Cross Village
August 16-23, 2025
by Marianne and Margaret

ED NOTE: Due to issues in the Metro offices, this report which was supposed to be in the November issue last year, was recovered, and is being posted in this issue.

August brought another visit to Cross Village in the northern part of Michigan’s mitten for some McCarty’s.

Margaret and Marianne made the four-hour trip to the rental right on the shores of Lake Michigan and met a friend who took them to the annual Perch on the Porch event at the Harbor Springs Yacht Club for a buffet dinner of … perch.

The next few days had three more friends show up for some lazy days on the deck overlooking the lake and visiting Harbor Springs.

A planned catamaran trip on the Straits of Mackinac was postponed a day because of bad weather, but when the cheerful group set sail the next morning, the weather was clear and sunny as they cruised under the Mackinac Bridge.

The friends left after the catamaran trip, making way for Austin and Brad, along with Olivia and Gray. They were welcomed that evening by the Perseid meteor shower, which they saw from the deck overlooking Lake Michigan.

Olivia and Gray seemed to spend most of their time in the Great Lake waves, including paddling around in kayaks and sifting the sand.. Still, there was time for another visit to Mackinaw City and a tour of local lighthouses.

The night before returning home, everyone marked their last night at the Cross Village house with a campfire on the beach.

February 17-26, 2026
by Kelly

The annual brothers trip to Florida took place in February. While Rick, Mike, and Steve flew in, Larry and I did our yearly drive down into the sunshine state.

I kissed m'lady good bye and I drove down to Tennessee on February 17th. I made good time, and was hosted for a couple days by Gina and Larry. Upon arrival, we got a chance to also visit with Terry, Anna, Knox and Lacey for a few hours, and had a very delicious dinner prepared by Terry (smoked wings) and Gina (everything else), and also had an extra day unwind and just hang out and visit with Larry and Gina.

Larry and I then crammed our old sorry butts into the Chevy Trax on the 19th for our 12 hour drive to Steve's home in Fort Myers. The drive started with lots of fog and rain through Tennessee and into Georgia, but the sun came out for the rest of the drive as the temps warmed up.

Steve, Larry, and I got to unwind for a day taking in some awesome food, the hot tub, a boat ride, going to the casino, playing some 3 card poker, and basically just enjoying the weather.

 
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Rick came in on Saturday morning, and for the next two days, us four ate, drank, gambled, boated, and explored while relaxing in the beautiful Florida 80+ degree sunny Florida weather.

Sunday night, a cold front came through, and things got a bit chilly for Monday's arrival for Mike. The 5 of us had more great food, took in a grapefruit league baseball game, explored some road-side America finds, boated and fished, and also played some poker at the Bonita Springs Poker Room, where one of the McCarty's was VERY lucky over the next two days

Wednesday was the getaway day. After dropping Rick off at the airport at 4 am, Larry and Kelly made the 12 hour trek back to Tennessee where Larry and I, along with Sara, Rob, Bobby and Charlie got to enjoy another delicious dinner by the lovely chef Gina. (DELICIOUS!)

Bright and early, Gina prepared the coffee, we said our goodbyes, and I was back in the Trax for the trek home.

I would like to thank Steve and Kristen for opening their home to us, Gina for her wonderful hospitality while in Tennessee, Larry for being such a good brother and driving companion, and Rick and Mike for being such great people and fantastic brothers. Everyone laughed a ton and had such a great time. Here is a video montage created by Larry from the trip.

The unfortunates of the trip was Dennis unable to make it this year, that the trip was so short (it truly is fabulous there), and the fact that I gained 10 pounds (yikes)!

Oh yes... and Larry and I played the McCarty Metro License Plate Game. What fun?!?!? We got all the states other than Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, New Mexico, and Wyoming, along with several Canadian provinces. Thank you Larry for keeping score.

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