5 Things I Miss About Petoskey
Although it’s still (typically) too warm for most of us to start thinking about fall and the start of the new school year, the number of college kids in Petoskey has already started to dwindle. Now, I’ve still got a few weeks left before I pack up and head back downstate to Kalamazoo for another year at K, but the barrage of emails from the school has started me thinking about going back. I absolutely can’t wait to get back to my friends, the dorms, and even the classes! Of course, there are quite a few things I’ll miss here in Petoskey, some of which I didn’t expect. So what five things did I end up missing about Petoskey?
- Roast and Toast
Everyone has their favorite hang-out spot or restaurant in their hometown. Roast and Toast was always our go-to meeting spot when my friends and I would hang out downtown because it was a) centrally located b) next to a parking lot c) our favorite place to get delicious, unique drinks and tasty food. Sure, it’s basically a requirement for colleges to have at least one coffee shop on campus so students can get their caffeine fix, but there are no Accidental Tourists or Chocolate Overdoses or Baked Alaska’s there.
- The water
Whether or not you live on the water or spend every free moment of your time walking along the miles of shoreline in Petoskey, you’re affected in some way by Little Traverse Bay. I didn’t realize until I was in a land-locked city and Lake Michigan was over an hour’s drive away just how much being near the lake meant to me. Every day on my break at work, I sit in the back room at Grandpa Shorter’s and have a perfect, beautiful of the bay that I miss whenever I’m away.
- Sunsets
There’s a reason our sunsets are dubbed “Million Dollar”. Whether it’s just seeing the sky turn brilliantly pink and orange or going down near the water to watch the sun set over the bay, the sunset isn’t quite the same anywhere else.
- Knowing the roads like the back of my hand
After living 18 years of my life in Petoskey, I’ve learned how to get around town. I know the fastest way and the prettiest way and the way with the least amount of traffic to anywhere in town. It wasn’t until spring quarter that I really felt comfortable knowing my way around Kalamazoo, mostly because I hardly left the campus.
- Being able to point to the tip of my ring finger to show where you are/where I live for a majority of the year
One of the most common responses any Michigander gets to the “where are you from?” question when around out-of-staters is “why does everyone point to their hand like that?” when they throw up their hand to point to their hometown. For Petosegans, we have it easy; we’re located right at the tip of the ring finger, so there’s no vague middle-of-your-palm pointing. When people back home ask where you go to college, chances are you’ll have to either guess somewhere near the middle of your hand or, if you’re out of the lower peninsula, you won’t have a hand to point to.
