Three Quests

Hello Internet.

This weekend was one of those weekends that saw all members of this family scattered to the Four Winds. Friday saw all schools in the area - including mine and the girls' - being cancelled due to insanely cold weather (-20 with wind chill, far too cold for kids to be waiting at bus stops and walking to school.) That afternoon, Kris ventured north to somewhere outside of Gaylord to a friend's family member's cabin on a lake (somewhere) for a low-key Mom Weekend (they've hit up this place before, a few years ago, for one of their not-nearly-as-cool-as-Brocation weekends.) She only took like three pics (she's horrible with pictures), but it more or less had seven or eight wives sitting around in pajamas, doing nails, listening to 90s music, and drinking wine for an entire weekend.

Sounds boring to me, but whatever - happy wife, happy life.

Meanwhile, Abby accompanied her best friend, Ella, and her mom, Courtney, up to Northern Michigan University up in the U.P.'s Marquette (where Courtney and her husband went to college.) Courtney had been wanting to take Ella up there for a hockey game this winter, and decided that this was the weekend to do so. . . regardless of the fact all her friends were away on that Mom weekend, and there was a giant snow storm forecasted to barrel down on the region (which you'll see in the following pics.) They invited Abby along because, as I've said before on multiple occasions, our kids are basically siblings at this point.

That left Alayna and I to hold down the fort here in Midland. She ended up having to work most of the weekend, which was good for her 'cause she's been wanting to recoup some hours after a dry spell over the Holidays which depleted her spending account. Yours Truly, therefore, more or less had the run of the house all weekend, which was f***ing AWESOME. I didn't have any errands or work crap to take care of, so my schedule was wide open to undertake the one, single obligation I had for the next three days. . .

Dungeons and Dragons.

WMU, 2002. Left to Right: Russell, Yours Truly, Adam, Mikey and Zack.

I never got the appeal of this back in the day, I always thought it sounded like nerd crap for dorks (and it still kinda is.) I had some friends get into it back in high school, and I tried it out once back in the late '90s, but it really wasn't for me. Thirty years passed and I didn't think twice about every playing it again, until one day, about a week ago, when an old college buddy (and former roommate/band member) of mine, Zack, texted me and asked if I'd be willing to join him and two other of our friends from Western Michigan University - Russell and Mikey - in a DnD campaign. I asked how he planned on accomplishing this, seeing how I'm in Midland, Russell is in Grand Rapids, and the other two are in the greater Detroit area, and he said they were going to do it all via Zoom and a few different online apps.

So I said 'screw it,' and signed up.

I'll get into the super-nerdy details regarding all of this later when the pics come up, but HOLY SHIT was it ever fun. Had I known how much f***ing fun this was I would have done it years ago, nerdy or not. I'm too old to care about stuff like that anymore.

Anyway, here's some pics and video detailing how the Hough Family spend their three-day weekend, scattered across the snowy state of Michigan.

Behold. . 

Abby and the female Johnsons hit up a Starbucks on their way north Friday afternoon, because no feminine undertaking would be complete without it.

With Kris and Abby already on the road to their respective weekend destinations, Alayna and Samson joined me in the Study to listen to some vinyl and drink some coffee in the Study.

A couple hours later, Abby prepares to cross the frozen straits of Mackinac (hard pass for me, this looks terrifying.)

Castle Rock (I haven't been there since like 2022, I think - that Brocation we did Mackinac Island.)

As Courtney drove further into the Upper Peninsula, the roads got dicier and dicier. Multiple 'highways' (if you can even call them that up there) were closed off and impassable, so she had to take a bunch of alternate ways up in order to reach Marquette. The amount of snowfall up there is absolutely insane; the pics you see here are not hills or rock formations, but drifts of snow.

Carving a path through the wilds of the north.

I used Google Gemini to add an Imperial AT-AT to this random pic Abby took from the window as they continued their drive north. I think it makes it cooler.

That evening, the three of them went out to the Berry Events Center for their scheduled hockey game. . .

(These two often add text to their social media posts like this - must be a Snapchat thing or something.)

Not sure what's going on in these videos, I just took them off Abby's Google Photos. . .

Walking back to the car, a block or two away, after the game, the weather had fallen far below zero (with the wind chill), and Abby spotted a bunch of locals clearly unprepared for the weather. Boys will be boys.

This is, like, the one pic Kris took all weekend (aside from two pics of her friends doing stuff that, to me, wasn't noteworthy at all, but I guess you had to be there in order to understand why the pic was being taken.)

