Gin and (Cherry) Juice

Last Thursday, while in Traverse City, Michigan to attend the National Cherry Festival, I got to hear the Gin Blossoms in concert. Of course, it makes me feel old when a band that hit it big while I was in college is now classic rock headlining a festival. Still, it was a great show and it kicked off our vacation there on the most perfect note. They sounded great and my wife and I had an awesome time singing along to the many Gin Blossoms songs that we know. As lead singer Robin Wilson said at one point, "This is one of the most beautiful places we've played."

I'd have to agree with Robin. In 1998, I taught a summer course in Traverse City while I was working on my Master's degree at Michigan State. I'd spend the first few days of the week there, teach on Monday and Wednesday nights, and then drive back down to East Lansing for the remainder of the week and the weekend. For six weeks, it was wonderful.

I went back for the first time in nine years last year, as my wife and I spent one day in town toward the beginning of the National Cherry Festival. This year, we went back for the final two and half days, along with Monica's friend Sherry and her two daughers. From picking our own cherries and strawberries to driving out to the light house at the end of the peninsula to drinking cherry ginger ale at the Cherry Republic to swimming in the Grand Traverse Bay to eating ice cream at Moomers and pizza at Pangeas ... the list goes on and on ... culminating with watching fireworks over the bay with Pink Floyd music (from a tribute band called "Think Floyd"), it was an excellent time. The Cherry Festival is fun and worth a trip, but you don't have to go then to have fun in Traverse City. For me, it's one of the best places I know ... especially when a band from the town in which I met my wife (Tempe, Arizona) is playing the kind of music in which we share an interest. Ahhh ... it's moments like this that reaffirm how much I love my life.