Traverse City Adventure

We went up to Traverse City this weekend to visit an old neighbor, Anne Ruthkowski, from Lawnel Ave. She lived across the street from us for years. Her husband, Tony, passed away this past April. We have been wanting to go up to visit, but both of us got busy and the years went by. It had been about 9 years since we were up there to visit them.

Anne took us up to North Port which is where Tim Allen has a house. Also, we went to see the lighthouse at Old Mission. Also, went around Suttons Bay. Anne loves to cook so we had some nice meals while there. We had Reubens for lunch yesterday, spaghetti for dinner, and then today a big breakfast and for lunch/dinner, we had T-bone steaks, mashed potatoes, salad, and ice cream with strawberries. I am still full from that. We got to see the grand kids. Two of them came over. They have grown up so fast. That area up there is so beautiful. It truly is a paradise. But, it takes a while to go from the Leelanau peninsula down to Traverse City.

Each way is about 14 miles so you wouldn't want to be doing that in the winter. It is a nice place for a retired person who has a man in the house who can fix things, but for a single lady, I think it would be a lonely place to live. But, it is nice to go up and visit and enjoy the peace and quiet. Anne and Tony bought the house 10 yrs ago for about $200,000 and the value increases especially with the lake view. They live right on Lake Leelanau. She has big windows overlooking the lake which is really nice. Three of her grandchildren now live out of Michigan. Jessica is in Austin, Texas. Alison is in Las Vegas, and Karen is in Colorado, so none of them stayed around here, which is smart.

I will be glad to be able to move once I have my 10 years in with the county and have a small pension for when I retire.I wanted to go back to school to get my graduate degree from Grand Valley, but when I saw the costs of it, I about died. They want $600 per credit hour. Each class is 3 credit hours. At least, that is what I read on their online catalog. I don't want that kind of debt hanging over me, so I am going to postpone that until I am working in a company that will pay for it, as I want to be debt free in 3 years and be able to just move where I want to. I was bummed to see how much it costs, but don't want that debt. I am tired of paying off old debts and want to move forward. Maybe I could take a fun class at the local college to keep my mind working and meet some people. So that is the news around here.