The Lodge, Pt. II

 (cont'd.)

The next morning came bright and chilly, but definitely a scenic view.

Danielle and Kris, admiring the view over some morning coffees.

The group starts to roll out of bed and caffeinate themselves. 

Some folks were in better shape than others. We're definitely not in our 20's (or 30's even) anymore.

The Colliers went for a morning walk, which is definitely their speed, while the rest of us slowly showered and drank multiple cups of coffee.

They took some pretty cool pics during their walk through the woods.

Collier spotted this print in the dirt while out on his walk. I'm not big into, you know, animals. . . I have no idea what this is. Erik probably would.

I kept myself busy picking out my all-time favorite albums on this website I found while screwing around on my phone. You know, important stuff.

We found the name of the Lodge on a giant coffee table up in that upstairs hangout area (where the Griffins were sleeping this weekend.) As far as names go, it's kinda lame.

Kris, making herself some breakfast.

If it's one thing this group does well, it's eat.

. . . and make messes.

Slow moving this morning.

Some folks were itching to go out for breakfast (basically the same folks as last night who went out for dinner - they're always eating) and that would end up taking up most of the day until lunch because they had to hit up multiple spots before finding one that was decent.

View from upstairs after I showered and got around for the day.

Killing some time with another couple games of euchre (and some Bloody Marys)

Stef, Kelli and Alicia (who had rolled in late last night.)

Mitch - looking like a frickin' grandfather here - was having a ROUGH morning.

Nappy time for ol' man Bos.

Courtney and Kris get a pic out on the back porch.

One with me and the old lady.

Around 1:30pm, much later than we had anticipated, it was finally time to head out. We loaded up into our pre-established cars from the day before and hit the road, striking out for Leg's Inn (some historic restaurant in Cross Village that Erik knew about.)

Another scenic drive through northern Michigan. . .

We rolled in around 2pm, and the place - which is a famous tourist trap - was slammed.

There was line nearly out the door just to get to the spot where you put in a request for a table, and this is something that's normal around here 'cause half of the damn restaurant is just a waiting room for people waiting to get a table.

Kris spotted an old Zoltar machine, like from the 80's movie Big, while we were waiting.

The wait was going to be over two hours, so we said 'screw it' and opted to just grab a couple of beers from this place instead. Collier took this super blurry pic of me walking through the 'waiting' area of the restaurant while we figured out our next move.

Three generations of polish immigrants carved all the stuff in this place over the course of generations, it was pretty impressive.

We ordered a few beers here, but at $8 a pint it was a little too steep to keep us invested in hanging around for a long period of time.

With beers in hand, we exited out the back of the restaurant where they had a large, outdoor hangout area - tables and chairs here and there, lots of Adirondacks and swings, etc. - in order to take advantage of a pretty awesome view of Lake Michigan.

Mees and the Pickvets enjoying one of the available swings.

Yours Truly, Lon Dog, and Erik

And another with Collier, Cory and Lake Michigan.

Word.

Folks were disappointed about not being able to eat here, but again - these people ate like three hours ago, how much food do these people need to eat to keep themselves going throughout the day? 

While some folks stood about and debated the next move, some of us guys hung out by the cars and had a couple road beers.

Left to right: Collier, Morgan, Erik, Lonnie, Cory and Holty. Mitch was passed out in his wife's van at this point.

The consensus was we should strike out for Harbor Springs, but we had to rally the wives first.

While they finished their beers, I went back across the street and took some pics of all the crap sitting out in front of the historic restaurant.

Why is this here?

Looks like a six-year old special needs kid carved this. . . gimme a break.

. . . then what the hell is First?

At one point someone suggested we grab a group picture out in front of the water since it was so nice out, and we grabbed some nearby lady to do it for us.

Also got a couple pic in front of Lake Michigan. Because that's what you do when you're in places like this, folks.

In order to get to Harbor Springs, we had to drive through The Tunnel of Trees, which definitely lives up to its name. . .

Kris had wanted to check out this pumpkin farm/winery spot this weekend - which we passed by on our drive through the Tunnel of Trees - but we didn't end up having time this weekend. She was annoyed because we totally would have if folks didn't insist on going out to eat for EVERY MEAL.

Coming in to hoity-toity Harbor Springs. None of us were big fans of this little town, there was nothing but Mercedes and BMW's and the whole place gave off a massive douchey vibe.

They had skeletons set up throughout the town, probably some kinda contest thing like Kris and I saw up in Mackinaw City a couple weeks ago on our 20th Anniversary weekend.

The group had a rallying point at this bar, Pierson's. Everyone but Danielle, Stefanie and Kelli was inside grabbing some appetizers and some drinks, and - like always - the Houghs and Johnsons were the last to roll in.

