My family, too, has “commuted” to NW Lower Michigan for nearly 100 years. While I remember as a child racing over the dunes in the red dune buggies, I think creation of the park was a wonderful thing to do. While I had always understood that your father gave the drive to the public, I’m not disappointed that his motives were perhaps less altruistic. What he created is truly beautiful. Though I no longer travel to Arcadia — our estwhile NW Lower MIchigan home — in the portion of the years that I personally did so after the park was created, a high point for all of our guests was experiencing the drive. Secretly I delighted in taking them there – an excuse to enjoy it again, and again, and again.
You write evocatively. In some ways, reminding me of one of the most evocative books about the area we know and love, Bruce Cannon’s Waiting for the Morning Train – particularly the end part, where he speaks about his own father “waiting for the evening train” – e.g., death, which we all have to look forward to.
So thank you for your words.
