45th Anniversary (Part II)...

This entry will highlight a couple of other unique places we visited while on our trip to Traverse City for our 45th. 
 The first is a place just on the outskirts of the city called "Grand Traverse Commons"  The following is an excerpt from a website that describes local attractions.
"The former home of the Northern Michigan Asylum is now being redeveloped into a unique “village” of shops, restaurants, apartments and galleries in what may be the country’s largest historic re-use project. Developers are preserving both the castle-like 19th century buildings that once housed staff and patients, as well as the 480-acre wooded campus that surrounds them – now a favorite place for hikers and cyclists." 

From what we could see as we walked the area, the shops were located in the basement area (See two pictures above).  They were nice, bright and very welcoming.  I think all of the rest of the buildings are apartments and condos.  There were pictures documenting the history of the building and grounds, and all of them were very interesting.  I couldn't help but wonder to myself -- I am sure that all of the newness and warmth certainly don't reflect the past, and possibly the horror faced by the staff, patients and families.  As I looked at the artifacts like the old wooden wheelchairs (shown above), and the scenes depicted in the black and white pictures, I couldn't help but wonder about all that went on here.

Also on the grounds was another of the Veterans' Memorials we saw throughout our travels.  This one was well done and depicted the sacrifices of those who took place in wars from WWI to Afghanistan.

The second place I want to highlight is a site we visited called Bay Harbor.  We had been here before, on our last trip and, since it was on our way one day, we decided to drive through and see if anything had changed.  It had not -- it was still very, very exclusive and way out of our price range. 

 

It was OK to go and see how the other half lives, but we didn't stay long.

Vacations are kinda fun like that -- you can go see places that are comfortable, like home or someplace you have been before.  And then there are places you can "drive thru" that make you uncomfortable but glad that you at least saw them.  I think the key is that when going to these places one feels thankful for the comfortable places and the things you have , and knows the difference between these places and the "make-believe" places. 

I can only speak for myself here, but three lessons or "morals to the story" I have learned about things, experiences and places we've stayed or been to on a vacation are:
It is always more expensive than it looks; it is always farther than it looks; and, it is always better remembered on a cold winter night than it might have been at the time.

Hooah