The Griswold Family Summer Vacation

aka Summer Vacation in Michigan with the Scozzafave Clan 2012

For the first time in a long time, we gathered with family to spend an entire week in a house on Elk Lake (near Traverse City, MI). It was filled with all that a summer vacation should be: swimming, boating, eating, drinking, golfing, sunburns, heat exhaustion, trivia domination, and rodent control.

My mom and dad graciously and generously helped find this retreat and make it happen for the family. We are all most grateful for that, as we recognized the importance of family togetherness. Below is a rough day by day account of our time together.

We arrived and unloaded a months worth of food rations, clothes, books, and toys into the the house for the week. After getting the boat, we had homemade lasagna and probably lots of wine – what better way to kick start our time.

Tubing behind our pontoon boat, piloted by Mikey (and eventually others) was the definitive sport of the week. The kids were most enthralled, but every single person, whether gingerly or with unguarded abandon, boarded the tube, and enjoyed a ride behind the boat.

Having worked up an appetite and inspired by the natural surrounding beauty, we prepared the most natural of meals: combine 4 containers of Crisco oil to produce 3 scorching hot vats of frying vessels, meticulously julienne potatoes and zucchini, slice up some onions, mix up a homemade batter, and fry everything. Oh, and some freshly caught Lake Michigan trout prepared on the grill. It was a very delicious dinner.

On Monday evening to readied ourselves for a family photo shoot! Pictures below. After that, we de-homogenized our wardrobe and drove down to Travino Grille in Traverse City. It was decent, but not phenomenal. Sommelier skills and creating insect-free salads would not be considered strengths. But it was fun.

On Tuesday, we managed to emerge from the cottage by 8:30am! – in time to make our tee times at the Elk Rapids Golf Club.

My Uncle Rich and Aunt Debbie just closed on a lovely home on Suttons Bay, which is on the opposite side of Grand Traverse Bay. We went to the Village Inn for pizza and we arrived just a little too late to hit the start of live trivia competition in the restaurant. No matter – we submitted our late-joiner team name of The Griswold’s, and having missed the first round entirely, marched to victory as we stole away with a $25 gift card. (Did you know that Jerry Seinfeld is older than Jason Alexander? We did.)

“Mom”, says Katelyn, “I just saw a critter run under the stove”. And so it began. The women jumped and the men instantly transformed into testosterone-induced exterminators. We determined that it was a mole (based on Aimee’s description and consequent impression of the mole archetype). Eventually, when excessive force didn’t work, we were able to remove the mole. Side note, after looking at a picture of this fella, I think I see where we got the critter-nym “mole” from…

We also did some fishing. In a rare twist of fate, I was actually able to help reel one in before the sun set. He was delicious!

Dinner came (fish tacos, more Mexican) and dessert followed. The fifth day.

Thursday was the obligatory rain day. The weather was nasty; every time I looked up, I saw Shades of Grey. Anyway, we took the opportunity to visit one of our favorite wine regions – the oenophile’s delight: Old Mission Peninsula. A brief editorialized summary of each:

Two Lads: best wine tasting experience, second best views, least desirable wines (everything tasted very young)
Chateau Chantal: least expensive tastes, best views, they were crowded but reasonably staffed, creative wines, unpretentious yet one of the more “refined” places.
Bower’s Harbor: very authentic, tasting area was small but they featured additional drinks (ciders and fruit wines). Bonus point for the dog that roam and are featured on some of the bottles.
Black Star Farms: poorly staffed, least informative and flexible for tasting experience, best wines!

We rejoined the group at the North Peak Brewery for a beverage and then went back to the ranch.

Friday began with coffee and a morning boat ride and then Aimee and I went to pick up a jet ski which we rented for the day. We used Sunset Water Sports and they were great for our Yamaha VX 110S personal watercraft rental.

After packing up, Aimee and I headed out on our own towards Lake Michigan. We started with breakfast at an amazing little café deeper into TC called Patisserie Amie. A petite French Press and Café Vanille provided us with caffeine for the morning while enjoying a french omelette and pain perdue with bananas.

Beginning our trip home, we ventured into the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park and Lakeshore for some hiking and sightseeing. This is just a beautiful place in Michigan that we love visiting, along with Glen Arbor and other small towns along the way.