Buck's Blog – Page 33 – The Hobby Journal of a Wargamer

Second installment of vacation photos

The second phase of this year’s vacation involved two days in Glacier National Park. Like many of the places we visit on these multi-state vacations, we could easily have spent a week here if we wanted to see all the sites and take all the hikes.

We drove through a LOT of Montana to get to Glacier National Park

We had to travel through most of Montana to get to the park from North Dakota. We had accomplished most of the drive the day before, but we still had a couple of hours of travel the first morning to get to the park. The picture (above) is just one of hundreds of long expanses of grassland we passed through. It’s hard to capture in a photo just how far you could see into the distance.

Almost immediately upon entering the National Park we came across a sign for a one-mile hike to Apikuni Falls. A mile? How hard could that be? Well, it was real mountain goat country, but it was quite impressive once we got there. This picture (above) is just the base of the falls.

This picture is a wide shot that shows the full extent of the falls.

This is what we passed through to get to the falls. All of these trees were over 40 feet tall.

A view of our hotel from the parking lot

This is the Glacier Park Lodge where we stayed. After our first hike, we continued to the lodge and checked in. When the hotel was rebuilt in the 1930’s it was styled on Bavarian or Swiss architecture, because they were billing the area as “America’s Alps.”

We then took at four-mile hike to Redrock Falls. It was a pleasant, mostly-level hike. These falls (only partially shown here) might be my favorite of the many we saw on this trip. The water churned in and around large rock formations, and you could get close enough to touch the water — which was quite cold! You can see from this picture why the are called “red rock.”

This picture is out of order. It shows a view of Glacier from the Many Glacier entrance road. This is how we were greeted upon entering the park. The views were amazing.

One of the appealing things to me about staying in the old, majestic hotels inside the national parks is that they do not have televisions. People gather in these common areas. This picture (above) is the lobby of our hotel. There was always a fire in the fireplace in the center of the room. The weather was in the 50’s and 60’s most of the time, but the fire was nice. In the evenings people gathered here, on the expansive back porch, or other common areas to chat, have a snack, and enjoy the views. There was an enclosed “breezeway” that connected this main building from another building of hotel rooms. The staff had partially-assembled jigsaw puzzles on many of the tables in these common areas for people to work. There was a cupboard full of board games for people to use.

A game of Dominoes at the Glacier Park Lodge

As is our tradition, we brought our dominoes with us. We found an unclaimed table in the breezeway and played dominoes until the sun nearly set (probably 2200 hrs) while snacking on huckleberry licorice and sunflower seeds.

The view from the back porch of our hotel

The next day we left Many Glacier and re-entered the park at East Glacier. Driving up the “Going to the Sun” road to Logan pass, we stopped to take a hike that should have taken us to three waterfalls: Barring, St. Mary, and Virginia; however, the path from Barring to St. Mary and subsequently Virginia, was closed. Bears were on the trail feating on an animal carcass, so the park service closed the trail. We did get to see Barring Falls, however.

An unnamed waterfall deep in the valley below the road leading to Logan Pass from East Glacier

The views on the Going to the Sun Road were as impressive as those from the Many Glacier area.

Mountain Goats along the Going to the Sun Road

We ran into some politicians along the way.

Another view on the Going to the Sun road was Wild Goose Island. There can’t be five trees on this small island in the middle of water, but the brochure said that this is one of the most photographed spots in the park.

Logan Pass was still closed to vehicle traffic, but it was open to hikers and bikers. They are still clearing snow and ensuring that there won’t be any late Spring rock slides.

A view of Logan Pass from where the pass remains closed from the Winter

We did hike a little beyond where the road was closed. Since we couldn’t continue on Going to the Sun Road to West Glacier, we had to leave the park and drive two hours around the southern end to re-enter and see the other side of the pass and the areas around Lake McDonald.

Stopping to cool our feet in the river/creek feeding Lake McDonald in West Glacier

While West Glacier was much more “woodsy” and much less mountainous, we took a hike from the northern end of Lake McDonald toward the Sacred Dancing Cascade. Along the way, we stopped to cool our feet in the numbingly cold water.

