A little bit of history of the place where we are currently staying.(L)
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
a view of Saugatuck
A view of Saugatuck's waterfront on the Kalamazoo River (our B&B, the welcoming Twin Oaks Inn, is a five-minutes walk from this spot).Saugatuck derives from an old Native American word and it literally means "mouth of the river".
As you have probably guessed, Kalamazoo also derives from an old Native American word, probably based on the language spoken by the Potawami tribes that lived in this area before European settlers arrived (the basin of the river has been inhabited for at least the past 11,000 years).
There is a big dispute as to the meaning of Kalamazoo though. Some locals say that it means "boiling water", others "smokey water", others "reflecting waters", others "otter tail", others still "the place where wounded animals by Indians come to die". I think the meanings involving water have a better chance of being accurate, although the latter suggestion does have a certain legendary appeal to it... Anyway, nowadays it is a river that pours into Lake Michigan and it is also the name of a town in the region.
"(...) Saugatuck-Douglas became a popular tourist destination in the early 1800's. By 1880, Chicago and St. Louis natives commonly traveled to the Saugatuck-Douglas lakeshore to escape the summer heat, but the area's turning point came in 1910, when artists from the Chicago Art Institute established the Summer School of Painting on the Ox-Bow Lagoon. Ox-Bow encouraged a gay presence in Saugatuck and Douglas, which flourished as gay-friendly small towns." (taken from the Saugatuck Douglas Area LGBT Guide 2010)
(L)
Family Week - activities
Here are a few photos of some of the activities that we have been doing in Saugatuck, during Family Week, with the other families "just like us".
Blueberry picking at Earl's Farm, going on a hayride, playing at the beach, going on a paddle-boat ride, playing at the park, having a party in Douglas Elementary School (just for kids), etc.
(L)
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Lake Michigan, finally!
That's right, finally, today we went to the beach on Lake Michigan. Not just any beach, but Oval Beach, considered by National Geographic one of the best freshwater beaches of the whole of the United States. It's in Saugatuck, MI. Can you see the two dolphins splashing happily around? Finally.
Family Week in Saugatuck, Michigan
Yesterday we arrived to Saugatuck, in the state of Michigan, for Family Week of Rainbow Families of Great Lakes (RFGL). We came here in 2007 and loved it, and regretted not spending more time with the rest of the families "just like us", so this time we're staying for the whole week. It's nice to be in the majority from time to time. It's nice for Georgie too, to see that her family configuration is not unique.
One of our first surprises was meeting the author of the book "How it Feels to Have a Gay or Lesbian Parent - A Book by Kids for Kids of All Ages", Judith Snow, in Douglas (a small village next to Saugatuck). She was signing copies of her book at an art gallery. We stopped for a chat and told her how much her book is important (we have a copy in Brussels). We got a new copy, this time signed by the author. Now folks, ain't that a pleasant surprise!
(L)
The Swedish-American Museum
Last week we also went to the Swedish-American Museum. We spent an hour in the children's section, enacting the journey of Swedish immigrants from their stuga (hut) in Sweden, to their stuga in Minnesota. Ja!
By the early 20th century, some 1 million Swedes had immigrated to the US pushed by terrible droughts and poverty, and 1 out of 5 were living in Chicago, and the majority of those in Andersonville. Ja!
I think Georgie must have been the first Swedish citizen, Chicago-born, African-American, to honour the Swedish-American Museum of Chicago, possibly even the whole of Andersonville. I'm sure her Swedish ancestors couldn't have imagined it. Ja! Ja!
(L)
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