The recent trip to Mackinac Island with my aunt Jen and cousin Kelly was about more than revisiting. It was about reclaiming..
Growing up, our up-north trips were tradition, and some of the best memories of my childhood are woven through them. Some things would change from year to year, like which vehicle we were cramming into, which aunts were taking us, which cheap hotels we'd stay in.
Oh, the hotels. You guys have *no* idea - when it comes to The Art of The Cost-Effective Road Trip , my family has the market cornered.
There was the year we stayed in a stellar room at the Normandy and noticed a door next to our bed that opened into the dark backlot...and didn't lock from the inside.
The pool that turned my hair a memorable shade of green..Several years before I hit the age where I would have thought it edgy and cool.
The 'cottage' in Topannobee which was so dirty we swam in the lake after our showers to feel clean..er. Sometimes it's a good idea to sleep on top of the sheets.

Even frugal travelers enjoy the occasional splurge, though. Like the first time I ever slept on the island. The Lilac Tree Hotel with it's yellow and purple decor and fantastic shower soap..
I still remember waking up to the sound of horses running loose down the cobblestone streets below my window.

You could count on a stop at Manley's fish in St. Ignace for smoked salmon and whitefish. Along with some smoked Gouda and crackers, it was a feast we'd look forward to all year.



.........
Somewhere along the way, we lost the tradition for a while. We all had our own distractions, reasons, struggles.

I went there as a nineteen yr old bride. When my marriage ended I wondered if I could ever feel the same way about the place again. There's a picture of me by this white fence on a bike, overlooking the harbor.
And my honeymoon smile is beaming into the camera, completely full of joy and implicit trust. The gray October sky in the photo the only sign of the freezing rain I was impervious to at the time. The photo is hard to look at now, as are so many others from the beginning. Hard to see that happy girl who had no idea what kind of story she was entering.
In the trips I've taken there since, I've never seen that spot. Looked for it a couple of times, but never could find it.
Hiking with Jen and Kelly, I reached out my hand to brace against a white fence and rest a moment, and when I looked up I realized I was standing exactly where the photo had been taken. I stood there with the sun on my face, alone, no cameras. And covered an old footprint with a new one.
This trip was a way of recapturing our claim on the island's place in our lives. Three independent women, all coming full circle in unique ways.