As is our tradition, we generally avoid chain hotels and opt instead for mom and pop places. Here is our cabin in Lone Wolf Resort about ten miles outside of Glacier National Park. The cabin had electricity but not much else. We used shower and bathrooms in the nearby comfort station. Amusingly, you needed to put $0.50 into a coin box to get 10 minutes of water in the showers. The women’s showers worked fine, but when I put my two quarters into the box, my shower didn’t turn on. As I had no more quarters, Tom and I split 10 minutes.

Tom helping Sam into the upper bunk in our cabin at Lone Wolf Resort (yes they knew there was a ladder!)

The kids enjoyed the upper bunk, particularly finding novel ways to get into it without using the provided ladder.

Off to Washington State via an 1880’s gold mine in northern Idaho tomorrow.

On the Road Again…

Outside the Lego store in the Mall of the Americas, Minneapolis, MN

Two weeks after moving into a new house, the Surdus began their annual multi-state romp. I was on a business trip to the left coast the early part of the week, but instead of flying home, I flew to Minneapolis and met Candy and the kids there. After linking up and getting the rental car, we went to the Mall of the Americas to nose around and have dinner. While many of the stores and restaurants are the same as those found in other malls, they did have some things that seem to have disappeared, like GOOD game stores and stores with interesting “stuff.” We enjoyed the huge Lego store. The picture (above) is of Tommy looking at a “pointillist” picture made of Legos. We played miniature golf in the mall and found the indoor amusement park interesting, though we didn’t go on any of the rides.

The next day we headed northward to Lake Itasca state park. The Mississippi River flows some 2500+ miles, but you can wade across the Mississippi at Lake Itasca, where the river begins.

Marker at the headwaters of the Mississippi River

Within the park we took a several-mile hike to an old fire watch tower, which provided a terrific view of the area.

We were attacked by mosquitos and ticks during this trek. The next day I had over forty mosquito bites on my legs. Despite staying on the marked trails, we each had six or seven ticks on us, and we were still finding ticks in the car the next day. We also hiked to the headwaters and waded across the river.

Tom and Sam step across the rocks that mark the headwaters of the Mississippi River

The water was cool and clear — quite different than at its other end in New Orleans.

After several hours at Lake Itasca, we began a LONG car ride to Bismark, ND, to position ourselves for the next day’s activities. Towns were few and far between, but when the GPS noted something called “Pizza Ranch,” Tommy decided that we couldn’t resist checking this out. We got off the highway in the small town of Casselton, ND. Pizza Ranch turns out to be a small chain with a pizza buffet, a nice salad bar, “famous” chicken, and other food items. The price even included an ice cream bar from a freezer. On a big sign in the restaurant, they list their vision statement as: “To glorify God by positively impacting the world we live in,” so they appear to be like Chic-Fil-A in their management style. We try to avoid a lot of chains on these trips, but this was an unexpected gem.

The next day we visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, ND. In a previous trip we’d visited the Bad Lands of South Dakota. This park includes the Bad Lands of North Dakota. While none of the “mountains” are particularly tall, the views are amazing.

We went on four hikes during our visit. Each hike had a brochure at the trail head with descriptions of points of interest that corresponded to marked points on the trail. None of the hikes were too strenuous, but they were fun and interesting.

I expected North Dakota to be pretty flat, but most of the state that we drove through was very hilly. Of course, the Bad Lands are very hilly, but most of the state seemed to consist of rolling, grass-covered hills that looked more like pictures of parts of China than the “great plains.”

During our last hike we walked out to this "peak" for a terrific view of Theodore Roosevelt National Park

This was one of the shorter hikes, out to a point where you could look down into the Bad Lands almost 360 degrees.

Tom and me in front of the North Dakota Bad Lands

After being nearly eaten alive by mosquitos the previous day, the higher, dryer terrain near Theodore Roosevelt National Park seemed cool and windy, which made the day nearly insect free.

The hikes tried to limit hikers to the marked paths in order to control erosion. Along many of the paths, we could see numerous animal tracks and signs of Bison, but we saw no animals during our hikes.

One of the interesting hikes took us through an area were a close-to-the-surface vein of coal had burned for nearly 30 years, beginning in the 60s. It was interesting to see how the underground fire had changed the landscape. These underground coal vein fires are started by lightning, brush fires, or spontaneous combustion.

