Welcome to the cKotch.Com blog. I’m Christopher Kotcher, and this is my final post for cKotch.Com’s special Vacation Month. This is another one of my family’s favorite Up North vacation spots.
Another Kind of Up North Trip
As mentioned in last week’s post, most of Michigan’s favorite vacation spots are found Up North.
People enjoy this area through either staying at one place and enjoying all it has to offer or seeing as many places as possible. My family’s multi-destination trips typically focus on destinations around Traverse City and Mackinaw City.
Today, my focus is on our more stationary trips, our trips to the town of Ludington along the shores of Lake Michigan.
While my dad has camped in Ludington State Park, we now stay in a hotel.
Camping reservations fill up fast. Plus, the local Best Western has an indoor hot tub and a massage chair.
Still, many of our Ludington activities are similar to those of the campers. So, I like to think we are camping in spirit.
Season of Poems
The Ludington trip I wish to discuss followed my mom and mine’s latest Florida trip at time of writing.
I had written eight poems across those five days. Many even seemed to be some of my best work up to that point.
I was excited to see what the Ludington trip may inspire. This would be my family’s first time back there since high school. Our prior Up North road trip through Traverse City and Mackinaw City had inspired a few good poems too.
Why would Ludington be any different?
I had so many potential sources. The park, the beach, the town. The only question in my mind was which one would inspire me first.
Which would have the honor of being the first to push pencil to page?
In the Park
The state park tends to be where my family spends the most time in Ludington. Much of this time is spent lounging on lawn chairs and picnic tables near the smaller lakes.
Surely, sitting here, taking in the scenery, would be the perfect way to get inspired.
Families ran around having fun. Birds chirped all around us. Cool breezes mixed perfectly with the sun’s gentle warmth.
I had to be ready to write.
Only, I was not.
I had no idea why. Something should have come to me.
I took out my poetry journal anyway. Maybe jotting down details about the scenery would spark something in my soul.
That did not work either.
I had no idea what was going on. In Florida, green water was enough to get me going. In my Up North road trip, even losing my phone’s internet connection worked for me.
How was I having writer’s block in Ludington? At the state park no less?
I needed to clear my mind. I left the picnic table to walk some trails with my parents.
At the Beach
After the state park, my family went to Ludington’s biggest beach at Stearns Park. This is the best spot to get some sand in between the toes and watch the sunset.
Normally, we would set up some lawn chairs. This time, we found gigantic beach chairs set up near a snack shack.
They were big enough to hold two of us at a time and all of our stuff. I could lay out my journal and jot down all the inspiration I would surely find.
Families were still running and having fun. Sea gulls were searching for scraps of food all around us. Lake winds prepared us for a cool night.
How was I still not ready to write? Inspiration had to come to me here of all places.
My dad noticed my artistic struggles. He could probably tell just by the way I was staring at my journal.
I told him and my mom about my troubles writing new poems in Ludington.
My dad merely smirked, gestured to the sunset, and said, “There’s your poem pally.”
I could see what he meant.
Colors of the sunset bounced off Lake Michigan in a spectacular show. This was a sight which stole the attention of everyone at the beach. This was the day’s true main event.
And it inspired no poem from me.
In Town
Most of my family’s time in town focused on grabbing food after visiting the parks and the beaches. We enjoyed the buffet at the local Ponderosa, and we grabbed ice cream from the always amazing House of Flavors.
Then Friday Night Live happened.
This new weekend festivity took over our last night in Ludington. Three blocks were closed off for entertainment and art booths.
Again, families ran around having fun. Birds chirped high in the air. Chilly night winds pushed us to wear hoodies in the summer.
I saw this event as my last chance to get a poem from Ludington.
We would be walking around. So, I would not be able to write anything until returning to the hotel room. I just needed to have a good time and then use it as inspiration later.
I geeked out at all the excess books being sold cheap at the library. I bought a photo book with all sorts of great shots from Ludington. I checked out every gift shop I could.
All in all, Friday Night Live was the best part of the trip.
After returning to the hotel, my parents prepared for one last visit to the hot tub. I stayed behind for a minute, hovering over my journal and searching my memories for inspiration.
I never found it.
On the Way Home
My last chance for a Ludington poem gave me nothing.
I had written eight poems for Florida that year but not even one for Ludington.
There had to be some sort of inspiration here. Why could I not find it? Why was I unable to write anything new?
I thought back to every memory of the trip. The park, the beach, the town.
I felt something had to be there though I could not find it. The thought kept bouncing around in my head.
What could it be leading to?
Then I heard my dad talking to my mom. He was telling her about his past camping trips to Ludington as a kid.
My dad recalled a Ludington experience similar to our current style. Relaxing in the state park, walking trails, watching the sunset at the beach, walking through town.
Suddenly, my inspiration came. Or rather, I found the final piece to put everything together.
Ludington was not a place to be spread across multiple poems. This was a place best recorded with one poem on the whole experience. An experience that stood across generations.
Our Florida trips and other Up North trips focused on multiple distinct destinations. Of course, they would lead to multiple poems.
Ludington was a single destination. Everything we did there was part of one, unified experience. An experience my dad wanted to pass along to me. That would be the focus for my Ludington poem.
Kotcher’s Call to Action
My poem on family trips to Ludington has been added to the cKotch.Com portfolio. Please enjoy “Another Trip.”
Also, I have a major announcement. I will soon be releasing my second book. This time, I will be putting forward a collection of poems. Every poem featured so far on the cKotch.Com portfolio will be included there.
To celebrate the coming release, the next two weeks’ posts will both add new poems to the portfolio as well. More details will come next week as well, including an announcement of the title.
Finally, if you like my content and wish to see more, then you have a few options.
You could check out my book Five Strange Stories on Amazon. Five Strange Stories is enrolled in the Kindle Matchbook program, so anyone who buys the paperback can also get the eBook for free.
You can also check my Essential Posts page for links to some of my greatest posts to the cKotch.Com blog.
Finally, be sure to like my Facebook page and share it with your friends. I post a link there whenever a new blog post goes live each Friday at 5:00 PM EST.