Hello! I've done enough traveling this month that I hadn't even gotten around to blogging about a recent northern Michigan getaway before I left for another trip. So, now here's an account on what we did and saw up north.
My husband surprised me by planning a visit to Mackinac Island for our wedding anniversary a couple of weekends ago. We hadn't been there in 10 years and so were looking forward to it. We drove up to the region that Friday and used the Hampton Inn in Petoskey as our base. This hotel has a nice location: on a hill, so you can see the blue waters of Little Traverse Bay if your room, like ours, faces the water. If not, you can still see the bay from the breakfast dining area. Very nice!
We went up to Short's Brewery in Bellaire for dinner. My husband's a huge craft beer fan so that is the main draw for him, though he likes their pizza as well. I'm not crazy about their pizza, and the rest of the menu is rather limited. So I got the soft pretzel app with three dipping sauces (queso, peanut butter and homemade jam, and spicy mustard). Plenty substantial! Like most microbrewery eateries, Short's has a cool vibe.
You can learn more about Short's here.
Saturday morning, we hustled over to Mackinac City, hoping to make the 11:00 ferry to Mackinac Island. We made it with a few minutes to spare.
The view from our Star Line ferry boat:
Passing by the Mackinac Bridge. The water was quite choppy, so I was grateful that the ride was a short one.
First order of the day after docking on the island was getting lunch. We split a small pizza at Island Slice Pizzeria. The last time we were on the island, I think there was a pizza place in the same location but with a different name. It appeared that the menu was basically the same as before, and the pizza's pretty good. Website is here.
In case you didn't realize it, no cars are allowed on Mackinac Island, so people get around via bikes, carriage tours, renting their own carriages to drive, or by walking. My husband and I did the latter, so what follows are various pics along the route we took.
An empty carriage pulled by horses, followed by one filled with tourists.
The iconic Grand Hotel; always well-known in Michigan but became even more well-known after being featured in the 1980 movie Somewhere In Time. Fun fact: my husband and I saw this movie while living in East Lansing, MI. In the scene in which the Christopher Reeve character arrives at the Grand Hotel, he's shown driving up in a car. The movie audience immediately booed since cars aren't allowed on the island (obviously an exception was made for the movie filming). We enjoyed that dissent as an only-in-Michigan moment.
Pretty cottage with picket fence.
I've always been fond of Victorian houses that have turrets.
The Windermere Hotel, one of several lodging options on the island. Have never stayed there, but doesn't it look charming?
Yes, I didn't take many photos, but that was in part because we did so much walking. My Fitbit showed that I had logged almost nine miles by the time we were ready to board the ferry back to the mainland. I was tired enough that I didn't even go into any of the shops. Perhaps that was just as well, as the downtown area was crawling with visitors. Even though the summer tourist season was over, the weather was pleasant that weekend (sunny and in the low to mid 60's), so apparently that brought out the hordes. Yes, Mackinac Island's downtown gets crowded, and it's pricey, but we've always found it well worth an occasional visit.
Back in Petoskey, dinner was on the horizon. Via Yelp, my husband had scouted out Freshwater Grill, a place known for good local fish. Alas, it was unexpectedly closed when we arrived. A search of their website revealed that the owners were taking a well-deserved vacation after the busy summer season. So instead, we went to yet another craft beer-centric place, Beards Brewery. Since I'd been looking forward to seafood at Freshwater Grill, I got the fish and chips here. It was pretty good and I also enjoyed a black cherry cream pop (I was designated driver, after all) from Northwood Soda, a company in the region. My husband had the red curry bowl and, of course, more beer. Beards Brewery is nicely decorated inside and has a good view of the bay as well.
If you'd like to know more about Beards, check here.
As I'd said, my fish and chips dinner was good, but I wouldn't have ordered it if I'd known my husband had fish in mind for lunch the next day: Scalawags Whitefish And Chips on the edge of downtown Traverse City. This place looks pretty basic on the outside, but I loved the fishing-theme interior decor and took several pics:
A lineup of used (vintage?) outboard motors.
Old bait buckets turned into lamps above our booth.
And to go along with those bait buckets (at least, I think that's what they were), a grouping of old fishing poles.
Some fishy details on our table. Note the bobber-like salt and pepper shakers. I appreciate such attention to details!