One of the many spectacular peaks in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

After several hours in the park, we ate at the Cowboy Cafe in Medora (shockingly overpriced and underwhelming food) and got on the road for Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.

Sam puts her hand next to a bison hoof mark for scale.

It’s hard to see in this picture, particularly after I down-sampled it to upload it to the blog, but the bison hoof mark is almost 10 inches across.

We saw herds of buffalo along the road leading to the park, but we only saw five or six buffalo inside the park. The first few we saw appeared to be sleeping in the tall grass. This one was actively grazing.

This is a panoramic shot taken with an app on Candy’s phone, which proves that I can be in multiple places at once.

Next stop Glacier National Park.

Fuson Con II (2013)

My buddy Sam Fuson hosted “FusonConII” at the War Horse Farm in Gettysburg yesterday. Dave Wood, Chris Palmer, and I ran games. Most of the gamers were Sam’s friends and co-workers, but Duncan Adams (of the HAWKs) came along as well. Among those attending were a couple of husband and wife pairs, a couple of father and son pairs, two brothers, and a niece and uncle pair. There were sixteen gamers, all told. The plan was for Dave, Chris, and me to run four games. Chris ran two back-to-back GASLIGHT gamers, Dave ran a Look, Sarge, No Charts: Napoleonic Wars game, and I ran a Look, Sarge, No Charts: World War II game.

Dave was play testing his Battle of Laon (1814) game as a play test for Cold Wars. Dave wanted to show how you could easily make use of an old 25mm Napoleonic collection to demonstrate that the barrier to entry for LSNC: Napoleonics is low. You can see from these pictures that the old 25mm Minifigs, originally mounted for Empire rules, look very nice placed on magnetic “sabot” bases.

Dave didn’t remount any of his old figures. They were mounted on metal bases three or four figures across. He stuck two of those “strips” of figures onto a magnetic base and then also affixed the LSNC: Napoleonics label to the magnetic base. With a minimum of effort Dave was able to pull his old Minifigs out of mothballs and put on an enjoyable game.

A close-up view of Dave's 28mm cavalry bases

This shot show how the “sabot” bases for cavalry look.

Dave and I are working on a series of 1814 scenarios. I ran one of mine, Vouchamps, last Friday night at our club meeting. He ran Laon yesterday. Vouchamps needs a little tweaking, but Laon went very well. It was a near run thing. When time ran out and we counted casualties, the Prussians had lost 6 bases, and the French had lost 5, while retaining possession of the road that would be used later to facilitate their retreat.

Poles and Germans vying for control of a small town

After lunch, I set up a six-player Poland 1939 game using LSNC: WWII and my 10mm figures. The game was supposed to be a Germans attack to seize a town along the Polish line of communications.

A long shot of the 10mm Poland 1939 Look, Sarge, No Charts: WWII game

Instead, Duncan in the Polish center went on the attack with his horse-mounted cavalry. Duncan smashed through a German infantry battalion. Then he got greedy and tried to run down a German anti-tank gun. He took some casualties, and his heroic cavalry ran for cover.

A German infantry battalion getting hammered by Duncan's Polish blitzkrieg while the German armor conducts "slothkrieg"

Meanwhile the German armor was trying to push their way across a river. There were three bridges, and the crossings were only lightly defended by some Polish armored cars. The German armor seemed hesitant to take casualties and did not advance aggressively. As a result, most of the German armor was still on the wrong side of the River as Duncan was smashing the German center. It doesn’t happen often that a player is completely wiped out, but in this game Alicia’s (orange sweat shirt) entire German infantry battalion was reduced to a single anti-tank gun section. The game was a convincing Polish victory.

While these two historical games were going on in one room, Chris was running his two GASLIGHT games in the other. I didn’t get pictures of Chris’ first game, but check out his blog (link at the top of this page) for his AAR. This game was a Burroughs-only Mars game. (Typically we do a Verne, Burroughs, Wells, etc. mashup.)

Kathy, Dave, and the back of Ed in Chris' Mars game

Even Sam’s bride-to-be got into the act. This picture was taken just before a great white ape crawled out of cave and attacked one of Sam’s units in retribution for Sam poking fun at the GM’s singing.

