One of the biggest inspirations for the lake house for “UnMasked” was my family’s beach house on Walloon Lake in Petoskey. As July 4th approaches I find myself re-living so many wonderful memories.
My parents, siblings and our families would travel to our family beach home each July 4th week to celebrate the summer and my mom’s July 4th birthday! We all LOVED the family tradition of experiencing fireworks from atop a hill with the sky magically lit up across the Harbor Springs, Petoskey and Charlevoix skyline. We’d purchase sparklers, head to the Dollar Store for treats and at dusk we’d order a take-out pizza and sit in our folding chairs watching the brilliant colors explode against the dark sky amongst our frequent gasps and oohs and ahhs.
Depending on the weather, we enjoyed the outdoors during the day, from early morning walks to boating and or swimming and visiting area beaches and galleries and shopping as we explored the cuisine in down-town Petoskey and the surrounding area. One of our favorite night time activities was playing board games. The kids eagerly anticipated the moment when my husband would explain the rules of his latest game. Each year my husband (like Ben in “UnMasked”) brought a new game on vacation, with the intent of sharing his love of gaming with our family. He’d show us how to play, plus we would bring all our old favorites where we’d fight for supremacy.
One memorable summer, my husband helped create Dungeon and Dragon characters for all the kids as he introduced them to the game. One of my nephew’s had a character named MuMu and for the next year my nephew had a new nick-name. My nephew MuMu was always up for an early morning walk and he was an expert at making perfectly roasted marshmallows. Several nights during our week’s vacation we would have a fire and roast marshmallows and make s’mores. MuMu was patient and would take his time creating a perfectly toasted, lightly browned marshmallow. My dad and I would jockey for position, encouraging MuMu to give us the perfectly created marshmallow.
Our summer beach house was a large log cabin with four bedrooms for the adults and a large loft area filled with bunk beds for the kids. Here’s a picture of the inspiration in Northern Michigan for UnMasked,” as well as a picture of the lake, taken from the side of the house.
While on an east coast business trip, I came upon a beautiful Victorian home. It was very close to the home that I had envisioned for the Clarke family beach house. With a few modifications, I visualized this home on a hill overlooking the Charlevoix South Pier Light and Michigan beach. Here’s a picture of the home, showing it from the street and also a close up of the aqua/teal door at the front entrance.
Another Northern Michigan inspiration for “UnMasked” was Mackinac Island, (pronounced Mack-i-naw) one of our families favorite places to visit. Mackinac Island, is a truly unique place, as no automobiles are allowed on the island. People walk, ride bicycles or horses or horse-drawn carriages. It almost feels like you’re going back in time, to a simpler time and way of living.
Here are some photos from Mackinac Island taken from a family vacation that inspired the Blake family’s day trip.
I hope you enjoyed my walk down memory lane as I shared some of the Northern Michigan inspirations for “UnMasked.” I’d love to hear from you. Please share some of your favorite memories and things to do in northern Michigan.
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