R and J in the USA

The next morning, Julie woke up early and had some quiet time (read, blissed her face off) hanging out on the beach at Grand Traverse Bay before the world woke up. Every year on her birthday she likes to do a little ritual to reflect on the prior year, writing down all the things she’s grateful for and events and accomplishments of the year. Then she likes to turn her sights ahead to the next year and set goals and think about what she’d like out of the year to come. It’s a nice little ritual that helps to make sure she is stopping to smell the roses. She always finds it renewing, refreshing, and fun. Being a July baby, she also always likes to follow it with a dip in some water. This year, turning 45, she had lots of amazing things to reflect on looking back at a year that had been filled with dreams long had and finally come true. It was a special morning, getting to sit with that beautiful clear water in the quiet of the early day. It was a slice of heaven. 

One unexpected neat part of Julie’s birthday came the day before while driving toward our campground. We stumbled upon a sign marking a geographically significant location, one we hadn’t thought about when making our way through Michigan. It felt more than a little auspicious to pass it on the eve of her 45th birthday. Julie loves life’s little synchronicities like this one.

After leaving her morning solitude on the beach, Julie, now fully feeling arrived at 45, returned to the van to greet a wide awake, up and at ‘em Ryan.

By mid-morning we made the mile drive to Torch Lake, which promised its own stunning clear and gorgeous waters. We found a parking lot on the north side of the lake where, unlike the beach at the campsite, we could pull the van right up to the beach and open the back doors. The day was pure heaven and everything Julie likes out of a birthday. There was swimming, there was cookie making, there was napping with the doors open to the view. We had an unexpected conversation with an adorable young couple that you can read about in our People Along the Way section. Julie watched videos about scriptwriting with Torch Lake in the background between intermittent dips in the water. And, of course, leftover ribs were eaten.

It was a nearly perfect day. 

Torch Lake decided to give Julie a special extra birthday present after all that perfection. Sometime in the afternoon Julie started to feel a little crazy as she started feeling like she was getting bitten by mosquitos that were not there.

“Ouch!” She would cry, and then ask Ryan, “Is there a bug biting me behind my shoulder?”

“No, nothing there.”

Julie thought, “Oh, well. Maybe it’s nothing.”

It certainly didn’t feel like nothing, but there was nothing she could see to swat or get away from. Within a few hours, Julie’s body erupted in a good 40-50 red bug bites that itched like crazy. What in the heck was that? There had been no visible bugs, yet, now it was clear she was not imagining things. Something very, very small had definitely feasted on her flesh. She was covered. Julie remembered over a decade ago being the victim of a chigger attack. Those bugs were visible, but only barely. Julie wondered if she had stepped in a chigger nest, even though she didn’t think they had those little bugs here in Michigan. Alas, it remained a mystery. No matter what, it itched. There was no mystery there, at least.

It wasn’t until a week later when we ran into a lovely couple in Mackinac City who just happened to mention the infamous Torch Lake swimmer’s itch that the mystery was solved. (You can read about our encounter with them in our People Along the Way section).

“Come again?” Julie asked. “What is swimmer’s itch?”

The woman went on to describe exactly what Julie had and showed her the remnants of it on her own skin. “Yes, it’s a parasite that is ONLY in Torch Lake. It comes from the duck and geese that poop along the beach.”

For some reason, the duck and goose poop of the world has a parasite that only infects Torch Lake. This we do not understand, but the pieces were finally coming together. At this point, Julie’s itching had finally started to subside, but she was wondering if these marks covering her body were permanent as they were starting to look like scars.

“No, don’t worry. They will go away in a couple of weeks.” The woman reassured. What a relief. The woman continued, “Not everyone gets it. Just some people. You were one of the lucky ones.” Oh, yay, Julie thought. Ryan, who had also swum in the beautiful waters of Torch Lake, thankfully remained swimmer’s itch-free.

The woman continued, “If you feel them starting to get you, you can actually just scratch them off.” So, next time you see Julie coming out of a lake and inexplicably scratching her whole body like she’s giving herself an impromptu exfoliation treatment, you know why.

Luckily, Julie’s birthday was so fantastic that the bites and fiery itching she went to bed with didn’t dampen her mood at all. She finished out the night opening some wonderful cards and presents that some of her friends had sent with her on the trip for her to open when her birthday rolled around. That’s how you know you’ve got some good people in your life!

Julie had previously told Ryan, “You don’t’ need to get me a birthday present. You helping make this dream of a lifetime come true is way more than present enough.” He heeded her release, except one perfect present and his characteristic slew of perfect birthday cards. She opened the present. It was just a piece of paper, which stated, “This coupon is good for one free movie date night on a night when Ryan doesn’t feel like going to a movie.”

This is how you know you have a great husband. The sheer self-sacrifice to bring his wife such joy. What a guy. And of course, Julie immediately went into the fine print, peppering Ryan with questions and what if scenarios to make sure she fully understood the conditions for redeeming this invaluable present. She was already strategizing when she envisioned she might use it over the months and was committed to being smart about how to utilize such a rare treasure. 

After checking lots of lovely and sweet phone messages and texts, Julie laid down to sleep itchy, happy, and 45. As she started to fade into an inflamed sleep, she began to wonder if maybe the name “Torch Lake” isn’t for the bright gleaming torch of the lake’s bright colors. Maybe they were trying to warn her all along. Unfazed, and with spirits entirely undampened by laying there lit up like a Christmas tree peppered with little red fiery lights, Julie fell asleep with her fire for life intact and the awash in the soothing serum of gratitude for all the wonderful gifts of such a blessed life and special day. 

The next day, Julie was generously given a birthday extension, enjoying a three-day birthday window. She embraced it eagerly. She managed to find a local masseuse in a little town up the road called Elk Rapids. As soon as we entered Elk Rapids, we were both immediately in love and having debates about whether, if we had to choose and could only ever go to either Elk Rapids or Lake Placid (one of our favorite places in the world where we even chose to get married because we love it so much), which would we choose? We both ended up choosing Lake Placid in the end, but it was a close race. It is an absolutely charming town with a vibrant main street. While Lake Placid is an absolutely charming town with a lovely main street overlooking the gorgeous and infinitely swimmable Mirror Lake (a key component), Elk Rapids was an equally charming town (though in its own unique way) that overlooked the infinitely swimmable and absolutely crystal clear (sorry Mirror Lake, you know you aren’t) Caribbean blue waters of Grand Traverse Bay. After you pass the shops of the main street, the rest of the town boasts a fairly long (for a small town) strip of beach with easy parking and easy access to the crystal-clear blue waters and soft, gorgeous sand.

Upper Michigan is known for its cherries. Traverse City calls itself “the cherry capital of the world”, a fact we did not know and were very happy to find out. While walking past the shops in Elk Rapids, Julie stumbled upon one run by a local cherry farm. Game on. She entered with an appetite and exited with many cherry products purchased. Julie bought a couple of bags of unbelievably delicious organic dried cherries, some tart cherry juice, and a bottle of extremely devourable cherry salsa that didn’t survive the next 36 hours. We spent the entire day in Elk Rapids, taking one more day to just read and relax before turning our full attention to our Blog and Itinerary Bootcamp that we would dive into the next day. Julie was in for a big surprise as Ryan gave her another movie night to bookend her birthday  – without requiring coupon redemption! We saw Deadpool and Wolverine and then swung by a natural foods store that just happened to be located right next to the movie theater. Julie was very happy on all counts.