Up North Memories

May 17, 2015

Locals share their summer cabin stories

Northern Michigan summers are made of lakeside days, sand in your shoes, bonfires, and hastened meals of hot dogs and fresh-caught fish so you can get right back in the sun.

For many locals and visitors, another important ingredient of summer is their vacation cabin, where memories are made and stored.

Whether owned or rented, returning to these special places means summer has truly begun.

1. THE SPIDER IN THE LAKE

Katie Sharrock, Harold’s Resort, Spider Lake

"Spider Lake is a pilgrimage destination that beckons me every time the weather starts getting warmer," Katie Sharrock said.

Sharrock’s parents started the annual family trip to Harold’s Resort when she was 10 and her brothers were eight and four.

"Eight hours is a long drive for three kids, but it was worth it," she said. "It was better than birthdays, more electric than Christmas."

When the station wagon stopped, the doors were already halfway open and she and her siblings would run full speed right into the water.

"There was a whole gaggle of us, the offspring of several old school friends," Sharrock explained.

This miniature clan would regale each other with stories of the lake’s fictional namesake: a massive spider that inhabited the murkiest depths of the water. Of course, "it only came out at night," Sharrock laughed.

Other times, her father would yell excitedly through the early morning darkness for everyone to run outside – quick – because he’d caught the biggest fish so far.

The simple things – the smell of blackened bluegill in the skillet, the piles of damp towels draped over every chair, the way the floor was always covered with sand – made up the feel of Sharrock’s summers.

"There are a thousand little cabin things that make my heart ache to go back whenever I think about them," she said. "The cottage experience is something completely removed from the hectic routine of day in and day out. It’s a place where I don’t have to be anything at all but myself – soggy and sandy and dirty and happy."

2. RACES AND CHASES

Dr. John Schloff and family, Bay View Association

The Schloffs have been a part of Bay View since Dr.

Schloff was a kid himself, when he and his family would leave their hometown of Dearborn the day school got out.

"We were all packed up and ready to go," Schloff said.

"Bay View was it. It was a major part of us growing up."

The kids’ clubs at Bay View, Schloff said, were the place to be until you were a teenager.

"Each age group had different names like Antelopes and Cubs," he said. "When I was in the Cubs, the highlight of the year was the Ernie Gray Olympics, which were all kinds of games in one big event."

When Schloff turned 13, it was time to learn how to sail. Wednesdays and Saturdays were Bay View’s Sunfish races, which were always far more than just races.

"Some days we’d bring lawn chairs along, purposefully tip over our boats, and set the chairs up on the underside," Schloff said.

"One time one of my best friends, Jeff Metternich, saw a big salmon swimming by the boat while we were sitting there in our lawn chairs. He smacked it with the centerboard, threw it in the boat, and he and his family had it that night for dinner. He was thrilled!"

3. WHERE’S GRANDPA?

Kathy and Rolf Schliess, owners of Harold’s Resort, Spider Lake

Kathy and Rolf Schliess came to Harold’s Resort from San Diego in the fall of 1989 to visit family in the area. They fell in love with the place and tried to buy a few souvenirs.

"We told the owner that we wanted to buy a porcelain table and lamp from a couple of the cabins," Kathy Schliess explained. "He said that the furniture wasn’t for sale, but the entire resort was, so "˜if you love it so much, why don’t you buy it, and the table and lamp will come with it!’" They did just that – moving to Spider Lake in 1990 with their two-year-old son Dieter. There were some nerves as the little family settled in as the resort’s new owners and started welcoming their summer guests. One year, a visiting grandpa wanted to sleep in a recliner during his stay, so the Schliesses managed to rent one.

They also arranged for a motorized rowboat so he could go fishing when he wasn’t napping.

"One day, he went fishing and didn’t return and the family started to worry – as did we. It’s easy to get lost on this lake," Schliess said.

"So, we rounded up all of the cabins that had a boat and they took off in different directions."

Several searches and many hours later, grandpa was finally found, unharmed and oblivious in a remote part of the lake, wondering what all the fuss was about.

