A vacation to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan

Over the week of July 4th, my brother, Chris, his wife, Karen, and I went to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. We specifically stayed in the Les Cheneaux Islands in the uber-cute coastal town of Hessel. The Les Cheneaux Islands hold special meaning for my family because my great-great grandfather, William Henry Coryell, homesteaded one of those islands. It is his namesake (and mine)- Coryell Island (Coryell is my middle name). There is a lot of family history up there and I hadn't been to the area since I was 7 years old, so I don't remember a whole lot but my brother spent a lot of time there in his youth, staying at the cottage of my great aunt Ruth, who inherited it from her mother (William's daughter). I had anticipated this trip for years, always wanting to go but never finding the right time and expected a trip to Coryell Island to be easy-peasy, but in fact it wasn't. This is because our family is no longer on the island and so we really had nowhere appropriate to dock our boat. We were able to beach it and walk around the island, but it felt weird, like it just wasn't ours anymore. Which was kind of sad and kind of cathartic because it's been 10 years since my great aunt died and the cottage was sold and all this time we've felt like we were missing out on something that truly belonged to us. It was the realization that it isn't ours anymore that made it bittersweet.

This is the entrance to the Mackinac Bridge, which was slightly hair-raising to cross. It gets very windy, the bridge moves slightly, and the rails to the side are a little on the short side. We drove very slowly over the bridge - you can only go about 30, especially on windy days.

There are those short rails I was telling you about...

We arrived at the cabin we rented at around dinnertime. I died of cuteness when I entered - it was just so rustic and comfortable I had no real desire to leave it for the week. This was our beautiful view of Lake Huron.

That's my brother Chris. We mostly did this while we were at the cabin, in various places, like the beach, the living room, the front porch, the kitchen.

This is the view of Lake Huron from our cabin. I fell in love and wish I could spend my summers up here. I need to get into a career that allows me to have my summers off.

This is the view to the west of our cabin. We stayed at Hessel on the Lake, which has got to be the nicest resort on any of the Les Cheneaux Islands. Just a quarter of a mile beyond those trees is "downtown Hessel," which consisted of a bar & grill, craft shop, super cute grocery store/deli/cafe/ice cream shop, and a boat store.

The name of our cabin was Higgins House.

At night, we walked around and I attempted to capture the beauty of this town.

This is Hessel Grocery, the cutest little cafe and grocery store outside of Southport Grocery here in Chicago. Unfortunately, I didn't get to eat in the cafe, but I sure enjoyed being enchanted by its charm.

Look! It's an actual phone booth!  Yes, people still use them here I guess. Cell phone service is almost nonexistent!

This is the Hessel Post Office.

And EJ Mertaugh Boat Works, a boat shop in Hessel.

Here's my brother on a boat.

We spent some time in downtown Cedarville, which is 3 miles east of Hessel. It's where the area grocery store is, the schools, and the library, pictured here.

I'm on a boat!

We were able to get to Coryell Island and see the old family cottage. Here is the boat house. Nothing has changed.

Here is my brother and I in front of the family cottage. It looks exactly the same as I remembered.

The weather up there was unseasonably warm and virtually no one has a/c because it's not generally needed. Of course, we were up there during an intense heat wave. Luckily, I was able to jump in Lake Huron any time I got too sweaty for my own good, which was about every day.

Hey there! That's my sister-in-law, Karen on the right.

We cooked a lot while we were there. We bought a bag of potatoes that lasted us the whole week. On one of the days I made these with sliced red onion. They were insanely delicious.

We went to the Cedarville Historical Museum and got to see some things related to the Coryell family. In the bottom right corner, you can see my name on the registry. I didn't even know it was there so that was fun. While there, I informed the docent of my connection to the island and she was thrilled and remembered that she had recently found old photographs of the family in one of her desk drawers in the back. She graciously brought them out to show us and informed us how rare an occasion it was for her to meet a Coryell descendant.

My great-great grandfather, William Henry Coryell married Louisa Sherman (both pictured in the middle of the first row)  in the mid 1800s and they had 12 children. The one in the bottom row on the far left is my great grandmother. Myrtle May Coryell. When William homesteaded Coryell Island in the late 1800s, he built a lean-to and had space for cows and other animals. Since it was an island, it was only accessible by boat so winters were particularly rough. It continually amazes me what our ancestors went through to make a life. People today don't have the constitution for this kind of stuff.

In the middle row on the left is my great grandmother Myrtle holding my grandfather, Kenneth Sherman Jacobs. Her mother is the far right in the middle row - Louisa Sherman.

Here are more pictures posted in the museum. This one on the bottom right is of my great uncle Gene and his cousin, Louis.

That is my grandpa Jacobs on the far right alongside his cousins and his brother (at the front).

I have more pictures that I will post, but this was an enjoyable trip. I cannot wait to go back there again; it is truly a respite from the hustle of the city - no cell service, everything is slow-paced, and it was very relaxing.