A Fabulous Flight to Beaver
The morning of July 23 found eighteen Washington Islanders gathered
for a terrific trip to our sister island, Beaver Island. Bill
Morris had arranged for a flight of two Brittany Norman Islanders.
It took just 45 minutes from our island to theirs. Bill had reserved
two vans and a Geo Tracker for our Beaver Island ramblings. Each
vehicle took its own route to tour the Island. The weather was
PERFECT: about 70 degrees with a slight breeze and just a few
puffy clouds on the horizon. After coffee and (for some of us)
some sticky buns, the group I was with took off for the south
end to see the lighthouse, with stops at the Central Michigan
University Biological Station and the Protar Cabin. After returning
to the downtown we had an excellent leisurely lunch at the Shamrock.
Then we each went our own way again. Several visited the Print
Shop Museum, the Marine Museum, and the library. Of course gift
shops also received some attention.
There was a lot of discussion about similarities and differences
between Beaver and Washington Islands. Most of Beaver's roads
are not paved, where most of ours are. We have only one airport
and our runways are grass. Not all Beaver's roads are plowed in
winter but that's undoubtedly because our winter population is
spread out all over the island where most of Beaver's year-round
residents live in a rather small portion of the Island around
St. James Bay. There are about ten inland lakes to our one. And
sand: LOTS of sand on Beaver. I suspect Washington Island would
happily exchange some of our rock for some of Beaver's sand. Apparently
there is little problem passing perk tests on Beaver. I hope that
in the near future the Washington Island city fathers and those
from Beaver Island might have an exchange trip. We could learn
a lot from each other. Due to the favorable wind the return trip
took only 31 minutes. I believe all eighteen participants hope
to return.
-Bill Olson
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