After leaving NMU, Courtney and the girls continued driving west in order to get to her dad's house, where they'd be spending the next day and night. Abby was bundled up for warmth, chilled to the bone after having to walk a couple blocks out in the U.P. cold. She later told us that was the coldest she's ever been in her entire life.

One last selfie of these two weirdos at the end of the night.

The next morning, Courtney and the girls and got up to once again hit the road for a small day excursion up to Houghton/Hancock, halfway up the Keewanaw Peninsula.

Backseat homies.

Meanwhile, back in Midland, Yours Truly had some coffee on the couch while Samson kept watch over the front yard. Ever vigilant.

Later that morning, I hopped on Discord with (clockwise from top left) Russel, Zack and Mikey for the launch of our DnD campaign. All three of these guys - especially Mikey - are well-versed in how this game works, so I was just kinda along for the ride. Russell's setup was badass: we used this in-app rolling bot on Discord for dice rolling (which is how one determines successes and failures in the game - whether you can pick a lock, strike an opponent, decipher ancient texts, etc.), we used another website for maps and character placement, and yet another website for character information in order to keep track of our stats and inventory. Required me to use two different computers, but once all set up it was perfect.

Russell generated AI images of our characters for use on the online maps during gameplay (so we could keep track of where the characters were in relation to everything going on in the game.) My dude is a Rogue, with a Thief specialty, so he's lightly armored and relies on dexterity and stealth; good at picking locks, sneaking around, springing traps, infiltrating, that sorta thing. Can't use magic at all, but make up for it with swordsmanship and shitty one-liners.

Z-Baby's character is a Fighter, so all brawn and zero magic. . . basically Zack in college.

Mikey's character is a Warlock with a noble background, so he's our resident spellcaster - whipping fireballs around all the time.

Russell's the Dungeon Master, so he's the one driving the story, playing the enemies, setting up the maps and organizing everything. He's got like four monitors running during gameplay, using various AI platforms for dialogue and story descriptors - it's pretty impressive. He also is playing a character as well, a half-orc Paladin, which is like a Knight with healing abilities (which comes in handy when the rest of us take crossbow bolts to the shoulder, which happened to my guy in the opening part of our campaign.)

A screenshot of the map screen, which started out with all of us locked up in the bowels of a dungeon. Russell applies a 'fog of war' to the map - see the circles above - that black out parts of the map we haven't gotten to yet, opposed to having everything revealed right from the get go. Makes it more realistic in gameplay, and all of us being able to move characters about the map is super helpful when playing online. We played for about four hours when, due to the frigid temperatures Michigan is experiencing this weekend, the pipes in Russell's washing machine burst and he had water leaking all over his floor. So we scheduled to continue the game the following weekend, and will hopefully be playing on weekends for the foreseeable future. Like I said, this game is beyond nerdy, but incredibly fun. . . and being in my mid-40s now, I'm too old to give a shit about being labeled a nerd for playing it.

Back up in the U.P., Abby and the female Johnsons were driving up the Keewanah Peninsula towards Houghton/Hancock. This is Abby showing off her gas station snacks, which doesn't look ideal for one's stomach, but whatever.

Nap time.

Not sure what all they ended up doing in Houghton while they were there, but they got a couple pics posted in front of the bridge that spans the river dividing the two towns.

I can't imagine driving on those roads in the winter time, when we went up there a few years ago during the summer Kris' van could barely make it up the steep inclines on bone-dry roads. You couldn't pay me enough to live up there during the winter.

Eating dinner. . . somewhere. Ella looks thrilled.

That evening Sophie came over to spend the night with Alayna, and after dropping her off Morgan hung out for a few drinks with me and we listened to some Rat Pack on vinyl while having a couple drinks. Erik, Mitch and Collier were out bar-hopping at dive bars around Pinconning, but the two of us didn't feel quite up to that (we sent this pic to the three of them after getting one of them sitting at some towny bar.)

That evening, Courtney took Abby and Ella to some arcade somewhere, I assume Houghton 'cause there's not a lot to her hometown, which is about the size of Farwell.

She was probably able to buy a pencil topper or silly putty or some shit with all these tickets, arcades are total scams.

Kris and I are seeing Rise Against at the Soaring Eagle Casino on March 14th, the same day we're headed to the Clare Irish Festival (which we'll have to cut short in order to head to Mt. Pleasant.) Tickets were like $92, which I'd have no problem paying for some bands, but not Rise Against (a punk band that I really like, but wouldn't pay that much to see.) Fortunately, Morgan's boss gets a few complimentary tickets to every concert at the Soaring Eagle, and gives them to his employees for free on a first-come basis, so we were able to get them free of charge. Can't complain with a free punk concert.

