Jim DeLine's Website / Blog

I have a right to be a vacation snob.  I have clever stories to tell you about New York City hotels and Broadway shows, about my 3 trips to Europe, about cruises and about fun places like Toronto and Puerta Vallarta.  But hey, I just got back from a less-than-24 hour vacation / road trip that was just so very cool and it was to … wait for it … Mesick, Michigan.

Yep, this is a pic of my sons, Corey and Anthony, during our only pee break on the two-and-a-half hour car trip.  It had to be a quick trip as I worked Friday and Corey had to be back early Saturday.  Why Mesick?  A middle school kid from the youth group at church in the early nineties is now a grown-up teacher in Mesick and I thought it would be cool to see him and the high school play which he was directing.

It was so cool.  David Johnson (now “Mr. Johnson”) had the gumption to try to put on “Into the Woods” with small town high school kids.  Boy did he pull it off!  The play was perfect.  Kids gave it their all, that’s for sure.  Okay.  When I say “perfect” I mean it was the perfect high school play … and it was even a musical.  Some kids could barely sing, some were amazing.  The boys that found they pleased the crowd with a little slapstick, enjoyed milking it for all they could.  They had the scenery, the lighting, the costumes and the sound system.  The whole town pitched in to make this a success.  Yes, kids forgot their lines but they recovered well.  The prop tree fell over and they just worked it until it was back up.  They were having a wonderful time.  You could tell Mr. Johnson was a great teacher.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.  Thanks, David.  I mean Dave.  I mean Mr. Johnson.

And now on to our swank hotel, or rather the Comfort Inn in Cadillac.  Actually, you could not ask for more.  A comfortable room and, as Anthony slept in and Corey was on the computer in the “business center,” I used the fitness room for a workout, and then hit the whirlpool and swimming pool.  It coulda been $225 a night for all the amenities.  While sipping my Comfort Inn complementary coffee, I read in the “Wall Street Journal” about the CEO of Starbucks getting a $3.5 million dollar bonus.  I’m thinking the person who makes the Comfort Inn in Cadillac, Michigan so nice is probably getting a tad less.  Too bad.

After our complimentary Comfort Inn breakfast, we hit the road back to Lansing, the big city.  Next time you need a quick luxurious theatre getaway, head to Mesick.  Seriously.