My husband and I both got the whitefish sandwich baskets, which included fries and coleslaw. Other types of fish are available, but as whitefish is in the name of the restaurant, we felt that was the logical choice. And it was! An employee explained that the fish comes in freshly-caught from the region (Charlevoix area) and definitely tasted it. The whitefish had a subtle sweetness and was expertly prepared. I can highly recommend this place! Their website is here.
If it sounds like we mainly ate, drank and walked around on our excursion, you're correct. Even though we were visiting the region on a weekend, it was definitely a slower time of year. Most shops were closed in Petoskey by the time we hit downtown both evenings, and we simply didn't have much time in Traverse City since we stopped there on our way back home. But we'd had a very nice time anyway; it was a great way to celebrate our anniversary.
And it sure beat the trip I've just returned from, a visit to our daughter for a marathon cleaning session of her apartment. Her various grad school duties keep her quite busy, so I was being a nice mom to do some cleaning for her. Not sure if I'd do that again, but I'd certainly welcome another northern Michigan getaway!
Hello! Once upon a time, network television was the only game in town: no cable channels, no original programming from online sources, etc. So ABC could promote its 1965 programming line-up with a 10-page ad in Reader's Digest:
Today is a Thursday, but it is September 13th, so what better day to show off what TV watchers could expect from ABC back then?
How about "The most exciting of all television seasons. A season of great entertainment. Seven nights a week. All year long. On ABC."
Sounds rather grandiose, doesn't it? But after all, it was the debut of "adorable newcomer" Sally Field, in Gidget:
Gidget fell under this heading:
"The excitement of high comedy", which also included shows that became rerun staples for decades: McHale's Navy, F Troop (new in 1965), Ozzie and Harriet, The Patty Duke Show, The Donna Reed Show, Bewitched, The Flintstones and The Addams Family. But as I'd never heard of The Farmer's Daughter, O.K. Crackerby! or Tammy, I assume those weren't nearly as successful. Still, obviously a line-up that stood the test of time!
Maybe you'd rather have "The excitement of great drama"? Then these are the shows for you:
Of this grouping, Ben Casey, Peyton Place, The Fugitive, and The Big Valley stand out as shows people talked out. The Big Valley was new in 1965, and newcomer Lee Majors was on the show.
And there's another new show:
The FBI, starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. I was 5 1/2 when this show debuted, but it lasted through 1974, so I do remember watching this one!
Another new crime-oriented show in 1965, although one that wasn't as successful, was Honey West. The ad blurb for the show is cringe-worthy today: "Wait till you see Anne Francis as Honey West, private eye-ful if there ever was one". Ugh. I'll admit that Ms. Francis was attractive:
However, I don't think that "eye-ful" remark would go over too well these days. By the way, the show only lasted one season.
Moving along, we now come to:
"The excitement of music...and movies". Shindig was "...entertainment as its go-goest!" This was the 2nd season of the pop music-oriented show, but it didn't last beyond January of 1966.
Of course, other musical genres had a home on ABC as well, like The Jimmy Dean Show for country music fans. I wonder how many people today now associate that name with sausage and other breakfast foods? But Jimmy Dean had a long career in music and in television.
The Lawrence Welk Show had its fans too, of course. Fun personal fact: my parents, my in-laws, and the parents of my two brothers-in-law were all about the same age. Yet out of these four sets of parents, mine were the only ones who never watched Lawrence Welk and his gang. Because of this, I grew up thinking hardly anyone had watched his show in the 1960's. I was quite surprised to learn that wasn't the case, at least among the families whose sons married into mine!
The King Family sounded interesting: "Thirty-seven (count 'em) thirty seven singing, dancing sisters, husbands, nephews, cousins and aunts in a warm, wonderful half-hour variety show". Quite a family indeed! This was actually the second season - and last - of the show, so the 39 shows produced just about equaled the number of people who were on the show.
ABC didn't have much to say about movies, just a list of some that would be aired (North To Alaska, The Hustler) and some of the stars in them (James Stewart, Helen Hayes, John Wayne, Paul Newman). Nevertheless, "Save Sunday nights for movies on ABC!"
And, let's not forget:
"The special excitement of specials...and the thrill of sports." The dapper gent in the top of the photo is Rex Harrison, who was set to show off Paris on TV. An animated version of Alice in Wonderland was going to appear over the holidays, and Robert Preston was going to tour the US in six appearances of This Proud Land.
Sports programming featured pro bowling, NBA basketball ("pro basketball at its best, brought close to you by ABC's imaginative techniques" - I assume they meant camera work here), baseball, football specials, golf and the US Tennis Championship.