While chatting on the Sausage Pad text thread later that night, after Morgan had left, someone mentioned our old, inflatable mascot, Suckie Fish, which we acquired from Damon's mom's house at one point (forget how and when.) We would take it with us on all of our group adventures throughout college - Key West, road trips, etc. and they wrongly assumed it was long gone. I sent them this pic of Suckie Fish to assure them otherwise (I hold on to everything, I'm the lore master in every group I'm a part of.)

Abby's social media is filled with videos like this one (as is all her friends' - their generation is weird.)

Later that night, back at Courtney's dad's house, sitting around playing some kinda game.

Yet another video for TikTok, interrupted by Ella's grandpa's dog. Thus concludes another weekend for the Houghs - we'll see you guys next time.

- Brian 

Brocation '25, Pt. III

 (contd.)

The next morning, many of us slept in an hour or so, seeing how we weren't driving any long distances today - we were sticking around the greater Marquette area and didn't have to rally as quickly. As guys finished getting around, they stumbled out of the hotel and across the street to this restaurant for some breakfast and coffee (which you might remember from Brocation '20.)

After breakfast, we whipped up some Bloody Mary's and set off for our first excursion of the day: revisiting Sugarloaf Mountain.

I'm definitely in better shape than I was five years ago when we last did this hike, and it showed - I didn't break a sweat this time around.

Ascending the hill - I don't remember this walkway last time, I think they've installed it recently (over the rocks and exposed roots we had to fight over in 2020.)

I've said it before and I'll say it again: this walk is straight out of The Lord of the Rings. *adjusts nerd glasses* Specifically when the Uruks of Isengard track down the Fellowship east of the Anduin River, before the Falls of Rauros.

The Kings press forward up the mountain. From front to back: Holty, Collier, Yours Truly, Morgan, Lonnie, Mitch, Rob, Tom, and (cameraman) Erik.

Glad they cut paths up this mountain so we didn't have to raw-dog our way up these rocky cliffs. . . we're not that athletic.

Ascending even more stairs (there was a few this morning.)

Stopping off to catch our breath educate ourselves with some informational, State Park placards.

Tom, Collier and Rob, learning all about the local terrain (I assume.)

Approaching the summit.

At long last, we reached the top of Sugarloaf Mountain.

Thanks, Morgan.

Doing what I do best.

Collier's equivalent of my usual rock-lock pose whenever someone takes a pic of me.

The view from atop this outcrop of rocks was insane, you could see a looooong way in nearly every direction.

(Probably lecturing, I don't remember.)

Mitch and Lake Superior.

I don't need to caption every one of these scenic pics, right? You know what you're looking at, I'm sure.

The memorial to some local Boy Scout troop leader that was killed in combat during the final days of World War I, right where we left it last time.

Someone's wide-angle shot of the viewing platform at the top of the mountain.

A full panoramic of the lake.

We hung out here for a few minutes awaiting the arrival of more tourists so we could bother someone to take a group pic of our group.

The Kings of the Hill Mountain.

The Pro and Lonnie Big Balls.

Holty makes some friends with a visiting family. He was talking their ear off about something or other, I wsn't really paying attention.

We stayed up here admiring the view for about twenty minutes - after that climb we endured you wanna make the most of it.

Looking south, in-land towards Marquette.

There were a lot of carvings and graffiti along the railings of the viewing platform, so I took it upon myself to add our group to the accumulated roster of visitors.

Dang straight.

Having got our fill of mountaintop views, we began the not-as-long-as-the-hike-up descent back down the mountain.

Hell of a lot easier going down, I'll say that much.

With our mountain hike successfully completed, we drove back towards Marquette for more nature-based adventure. Along the way, we stopped off - once again - at Phil's 550 Store.

This local institution has been a required stop for us.

I didn't pick anything up this time (last time I got a sticker or two and a beer, I think.)

Yes, they still have the decapitated bear sitting around. Because everyone needs something like this in their life.

White Trash Jesus disapproves of what you do in the bathroom when you think he's not looking.

After the 550, we drove out towards Black Rocks, which is set behind this big park you have to pass through first (on the other side of Marquette's giant Ore Docks.

Some shots of the Ore Docks, after we parked on the far side of the harbor.

