Tawas Point

The beach was pretty much deserted by the time we got there, around noon.

Welcome back, Internet.

It's a played out idiom, I'll cede that for sure, but the age-old 'Happy Wife, Happy Life' thing is, well, pretty spot-on. 

Nagatha Christie has been repeatedly bringing up how much she wants to go spend a day at a beach somewhere for, like, weeks now. She's been wanting to either hit up Caseville again, or else some other place along Lake Huron, like Tawas or Alpena. Unfortunately for her, most of the days she's had off of work having been rainy or else too cold for the beach , so up until today we haven't really had the opportunity to go anywhere.

Well, the stars finally aligned, and today we had zero rain in the forecast and weather hovering in the mid/high-70's - about as good as she was gonna get on a day off. We settled on Tawas for a day trip at the beach because it was only like an hour and twenty minutes away - similar to Caseville - and we had never been out that way before. The drive went by much faster than we had anticipated, and upon arrival the weather was still in the lower 70s, which thinned out the crowds so much that we more or less had our pick of location on the beach.

All in all, we spent about five hours on the beach, and an additional hour or so in downtown Tawas, popping into a couple shops and getting the womenfolk ice cream. Pretty solid day trip, all said and done, and Kris felt a hell of a lot better knocking that off her Summer '24 Bucket List.

As they say, Happy Wife, Happy Life.

Check it out. . .

Lake Huron.

Despite my protests, Kris insisted on bringing along this piece-of-shit, half-broke, beach umbrella that we've owned since Alayna was a baby. Kris has never let me throw it away - and I've tried, folks, multiple times - even though this thing barely works under zero-wind conditions.

Well, today was the day it FINALLY died - the slight breeze was too much for it and the thing did that thing umbrellas do where they're blown inside out and the framing breaks. Rest assured, she got a well-deserved 'I Told You So' for her troubles. . .

Yours Truly intended on knocking out a huge chunk out of the first installment of my favorite books of all-time: The Lord of the Rings. I was barely into the second or third chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring when I started reading this afternoon, but would eventually knock out an additional 100 or so pages.

Alayna zoomed in on a couple boats that sailed past while were setting up on the beach. . .

(This one looks like some kinda WWII destroyer.)

Kris gets in a scenic foot pic for her fellow moms.

The girls, chasing seagulls about the beach.

Like Hitchcock's Birds. . .

There was some kinda weird sinkhole in the water a little adjacent to our location on the beach, and they had warning signs all around it warning swimmers.

Alayna would end up taking multiple 'glamour' pics of Abby throughout the afternoon.

I got about five hours of bronzing - and Hobbitry - in today, so I was pretty satisfied.

The girls stumbled across this seagull which only had one leg/foot. . . which has gotta be pretty rare.

And it's not like there were a ton of folks out picnicking, either - there weren't all that many people out to begin with. Even though we had brought snacks with us, the birds left us alone for the most part. Maybe it was some kind of meeting or something, I don't know.

Bored with sitting in the sun, the girls wandered off a little ways down the beach to get some more Abby 'modeling' pics in (for social media or something, I assume.)

A few on some rocks. . .

This one of her acting like a sea monster should go on her 'Gram, for sure.

Alayna decided to bronze alongside her old man after awhile, so while we were preoccupied with getting ourselves gorgeous, Kris took Abby along with her to check out nearby Tawas Point Lighthouse. . .

I don't get the female obsession with selfies. . .

. . . like, if guys want to get a picture of something we just take a picture of it, whereas women have to take a picture of themselves in front of what they want to take a picture of.

Abby was wanting to check out the sinkhole in the water, so Kris followed her out there to document the sudden drop off.

I combined Kris' pics into one image for your viewing convenience, folks.

The Cannonball, getting some sun.

After five or so hours on the beach, we were all pretty funned-out with the sun and decided to head into downtown Tawas to hit up some local, touristy shops and grab some ice cream for the girls.

We ultimately popped into a few stores, as Abby was after a tie-dyed Tawas shirt, but unfortunately she never found one (only hoodies.) I managed to pick up another metal bar sign for my basement bar, though. Hooray for me.

Kris wanted to hit up this local ice cream place, instead of a chain ice cream joint like Dairy Queen (which was more convenient for us - we had to drive back a few blocks in order to get to this place.)

This inside of this ice creamery (is that a word?) was all retro-fitted to look like a 50s/60s diner, which was pretty awesome.

An old timey, wooden jukebox with era-appropriate music. I would love to own something like this and swap it out with punk rock songs. . .

