Josh, Alex, and I explored the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a vast and foreign country within the middle of our own country. It was unknown to us; the deer much larger, healthier, and more intimidating, the hidden bears in the woods, the people extremely friendly, and the hair-dos of the young women similar to those from the denizens of where Edward Scissorhands ended up. The air was fresh and the scenery beautiful and occasionally the locals were complete yahoos.
Upon our first night in the UP, lodging was looking hard to come by. We were traveling mid-June, which is just before the summer tourism season starts, but certainly not before the mosquitoes have come out. It was getting late; we wanted to find a place to stay before we settled down for dinner.
Josh and Alex spotted a billboard for a nearby hotel and we followed its directions to the grand locale. The owner was a nice enough host and we got the corny "Victorian" room, which was about as Victorian as you can outfit a basic hotel room with random stuff you find at the local charity shop or from your aunt's closet or basement. No clawfoot bathtub or stereographs with local pictures in this room, unfortunately.
The next morning our host had cinnamon rolls and tea and coffee for us and plenty of conversation, where he revealed he was a pro-small business, anti-everything else local lil' big-wig. He was on his town business committee and basically hated most everything he, himself, brought up in conversation. Technology, "young people these days", politicians, paying for anything, unions, owning his own hotel, etc. etc. Alex tired of him quickly and excused himself to check the internet and escape our host's curmudgeonly grasp. Josh and I, however, can be amiable masochists. When we finally fell upon a topic that lit our host up with the wee-ist crack of a smile, we agreed to check out his hobby: model railroads and miniatures.
To his credit, what he enjoys the most really comes out in his work: the detail of the miniature people in their daily activities.
 |
| morning in the lobby |
 |
| Alex planning our escape |
 |
| model train room #1 |
 |
| model train room #2, expanded version under construction also, me under aerial attack |
 |
| Dick, our host |
No comments:
Post a Comment