Barrage 2012 was a Huge Success

The Harford Area Weekly Kreigspeilers present our annual gaming day yesterday, 15 September in the Havre de Grace Community Center. It was a huge success, with a number of firsts:

A new, larger, better-lit venue
A Flames of War tournament (with 18 of 24 available slots filled)
Expanded food service for lunch (hot dogs, drinks, chips, candy, and other snacks at a reasonable price)
Record attendance (which was exciting, given a new venue and the threat that folks from Northern Virginia wouldn’t drive to Northern Harford County.
Record number of dealer tables (Age of Glory, On Military Matters, Lost Battalion Games, and The War Store (Havre de Grace)). All dealers reported a successful weekend and said they would return next year.
Record number of games for kids, including a table dedicated to kids all day
Record number of kids (6 or more youngsters who stayed all day and played in a wide variety of games)

One view of my War Rocket kids' game table

This year’s attendance was 104, which does not include the HAWKs. In HAWKs tradition, we pushed as many players as we could into games run by non-HAWKs who supported our convention by offering to run games. I do not think that any GM who came to run a game didn’t have enough players to run it. We cancelled two HAWKs-run games to ensure this was true. There were no players turned away from games; everyone who came to Barrage was gainfully employed all day.

We think that the number, breadth, and quality of games were about right this year. We need about 20 more gamers next year to fill all games. If everyone brings one more friend next year, we’ll achieve that goal.

As is HAWKs tradition, we try to encourage younger gamers. While previous Barrage game days have always features a large number of games for kids, this year we dedicated a table to kids games. These included: my War Rocket spaceship game, Rob Dean’s Hannibal game, Eric Schlegel’s ACW game, and Geoff Graff’s Lego pirate game. In addition, Ken Frost ran the Lego pyramid game for which he won an award at Historicon 2012.

People often think the HAWKs are a much larger group than we are. There are really about 12-15 regulars. What makes us appear bigger than we are is the large percentage of folks who run games. Just about all the HAWKs are active GMs in HAWKs meetings, in local gaming events, and in large HMGS East conventions. What makes the HAWKs work is a dearth of hierarchy and bureaucracy. Barrage is not an event run by a “convention team.” It is a group effort in which everyone contributes to they extend they are able and comfortable. Whether its organizing the event schedule (me), organizing the dealer area (Duncan), handling the back end logistics (Geoff), running games, setting up, tearing down, making sure non-HAWKs games are filled, donating food and supplies, working the registration desk, or whatever needs to be done, HAWKs manage Barrage in a decentralized manner with a minimum of fuss, angst, control, or organization.

As a new feature, we think we’ll offer a small number of Friday night games next year as well.

We are checking with the Recreation Center now to see when it is available for next year, but we’d like to do it a week later in September to avoid potential conflicts with Antietem and Defenders’ Day. We’ll publish next year’s date as soon as we confirm it. We hope to see each of you next year.

A piece of the action as Martians mix it up with the local fire brigade

Two nights before Barrage, I still had people signing up to run games. In fact, I was worried about not having enough tables. This GASLIGHT War of the Worlds game was one of those last-minute additions. I think this was the first time these guys had run GASLIGHT at a convention, but by all accounts it was hugely successful.

Tim Tilson's Black Powder Sandershausen game

This was a really interesting game. When the game began, the players’s force were on these big tiles. Because of the fog, the players didn’t know who was on their left or right. As the game progressed, tiles were moved, and the table was finally filled in with additional tiles. It’s a very interesting concept from some of the nicest people in the hobby.

Mike Byrne's Force on Force modern Afghanistan game

Bill Mollineau's French and Indian war game

Aerodrome is popular with both kids and adults. My kids go to conventions largely just to play this game.

Tank Nickle's tremendous Blood and Swash cowboy fight on a moving train

Tank debuted this game at Historicon 2012. He built a representation of a cowboy train that is large enough to move figures around inside it. The game is a cowboy Blood and Swash game. People can run along the roof of the train, fight inside, and even gamble. This has become a crowd favorite.

The last game standing: Dave Wood's fantasy GASLIGHT game winding down

We want to maintain the friendly, low-stress feel of Barrage, but the new venue provides room for growth. In this picture you get a feel for the size of the main room. There is a second room about half this size. With enough growth we have flexibility to move tournament play into that room or put large, mega games in there. We will grow slowly so as not to sacrifice the local nature of Barrage. We need to add about 20 more games next year.

