NMC'S GREAT LAKES CAMPUS

This attractive modern building houses the Great Lakes Culinary Institute and the Great Lakes Maritime Academy; both part of the Northwestern Michigan College.

Inside the lobby is this beautiful wooden boat, out the windows of the lobby, is the the ship used for training at the Maritime Institute. Both the lobby and the Culinary Institute, which is on the second floor, have magnificent views of East Traverse Bay from their floor to ceiling windows.

Almost always, a beautiful sailing boat can be seen on these waters.

CULINARY INSTITUTE

I am standing in front of the entrance to the Culinary Institute. To the right is the teaching school and to the left is the teaching restaurant. The students preparing and serving our lunch today are in their last year of training. The Senior class runs the teaching restaurant on Tuesday through Thursday each week of the Fall and Spring semesters.

This is the pastry case where, each day they are open, a different array of pastries are available at very low prices.

A view of the final prep area and the dining room. Each chef in training must work at all the jobs a restaurant has. They do greeting work, setting up tables and busing the tables, they are waiters and also tend the bar. The meals are delicious and are artistically presented.

There are tables for two around the bar that can be had without reservations. The first time we came for lunch we sat at one of those tables for two by the windows. Our waitress that day did a wonderful job for us; however, in the course of our meal, while she tended bar, we must have heard the crash of glasses at least a half dozen times. Apparently, her bar tending skills were not her strongest talent.

LUNCH AT LOBDELL'S TEACHING REATAURANT

This is a corner table near where we sat. Another time we were having lunch here, a seaplane landed right on the Bay in the area out the window. In the distance is the Mission Peninsula famous for their cherry orchards and their vineyards and wineries.

This view of our table just behind the table in the picture above shows the dining room and the food prep area. Walter has a hot pressed pastrami sandwich with a cabbage salad in a pastry shell. I had Penne in a Vodka tomato sauce with grilled chicken. We shared our meals which were very very good.

Another view of the dining area. It is almost impossible to get a place in the dining room without having a reservation. The meals are like those found in high end restaurants but at very reasonable prices.

The master chef getting our selection of pastries to take home.

Who Needs Big Government?

It is interesting to think about what this country would be like without "big" government. Take a look at www.governmentisgood.com for a good compilation of the value we get for our taxes.

TRAVERSE CITY FILM FEST

The State Theater in Traverse City, featuring one of the great films we saw - Entre Nos (Between us), from a budding new film director, producer, and actress who immigrated from Colombia with her family when she was very young.

This year's Traverse City Film Festival had screenings of 71 features and 50 short films from more than 30 countries and five continents. Over 65 percent of the shows were sell-outs. The six-day festival ran from July 28 through Aug. 2 and included five sessions of a new film school, five daily panel discussions and four parties.

This popular annual event was founded by Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore in 2004. This is its fifth anniversary year, and had record-setting admissions. They also had record turnouts for free nightly films on the waterfront.

We joined as Friends of the Festival and had a week's lead over the general public to buy tickets, but even so the demand among the Friends for some features was such that we just managed to get tickets for three of the four we wanted to see.

We enjoyed the whole experience so much that it will become an annual event for us.

This is a dim light shot inside the State Theater. It is a beautifully renovated old time theater. The renovations were led by Michael Moore and a large group of volunteers.

Michael left New York a number of years ago to return to his native Michigan, and chose to make the Traverse City area his new home. Since then he has done a lot to boost the area's economy.

One of the best parts of participating in the features was the appearance of the producers, actors, and even participants in the films. We were lucky to be in the audience at two of the films where Michael Moore himself spoke to the audience.

In the picture above we have the leading actress (and also the lead producer) in the film Entre Nos at the left, her mother at the center - and the subject of the film, and the Colombian co-producer at the right. The public was able to ask questions of them.

The film was riveting and beautifully acted - a true life story of newly arrived immigrant Colombian family with two young children where the father essentially abandons the mother to fend for herself without her even able to speak English.

We also had a chance to see Roger and Me - the breakthrough documentary by Michael Moore which set him on his way, and a film named for the main protagonist - Rachel, an idealistic young American woman from Seattle who joined an International peace organization that attempts to - offer protection and support with their physical presence to Palestinians in occupied Palestine.