City Chicken: They call them "Great" Lakes for a reason

Now, that’s what I call a weekend at the lake. Pete and Heather, whom I’ve come to jointly refer to as Heate, totally set it up, securing Pete’s aunt’s place along Lake Huron in Port Sanilac this weekend. I spent a better part of my childhood and adolescence in a cabin in the woods along a lake (although not a Great lake) and this weekend generated quite a bit of blissful nostalgia for me. Couple that with some excellent company, no real agenda other to eat, drink, loaf and not worry … about … a … fucking … thing and, well, you have the trappings of all that is right in the world. So to start, I give to you, my new favorite cocktail — Heate on the rocks.

Heate We got up there Friday in the evening and set out to chill, taking in this wonderful cedar cabin. It had the craziest shit in it. Clearly overdecorous with all sorts of little trinkets, baubles and bric-a-brac, it was equal parts sincere kitsch and odd comfort. When you enter a cottage in the Midwest and see this

you know, you’ve found an unmistakable uniqueness. That, and the gnome riding the pig (note the ear grab) should serve ample notice.

The coffee looked hella old, too.

Here is some more bomb shit from the place, including this kickass bathroom nightlight

I woke up Saturday morning to this, Kerry on the couch with coffee chilling with Humphrey. You can see the steam rising from the java.

And Humphrey wasn’t the only canine representation. Megan brought Lilly, one of my favorites.

In a scene played out in my childhood about a thousand times, someone was making breakfast in the cottage on a Saturday morning. Granted, it wasn’t my dad’s crepes, but Pete banged out a fucking killer breakfast Saturday and especially Sunday (banana and apple pancakes). Here he is, plying a serious skill

I stepped out into the back yard in the morning to see this

I knew from that point on that the weekend was going to be nice. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones setting up shop here

We screwed around in Lexington for a second when we met Megan and Lilly. Had lunch at this little place and headed back to the lake, where it looked like this

Everyone was starting to relax and couch it, but I had different plans. I figured I was an hour away from Gagetown, where my parents briefly had a house and some property when I was wrapping up high school. Long story, but it stayed in the family long enough for the house to be renovated. I remembered some very scenic roads near the property so I thought I would go check them out. Pete came with, while the ladies stayed back and hung out. I found the road no problem and while it wasn’t exactly as I had recalled, it was still quite a view.

and this was kind of around the corner, so to speak.

And then things got really gross and fucked up. Pete saw these on the side of the road, set back about 30 feet.

Do you know what that is? No, it’s not a rock. It’s a MUSHROOM!! Man, it was so big and nasty it freaked me out completely. Here. Take another look and him and his goddamn friends.

Pete suggested that for comparative purposes, he stand next to one.

I dared him to touch one, but he wouldn’t.

We remembered a little fruit stand on the way there, so we stopped for some apples.

This one operated on the honor system. Take what you want, leave the money in a box.

They had these bad boys, too.

We got back to start on dinner and work on some beers. Pete got the bbq going with some serious skewer action. It ended up looking like this

before we sat down at a fine table to eat

We listened to the Michigan game on the radio (where they won on the final play of the game) before we started boozing it up again and playing Scrabble (Megan won) and then a dominoes-based game of Chicken Foot (Megan won that, too). Everything was nearly perfect for the weekend. We laughed our heads off, and Kerry caught Mugs in mid-chortle here