A part of the HAWKs crew that put on Barrage

From left to right: Geoff, Eric, Steve, Duncan, me (seated), Dave, Kurt (Charlie Brown shirt), Don, Chris (seated), Mike, Greg, and Tank (kneeling). Missing from the picture are Rob, Ken, Norman, William, Don S., Bruce, and Jennifer. My wife, who worked the food service with Jennifer most of the day, took the picture. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more active, friendly, or productive gaming group anywhere in the world.

The Detroit Coney Island Hot Dog

Some times you don’t notice something until you are away from it for a while. One of the things that struck me a few years ago is that you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Coney Island hot dog joint in the Detroit area. My dad found this interesting article about how the Coney Island became Detroit’s signature food.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2012/08/how-coney-dog-became-detroits-signature-food/2779/

Whenever I go back to Detroit for a visit I come back with a gross of natural casing hot dogs and a brick of chili from Dearborn Sausage. I also bring back Vernor’s ginger ale and Faygo pop (red pop, rock and rye, and root beer).

Mmmmm. I’m getting hungry.

Historicon 2012 Pictures

Another view of the table about half way through the game

This weekend was Historicon 2012. This year Historicon was held in Fredericksburg, VA. This was the first time in the new venue. While there were good and bad points to the new venue, in general, I think it was fine.

I ran seven games at the convention:

Northwest Frontier by GASLIGHT (Thursday evening)
Austrians vs. French using LSNC: Napoleonic Wars (Friday morning)
HAWKs kids’ army giveaway game (Friday evening)
Mars by GASLIGHT 20 player extravaganza (Saturday morning)
Prussians vs. French using LSNC: Napoleonic Wars (Saturday afternoon)
Russians vs. French using LSNC: Napoleonic Wars (Saturday evening)
Blood and Swash pirate tavern fight (Sunday morning)

I was generally happy with the way all the games played.

Pathans and British soldiers in my Northwest Frontier by GASLIGHT game

In the Northwest Frontier game, the British were trying to rescue Wee Willie Winkie from the Pathans in an open-field battle. The Pathans, however, were only holding her to lure the brigadier into the open so they could kill him. The game ended up being very close. The climactic action occurred on top of a rocky outcropping, where control of Winkie changed hands four times. In the end, it was the Sikh cannon crew which had no targets due to the ongoing melee, that captured Winkie for the last time and secured a victory for the British players.

Female Hussars lining up for battle with support from helicopters

The Mars GASLIGHT game had 21 contingents / forces with various objectives. The scenario was a mashup of Verne, Bourroughs, Wells, and others.

A long shot of the table early in the game

A funny incident occurred when a Russian tank was blown up. It was hit by a cannon from the Prussians, who rolled a critical hit on the tank. One of the female hussars’ helicopters was in the burst radius of the exploding tank. The helicopter also rolled a critical hit and exploded. Several of the female hussars were killed in the explosion as well.

Martian tripods advancing to destroy their technology before it is captured by Earth people

In the end, several players accomplished their missions. The game was set up so that many players had competing objectives. It was a wild and crazy game.

Keeping a 21 player GASLIGHT game moving takes some energy. Chris and I were constantly yelling the names of units from the game deck. Each player had three or four units, vehicles, and/or main characters. This kept the game moving and ensured that no one had to wait too long before they could activate again. I think the game was a big success. We had one player fail his player morale and leave. One other player didn’t get into the game until late, because we had altered the board from the map to make the table fit in the room we had at the convention, creating a bottleneck on a key bridge.

Greg Priebe ran a very successful GASLIGHT zombie game set in the American Revolution.

A view of thick action during one of my LSNC: Napoleonic Wars games

I ran three LSNC: Napoleonic Wars games. They all went well. I ran some “stock” convention scenarios, so I could concentrate on the rules. All of the games filled, so I think there is interest in rules that offer something new for the period. Hopefully these rules offer something new.

With Napoleonic Wars, there are a lot of “experts” who have preconceived notions and generally cannot be pleased. It’s hard to create, but easy to critique. I was worried about a couple of the folks who played in the games, because they kept trying to map LSNC onto other rules instead of taking them on their own right. With the plethora of rules out there, I suppose this is inevitable, but it can be frustrating.

