Summer Trips 2023 II

 

When it looked like it was going to be a problem with timing and doing a long road trip to "the bridge" (mysterious music), I hunted around for a nicer, closer outing where we could go. 

It is easier to make a sightseeing trip in Europe. Every little hamlet, village and town has some plaque or museum or historical marking that you can go anywhere for a small outing to see and learn and be productive.  the US and A...?  That said, there are quite a few in Northern Michigan its just that most of them are more like 2-3 hours of driving away. But if you only need a nice walk in the forests with some history attached, then there are many if you do a little research.  That is why it was nice to find the HARTWICK PINES STATE PARK with BOTH nice woods walking and historical content.  

The sad reality of northern Michigan is that its history and nature were nearly wiped out of existence in the late 19th century by logging.  Hartwick Pines State park is interesting because it has some of the only "old growth" trees left in the entire State.  There is another place in southern Michigan too, but that is about it in the lower peninsula.  In Hartwick there is a nice small walk among the huge old growth pines.  These are trees which have existed since BEFORE the revolutionary war.  "Stretching skyward for 120 feet and more, the giant pines are the only remnants of what Michigan looked like before the arrival of men with axes."

There are historical buildings in the park showing how the loggers lived and there are nice walks of varying lengths in the woods.  We took a nice walk in the forest beyond the old growth path. The only thing was it was a very hot and humid day and this prompted no small amount of complaining from my daughters.  I always try to make the best of a situation and enjoyed the nature and ignored the heat, but maybe that comes with age and kids ,especially teenagers, whine about anything bad, moreso if it is organized by a parent.  

The nature was nice and the old growth impressive.  I was however saddened by the historical element.  I guess you have to put things in context.  Most people back then (second half of the 19th century) lived in standards way below what we have now of course, but it seemed both very sad the way the loggers lived at their jobs they worked at.  While I can not sit in their stools and watch with their eyes, it seemed like they were small cogs in the machine which was very oppressive in those days.  They worked hard and gained little and helped destroy the natural order of life with no plan of sustainability or regrowth.  Just cut and ship, move on to the next forest.  Something like the Lorax by Dr. Seuss which is kind of how it ended up.  

I have learned that many of those trees helped to rebuild Chicago after the great Chicago fire.  Others built up the prairie land and North and South Dakota for settlers.  Judge the history as you want, good and bad.

I dont think my kids gained this impression. They were just concerned with getting the walk done and getting to an air conditioned car.  Paradoxically a couple hours later we had a huge 10 minute downpour which knocked branches down and even rolled a truck off the street we were driving on into the gutter and woods.  

In retrospect I think about that day and outing quite a lot and am proud of myself for organizing an educational outing and nice nature walk for my kids. And then we had a nice lunch planned afterwards. At the time I was thinking it was a disaster.  Even the planned lunch we had in a restaurant we had gotten food from 2 years ago during the covid summer didnt turn out well. The chicken wings were small, the dumplings were not "Japanese" as my daughter thought they would be and my daughter did not like sitting in this establishment with these people.  She would rather have taken out. Thus she was complaining about that too.  It all made me wonder why I should try?   

We havent seen my mother, their grandmother, since 2019.  After that year of course was covid in 2021 and 2020.  And in 2022 we just didnt make the visit.  Now we did.  But, the problem is, and this is the problem with all my outings and journeys, is I got travel anxiety.  This was a big outing with a plane down south. I had to book the plane AND the shuttle from the airport to the house of my mother. 

This doesnt have much to do with being a father, it has more to do with phobias I
have which further cramps my father abilities.  Booking a plane and stuff having to do with a journey takes me several hours.  Not only the looking and comparing prices but the wondering and pausing.  Sometimes I wonder if it is just easier to forget it.  And when the trip seems to be a disaster at the time (like the Hartwick Pines visit) you procrastinate more.  

Needless to say I did it all.  I booked everthing. We made the trip. We saw my Mother once again which was very nice for all.  It was a short visit, but it was severely hot where we were with her and really all we could do was stay inside and be with my Mother, which was kind of the point.  I miss my mother the way she used to be and it scares me a little the coming of time, the time passing and things aint the way they used to be.  I guess my Mother is golden in that way that she is able to live in the present and enjoy each day on its own merit and not compared with the past and "what it used to be".  She is happy with each day.  I guess I dont take after her in that respect.  

But I digress to some unknown point. 

I was just happy that the trips were accomplished.  Because it doesnt seem like the more you do, the easier it becomes.  It seems like a tough fight to rewire your brain and abilities to be able to do each one.  Is it possible to rewire the brain on this aspect? 

I think when we got back from visiting mother (grandmother) we only had one more week vacation, so my anxiety started again. 

I am trying to come to some big moral or sumptuous ending to this post, but nothing comes to mind.  Cant we accept people for their different abilities and their strengths and weaknesses?  My strength is someone elses weak point and vice versa. It is a lesson in Ricardos comparative advantages theory.  (Need you ask?).  In the meanwhile I have to work on my weaknesses, this is true. 

In the end, I organized some outings and despite whether I thought they were good or bad, they happened with some relative success. Some were better than others, but they all came off.  Maybe next year we can make it to the bridge.