The End of our Tenth Season

by Sally Kenney

It's no secret that 2009 was a tough year for many of us. As we begin the recovery of what's been called the worst resession since the Great Depression my mind begins to think about all Tom and I have been through since we bought NLO ten years ago. In the same thought it seems like ten days ago that we packed up the U-Haul and trucked up here to start our new life in the U.P.

Many people have asked me how we came to be here and after all this time I still don't feel like I have a complete answer. I remember the feeling that a whirlwind of circumstances took hold and within a short time, about five months, we bought this business, sold our house in Charlevoix, quit our jobs, packed up all our stuff and moved into NLO. It was May 5,2000. That summer was undoubtedly the most fun and the the scariest time of my life. I remember Tom saying he felt like he'd moved to "the land of interruptions" and we joked that if we ever wrote a book about this time we'd title it "The Extension Cord to Nowhere." I think it's our similarly strange sense of humor that enabled us to survive that time. Since then many things have gotten easier and some have gotten a little more difficult, but in many ways it still feels like the most fun and the scariest all at the same time. It's still an adventure.

We want to thank all our wonderful friends-visitors-customers who've patronized our business and shared in our adventure since May, 2000 and invite you all back next summer when we'll begin our 11th season here on the banks of the Manistique. The adventure continues...