Every time I run the game, I find one or two needed tweaks. They are getting smaller and fewer, so I’m getting pretty confident. I’m still not completely happy with the successful roll to stand die for artillery. Also, I have a few lingered doubts about the skirmish fight.

Tank built this abstracted train for a Blood and Swash cowboy fight. The cars also have removable roofs, so there were times when people were running across them. This was a tremendous game.

Finally, I ran a tavern fight using Blood and Swash. These are always fun. Because they are simple rules and straight-forward games, they make a great way to finish the convention on Sunday mornings.

As usual, the convention was a time to renew acquaintances and play with toys for a weekend. I had an enjoyable time.

2012 Vacation, Days 14 and 15: The Vacation Ends

Panorama of Houghton Lake from our resort

We planned for our last day at the lake to do nothing but relax before our long drive home. We slept as late as we wanted, played in the water, and generally lounged around our cabin and the “beach.”

We all played ladder ball for a while. In this game, you throw a bolo-like object made of two golf balls and a piece of rope at a ladder made of PVC. We had been doing well earlier in the week, but we were all playing poorly on Friday. We had fun anyway.

We all took the opportunity to relax in the shade and read. It was quite relaxing.

Mid afternoon Rick, Tammy, and Angie stopped by to ask us to join them at their bonfire later that evening. After a dinner of take-out pizza and a game of dominoes, we headed down to the Serafini’s resort.

We sat around the bonfire while Jesse and Mia set off fireworks.

We had also stopped by Walmart earlier in the day to pick up a bunch of Vernors and Red Pop to take home to Maryland. While there, we found that Rainier Cherries are out, so we bought several tubs of them. We brought a tub to the bonfire to share with everyone. We love these cherries, but you can only get them a couple of weeks each year. When they are available, we tend to eat them to excess.

Last photo in front of our cabin (sad face)

With some sadness and a bit of lethargy we packed up all our gear and cleaned the cabin the next morning. Our vacation was nearly over.

We had made arrangements to meet with an old high school buddy, Larry Foggia, and his family at Frankenmuth, Michigan, on the way home. Frankenmuth was settled in the late 1880’s by German immigrants. While it has become commercialized, the town had retained some of its German heritage in its architecture and food offerings. It is also known for Bronner’s, a HUGE, year-round Christmas store. I hadn’t been to Frankenmuth in 20 years. While we nominally walked through bunch of stores, I wasn’t really paying attention. I was mostly just having fun catching up with Larry, Carrie, and their kids, Nick and Marie. Sadly we had to cut the visit short after just 3.5 hours, because we were having a great time. I hope we have another chance soon to get together.

We got on the road about 2 PM, and arrived back home a few minutes for midnight, officially ending our 2012 vacation. Sad face.

2012 Summer Vacation, Day 13

We had intended to spend this day driving to Dearborn to visit Greenfield Village. We decided that we really wouldn’t enjoy six hours of driving to spend five hours at The Village. Instead we decided to hit some of the souvenir stands up and down “the main drag” of Houghton Lake.

Exterior of the Rocking Chair souvenir shop

Acting on advice from Angie Serafini, we stopped at The Rocking Chair gift shop. The main purpose was to get some fudge for ourselves and a block for me to take to work next week. The gift shop itself reminded me of the kinds of places we would hit when I was kid — lots of different trinkets with Houghton Lake printed on them, a few T-shirts, puzzles, animals made out of shells glued together, etc. It really felt like stepping back in time.

We stopped for Coney dogs at Joe’s Coney. They were quite good; although, they were a bit pricey. They were good enough that I stopped by there the next day to get a couple more for Tommy and me for lunch.

We had seen signs and flyers all over town for Zubler’s Indian gift shop. We noticed that they advertise an Indian pow wow with dancing on Thursdays. Though we hadn’t planned our schedule to make it, we drove up just as the pow wow was going to begin. I have to say that it was sort of lame, having the production values of an unrehearsed, school play, but it was the kind of kitschy show you talk about for years afterward. This gift shop too was like stepping back in time.