Before we continued on to Black Rocks, Erik wanted us to stop off at the seawall that protects the harbor from the sinister Lake Superior. As we parked and headed down the steps to the waterfront, we saw this monument to a few old college students who fell to their deaths a decade or so ago at this very spot. Serves as a grim reminder to respect this lake's murdering-ass waves.

The guys watch the waves bash against the protective breakwater.

Nice job with the sign, guy. Illustration makes sense.

Morgan, Lonnie, Erik, Mitch, Holty, and Rob.

Nobody was quite up for a swim at this spot. 

Dead fish on the 'beach.' Probably killed by getting caught up in a wave and bashed senseless against the concrete. If I had to guess.

Nnnnnnnnope.

Of course we had to get a selfie in front of this murder pit (Morgan again obliging with his twelve-foot arms.)

After loading up in the Battle Wagon we drove farther into the park, stopping only once at this little roadside viewing platform that gave you a cool look at some of the surrounding cliff sides.

We had scoped out this very, same spot on our last trip up here. Pretty cool view, but it's like a five-minute stop-off.

Not a big fan of standing on ledges like this, but I survived.

Continuing on, we finally made it out to Black Rocks, and got a really close parking spot without difficulty (one of those things where we pulled up just as someone with a great spot was leaving.)

Five of the guys, as previously stated, had never been up here to Marquette before, so we made it a point to show them this must-see location this weekend.

The spot where Rob is standing right here is where locals prefer to jump off into the waters below - I've seen dozens of people jump the 20 or so feet down into the frigid waters. 

Today, though, there was nobody jumping in. As you saw earlier at the breakwall, the waves were straight-up treacherous today, and nobody was risking it.

Steven was willing to try, and we had to - literally - talk him off a cliff.

Collier's nuts, and climbed down six feet down the cliff face to a little outcropping of rock to sit and admire the view. No thanks.

Steven walked out to the edge of the Black Rocks, facing Lake Superior, and decided - out of the blue - to start pissing into the water. Not caring at all about the dozens (if not hundreds) of other people - mostly families - that were walking around out on the rocks among us. How he avoided getting arrested doing this, I'll never know. 

A zoomed out pic of the Kings, featuring Collier sitting perilously along the side of the cliff, and Holty inexplicably pissing into Lake Superior. 

Rob is super f***ing strong, gang.

The Black Rocks

After hanging out on the outcropping for awhile, we decided to check out a different area that we didn't get around to seeing last time we were here.

Doubling back towards the entrance, where we had parked (not sure what Mitch and Erik pointing at here.)

Instead of getting back into the car, we veered around the edge of the lot and down a small gravel path towards the water. 

This cove was an area that I had never seen before, and is where folks who dive off the rocks (which you can see in the background, where folks are standing - and where Collier was sitting a few minutes prior) can exit the water.

Collier scoping out the waves.

Lonnie, Erik and Mitch

Reduced shutter speed pic of the water.

Holty was all about getting into this water.

A little too wavy - and chilly - for my taste.

Tom and I were the only two who wanted to check out this cave above the waterline while everyone else watched Holty flounder in the waves.

Glamour pose.

The inside of the cave.

Heading back towards the car, you could see sinkholes from where the waves had eaten away at the shoreline.

We loaded up and headed back into town for some drinks and food, passing back underneath the Ore Docks.

Tom adjusts himself after we parked the Battle Wagon downtown.

Downtown Marquette. . . 

Our first stop: Ore Dock Brewing (my favorite brewery in Marquette.)

I've bought a lot of merch here over the years - glasses, a Stanley stein, a growler, etc. - but this time around I picked up a large, tin sign for behind my bar.

After paying for my sign, Morgan (who had waited for me) and I headed upstairs to meet up with the others.

We were the only ones up here at this time of day.

I'm sure this place fills up in the evening, but at this time in the afternoon it was dead.

The crew assembled at an outdoor table.

My new bar sign - pretty awesome.

We only stayed for one beer before deciding to move on to the next stop for some food.

Collier, going barefoot down the street (not sure why.) His feet could use a tanning session or five.

Marquette's local lodge (Erik and I didn't bother stopping.)

We passed by the old ukulele and music store that I had gotten cornered in by the owner last time we were here. And, like last time, I didn't buy anything.

Some old school theater on the main drag.

I pushed to eat here this evening, as the food at this place - the 906 - is amazing.

It wasn't too busy, so we got a table right away.

Tom, Rob, and Lon Dawg.

I once again ordered the Gladiator, which I remembered being the best sandwich I have EVER HAD. . . and it was just as good as I remembered. Seriously, the ingredients on this wrap are all of my favorites (I wouldn't change a damn thing - it's perfection.)