"He said he was just doing what he said he came here to do – fish!" Schliess laughed.

4. TURTLE POWER

Dale Snook, Northaire Resort, Clam Lake, Bellaire

After Fred Dewitt returned from military duty, he and his wife Sophie founded Northaire Resort in 1947. It was built from Bellaire Log Cabin kits as a retreat for the couple’s friends. It went through a few owners before Dale Snook bought it, having vacationed there since he was five years old.

The great outdoors and Clam Lake neighbors have long played a big part in Snook’s summers, from listening to the loons on the lake to learning how to boat.

"We say that there’s no air like Northaire," Snook said.

"And I still love to hear the sounds of the slamming screen doors on the porches, the kind that are pulled shut by a metal spring."

One summer, Snook was in a rowboat on the lake’s east end with his friend Marty when a surprise of epic proportions surfaced.

"Marty just yelled, "˜look at that!’ pointing into the lake," Snook said. "Then he reached down into the water, grabbed a monster by the tail and pulled it into the boat. It was the largest snapping turtle I have ever seen in my life"¦ I still remember Marty catching it with his bare hands. That was amazing."

5. HOME IMPROVEMENT

101 Reverend Dave Kidd and Dr. Ada Kidd, Bay View Association

Reverend Kidd sang in the Bay View choir when he was a child in the 1940s. He returned to the community on Little Traverse Bay in 1972 and bought a cottage with his wife.

"Back then, Bay View was nicknamed "˜Old Ladies and their Mothers,’" he laughed. "It wasn’t the happening place it was in the "˜40s or that it is now. We were able to buy our cottage for $7,000, and we’ve spent the years since then restoring it inch by inch."

The Kidd’s real estate agent presented several selling points for the cottage: one, it had a water heater and two, it had a massive (and smelly) oil heater – right in the middle of the main room. The third selling point: it was "completely sealed with wallboard!" "Now, this is a product that predates drywall," Kidd said. "What you couldn’t tell was that it was so soggy and moldy we had to remove all of it, right back to the studs."

Their first summer as owners in Bay View found them spending most of their time dragging piles of damp wallboard and old furniture out to the trash. It was all work and not nearly as much play as the Kidds had hoped.

"That year was also nicknamed The Summer of No Sunshine," Kidd said. "We figured we’d at least sign up for sailing, but it rained every single day."

Now mostly restored, blessed with plenty of sun over the years, and renamed Dry Dock Cottage, the Kidds say their Bay View retreat has been turned into a place of renewal.

"It’s been wonderful for our family because clergy move around so much," Kidd said. "So this was our home base every single summer. It’s been an anchor for us."

6. TAKE THAT, DISNEY

Garrett Miller, Harold’s Resort, Spider Lake

"I honestly could tell you hours of stories about the cabins at Harold’s," Garrett Miller said. "My parents would often ask me and my siblings what we wanted to do for vacation. They would tempt us with things like Disney World, but we always said "˜the cabins.’" The draw was largely Spider Lake itself, which played a huge part in their summertime fun, from swimming to tubing, boating to wakeboarding.

"We would spend hours playing king of the raft," Miller said. "There were splinters and bruises, but it was always fun."

The danger continued with what Miller laughingly called the circle of death.

"This was where my dad would drive the boat with us being pulled behind on inner tubes. He’d drive in circles, hitting his own waves over and over again," Miller said. "When we were younger, he was successful at getting us to fall off. As we grew older, we learned how to control the tubes and our bodies to the point that, even if the tubes flipped upside down, we still hung on!" When they weren’t in the water, they were covered in sand, whether from playing beach volleyball or digging giant holes.

Miller and his family vacationed at Harold’s for 20 consecutive years. When it came time to ask his girlfriend Cara – now his wife – to marry him, the only place he could think of proposing was the cabins.

"So, on July 4, 2004, I took her out on the lake on the boat and proposed," he said.

This year, the whole family, including the Miller’s two sons, will be heading back up north to Harold’s.

Miller’s experience proves Disney might have a copyright on the phrase, but not the sentiment. "The cabins truly were my happiest place on earth," he said.