STL DPB ON THE ROAD - HO HO HO

 

A Christmas tree farm outside of Midland, Michigan. The whole family went to pick out something for the kids to decorate. The outside displays were a bit over the top. Mrs. C and I don’t get worked up over the holidays. We’re not sentimental.                  

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - CHEMICALS

Parts of the Dow Chemical complex in Midland, Michigan. It may be a bit odd, but the city has a parkway running by here and built an overlook. Dow has a complex and sometimes controversial history (you could look at the Wikipedia article). It was a principal manufacturer of napalm and Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. It is a huge, worldwide business but keeps its corporate headquarters in Midland. Hard to imagine what rich people find to do there.                    

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - TRIDGE

 

Midland, Michigan, where my son and his family live. It has lots of amenities, much of it funded, one way or the other, by its economic anchor, Dow Chemical Company. One unusual feature is the Tridge - not bridge - connecting three points in city parks near downtown. The center spans the confluence of the Chippewa and Tittawabasee Rivers, which eventually empty into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron. Mrs. C and son Andy check the view in the cold.

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - THE BLUEBIRD OF HAPPINESS

Another picture from the Chippewa Nature Center near Midland, Michigan. A couple of online photographer colleagues tell me this is an indigo bunting. (I wouldn't know. Where I grew up the only birds we had were pigeons and starlings.) It was passing the time along one of the trails and had no fear of a tall person pointing a long cylindrical object at it.

We're home. O'Hare was a madhouse yesterday afternoon and evening with many severely delayed flights. Our connection to St. Louis was showing more than three hours behind schedule, which would have put us in well after midnight. A kindly airline agent got us on an earlier flight to STL that was running five hours late but was departing soon. So we are back but our bags are in Chicago. They should be delivered sometime today.

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN

Granddaughters Audrey and Ellie at the home of our son and his family, Midland, Michigan. Apologies to Cyndi Lauper.

Home late tonight if the gods of the air are willing.             

STL DPB AT THE MARSH - SOME FROG OR OTHER

Just outside of Midland, Michigan, there is a wonderful place called the Chippewa Nature Center. It has an architecturally stunning visitors center with a bird watching window and an observation deck cantilevered over a small river. There are trails through the woods, along the river and past marshes and meadows. Wildlife seems to really enjoy hanging out there, including this croaker who had little interest in my lens.             

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - THE FAMILY UP NORTH

My lawyer friends from Detroit all seem to have a place "up north," a getaway amid the forests and lakes. We have a rental cottage by a lake in north central Michigan. It was no farther than 15 minutes from where my son, his wife and kids lived. With their recent move, it's three times that. Oh, well. Gas is cheaper here than in St. Louis.   

So the family did some stuff in Midland, the bigger town where they live now, then came back to the cottage for dinner. In the top photo, grandson Atlas waits patiently, depending on which frame in the sequence you select. Michigan granddaughter Audrey, almost 7, hangs out with her St. Louis cousin Ellie in a deli in Midland. It had started to rain by the time we got back to the cottage but son Andy, the grill master, doesn't care. And he's sure in better shape than I was when I was 42.              

VARIATION ON A THEME - ATLAS ANYTIME

Regular readers know that I often post pictures of my granddaughter Madeleine (Ellie to us) on Monday. She lives here in STL and is over all the time. My other two grandchildren, Audrey, 4, and Atlas, 7 months, live in central Michigan. We see them too rarely.

My son, Andy, and his wife, Claire, took the kids to Midland, Michigan, over the weekend. It is a small city about a half hour drive from their home. I've been there and the place looks very prosperous. It's the headquarters of Dow Chemical and evidence of the family's wealth is everywhere. 

They visited the Alden B. Dow Museum of Science & Art. Part of it contains children's science and technology exhibits. Atlas (who, by the way, is huge for his age) got a tryout as a train engineer. He looks befuddled.

Back to improv tomorrow.