Waiting for our orders.

Yours Truly, Collier, Holty, and Damn It Tom.

Mankind's greatest achievement, right here.

Digging in to dinner - these are some happy campers.

After dinner we walked back to the van and returned to our hotel for folks to change and load up there golfing gear. Tonight's main event (and the main event for most of the guys this weekend) was eighteen holes at Greywalls, a fancy golf course that was on everyone's bucket list (well, not my bucket list, but I'm the only non-golfer in this group.)

Arriving at Greywalls, everyone having donned their douchiest golf outfits (I think they're douchey at least, the guys probably thought they looked cool.)

Assembling the golf bags to be loaded into the carts.

I was fine with hanging out while everyone else golfed (I'm used to it), but made the stipulation that I wanted my own cart to drive around: because we had so many people in our group, we had to divide into two separate groups of four, and me having my own cart meant I could drive back and forth between the two groups in order to hang out with everyone, take pictures, and move at my own pace.

I was also on music detail, playing our Brocation '25 Playlist at full blast.

Rob and Morgan check over their gear.

While waiting for our scheduled tee time, folks - like Collier and Holty, here - took turns practicing their drives.

Starting out on the course. . .

This course is expensive, but well worth the price due to the striking scenery (which you'll see for yourself as we go on), usually costing something like $180 per golfer for eighteen holes. But, since Mitch is a certified golf pro, he was able to get everyone a 50% discount. Still pretty steep, but everyone felt it was worth it. I didn't have to pay, seeing how I wasn't golfing at all, and Mitch paid my $35 cart fee (despite my protestation.)

We had a random golfer take a couple group pics of us as we started out on the eighteen-hole trek (you can see Lake Superior off in the distance.)

Lonnie and Collier paired up, and Erik and Morgan resumed their years-long partnership.

These bridges are super narrow - the carts barely fit over them.

These tablets serve as maps and probably come in handy for those who pay attention to whatever the hell all those numbers mean.

Broke out a pipe for the first time since last time I was out on a golf course (on last year's Brocation.) I don't smoke anymore, but on the course it's kinda nice to have a bowl or two.

Joy riding around the course.

Mitch (the group's best golfer by a mile) offered to pair up with Holty (the worst golfer in the group) in order to give everyone else a fighting chance.

Mitch hits a drive from atop a cliff (the name Greywalls has to come from all the cliffs and rock faces spread out throughout the course, it's pretty awesome.)

Morgan tees off.

Collier.

LBB.

Erik attempts a long putt.

The two groups bump into each other at the beginning of some random hole.

Watching folks golf. For hours.

Mitch, being inappropriate. This guy is a certified golf pro, folks.

Rob points the way forward.

Holty smacks the hell out of a ball on his tee-off.

An imposing cliff on one of the holes.

I wish we had scenery like this back in Midland. Instead of boring, flat forests and farm fields.

LBB, Baby Driver, Big E, and Collier.

The Colonel, on the precipice.

The group carts.

At another hole, waiting for folks to finish up.

This was like driving through Middle Earth - super cool.

Taking pics of people golfing (I included about a quarter of the pics we took this evening in this post, there were a shitload.)

Ordering some snacks - and some shots - from this concession stand halfway through the course.

Rob and The Pro.

Morgan swings and misses.

Shot time.

Rob teeing off.

Rob's creepy golf club cover. This thing 100% comes alive at night.

Mitch sinks another putt.

Every man is perpetually 15 years old at heart.

Sunset over the Greywalls.

The guys had to rush to complete the eighteen holes, and the last few holes were almost impossible as dusk drew on. We had to drive back through the woods to get back to the lodge, and the carts didn't have headlights so we could barely see. Collier had his phone light out and the only way we got through the forested paths was due to everyone staying close on his heels - it got REALLY dicey at times, but we made it through successfully.

Back at the hotel, later that night, we once again rendezvoused at Erik, Collier, and Lonnie's room, where we drank a bunch of bourbon and some of the guys went down to the hot tub (which was conveniently right outside their room) and made friends with some local ladies.

Invading Lonnie's personal space. We stayed up far later than we probably should have (at our age), and the next morning everyone was (miraculously) able to clear out of their respective rooms and load back up into the van for ours long-ass drive back south towards Midland. Thus concludes yet another epic Brocation with The Kings of the Hill - not sure where we'll end up next year, but the UP is on our shortlist again for sure. We'll see ya next time, kids.

- Brian