Friends and family of course!
I was born in Chicago and moved to Indianapolis in 1959. Not my choice really, but I tagged along. Left to attend the University of San Francisco and landed in California on my 21st birthday - August 27, 1977. Decided to stay in California when I spent the summer and discovered that it was not hot and humid like Indy. It was humid with being next to the ocean and all the fog, but it was only 65 degrees not 95 - makes a big difference. When it does get hot, usually in late September and early October, the wind blows from the Central Valley of California and the winds bring the heat but blow away the fog, so rarely is it hot and humid at the same time. Sure beats 90 degrees and 90% humidity - like it has been for most of my visit. Sorry but I brought the ugly weather with me.
As for the reason of why to be in this heat - the first picture is my family at a minor league baseball game. The Indianapolis Indians (the highest minor league team for the Pittsburgh Pirates) played the Pawtucket Red Sox (the highest minor league team for Boston). I mention this because one of the Red Sox outfielders was called up the next day to play for Boston and hit a grand slam home run on the first pitch that he saw in the Major Leagues. Only the second player ever to do that in the history of baseball.
The smiling face in front of the gentleman in the blue t-shirt is my second oldest brother Dave. To his left is one of his step sons Jon. To Jon's left is his girl friend who has earned a full four-year scholarship to attend Butler University to become a pharmacist. She is way to smart to be affiliated with this family but that is a tale for another day.
To brother's right, hiding her face with her cotton candy is the baby of the family - Babz. Next to Babz is the old man of the siblings, my brother Tom. In the row in front of them is my brother-in-law Donald, then my niece Courtney (ballerina extraordinaire and - ugh- Laker fan) and in yellow on the end is my other sister Anna.
Two brothers are missing, you will meet both later - my youngest brother, Andy, lives in Grand Rapids and the next youngest brother, Jeff, lives in Phoenix. We will not get to see Jeff until the 4th of July. You will Andy in a later post as I visited with Andy and his family yesterday as I write this.
The next day presented the other reason for traveling to the old homestead - a great group of friends. The people in the next picture are part of a group of friends that meet regularly for lunch that all attended the same grammar school together known as the School 70 Lunch Bunch. Depending on who is in town this austere group can be anywhere from 2 or 3 to 12 or 15. I lived across the boundary and attended Henry P. Coburn Public School 66 for grammar school. I knew some of these friends from living in close proximity and some I met in high school. It is always fun catching up with everyone as I am a part of the Lunch Bunch every couple of years when I return for vacation or school reunions.
On the right side of the table as we look at the picture - in front is JT, Jon Toumey. Jon is the instigator of the Lunch Bunch. He keeps track of who is in town and recruits new members as he tracks them down. Next to Jon is Kim Stickney and then Tom Craig. Tom was honored in the local newspaper and by the Fathers and Families Center on Father's Day with a Heart of the Father award for his awareness, nuturance, involvement, and consistency in raising a family. Great work Dad! On the other side of the table in front is Lydia Shaw and on the side of me is Becky Bennett. It's great that the only change is our improvement like fine wine over the years.
I will skip a couple of day trips I took for now and mention my visit to Grand Rapids to see my brother Andy and his family. While Andy is the youngest of the boys in my family, he is the biggest. But as you can see from the baseball game picture and now Andy's picture, it is nice that I got the looks in the family. :) By the way, JT you will like this, the picture of Andy, taken by my new chief assistant photographer Nephew Sam, is in front of the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids. Unfortunately it was already closed for the day, but it definitely is on my agenda for my next visit to Grand Rapids.
As an aside - the great minds of the Grand Rapids City Fathers, some years ago - removed the rocks that were Grand Rapids name sake to build a church. An honorable reason by all means, but talk about missing the marketing opportunity. You expect to be able to find "grand rapids" when you go to Grand Rapids, MI. Just like I found "great falls" in Great Falls, MT. Oh well, so much for the former City fathers of "little rapids", MI.
On our exploration of Grand Rapids we not only found the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, but also found where the Lock Ness Monster goes on vacation - the lake in front of the Grand Rapids Zoo. And then we saw the sculpture that Alexander Calder created for the City and is used as the symbol for Grand Rapids. Finally a self portrait of my chief assistant photographer.
The trip back to Indy from Michigan gave me the chance to photo the State Capitol building in Lansing. This is the fifth capitol building you have seen. There are three more in the can to be shared - Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois. They will be seen in the next exciting chapter of why did I cross the road?
I will get caught up on my day trips to Springfield, IL and the Lincoln sites in Kentucky and Indiana in my next blog. It is late and I need to be on the road to St. Louis by 6 in the morning.
A big hearty thank you to JT for keeping the Lunch Bunch together and growing it; for keeping me on the straight and narrow back in high school, as I doubt that I would have gone to college in the first place without your common sense and help in transferring schools; to Sam for his wonderful help in taking photos of Grand Rapids; and finally to my brother Dave and his wife Nancy for allowing me to invade their home with all of my stuff spread out in their bedroom for 10 days - you can have all of your living space back, for now! ;)
Thanks for coming along with me on my journey. The return trip begins bright and early in the morning and I am looking forward to some great adventures.
Michael
You took pictures of people! Yay!!!
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