I held a table for us while Kris and the girls were in line buying their ice cream (the place was starting to get packed with fellow tourists who had the same idea as us.) We enjoyed a last little bit of sun at the ice cream joint before heading back to Midland, another successful day trip in the books.

- Brian 

Victories and Losses

What's up, gang.

Good times, Michigan.  Good times.

Closing out what has been, now, the fourth month of society's pandemically-charged quasi-quarantine, we Houghs found ourselves settling into a lack-luster Summer schedule.  The first half of the month had seen numerous social outings - the Fourth of July, my 40th Birthday celebration, our large-scale camping trip to Jellystone with our Midland social order.  The last couple weeks since then has been, well, pretty mundane.  Kris went to work, the kids hung about the house, for the most part unable to socialize with friends outside of those whose parents we were super-close with, and Yours Truly focusing on resurrecting his yard after weeks of little-to-no rain.

We were getting stir crazy after a week or two of this, so Kris and I decided to nab us a few more highlights that we could look back on later and say, "See?  We did stuff last summer!"  It was quickly decided that we needed to hit up a beach and let the kids frolick about in the sun, away from TVs and device screens, and enjoy some of the natural wonders this state of ours has at its disposal. 

Hence our repeated trips out to Caseville, on the western shores of Michigan's thumb.

Geographically accurate.

The beach was awesome, not crowded in the slightest, and a manageable hour-and-a-half drive from our house.  The first time we headed out there - totally on a whim, leaving after lunch and without putting a lot of foresight into it - ended prematurely:  after enjoying the beach for about a half-an-hour, we were assaulted by giant storm clouds that brought thunder and rain in sheets.  Disappointed with our lackluster trip to the beach, we headed back out, two days later, in the early morning, in order to get a full day of sun and lake under our belts.

And, to save time and energy (as I am, indeed, a lazy, lazy man), I've compressed both outings into a single, solitary blog post.  You're welcome.

So here you go, folks:  The Houghs Visit Caseville, Episodes I and II.

Enjoy.

Our first attempt at the beach at Caseville.  Dark foreboding on the horizon. . .

Bikini weather.  For the time being.

Definitely reminiscent of Florida. . .

Getting a snack after splashing about in Lake Huron for a bit.

Kris and her selfies. . .

Fellow beach-goers begin to pack up as the approaching storm begins to roll in with a fury.

We probably could've chosen a better day to come to Caseville. . .

These millennials were seated right in front of us.  They had to take, like, thirty Instagram pics (I assume) of themselves at the beach.  I hate this generation with a passion.

A much more-deserted beach.  We were one of the last to leave, but our departure was inevitable.

On the drive back to Midland, we drove through the town and stopped off at this ice cream joint so the kids could cherish a small victory from the day's exploits.

Alayna and Kris are not impressed with one another's selections.

As long as sugar was involved, Abby was cool with missing out on a day at the beach.

Caseville, Take Two.  This time Kris decided to haul along this frickin' beach umbrella of ours that we use, like, once every six years.  I have no idea why we still own it.

The girls, for whatever reason, decided to play in the sand directly next to the sidewalk.  Who knows why.

This is what I do at the beach.  Read and bronze.

We never found the rest of her body, sadly.

Seriously.  Nothing about this looks fun in the slightest.

Chasing after carrion on the beach.  Never gets old.

 

After hanging out at the beach for a couple hours, we decided to walk about a half a mile down the beach to a nearby pier to check it out.  The kids made short work of any obstacle along the way.

The Houghs, Beach Edition. (I totally look like some random stranger that photobombed this family trying to get a pic at the beach.)

(You can see the pier there in the distance.)

Some washed up trees (seriously) that were lying across the sand.

After nearly a decade in Florida, it's jarring to go out into this water and find that it lacks salt.

Abby, in the zone.

Continuing on. . .

Finally at the pier. . .

The Cannonball watches the waves crash against the pier (the wind was much stronger out on the water.)

It was a pretty long walk out to the end, but the girls were insistent.

I assume there's a light of some kind on the top of this to warn approaching ships at night.  But who knows.

My roommates, on a pier.

I love checking this stuff out.

Well, no shit.

Abby leaves her mark on the beach (we didn't have anything sharp with which to carve into the metal pole, I guess.)

'Houghs Rule.'  Tell your friends.

After checking out the pier the kids were getting hungry, so we hit up a beach-side restaurant to grab some dinner (where we gorged ourselves on not-at-all-healthy, fried food.). Afterwards, we drove back to Midland, proud that our second attempt at the beach was significantly more successful than our first.

- Brian