Thursday, August 5, 2010

The things you discover about your family...

I don't remember how it came up, but we were all sitting around the campfire on vacation and someone mentioned Prohibition and how the itty bitty hotel in the rural town my dad grew up in had its own Speakeasy - only here in Michigan, they didn't call them speakeasies - they were called blind pigs. The fact that the hotel had a blind pig didn't surprise me, but I was a little startled to discover that my Great-Grandpa Elmer was a whiskey runner. Apparently, the family cattle truck had a false bottom used to hide booze. The best natured cows got lots of rides as a cover for illegal deliveries.

So I was asking my mom this morning if she knew about that. My parents divorced when I was pretty young, so I wasn't sure if she'd known that or not. For the record, she didn't, but she did have some more interesting family history for me. Evidently, my maternal Great Grandparents made their own booze and sold it. Great-Grandma Johanna made bathtub beer and Great-Grandpa Englebert had a still down behind the chicken coop and their oldest two sons used to drive the stuff to a nearby town where the men gathered for "meetings" between their two Sunday services. From all accounts, the evening services were more interesting than the morning one.

Good to know I come from enterprising stock. ;)

Here are a few more vacation pictures if anyone wants to have a peek.

Indian Lake at sunset.

The Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse in Gulliver, MI. It's the last working lighthouse on the northern shore of Lake Michigan.
The creepy, creepy stairs in the lighthouse. I realized that at about 70ish feet up, I'm kinda scared of heights. Actually, the going up was fine. The going down was freaking terrifying - especially crawling through the hatchways in the upper two levels. Yeah, I have no idea what I was thinking either.

Beach at Au Train.
Lake Superior at Au Train.
Just a random lake along highway 123 in the UP.
Lake Superior shoreline. I love this picture. :)
Lookit all the pretty stones on the beach! I was in rock picker heaven. Anyone sensing a theme here?
Lake Superior at Whitefish Point. One of my very favorite spots.

9 comments:

Julia Rachel Barrett said...

Oh, amazing photos! Absolutely gorgeous! We'll be canoeing in Northern Minnesota in the Boundary Waters for ten days later this month. I'm expecting great beauty - like this!
Yeah, family stories are interesting, aren't they. How cool that you got to hear some tales!

Chris said...

*makes mental note to never climb lighthouse stairs*

Chris said...

Since I wasn't able to subscribe to comments on my previous comment (stupid Blogger - I want to be able to sign in AND subscribe to comments AT THE SAME TIME)...

That's pretty cool about your family! Isn't it WEIRD the things that family members drop in conversation, things that you'd think someone would've made a point of mentioning earlier? My dad was talking about how his grandparents came to be in North Dakota. While he was telling the story, my brother and I were looking at each other as realization dawned. When my dad finished, one of us asked, "Um, Dad? You do realize that your grandparents were Jewish, right?!"

Kris Norris said...

Love the photos... Having been north of Superior, I know how beautiful that lake is... though it's usually been cold, and well, no swimming, lol.

I love the lighthouse pics. I went to one nearby here that was, at the time, still manned and working. They automated it a few years later, but what a treat to see a piece of history.

Mental note....make sure to take Bron up biggest building in New York and have her look down... maybe take the stairs? lol.

Bronwyn Green said...

@ Julia - I hope you take pictures and post them. I've always wanted to see the Boundary Waters!!! I bet it's going to be stunning!

@ Chris - Don't do it! This is the first and last lighthouse I'll ever climb. Of course, going down would have been easier if I'd left my 20 lb. purse at the bottom...

Don't you just love it how they drop those stories as almost an aside? Oh, by the way...

For the record, I hate that you can't sign in and subscribe. It's stoooopid.

Bronwyn Green said...

@ Kris - I thought you loved me! Clearly, you don't love your shoes...I plan to barf on them. A lot.

But the lighthouse was damn cool. So was the lighthouse keeper's house. I have a ton of cool pics of the inside of the house. :)

Molly Daniels said...

Gotta love family stories:) Makes you wonder what future generations will say about you, doesn't it? Oh wait...YOU have been forever documented for the whole world to see, hee hee hee:) Esp the subway story...

Once again, AWESOME pictures:) I really need a new camera

And back in '06, hubby and oldest son went to the Boundary Waters with the Boy Scouts. They had a BLAST, and wish they could return!

Genella deGrey said...

Honey, I'd be surprised about your family if you were a NUN, but I'm not at all surprised because you are an erotic romance author.

They'd be proud of you, sister! ;)

Mmmmmmm . . . stones . . . .
:)
G.

Jess Jarman said...

Aw, c'mon--you gotta at least jump into the Big Lake... Even if you scramble out right away! ;-)

As teens, we'd jump into Superior off the breakwall and it would literally take your breath away, you'd hurry out, bake in the sun, then do it all over again... Ahhh, good times.

I'll be jumping in next weekend. ;-D Yay. (and be on the look out for Bron rocks. :-D )