President's Report

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

 September is birthday month. Did you know that more
people were born in September than any other month? That
would include myself, my sister, my daughter (same day
as mine) and my granddaughter. Planning birthday parties
during this month can be a little dicey because September is
also the height of our hurricane season.
For my sixtieth birthday I planned a big party and invited
friends and family from all over. I had the Pink Pig Food
Truck, a ventriloquist who had a dummy named Kurt, and
special lights and music. I thought being sixty was a big
deal, and it was, but now that I am older, I realize that every
birthday is a big deal! At that party a neighbor gave me a
book entitled, “1,000 Places to See Before You Die”. In
looking through the book, I don’t think I am going to get
to all those places. Many of them are hotels in Europe and
the Far East. But looking over the book recently, I realized I
may have seen close to one hundred of those listed.
This past July I definitely visited one of them, the Mackinac
Island’s Grand Hotel. We wanted to go to some place where
we could wear jackets in July. Unfortunately, while we
were in Northern Michigan, they were having a heat wave.
We met my niece and her family in Holland, Michigan and
together we drove up to the top of the state. We took a
ferry boat, and the first thing you can see as you get closer
to the island is the rambling white Grand Hotel perched
larger than life, high atop a hill sheathed in emerald green
lawns and untold thousands of blooming flowers. No cars
are allowed on the island, so you either must walk, ride
a bike, or take a horse drawn carriage to get around. We
wanted to go into the Hotel, but only guests were allowed
inside. For twelve dollars you could walk on the porch and
take a picture. Well, at least I was able to check that one off
the list of 1,000.

From there we drove across the five-
mile-long bridge that links lower

Michigan to Upper Michigan. That
one should have made the book. We
made our way down the shore of
the top of Lake Michigan until we
reached Wisconsin. We then spent
some wonderful time with friends and
a week on the shore of Green Bay in a little town called
Sister Bay.
You know traveling is not easy. There is some work
involved. Getting a rental car, finding your way around in
strange places, staying in different hotels and packing up
every few days. You get tired of eating out and hope the
airline connections are all in place getting back home. The
last thing you must worry about is trying to land during the
afternoon thunder storms at Orlando International Airport.
Do you know the best thing about traveling? It is getting
home. Back to Tuscawilla and sleeping in your own bed.
I think Tuscawilla should have been listed as one of the
places to visit before you die.

Dr. Kurt Miericke

THOA President

Publisher, Tuscawilla Today

Email: THOAws20@gmail.com