"Not a week goes by without outstanding sports on ABC." But what I remember most about ABC sports is this show:
Hooray for Wide World of Sports! "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat". I remember watching this show with my brother. For some reason, motocross was one of my favorites (I still enjoy watching it, which my husband can't understand.)
Wild World of Sports ran for an incredible length of time: April 1961 to January 1998. Yet it had been conceived as only a single-season summer replacement series for that first year!
This show made the sporting world big news, but naturally ABC didn't want us to forget its news division either:
"The excitement of world-wide news". And who's the man at the news desk at the top?
Why, it's none other than "dynamic, fast-moving Peter Jennings with the News". Dynamic he might have been, but apparently his first stint at the anchor desk didn't go well, and he became a foreign correspondent in 1968. But eventually he triumphed at that earlier position: ten years after that, he returned as one of three ABC news anchors, and became sole anchor in 1983. He remained at that helm until his death in 2005.
So who's this guy, and why is there a bottle on the wall near his head? Silly you, didn't you know about ABC's "...superbly informative reporting of the news from space...Jules Bergman, ABC's Science Editor, and the entire news team with their continuing coverage of the Gemini flights". So you see, that's not a bottle above Bergman's head, it's a model of a Gemini spacecraft. Looks pretty cheesy compared to the images we see from space now, but that's the best they could do back then.
Bergman would have been plenty busy covering Gemini flights, as there were seven missions in a little over a year's time after this Reader's Digest issue came out. And there was plenty more space news to cover in the years ahead, which Bergman did through 1987. So from unmanned space flights to man landing on the moon to the space shuttle program, he saw a lot. And I bet eventually he didn't have a bottle-like object above his head during his segments!
Back to the general news, in 1965 Bob Young did the weekend news. And for the ladies, "Marlene Sanders and News with the Woman's Touch, weekday afternoons". That sounds awfully lightweight, but Sanders was actually a trailblazer for women in television. She had many firsts in her long career, such as being among the first women war correspondents in Vietnam. After joining ABC in 1964, she became the first woman to anchor a major network's news show when the regular anchor became ill. And eventually she became the first woman vice-president of ABC's news division. I have no idea if "News with the Woman's Touch" was actually lightweight, but clearly Sanders' career was anything but that!
Well, I think this is enough of TV Time in 1965. I enjoyed the look back - but I think I'll go read a book now!
Hello! Football season has begun: the local media's sports reporting is dominated by high school game scores, college football is underway, and the NFL season opens tonight. So I thought it appropriate to show off this:
A print ad from a 1962 Reader's Digest, featuring a Olds F-85 Cutlass. A sporty car for the sporty action behind it:
The kick is up and it's good! The ad folks must have thought it looked great to show that Olds F-85 Cutlass parked near the end zone of a football field, but I wouldn't want to ever park my car there! What if the kick had been blocked or the kicker had kicked it wide right? Then you'd have a dent or broken window marring that picture-perfect Olds! But of course in car ad-land, such things wouldn't happen. Save that for the car insurance ads!
The magazine was one of an armful of vintage Reader's Digests (mid-1950's to early-1960's) I scooped up at a thrift store last year. After reading the articles at leisure, I eventually tore out the ads I wanted to keep for displaying or crafting. I thrifted a simple frame for the display purpose. Its front and back sections separate easily, so it only takes a moment to change out one ad for another.
Here's what I showed off during the summer months:
According to Campbell's, "Summer is Soup 'n Sandwich Time!" The copy continues with "Good things begin to happen when summer lunch is soup and a sandwich. Spirits perk up. Appetites quicken."
Uh, really? First off, who serves soup along with a hot dog? And is a hot dog really a sandwich? Granted, the AC in public places is often cranked up high enough to make me want something hot to eat, but I don't think that's what Campbell's had in mind.
No, the purpose of promoting summertime soup is found at the very end of the ad: "And just one of 21 Campbell's Soups to enjoy once a day...every day! Have you had your soup today? Campbell's, of course!"
Of course. But sorry, Campbell's, I didn't have any of your soups this summer. However, as I'd said, it's now football season - and to me, that's soup time!
PS: on the back of this soup ad is the beginning of an article entitled "Is There Life in Outer Space?" (authored by Edwin Diamond, condensed from Newsweek magazine). It's now over 50 years later, and we still don't know!
