Tuesday, September 16, 2008







Katherine (from STCC) mentioned Traverse City, Michigan once so let's go see what's there.

The photos are: 1) the Boardman River between Traverse City and Grand Traverse Bay, 2) a scene from the Cherry Festival, 3) a view of the sunset over Traverse Bay, and 4) the Old Mission Lighthouse.

Traverse City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 14,532 with a 2006 estimate placing the population at 14,407. In 2006, the Traverse City micropolitan area was estimated to have a population of 142,046. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County although a small portion lies in Leelanau County. Despite its modest population, Traverse City, especially its downtown, functions as the major commercial nexus for a seven-county area totaling over 2,700 square miles (7,000 km2) and, along with cross-peninsula counterpart Alpena, is one of Northern Lower Michigan's two anchor cities.
Traverse City is the self-proclaimed Cherry Capital of the World, holding an annual week-long Cherry Festival the first full week in July to celebrate. Besides cherries, the surrounding Tuscany-like countryside produces grapes, and is one of the centers of wine production in the Midwest. Tourism, both summer and winter, is another key industry. Freshwater beaches, a mild summer climate, upscale golf resorts, vineyards, a nearby National Lakeshore, prodigious snowfall, nearby ski resorts and thousands of square miles of surrounding forests make Traverse City (based on AAA's 2005 TripTik requests) the second most popular tourist destination in the state behind Mackinaw City. In addition, the historic downtown area of Traverse City is the home of many shops, restaurants, and offices. Traverse City is a home rule charter city under the Home Rule Cities Act, incorporated on May 18, 1895. The city is governed by six commissioners and a mayor, elected at-large. Together they comprise a seven-member legislative body. An appointed city manager serves as chief executive for city operations.

Traverse City is named after the Grand Traverse Bay, which the city heads. The bay earned its name from 18th century French voyagers who made la grande traverse or "the long crossing" across the mouth of the bay Grand Traverse Bay
In 1847, Captain Boardman of Naperville, Illinois, purchased the land at the mouth of the Boardman River at the head of the west arm of the bay. During that year the captain, his son, and their employees built a dwelling and sawmill near the mouth of the river. In 1851 the Boardmans sold the sawmill to Hannah, Lay & Co (Perry Hannah, Albert Tracy Lay and James Morgan), who improved the mill greatly. The increased investment in the mill attracted additional settlers to the new community.
As of 1853, the only operating post office in the Grand Traverse Bay region was the one located at Old Mission, which was then known as "Grand Traverse." While in Washington, D.C. in 1852, Mr. Lay had succeeded in getting the U.S. Post Office to authorize a new post office at his newer settlement. As the newer settlement had become known as "Grand Traverse City," Lay proposed this name for its post office, but the USPS clerk suggested dropping the "Grand," in the name, as to limit confusion between this new office and the one at nearby Old Mission. Mr. Lay agreed to the name "Traverse City" for the post office, and the village took on this name.

The National Cherry Festival, held during the first full week of July every year, is the main tourist draw to Traverse City. The festival features parades, fireworks, live music, and cherries. It is estimated that the Grand Traverse region produces up to 360,000,000 pounds of cherries annually. The largest variety of cherry produced is the Montmorency cherry, or the "pie cherry". Other cherries grown in the region include the Ulster, or sweet cherry, and the Balaton (from Lake Balaton in Hungary), a cherry situated between the Montmorency and Ulster in terms of color and taste.
Traverse City is also a popular destination for boating, sailing, kayaking, wine tasting, and tourists wishing to see autumn colors in bus-driven "color tours." Numerous golf and ski resorts nearby bring in large numbers of tourists. Among these are Mt. Holiday and Hickory Hills. Mt. Holiday has two chair lifts, while Hickory hosts only tow ropes.
The locale and topography is conducive for bicycling. A map with routes, different trips, advice and local knowledge is available.
The Old Mission Peninsula is a great place to sea kayak. One gets close to shore, lighthouse, picnic grounds and parks. The bay offers a shelter from the prevailing westerly winds and from the Lake Michigan waves. Maps, rentals and guided tours are available.
The small Traverse City State Park, with about 250 campsites, is located some three miles (4.8 km) east of downtown on 47 acres (19 hectares) including a quarter mile beach on the East Bay arm of Grand Traverse Bay.
The Leelanau Peninsula north of Traverse City contains many attractions and areas of interest, including the Leelanau Sands Casino in Peshawbestown, Fountain Point and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
The inaugural Traverse City Film Festival was held July 2731, 2005, in venues around downtown Traverse City, including a theater renovated by film festival volunteers. First-run feature and documentaries were screened, panel discussions were planned and free family movies at the Open Space were scheduled. A driving force of the Traverse City Film Festival is Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore. The following two years have seen a significant increase in the popularity of the film festival.
The city was also home to Clover, a Christian dance music festival, in August 2006. The city is also home to Turtle Creek Casino and Resort, a Native American run casino with hotel.
Today's Jumble (9/16/08):
ROFAL = FLORA; DORAH = HOARD; LESUNS = UNLESS; MEHRIT = HERMIT
CIRCLED LETTERS = OAHDUNHMT
For a dentist, making a living is ---
"HAND (TO) MOUTH

