Every summer I think back to our summer trips up to Caseville. My grandparents had a mobile home up there. As we made the two hour drive up there, my brother and I always looked for the familiar landmarks along the way. Romeo had an old country store with penny candy. Almont had the Almont Saddlery. Imlay City had an A&W, as did Marlette. Marlette was the halfway point. As we continued north, we’d pass Cass City. The next stop was Owendale, which had a small market where we’d stop and get Faygo pop. We then would look for the grain towers in Pigeon. Once we passed them, we were in the home stretch.
When we arrived at my grandparent’s place, we’d pull into the driveway, which was all gravel. Trips were usually on the weekends and never long enough. This picture was taken in the kitchen.
My dad is at the stove, my brother is in the middle and I am on the right. Looking at this picture, I can smell the bacon and sausage, which were breakfast staples up north. If my grandparents were there with us, my dad would share the cooking with my grandpa. We always looked forward to those big breakfasts!
It’s amazing how I can picture the things that are not in the picture. Directly to my left in the picture was the fridge. Behind me was dining room table. There was an air conditioner in the middle window. In the top right of the photo, you can see what is sort of like a hutch. There were two cupboards at the bottom and a “counter” on top of those. Above those were two shelves where they had a ceramic mallard duck, a candy dish, and a few of my grandma’s Erma Bombeck books. There was a mirror at the back of the shelves.
The raised counter that is behind the sink was where we usually ate. There were barstools there and the kids ate there while the adults were at the table. The living room was in front of the barstools. That was where we’d watch the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon every year. I can remember there was always a big, loud lady on there that sang songs. She was probably someone famous, but for the life of me, I cannot think of who it could be.
The bedrooms, bathroom, and laundry area were down the hall. We almost always slept in my aunt’s bedroom. She is four years older than me, so she was probably 13 or so. She had Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books in her room and plenty of cat posters on her wall. If I remember correctly, she had a deck of Uno cards and I played it for the first time up north. Coincidentally, today is her birthday. Happy Birthday, Jodi.
I am sure that I have written about Caseville in other blogs. I probably have posted pictures, too, but not this one. This was one of those surprise finds on a hard drive. It is a reminder of some amazing family trips with family members who have since passed away. Those were some wonderful times. My pipe dream is to one day be in a position to get a place up there.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 