Friday, July 01, 2011

The Beauty of Northern Michigan


July in Northern Michigan begins today. I realize that there have been some pretty cold July 4th weekends in the past - but for my first July 4th weekend in Gaylord, I'm not sure the weather and beauty of Independence Day weekend could be any better than it is right now. The last 2 days of June have been absolutely wonderful and the beginning of July is set to be just as amazing.

Wednesday night Laura and I, along with my parents, attended the Community Band Concert down at the Pavilion in downtown Gaylord. I think Laura and I brought the median age way down but what a fun evening it was, except it did get a little chilly by the end of the performance. How cool is it to live in a community whose unofficial anthem is Edelweiss?! Each Community Band concert ends with that song. I have to learn the words before next Wednesday's concert so I can sing along with the others. And the evening was capped off being treated to ice cream by a wonderful couple from the church. What a perfect evening.

Tuesday afternoon we were invited to spend some time at the Promise FM Golf Tournament at the Treetops Resort. No, I didn't golf (I've swung the clubs a few times but am definitely not ready for prime time yet), we just drove around in carts talking with the golfers and enjoying the amazing scenery of the course. Afterwards we were invited to be part of the tournament's incredible dinner.

After leaving Treetops we drove out to Deadman's Hill. Johsua Rupp, our very talented Worship Director here at E-Free had taken me out hiking at Deadman's Hill earlier this week. What a view! I can't to see it in the Fall.

And now we move into the Holiday Weekend. The weather is supposed to be absolutely beautiful. Here is what I'm looking forward to...

I'm looking forward to fireworks on Otsego Lake with some families from the church.

I'm looking forward to hanging out back at Treetops for their weekend festivities (my kids work at Treetops and Joy is in charge of the kids activities for their big July 3rd festival).

I'm looking forward to church on Sunday as we continue our "Summer by the Lake" series. We have a great service planned and it is going to be awesome!

I'm looking forward to hearing the duet my kids will be singing as part of this Sunday's service!

I'm looking to spending time with some old friends from when I pastored back in Indiana years ago. They are passing through and will be at church Sunday! In fact, the next 2 Sundays we have old friends from our time in Indiana coming to visit.

I'm looking forward to taking my parents to Mackinaw Island!

And that's just the first weekend in July! Right after that it's ALPENFEST time! Now that I am really looking forward to experiencing.

Life in Northern Michigan - it's a beautiful thing!

1 comment:

Linda Goodale said...

I can take you down that hill this winter once the snow flies. Strap a couple of boards to the feet and see how fast you can come down. If golfing isn't your thing, yet, Grayling has a canoe marathon the last weekend in July you could try.