While I cannot match Jay's exciting cross country to Washington in
unstable air, ADIZ, 11K runway, etc., we did do the bi-biennial trek up
to Beaver Island... (meaning it's been 4 years) The weather was so
calm, with 50 mile visibility, that it was fraught with risk because it
was just too darn nice out... Anyway, we took a couple with us who are
local business owners, and who are both also secondary ed teachers,
Dave and Sharon... Neither has been in a GA plane before... We flew
from Saginaw KHYX direct to Welke Airport 6Y8 - more or less direct
since it was a VFR flight and I was not in 'instrument scan' mode...
The flight path took us past Houghton Lake and Higgins Lake, East of
the two Traverse Bay's with their vineyards, with Petosky and Torch
Lake clearly visible, and the towers of the Mackinac Straits Bridge
shining in the morning light, directly over Charlevoix and offshore of
Lake Michigan, 27 miles to Beaver Island... The Island is roughly 14
miles long and 7 miles wide with several inland lakes on the island...

BTW, the lakes and towns I mention are right up there with the
exclusive and expensive shoreline property in the country... A quarter
acre lot where the lake is just visible through the trees, with no
utilities and limited access is near the quarter million dollar range -
and out on the islands (Beaver, Bois Blanc, Mackinac) every stick of
building material has to be brought in by ferry... A cottage on the
shore is in the range of "if ya gotta ask ya can't afford it"...

Anyway, Beaver Island is lightly developed, has a permanent population
of about 500 currently, and has just six miles of paved road centered
around St. James harbor, and is just hard enough to reach that the
tourist season is short and sweet... A round trip flight from
Charlevoix is $82 per seat... The ferry is cheaper but is a 4 hour
round trip - and not fun in rough weather; in an eyeflick Lake Michigan
can go from flat water to rough enough that captains of ocean
freighters often swear, "never again"...... Anyway, Beaver Island is
not as touristy as Mackinac and only gets a tiny fracton of their
tourist numbers...

The high school graduated 4 seniors this year, 3 girls and a boy...
The island has a storied history with french beaver trappers naming the
island for the numerous beaver inhabiting the lush, inland lakes on the
island - until they were eliminated... The other intereting history is
of King Strang and his harem and Mormon followers followed by his
assassination and then the mainlanders came over in boats and
physically ejected the Mormons from the Island... The major genetic
group that the islanders are descended from is the Irish where the
island was settled by two boat loads of refugees from the potato famine
(I am also the result of the potato famine by way of Canada and a
stroll across the ice floes to the thumb of Michigan to a village
called Pinnebog)... As a result the islanders show a strong tendency
towards reddish hair and freckles... I'm including a link to the
history of the island for those who are interested..

http://www.beaverisland.net/History/index.htm

Anyway, we did lots of walking around the village, ate a pair of rather
good meals, got nice and tired, bought a couple of tee shirts, and my
usual Beaver Island caps I wear as my old ones were rather tired after
the years, and flew back home... A good day, all in all...

BTW, I used 6Y8 Welke airport for the first time - we usually use the
township airport, KSJX, which is about 4 miles further from town... The
Welke 9-27 rwy has been paved and the airport is now listed as a public
airport... Nice folks... Other than being slightly short and having
trees rather close in, it is just another runway... Call 231-448-2210
for the taxi service...

denny