Traverse City - August 2017

Christina is on the varsity girls tennis team, but their season is over and so she's helping out as one of the two assistants (the official title is managers) for the boys varsity team. They do whatever the coach needs help with, like writing down scores and sweeping rocks off of the courts. They also travel with the boys team, so we headed up to Traverse City for a tournament hosted by Traverse City Central high school, and including two other teams: Hudsonville and Davison.

The boys did great, winning their flights at 1s (first singles), 3s, and 4s. For the first time in school history, they beat Traverse City, but they still came in second, one point behind Hudsonville.

We stayed overnight the night before, in a small town about a half hour away from the tournament site, Kalkaska. It reminds me of some of the isolated small towns in Northern British Columbia, but it is definitely more modern than them. We ate at the Coach's favorite restaurant in Kalkaska: Trout Town. This is a tradition, along with taking pictures of the team by Trout Town's sign.

Tennis

The boys were playing a tournament against three rivals: Traverse City Central, Hudsonville, and Davison. TCC always has a strong team, and I was surprised to learn that Hudsonville was even stronger. Their 3rd doubles team consisted of two twins that must be around 6'5". One of them claimed that he served so fast that the Holt team couldn't see whether or not the serve was in. I didn't get any pictures of actual tennis being played, but here's a few from the awards ceremony. On the left: flight champions - Bernard (3s), Jonathon (4s), and Sebastian (1s). Below left, a shot of the champions, Hudsonville. I like their uniforms. On the right, the Holt team, with Coach Olcheske and the two managers, Christina and Logan.

Biking the TART trail and the lakefront

While I enjoy watching the boys play, Christina wasn't playing, so I decided to take my bike on this trip and get a scenic ride in while she was occupied with the tournament. I was told that I should ride the TART trail (Traverse Area Recreational Trail). Part of the trail runs alongside a railway track that goes through town, and while it is somewhat interesting to see the houses, some of it runs along the lakefront, and the scenery there is beautiful. I even did some wading in the lake, and the water temperature was nice. I would have gone swimming if I had remembered to take my bathing suit along. The two pictures on the right below are from the canal that runs in from the lake. I wonder if it is man-made? Anyway, the bike trail goes under the street, out to the lakefront, using the canal's underpass under the street.

Scalawags

While looking at the map to see how I would get to the TART Trail, I noticed a restaurant nearby, a fish-and-chip place called Scalawags. I had lunch there, riding off the trail and into the streets. There was a very small art fair going on, so I browsed through that. The decor of Scalawags was very interesting, all about fish and fishing equipment. They had different types of fish than I'm used to. In Vancouver, they had halibut and cod. Here, they had whitefish and perch. I had a couple of pieces of whitefish and enjoyed them.

The Red Mesa Grill

After the awards ceremony, a few of us went to the Red Mesa grill, a restaurant we didn't know, but one that turned out to be a fun experience due to the great food and the funky decor.

I had a mango, cashew, grilled chicken salad and it was good. I thought that the mango was corn at first, it was the same size and color, and I didn't connect what I was eating with the words in what I ordered! At some point I realized why it was so soft. Click on the picture below left to see what I mean. On the right is a very interesting collection of hot sauces with bizarre names.