A Different Kind of Birthday

"Sweet 16" and becoming "legal" at 21....these are but a few of the milestone birthdays people tend to make a big deal over. You know what I'm talking about...the big parties thrown, the ones where such craziness ensues that later on down the road friends start off their nostalgic anecdotes with "Remember your 21st birthday? How insane was that? We were all so trashed that night." For me, there was no such craziness.

From childhood up until young adulthood, I remember secretly hoping my friends or family would throw me a surprise birthday party. Given the usual experience I had of being lucky if people even remembered my birthday (just 9 days before Christmas), I felt that if there were to be a surprise party I honestly would be completely surprised. I wouldn't be the person who knows about the surprise and has to put on a good show with "I had NO idea! Wow!" Just the decoy of Christmas preparation itself would be enough to leave me clueless, distracted, and pleasantly taken aback by the surreptitious plans to be.

Throughout my early twenties, my idealistic feelings about my birthday dwindled. I simply looked forward to celebrating my birthday with whoever had the opportunity to break away from the holiday madness. In my late twenties, however, my birthday started to feel more like a cliche'. Same day: December 16th. Same way to celebrate: dinner and drinks at a bar. Different year. As my 30th birthday apporached, I thought about what I could do differently. I wanted to have a meaningful birthday, one that would accurately reflect and celebrate the real me.

"I'm so tired of doing the same thing every year for my birthday, most of the time with people who aren't even my close friends. It's so boring and uneventful," I lamented to my best friend Rajiv. It was a bitter cold evening, as we sipped our hot beverages at a small table in Argo Tea on the corner of Broadway and Briar. Christmas lights twinkled along the storefronts, pedestrians feverishly scurrying by our window in their layered clothing. Aside from being my best friend, Rajiv can attest to the having-a-birthday-so-close-to-Christmas frustration....his is exactly a week before mine.

"Yeah, I know..." he nodded with me in agreement.

"So what can we do? I want to do something fun. I want to go somewhere!" Rajiv's eyes lit up. A fellow Sagittarian, Rajiv has wanderlust and didn't need convincing.

Although we wanted to go somewhere the three of us (he, Eddie, and I) had never been, we decided on a place two out of the three of us had not yet visited. Just as cold as, if not colder than Chicago? Check. Slightly touristy place during the wonderful non-tourist season? Check. Out of state, yet not too far to travel by car for a short road trip? Sold. I was going to Mackinac Island, Michigan with my two best friends. Rajiv told us he had been there with his cousin on two separate occasions, both of which had been during the summer months. In a way, it would be an entirely different experience for him...seeing snow and hardly any people in an otherwise thriving summer tourist destination.

After getting settled in at the Driftwood Motel in St. Ignace, we warmed up our bodies with food an cocktails. Talking and laughing, we peered around the restaurant and noticed we were the youngest individuals in the room....or at least the only ones in our age bracket. According to locals, most people do not live in the area during the winter months. So not only were we visiting a place during the off season for tourists, we were also in a land of few locals. It was as if we had the whole island to ourselves. Any time we would enter a restaurant, bar or store, the first question asked was inevitably "Where are you from?" Had we visited the island any other time of year, I wonder if we would have taken such efforts to talk with the locals. This made the trip more fascinating and fun, in my eyes.

The lady who worked at the obscure, non-descript art museum told us about her penchant for getting stoned while fly fishing on the lake. Then there was our jolly bartender Dustin who worked at Kewadin Casino. He lamented about not leaving his house in the winter unless he has to shop or go to work.

During a shuttle ride back to the Driftwood our first night there, we asked the friendly driver Mike where we could go for a delicious breakfast in the morning. He recommended Java Joe's, a quaint restaurant that resembles a small yellow house. Initially a pizza joint when it first opened, over the years Java Joe's broadened its culinary horizons to include a smorgasboard of breakfast food, coffee, salads, sandwiches, milkshakes, crepes, dinner entrees, and desserts! We were so impressed with the food and customer service, especially the crepes and stuffed french toast. We ended up having breakfast there twice, the second time the morning of my birthday. The best breakfast of my life on my 30th birthday. Now that's memorable!

When we weren't eating, we were trying our luck at the local casino. I made the mistake of taking a few pictures of my friends playing the slot machines. I was tipsy, easily amused, and unknowingly breaking the casino's rules of no picture taking on 'the pit' (the term they use to describe the location of the slot machines and game tables). Rajiv and I were approached by security guards....he for looking suspicious with a 'man purse' and I for my photography faux pas. It seemed we were definitely testing our 'luck' that night. Fortunately, we escaped the clutches of the security guards unscathed. Unfortunately, we did not hit the jackpot...although they probably would have thought we had cheated if we had won. With Rajiv's man purse and my evil camera, we must have had something up our sleeves!

Young rebels at heart by night, the three of us were just your typical eager tourists by day. Sauntering onto the 10:30am ferry from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island, Eddie, Rajiv and I huddled together to keep warm. I was excited. I had never been on a ferry before! If we thought St. Ignace was desolate, the island was even more isolated. While we were the fools on foot walking everywhere for about five hours, locals sped over the thick, white snow on their snowmobiles. Initially what seemed like a good idea, we stopped for a hot Bailey's Irish coffee before making our journey across the island. Peace, quiet, snow, trees, friends, and a new place to explore. What else could I ask for?

.....a toilet. Why did I have to drink anything knowing there wouldn't be any restrooms on the island besides the ONE at the only bar that was open on the island, the bar we would end up walking far away from? I held it for as long as possible, until I could hold it no longer. Handing over my coat and bag to Eddie, I made a beeline for the snowy embankment behind a shed that housed leather straps near Arch Rock. Finally, relief!

After consuming beer and pizza for dinner, we slept like champions that night. The following day was the big 3-0; we headed about an hour away to another remote destination: Tahquamenon Falls, a photographer lover's paradise. I was in snowy heaven. We walked around, snapped numerous photos, and wandered into a nearby brewery for lunch. I had never been to a brewery before. I decided to be adventurous and try a few other new things: cherry wheat beer and an edible orchid flower that came with our meal. Eddie summed up the edible flower best: "It pretty much tastes the way I'd imagine a flower to taste...."

Despite the creepy dead animals (cougars, bears, moose, and any other wintery forest animal you can think of) mounted all over the walls, the food at the brewery was the best food I had the entire trip: salad, homemade bread, charbroiled jumbo shrimp marinated in herbs and beer, rice pilaf, corn and "Chocolate Seduction" cake.

We realized we were fairly close to the Canadian border from where we were at the falls. I thought it would be cool to get as close as we could and find something fun to do near there. Sault ("Soo") St. Marie, Michigan, however, appeared less exciting than I had conjured up in my imagination. It was dark outside by early evening and the temperature was dwindling with the passing hours.

That night, we managed to be accepted into the casino without another untoward incident. Getting arrested on my 30th birthday for taking pictures definitely would have been unforgettable and ironic on multiple levels, but after all the adventures of the birthday trip there was just one thing left I wanted to do....play Scrabble with Eddie. Sometimes simple things can be just as memorable.