One of the markers of our resort to help locate it from the lake

We returned to our cabin to relax for a couple hours and have dinner. Candy had bought a pan of baked ziti to throw in the oven. Baking it for two hours in the oven had the effect of heating up the cabin. We played dominoes for a while and then decided to head out for some miniature golf. We swung by to see if the Serafinis wanted to join us, but they were all out to dinner.

Putt-R-Golf opened in 1951. It is the longest miniature golf course in Michigan. Some of the fairways were incredibly long. Someone opened a Pirate’s Cove (franchise) course right next door. The woman running Putt-R-Golf, who had just inherited the place from her recently deceased mother, said that Pirate’s Cove was having little impact on Putt-R-Golf because of the loyalty of her patrons. People staying in our resort said that their grandparents played at Putt-R-Golf. While the course was in need of some repairs, it was interesting. We had a good time. I regret not having taken the kids to Greenfield Village, but we enjoyed the day more than we perhaps would have enjoyed six hours of driving, and there will be future opportunities to visit The Village.

2012 Vacation, Days 11 and 12

We began day 11 in a leisurely manner, hanging around the cabin, playing in the lake, playing catch with a baseball, etc. About 2:30 we linked up with Barb and Leonard Natkowski, college friends of my dad. They have a house on a canal leading into Houghton Lake. This was an opportunity to catch up with them and also provided them the impetus to take their boat onto the lake for the first time this year. We then went to dinner together at the Spikehorn bar/restaurant, which was quite good.

We finished the day by completing a multi-day game of Phase 10 on the picnic table outside our cabin with a view of Houghton Lake at sunset.

Day 12 began with Rick and Angie Serafini, Tommy, and me driving part way around the lake to American Oak Resort to rent a ski boat for the day. The trip back across to our side of the lake was eventful as we ran through the “middle bounds” where we fouled the propellor a few times with seaweed. Eventually we made it through the “graveyard of ships” to our side of the lake and picked up the others who were interested in tubing and skiing.

Tom on a pull-behind float — om on a pull-behind float

We borrowed the float from Bob, who runs our resort, and the rope from Larry, who runs the Serafini’s resort. We spent several hours taking turns on the inner tube. Rick and I were smart enough to leave the tubing to the youngsters — as I’ve recently been reminded on a Scout trip that I’m no longer 20. I drove the boat. Tommy and Sammy had never been tubing before, but they both managed to hang on. In fact, I worked hard to throw off Sammy after a while, but we finally had to admit defeat.

Angie, Mia, Jesse, and Dylan all took turns on the float. I think Dylan had a particularly good time. Angie was hot dogging it a bit, getting up on her knees and waving at me. At one point, the float turned upside down with Mia on it. She held on for a while until she realized the water was taking off her bathing suit!

After a short break for lunch, we put away the float and broke out the skis. I haven’t been on skis since I was a lieutenant — probably close to 15 years ago. After a few false starts, a pulled thigh muscle, and a face plant into the lake, I got up and was able to do pretty well — even crossing in and out of the wake a few times. I think Tommy was surprised at how well I did. I think I was surprised too.

Tommy earning his water skiing merit badge — Tommy completing the final task for his water skiing merit badge

I did most of the boat driving. It was difficult for Candy to take good pictures of everyone skiing. With the movement of the skiers and the boat, many of the shots were blurry. He didn’t get any good pictures of Rick; although, he got up the first time and did a good job.

Tommy had begun work on his water skiing merit badge for Boy Scouts last Summer. He needed to cross the wake four times as the final requirement to earn the badge. Though he had trouble getting up at first, he did cross the wake four times. We’ll submit that to his merit badge counsellor to get him credit for the badge.

We made a long, leisurely oval pattern with the boat. We would start near the Serafini’s floating raft (which is barely enough water to launch the boat) and make about a mile oval, releasing the skier back at the float. This provided a nice place for people to wait their turn. Also others could help the next skier don the (ill fitting) life jacket and skis. Apparently this is how the Serafinis have done this in the past, and it was really an excellent idea.

Everyone who wanted to ski was able to do so at least twice. This shot shows Mia on her second attempt.

Tammy Serafini showing that Angie and Mia have "cool parents!"

