Spring Flowers at Thunder Bay Resort (Hillman Michigan)

May 2014 found us returning to Hillman, Michigan, home of Thunder Bay Golf Resort, and a place we've called our summer home three times before. This is such a beautiful part of the country! I never tire of the green rolling countryside, dense forests, the beautiful music from the songbirds, and the flowers that grow throughout the resort. Although we've been here in years past, the early Spring blooms had already come and gone before our mid May arrivals. Not this time! Spring dallied a little this year, and we were lucky enough to get here just in time to see all the early bloomers. We were treated to a plethora of daffodils, forget-me-nots, jonquils, yellow stars, and hyacinths, to name just a few.

Farewell to Thunder Bay 2012

Tomorrow is our last day in Hillman, Michigan for the 2012 season. After 5 ½ months, I am ready to move on, yet after this amount of time, it's also hard to move on. Friendships and connections to the community are formed after this many weeks. A flow and rhythm to the days evolve as we grow connected to our temporary home. Throughout the summer there were up to seven workamping couples in the RV Park. One by one, we have each started going our separate ways, on to our next adventure as the summer season disappears; today two more couples pulled out, leaving just Dan and I to say the final farewell. Since arriving at the end of May, the seasons have progressed through a warm, lush, and beautiful summer, into a gorgeous Autumn bursting with color. But today is bleak and dreary outside as we continue with the cold snap that started several days ago. The temperature is 42 degrees and it's raining. Most of the leaves have blown off the trees. Winter really is just around the corner in Northern Michigan. It actually is time to move on. Yet, I look out the window of our 5th Wheel, and there are two little finch sitting on the ladder. We took their feedbags down two weeks ago, and didn't see any more birds once they figured out no more food was available. Now it seems as if they are coming back for one more visit before we move on down the road. Below are some pictures of the Thunder Bay Resort at the peak of Autumn Glory.

 

 

Michigan Festivals 2012

After recovering from our terrible, no-good, very bad day (And Then The Wheels Came Off), we finally arrived safe and sound in Hillman, Michigan at the end of May. Our first stay at the Thunder Bay Golf & RV Resort was in the summer of 2009, and I posted an entry on this blog back then ( Hillman). Besides enjoying the golf while we are here, Dan and I also like to attend the many festivals in the area. While staying here this year (2012), we had much fun attending the Traverse City Cherry Festival, the Atlanta Blue Grass in The Park Festival, The Harmony Crafts Fair in Harrisville, and the Posen Potato Festival. It is so enjoyable going to local festivals and having the opportunity to capture a little local flavor. Below is a brief description of each event, along with a couple of pictures of each.

Traverse City Cherry Festival: The National Cherry Festival is a festival in Traverse City, Michigan. The Original National Cherry Festival began in 1925 as the Blessing of the Blossoms Festival. This Festival was originally an event held in early May to attract tourists to Northern Michigan to view the booming cherry blossoms. Every year more than 500,000 attendees enjoy the National Cherry Festival, which is now in its 86th year. Families can enjoy many kinds of activities from cherry pit spitting and pie eating contests, to the Grand Royale Parade in which the newly crowned Cherry Queen greets the crowds. There is also a Junior Royale parade for children and a Festival Air Show, including periodic visits from the Blue Angels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Atlanta, Michigan Bluegrass in The Park: A small gathering held over two days of bluegrass music in the local park. No admission is charged, but donations gladly accepted. Fun in the sun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harmony Crafts Fair in Harrisville, Michigan:  Each Labor Day weekend there is a regional craft show, parade, and national jamboree often referred to Harmony Weekend. Hundreds of exhibitors display their product to over one hundred thousand visitors. We didn’t come home empty handed!

 

Posen Potato Festival, Posen, Michigan: The Posen Potato Festival is a food festival held annually in Posen, a village in Presque Isle County of the U.S. state of Michigan. The Posen Potato Festival has been an annual event for over 50 years. Posen has a strong Polish background, so the Posen Potato Festival not only features potato as its central theme, but also concentrates of authentic Polish traditions, including traditional dresses, polka dancing, crafts, and so on.

Hillman, Michigan

Two months ago we arrived in Hillman, Michigan. (I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to update our blog!) Hillman is a very small town (population 800), a village, actually, in northeast Michigan, about 25 miles inland from Lake Huron. Last September we heard about Hillman through a job advertisement from Thunder Bay RV and Golf Resort posted in our daily Workamper’s e-mail. The job description read “Summer on Michigan's sunrise side at Thunder Bay Golf & RV Resort. Resort includes RV park, suites, villas & chalets; Championship Golf & our nationally acclaimed Elk Viewing Carriage Ride. Seeking friendly, enthusiastic, flexible Workamper couples to work 36 hours/week/couple in exchange for unlimited golf w/cart, Full Hook-up site, Wi-Fi & cable TV”. Since we had never been to Michigan before, and the lure of unlimited golf was hard to pass up, we decided to apply for the position. Fast forward to May, and here we are along with five other Workamper couples. The “jobs” have been split up among the twelve of us; I primarily help Linda with the gardening on and around the golf course, and Dan performs a variety of maintenance related tasks including splitting and stacking wood for the resort cabin, mowing greens on the golf course, sanding tees and greens, and whatever else comes up.

The weather has been very cool since we got here, and folks tell us it has been much cooler than usual this year. This is quite a change for us, coming from Sacramento and very hot summers! We are lucky to see a day over 75 degrees! I’m not complaining, mind you! I much prefer the milder weather. I’m also enjoying the slower pace of living in a small town. Folks here are incredibly friendly, and it’s true – everyone does seem to know everyone else. Everyday at noon and 6:00 p.m. the church bells ring, and since the church is right next door, I get to enjoy this even when I’m sitting inside my 5th wheel home. Local fruits and vegetables are starting to become available and it reminds me of growing up in Orangevale and eating fresh and local fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Most businesses close on Sunday and holidays, and even the newspaper we subscribe to is only delivered Monday – Saturday. There are some drawbacks – the closest Starbucks is 50 miles away, and we have to drive 25 miles to the nearest “big town” – population 11,000 - to take care of most of our business.

One of the draws to Thunder Bay Resort is the Elk Viewing Carriage Ride. Visitors are taken by horse-drawn carriages through the woods and treated to Elk viewing (a herd of Elk is maintained by the resort owners). Along the way visitors are entertained with stories about the resort, the owners, the Elk, and the history of the area. The ride culminates at the Resort Cabin where guests are served a gourmet meal prepared by Jan Mathias, one of the resort owners. Jack Mathias (Jan’s husband and the other owner) entertains guests with stories about Elk, his family, and will answers any questions visitors may have. Here is a link to Thunder Bay in case you want to check it out: http://www.thunderbaygolf.com/

My next posts will include some of the fun things we have done away from the resort since arriving in Michigan!

P.S. – Dan is enjoying the unlimited golf, and I have taken a few lessons and am beginning to enjoy it!