Gale Island

I am so excited to be planning Riley & Wade's first trip to Gale Island.

For those of you who don't know, Gale Island is a small island on Isle Royale National Park. My mother's grandmother bought the property in icy Lake Superior before it was turned into a National Park in 1931. At the time when the government bought the property to turn into a National Park, The Park Service offered my grandmother two options; sell back the land to the government at the going rate of one dollar an acre or sign a life-lease. My grandmother was smart enough to take thelesae option and put it in the names of her two teenage sons; my grandfather, John (14 at the time, currently decessed) and my great-uncle, Phil (16 at the time, now in his 80s).

Gale Island is one of the biggest reasons that I ended up growning up in Ann Arbor. My parents both grew up in the South and meet at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Ann Arbor drew my hippy parents in with lax pot laws, large liberal/hippy population and a free place to stay. But of course the appeal of being close to my mother's childhood cabin, was up there on the priority list.

When I was growing up, we went about every other year. It isn't an easy trip to make. The trip starts with a 600 mile drive from Ann Arbor to Houghton (you can make the drive in one day, but typically our family, at least in the chilren years, took two days to complete this trip). Then a 6 hour boat ride from Houghton to Rock Harbor Dock on The Ranger III. Then at least a couple of hours getting all your luggage and supplies from the boat over to Tobin Harbor and then into the family boat and over to Gale Island.

Then your vacation truly begins. Void of electricity, cell phones, running water, it takes a certain kind of person to appriciate this vacation. Like any good vacation and any time we are forced to spend much time with family, a lot of boose is involved.

Our cabin was designed by architects in my Great-grandmothers town of St. Louis and constructed by her teenage boys: John and Phil. Thinking about how they got the lumber and materials onto that island, still brings my heart wonder. Needless to say my Great-grandmother, Mother Gale, had money.



We are taking our trip in early August and I have to begin planning now. We are going with my father, his live-in girlfriend and her lover and daughter. Riley will be the first 7th generation Gale to stay on Gale Island.

There was a bit of family politics about the 6th generation (me) reserving time on Gale Island without a 5th generation Gale (my mom). They practically ignored that my dad was going with me. There is no way I would request to go to Gale Island with just Wade and Riley. There is too much that can go wrong and too few ways to get help.

Danger is a strong appeal. The ice cold water, the rocky beaches, the beautiful evergreens, moose, and boats are such key parts of my childhood. I can't wait to share them with Riley and Wade. I am so excited. I can't stop talking about it. I am putting in for my vacation time this week, just to make sure.

"Some day it will all be gone, along with this song..." - except from "Gale Island" by Eva del "Groovie", 1994.

But until then, it was one of the motivating factors drawing me back to the midwest. I gave up northwest pot and mosturized skin, so damn straight I'm going to my island this summer.