However, we did take a break for lunch at the Grand courtesy of Mr. Bob Tagatz. Unfortunately/fortunately for us, it was the Somewhere in Time weekend at the Grand, which meant a bunch of women (and a few men/husbands dragged along) forced to dress in ridiculous and inaccurate costumes that were obsessed enough with the horrible movie and could recite such innane bits of trivia like "What was the name of one of the plays whose playbill hung in such-and-such's office?" or "How tall was the actor who played so-and-so?". However, our moods remained high and rating the Somewhere in Time-ers just added to the growing list of reasons we were enjoying the weekend. (photos: Mmmm... pomegranates; Katie in the dining room of the Grand eating plate #1 at lunch; and some of the Somewhere in Time crowd at their big trivia contest.)
After lunch, we headed back to town for the final bits of shopping and to pick up our costumes at the Beaumont. We had hoped to get some large pretzels at Doud's, only to find most of the shelves bare since it had recently been sold to an unknown party. After returning to the Dreamcatcher (our place of lodging), we watched the end of "Batman" and the beginning of "The Towering Inferno," relaxed a bit, and started stringing pretzels for our costumes. Lee (dressed as Jack Skellington from "The Nightmare Before Christmas") picked us (dressed again as Bavarian pretzel wenches) up and we went to the Gatehouse for a dinner and the start of our evening. (photos: Our place of lodging, the Dreamcatcher (thanks again, Lee!); Katie after she discovered that Doud's had been mysteriously sold; Lee at dinner, eating buffalo wings in his sister's white gloves; Katie and me with the Lincolns, both extremely excited; and we got even more excited when seven more arrived, totalling TEN Abe Lincolns!!!)
Everyone's costumes were fantastic and the night was a lot of fun. We spent some time at the Pink Pony listening to Myk Rise and at Horn's, but spent most of the time at the Gatehouse enjoying Hot Carl (though Hot Carl himself was too inebriated to actually perform). The following morning, after a breakfast at Sinclair's, we left the Island and headed back to Cheboygan and then myself heading back downstate. It was one of the more energized and fun Halloweens that I'd had for quite some time. (photos: Peggy the flapper; Carolyn aka Snow White; and Heather the disco rocker; Val and Lee dancing; Katie and Peggy dancing (note the awesome blue lightstick bracelet on Katie); one of the many pretzel casualties of the night; and the Pee Wee guy doing the "Tequila" dance (no, Jenny, he didn't bring giant underpants).)
(photos: Bertram and the pretzel wenches; Lee acting a bit shaksepearian; Peggy, Carolyn, and me; Peggy and Lee with some fabulous jazz hands; and the dance floor at Horn's (note the Lincoln in the background).)
***For additional photos, including more really cool costumes, visit Katie and Lee's blogs (linked on the right side of the page)***