Angie was on the boat as I drove around with Tammy in tow. Tammy got up on her first try and did a great job of crossing in and out of the wake and other tricks. She was doing so well that Angie shouted, “I didn’t know my parents were so COOL!”

This is not the best picture, but here is Angie. Not to be outdone by her newly designated “cool parents,” Angie got up here first time as well. She did quite well, crossing in and out of the wake and waving to the camera.

Jesse, Dylan, Mia, and Angie (from left to right)

For us old folks (Rick, Tammy, and me) getting up on skis was to demonstrated to ourselves that we hadn’t completely deteriorated. Then we let the youngsters show us how its done. Unfortunately we only had adult-sized skis, so Dylan and Sammy were unable to try. The skis kept falling off them. Rick and Tammy have nice kids. This was a VERY fun day for all of us. All of us got burned, and the old folks limped to bed at the end of the day.

We don’t get to see that side of the family very often. Since my grandparents died, we don’t have as much excuse / reason to go to Mark (Illinois) and see that part of the family very often. I hadn’t seen them since my grandmother’s funeral, since work wouldn’t allow me to get to Uncle Juzzy’s or Aunt Dorothy’s funerals. We planned our vacation to correspond with the annual Serafini sojourn to Houghton Lake, and I’m glad we did. I don’t know if we interfered with their vacation, but I really enjoyed the chance to get together with them for something other than a funeral and have some fun. For my kids, they’ve never really had a chance to get acquainted with that side of the family except for the infrequent reunions. I fear that since all the old timers are no longer with us that opportunities will be even less frequent in the future.

Interior of the Pines Theater in Houghton Lake

After turning in the boat, cleaning up, and having dinner, we went with Tammy and Angie to see Spider Man at the Pines theater. The theater was built in 1941. See detailed information and pictures at http://www.pinestheater.com/ I wasn’t expecting much from the movie. I went to see the theater, which was impressive. The movie turned out to be better than expected.

2012 Vacation, Days 9 and 10

Days 9 and 10 were spent at Houghton Lake, mostly relaxing. We slept in the first day at the lake and had a leisurely day. Houghton Lake is unique in that it is shallow (less than 10 feet) across most of its area.

The shallowness of the lake gave the kids an opportunity wade over a quarter mile out without the water being over their heads. The owner of our resort loaned us an inflatable raft, and they made good use of it.

When not in the water, we played this ladder ball game. Two golf balls are connected by a length of rope. You toss this “bolo” at a ladder, trying to make it wrap around a rung in order to score a point.

In the evening we linked up with the Serafini clan to sit by the water, light a small fire, and chat.

Those are expert canoe paddlers if I've ever seen them!

Day 10 began with a canoe trip for three hours on the Au Sable River. (I’ve seen this spelled a couple of different ways, but I think this is correct.) We rented two canoes from Campbell’s rental. Then I drove down stream and parked the car where we were supposed to terminate our trip. The owners brought me back to the start point. We canoed for three hours, then just pulled our canoes out of the water for them to retrieve later.

The canoe trip was quite pleasant. This porting of the river, where it passes through Roscommon, MI, is not virgin wilderness. Most of our trip was through “residential” areas where we were passing behind cabins and houses. Other parts of the trip were through untouched woods. I enjoyed that more.

Through our entire, three-hour trip, we never saw another canoe.

The water on the river is very clear. Since it was between a few inches and three feet deep most of the way, you could clearly see the bottom. We saw very few fish. At one point we stopped to have a snack. While the water was chilly, it was warm enough to wade across its depth. Here the water was only about six inches deep.

After our canoe trip, we went back to the resort to relax. Candy and the kids played in the water a bit. I read for a while and took a nap. After dinner we linked back up with Clan Serafini for miniature golf. We had ten players and divided up into two teams: guys vs. girls.

The "loser" girls' team: Mia, Sammy, Tammy, Angie, and Candy

The course was old and challenging. While we’re used to twos and threes on most holes on other courses, fours and fives were more common on this course.

The "winner" guys' team: Tommy, Jessie, Dylan, Buck, and Rick

While it was a hard-fought match, in the end superior skill prevailed. The guys beat the girls.

We then retired back to Rick’s and Tammy’s cabin for ice cream and an hour of shooting the breeze. It was a good, relaxing couple of days.