A Quintessential Michigan Experience

I’ve just recently discovered that as a young man fresh out of college I had a quintessential Michigan experience and didn’t even know it.

Growing up one of my fondest memories was visiting my grandparents in Iowa. Several of my cousins lived near by. During those visits we would all gather at our grandparents house for extended Rook or Royal Rummy tournaments.

We were all junior high and high school age so no money was involved. It was all just a lot of fun. When the vacation was over we headed home to Michigan and didn’t think about cards again until the next trip west.

Shortly after college one of my Iowa cousins came along with me on a extended backpacking trip to Isle Royale. It was one of the greatest backpacking adventures I’ve ever been on. My cousin and I still talk about it to this day.

Photo by John and Leah Vucetich

We had heard that on the island you were almost guaranteed to see a moose. We were not disappointed. In fact one evening as we were setting up camp a cow came thundering down the path through the middle of our site. My cousin and I were about 10 feet away from each other and she ran right between us. Our hearts definitely skipped a few beats!

The moose hung around camp for about a half hour seemingly oblivious that there were two strangers near by. We tried talking to her since we had heard that would assure her that we were not wolves and not a threat. It must have worked. The moose gave us a brief glance and then carried on as if we didn’t exist.

While seeing moose on Isle Royale was certainly a wonderful Michigan experience it is not the one I didn’t understand until recently.

We had planned our trip with an extra day at the end in case we were delayed on our trek around the island. We didn’t want to risk missing our boat ride home. Fortunately the trip went smoothly and we arrived back near the boat dock with a day to spare.

We were not the only ones who had made similar plans. Another pair of hikers were also there waiting for the boat the next day. After we took some time to get our gear back in order we had some time to kill. Our neighbors invited us over to play Euchre.

My cousin and I had played cards together many times. But even though I had grown up in Michigan I had never played Euchre. As I mentioned, playing cards seemed to be an Iowa tradition for us. My cousin and I picked up pretty quickly and as I recall even won several rounds. We had a blast. Sitting by the lakeshore on a beautiful summer day playing Euchre was a perfect way to close out a great trip.

Speed ahead many years now to just recently. I’m checking out some of the beautiful Michigan photography on michigan.org. I notice they sell Pure Michigan merchandise so I click over to check it out. This is when I discover that Euchre is something of a phenomena in Michigan. They even have a t-shirt for it!

That’s when I realized – that summer in northern Michigan, sitting on the shore of Isle Royale, looking out on Lake Superior, playing Euchre was a quintessential Michigan moment.