Royal Arch and Traverse City

Hi Internet.

As you all know, Yours Truly happens to be a Freemason, since 2019, and, as a Master Mason, have reached the highest possible level of this fraternal order that one can.  That being said, this doesn't necessarily mean I'm done achieving other degrees (or levels, if you will.)  In Masonry there exists a slew of loosely-associated chapters outside of our regular Lodge (or, Blue Lodge, as it's called - the central three degrees one achieves in Masonry), and these external entities are called 'appendant bodies' in Masonry, which offer further teachings in esoteric study that are very, very cool.  

There are three several appendant bodies, chapters, and organizations out there (as the diagram at right clearly illustrates) that many Masons choose to join once they've achieved the Master Mason level (you can only join an appendant body once reaching you've reached this highest degree.)  Many of these bodies died out in the 60s as public interest in fraternal orders began to decline from its zenith but the three main ones remain: the Shriners, the Scottish Rite, and the York Rite.  

Now, the Shriners (Grotto) are the silly dudes in fezzes that drive around in little cars in parades and sponsor children's hospitals.  I had little interest in that one - it focuses less on further education and more on charity work.  The Scottish Rite - which my buddy Erik is a member of - consists of thirty-three degrees (see the right edge of the compass) and meet a couple times a year in order to convey multiple degrees at a time, and gets its heritage from the French branch of Masonry (no, not Scottish, despite the name) that emerged in the 1800s, I believe. 

The third branch is the York Rite (the left side of the compass) the oldest of the appendant bodies and that originated in England in the 1700s I think, which consists of three levels:  the Royal Arch, the optional Cryptic Council, and the Commandarie Orders (ending with the infamous Knights Templar.)  The first phase of this body, the Royal Arch, consists of four degrees, most of which used to be part of the main part of Masonry.  The Royal Arch degrees became separate from Blue Lodge hundreds of years ago, but the degree lessons are tied in directly to our main three degrees (of which Master Mason is the final one.)

Because the lessons taught in Scottish and York Rite are nearly identical, just organized differently, and because York Rite is considered 'the original,' I decided awhile ago to join this body, and at the earliest possible opportunity I would undertake my Royal Arch degrees.  Due to Covid-19 and everything, I obviously had to wait quite awhile for the chance to obtain these degrees, and it wasn't until this weekend that I was able to attend a special ceremony in order to finally seize this achievement.

We stayed at the Grandstay, right on the main drive.

The Michigan Grand Lodge of the York Rite (the highest authority for York Rite in the state) themselves held a day-long ceremony for Master Masons joining the Royal Arch, held at the local Masonic Temple in Traverse City.  The degrees kicked off at 7am, which is insanely early, and it would've had me leaving Midland at 4:30am or so in order to get their in time.  So, instead, Kris suggested we go up the night before as a family and stay at a hotel so that I didn't have to go up so early, and to also give the girls a little 'mini-vacation' to break up the monotony of school and what-not. 

This was pretty much a no-brainer for me.  And so that's what we did.

Check it out. . .

Abby, as always, packed way more shit than she needed for this quick, overnight trip.

The lobby of the Grandstay (we were up on the second floor.)

Abby starts making up her bed (which, unfortunately, she had to share with her sister - that went over well.)

We left right after work/school, so rolled in right around dinner time.

Founders, coming through once again.

Kris wanted a family pic before we set off for dinner.  You can tell which of our girls is too cool to be a part of our family these days. . .

Setting off for dinner. . .

That kitchen area you can see there was roped off, due to Covid - they gave out little complimentary breakfast bags (like sack lunches, almost) instead, which I grabbed for us all the following morning before I left for my degree ceremony.

This entertainment complex was right across the parking lot from out hotel.  We never checked it out.

Good luck with that.

The place Kris wanted to frequent for dinner was only, like, a two-minute walk from our hotel, so we just hoofed it.

Yes, they're all about the same height these days.

The Red Mesa Grill.

Gotta get pics like this whenever you can.

Kris scopes out the menu.

Waiting for our food (which took forever, by the way - service was definitely questionable at this joint.)

Grabbed a margarita with my meal (when in Rome, folks), but it was pretty heavy on the mix and not so much on the booze, and as a result was a little too sweet for my liking, so I had Kris drink quite a bit of it.

Heading back to the hotel after dinner.  Food was good, service was meh. 

They had patrons sign up for a designated pool time in order to keep numbers down (thanks again, Covid), so we timed it so that we'd have an hour in the pool area following our dinner.

View from the second floor window overlooking the pool area - you can spot Kris and the girls in the hot tub off to the top left, there.

Abby enjoys the pool.

These two spent most of their time in here instead.  No surprises there.

After swimming, as we put on a movie and started to wind down for the evening, Abby asked if I'd tie her up in her blanket while she was sitting in a chair.  Who knows why, kids are weird.

The Cannonball, in her natural element.

The next morning, while all my lazy roommates were sleeping in, I got suited up for my big day.

While the girls watched TV and ate their sack breakfasts I had collected for everyone from the hotel lobby that morning, Kris drove me the ten minutes or so up the road from the hotel to the Masonic Temple.  Along the way, we passed underneath this bridge that we had previously used while camping in that state campground with Rita and Smitty back in 2016.

Scenic Traverse Bay (that we didn't check out, aside from this short morning drive.)

Pulling into the Masonic Center. . .

Now, obviously I didn't take any pictures inside during my six or so hours of receiving degrees (it's a secret society, after all.)  I received four, different Royal Arch degrees today, each about an hour long, with about 15 minutes or so between each one.  There were about a dozen of us candidates in attendance receiving these degrees, and there ceremonies were pretty awesome (none quite as good as the Master Mason degree, though.)  It was pretty daunting to receive four degrees all at once, and I definitely would not have liked to have undergone such a process for my Blue Lodge degrees (which I undertook about one every other month, which gave me adequate time to process and study them.)  Royal Arch, however, is just a stepping stone towards the ultimate goal:  the Commandarie/Knights Templar.  That'll be something to look forward to, for sure.

While I was getting my degrees, Kris took the girls swimming again once they finished breakfast.

They had the pool to themselves for the most part.

Who the hell swims underwater in a hot tub?

After swimming, Kris took the girls out to a spot she had researched while planning our Traverse City mini-vacation:  the Hippie Tree.

So there's a little spot of woods on the outskirts of town that features a sprawling, gigantic, oddly-shaped tree, and folks come and spray paint it over and over again.  It's like an ever-evolving work of local art.

Kris brought a long a few cans of spray paint for the girls.

(Can't tell what she's pointing at here. . .)

There's also some local beliefs that talk about how this tree is a haunted, and a Portal to Hell.  Not sure why, but I seriously doubt the Portal to Hell is located in Traverse City.  If anything, it's in Farwell.

Kids went through a couple cans of spray paint during their visit.  As to be expected.

Some pretty inappropriate nonsense written on sections of this frickin' tree (and no, my kids didn't write that.)

Now for several more pictures of my kids posing with a painted tree. . . 

I guess they wanted a picture of them on the 'booty' rock too, who knows.

Kris picked me up from the Masonic Temple around 2pm, and since I had neglected to bring another change of clothes aside from my formal suit (which I didn't want to wear while walking around Traverse City), we decided to just head back to Midland.  We got home in the afternoon, unpacked and killed an hour or two (shown here) before heading out for an evening of socializing with our friend group.  All in all, a substantially busy 24 hour mini-vacation, if I do say so myself.

- Brian