Today is National Collect Rocks Day. Don't get your rocks off while collecting them. Also, it is National Stepfamily Day. Bewitched" (starring Elizabeth Montgomery) first aired on this day in 1964. Did anyone know that Elizabeth Montgomery (who played Lizzie Borden in the TV movie "The Legend of Lizzie Borden") was actually distantly related to Lizzie? No kidding!

Other things on this day in history:

1400 - Owain Glyndŵr declared Prince of Wales by his followers.
1701 - James Francis Edward Stuart, sometimes called the "Old Pretender", becomes the Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England and Scotland.
1776 - American Revolutionary War: the Battle of Harlem Heights is fought.
1795 - United Kingdom conquers Cape Town, South Africa.
1810 - With the Grito de Dolores, Father Miguel Hidalgo begins Mexico's fight for independence from Spain
1812 - Russians set fire to Moscow shortly after midnight - the city is burned completely down days later.
1863 - Robert College of Istanbul-Turkey, the first American educational institution outside the United States is founded by Christopher Robert, an American philanthropist.
1887 - The first game of softball was played in Chicago, Illinois
1893 - Settlers race in Oklahoma for prime land in the Cherokee Strip.
1901 - Alturas, California, incorporated as the only city in Modoc County.
1908 - General Motors is founded.
1919 - The American Legion is incorporated.
1920 - The Wall Street bombing: a bomb in a horse wagon explodes in front of the J.P.Morgan building in New York City - 38 are killed with 400 injured.
1940 - Sam Rayburn elected Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, widely regarded as the most effective Speaker of the House in American history.
1941 - World War II: Concerned that Reza Pahlavi the Shah of Persia was to align his petroleum-rich country with Germany during World War II, the United Kingdom and the USSR invaded Iran in late August and forced him to resign in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
1955 - Juan Perón is deposed in Argentina.
1963 - Malaysia is formed from Malaya, Singapore, British North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak.
1966 - The Metropolitan Opera House opens at Lincoln Center in New York City to the world premiere of Samuel Barber's opera, Antony and Cleopatra.
1970 - King Hussein of Jordan declares military rule due to the hijacking of four civilian airliners by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). This results in the formation of the Black September Palestinian paramilitary unit.
1975 - Papua New Guinea gains its independence from Australia.
1975 - The first prototype of the MiG-31 interceptor makes its maiden flight.
1976 - Shavarsh Karapetyan saves 20 people from the trolleybus that had fallen into Erevan reservoir
1978 - An earthquake hits the city of Tabas, Iran measuring 7.5-7.9 on the Richter scale killing about 25,000 people.
1982 - Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon.
1987 - The Montreal Protocol is signed to protect the ozone layer from depletion.
1991 - The trial of Panamanian "strongman" Manuel Noriega begins in the United States.
1992 - Black Wednesday: the Pound Sterling is forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism by currency speculators and is forced to devalue against the Deutschmark.
2004 - Hurricane Ivan touches land near Pensacola, Florida, becoming the third (now fourth) costliest hurricane to strike the United States.
2005 - Camorra boss Paolo Di Lauro is arrested in Naples.
2007 - One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269 carrying 128 crew and passengers crashes in Thailand killing 89 people.

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