Lori, Kris, Courtney, Alicia and Mees had a little table off to the side.

All the guys were set up in the middle of the room at this long table with some kinda rock bed in the middle.

Erik, Cory, LBB, and Morgan

Mitch, probably complaining about immigrants or something.

Cory tried on my hat at one point, but he wasn't sure he couldn't pull it off.

I think these bathroom stalls could use one or two more stickers, call me crazy.

Heading out from Pierson's after an hour or two of recharging our batteries, we loaded back up into our respective vehicles and headed back to the Lodge.

We had dinner reservations at some fancy place in town that Mitch was super excited about (again, because he always eats), and had about an hour and a half to kill. While some folks dressed into nicer shirts and had some more drinks, a couple people - namely Stef and Collier - attempted jumping up and grabbing one of the cross beams that spans the living room of the Lodge (don't ask me why, it was a thing all weekend.)

Collier was the only person who ended up doing it all weekend (I never got around to trying, though.)

Kelli and Erik work on whipping up some more apple cider mimosa slushies for everyone.

I didn't care for these, they were WAY too sweet for my taste.

These three jerks brought along extra button-up shirts to change into, none of the rest of us guys had thought of that. So of course they buttoned them all the way up to the collar to look like Lonnie, who does this all the time.

Getting ready to head out.

Leaving the Lodge, around 6:45pm

Fifteen minutes later we arrived at Vernale's for our 7pm reservation.

Making another friend. I'm a classy guy, what can I say.

This place wasn't snobbishly fancy (thank God, I hate those places), but the food was super good.

We had one, giant table in the center of the restaurant, and - as usual - the wives congregated towards one end and the husbands at the other.

Morgan, Collier, and Cory

Coming back to the table after a brief bathroom break.

Artsy chandeliers above our table.

They had my all-time favorite beer - Founders' Breakfast Stout - on tap, so I grabbed a pint of that while waiting for my food (just one, since it's like 10% ABV and about 300 calories.)

Patiently waiting for food.

Hungry chicks, digging in. Kris went with her usual margarita pizza (I think that's how you spell it, with a bunch of tomato and basil - I'm not a huge fan.)

I'm classic. This cheeseburger was one of the best I've had in YEARS - so happy with my selection this evening.

Some of the other guys split a $50 bottle of cabernet sauvignon, but I was content with my my Founders.

Lonnie shows off to the white guys how to button one's shirt up all the way to the top (something his wife Stef despises but LBB does it anyway.)

After dinner, we returned to the Lodge for one, final evening of hanging out and letting our hair down.

A bunch of us got in the sauna (only for a few minutes, it heats up fast), and I took a pic of Mees, Lory, Courtney, and Kris while we were in there.

Morgan was gifted some $1200 bottle of bourbon (yes, seriously) by some rich guy that owns a bunch of car dealerships or something, and he brought it along to share with everyone. We all objected but he insisted, and poured out everyone maybe a half an ounce each (you know, 'cause it's over a thousand f***ing dollars a bottle.)

Slainte. Honestly, it was good, but not anything better than the $70 stuff I've had. Definitely priced for scarcity, not quality.

The wives, keeping themselves entertained with yet another game (they're always playing weird games.)

Holding down the fort around the kitchen bar.

Mitch Bos, being Mitch Bossy.

The girls broke out some karaoke at one point - with this light-up speaker you see here - but I was instructed not to document it, so out of protest I took a pic of the speaker instead.

(Not sure what's going on here.)

Erik hadn't checked out the sauna yet this weekend so I took him downstairs and turned it on for him. We both got in and laid down with the intention of being in there for a minute or two, but Kris (who took this) found us some time later starting to doze off and rescued us before we got all hot and sweaty in our clothes. I didn't get the appeal of saunas before, but I sure as shit do now.

Folks started turning in for the night around midnight (the Collier/Pickvet vehicle had to be on the road at like 6am the next day in order to get back in time for some bullshit kids' soccer game or something.)

Three dads, falling asleep on a couch. Thus concludes our tribe's weekend away up in Harbor Springs. Would I do something like this again? Maybe. While the lodge was awesome and hanging out with friends is always a blast, this mix of people was problematic: we don't need to eat out for every, last meal, and that sorta thing eats up (no pun intended) a ridiculous amount of time. As such, we didn't get to do nearly half the stuff we had planned on doing this weekend, which kinda sucked. Also, with a group this large - eight couples - it takes FOREVER to rally people to go anywhere, decide what to do, etc. A trip like this would be much better with, say, four couples, tops. Regardless, I'd rate the weekend a solid 7/10, probably - it was cool.

- Brian