I made a couple of trips to
Harsens Island recently. What prompted these trips were a few things. Firstly, my 11 year old nephew had spent the weekend there with a friend of his. This reminded me of my own childhood when I was around the same age. One of my best friends in my neighborhood took me there for the weekend a couple of his times. His grandparents owned a beautiful, stately Victorian-era home on the South Channel. This information actually prompted a phone call to this fellow, whom I've only seen twice in the last 3 decades. I found his information on the Internet, cold called him and sure enough it was the right guy. He only lives a few miles from me and we spoke for probably 45 minutes, but I don't think he wants to get together anytime soon, but he was polite and we chatted and reminisced for a few minutes which was very nice. The other reason was as a kid my father used to talk about taking our boat across the lake to Harsens Island. We of course never made it by boat. I would have to be an adult to do that on
The Cat's Pajamas. When I did that, we actually went to Gull Island, rather than Harsens Island but we were close enough for me at the time. So, I went twice to Harsens Island. The first time I went with my brother and his oldest son who had never been to the island or on a car ferry for that matter. We couldn't stay long because he had to work, but there really isn't that much on the island to keep you. The second time I took my wife and son and we spent a few hours on the island. We played at a public park for a while in two different episodes and we toured the island, going to places I remembered going to as a kid. Over all, I think everyone enjoyed the trip (it was only a couple of hours) and it made me want to get a place on the island. That of course is a huge ambition. Houses on the island go for big $$$ and right now, there is simply no room in the budget for that, but perhaps in the future. Who knows, maybe just renting a place once or twice a season is the ticket.
I'll post some pictures later.
Car Ferry to Harsens Island, always a lot of fun.
At the southern end of the island, a gigantic fleet of boats just hanging out on Labor Day.
A little more to the south, in the distance you can see the Old Channel Lights.
