…of Lake Michigan!

We left for Two Rivers right after work on Friday. It was chilly! I swear, autumn arrived on Friday afternoon — it was great all day, then took a turn just as I left for home — windy & chilly. Brrr. Thankfully, the wind died down a little bit every day, and the sun was out most of the time.

We spent the weekend at the Lighthouse Inn in Two Rivers, right on the water. The room was a little dated and could use some fresh decor, but the location can’t be beat, and the restaurant was pretty good. These are views from our room.

The lights on the horizon in the photo above are the City of Manitowoc, about five miles south. (Kate & I rode our bikes from Two Rivers to Manitowoc & back a couple of months ago.) I happened to glance out the window on Friday night and saw fireworks being shot off down there! I have no idea what the occasion was, but it was neat to see.

We walked over to Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum on Saturday morning after breakfast to take the tour (and do a little shopping in the gift shop). In addition to being a working museum, they have a great collection of old printing equipment & presses — and other things. Hamilton built several types of furniture back in the day, too. They still cut type there, so it was fun to check out the pantographs (old & new) and just browse around at our leisure.

Rusty & I both have print shop experience in our past — he ran a small print shop in his Northern California hippy days, and I worked as a typesetter for my first real job (and for quite a few years… I loved that job). We met when he’d come & pick up “words” that I’d “set” (on a computer in those not-so-olden days) for the graphics work he was doing at the time.

We drove up the shore to Algoma in the afternoon. Rusty delivered some work to a gallery there and we visited with the owner for a while — they also have a couple of rooms with antiques, so I browsed a bit — and we stopped in at a couple of other galleries & shops before heading back.

On Saturday night we checked out Cool City Brewing for dinner. Two Rivers is known as “cool city” — naturally air conditioned because of their location on the lake. Cool City Brewing has expanded on the idea of “flights,” so not only did I have a flight of beer (IPAs, mostly), but Rusty & I shared a flight of Sliders and a flight of Meatballs! It was all really good and the place had a nice vibe… or should I say “cool”?!

We stopped by for a quick visit with Ali & her family on the way home on Sunday. The kiddos will all be coming for an overnight on Friday!!

Echoing the sentiments of many…. how did we get here so fast?? Where did September go?

Whew.

I started the month by finalizing & submitting my application for Medicare. I meet with my insurance guy on Wednesday to take care of the rest. Speaking of things happening fast… WHAT??? Well, I have a big birthday coming up… here we are!

Then, on Wednesday afternoon, I get to spend a little one-on-one time with Davy boy. He’s in a super-cute stage right now, and I’m looking forward to some fun time together!

Rusty’s heading to Australia in the middle of the month to spend a few weeks with Maddy & Viv. He & Maddy have some exploration plans further afield, including a trip to New Zealand and a visit with Kiwi Family. (Don’t feel bad for me, Kate & I are saving & planning for a completely different sort of trip Down Under in early 2025!)

Before he departs, we decided to get away, ourselves… all the way to Two Rivers (or Trivers, if you’re a local). This is the time of year I love heading north, but we only have a weekend. We’ll enjoy the lake, and I plan on taking the self-guided tour at Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum — located practically across the street from our lodging. I can’t believe I’ve never taken the tour. And, speaking of Hamilton, Kate just wrote a piece about them for Arts Midwest (and she has some other articles in the works for them).

I spent a little time over the weekend in the garage (huge work space with no vehicles able to get in) playing with broken pottery. I’d like to get these tables underway and/or finished this month! After consulting with Rusty, I took a trip to the lumberyard for some Durock cement board and mortar mix. Sharon’s broken pottery is all so curvy & dimensional — there’s barely a piece that’s flat — so fingers crossed that it all “takes.” And I’m not sure how they’ll actually be arranged in the end… so far, just playing around.

I’m hopeful that our construction project will wrap up this month. (Please, please please!!!) They are to finish the last of the street paving (a lane yet to do a block over), and the sidewalks will get underway this week, along with backfilling behind the curbs. On Friday, I could take a direct route home (one of my usual) for the first time in ages. I’ve been able to park in front of the house (still no aprons) for a while, mainly because I leave pretty early for work most days, so I’m not impeding progress, but the past couple of weeks had us zigzagging on weird streets, through alleys & around cones. I had Airbnb guests for last Thursday’s football game and, well, it just had to seem a little sketch, y’know… them & their rental Mercedes SUV? They were very gracious. 5 Stars for everyone!

Other than being pretty busy with the Airbnbs later this month, those are most of the hopes & highlights for October. We’ll see what actually happens… heh.