| The trip started with a 300 mile drive from the Detroit area
suburbs where I live to Petoskey, MI where Candy lives and the event
was held. We stopped off at the Old
Mackinac Point Lighthouse to check it out. |
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| Here's a closer look at the lighthouse tower. |
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| This is the historic plaque at the lighthouse park. |
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| From the lighthouse park there's a great view of the Mackinac
Bridge, also known as "Big Mac". Here's Casey
with the bridge in the background. |
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| Casey and I pose for the bridge shot. |
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| Mom and the bridge. |
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| Then we crossed the bridge to visit my Aunt Marge, who lives just
on the other side of it, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. |
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| The next day, we arrived at the event wearing our custom Victories
Casino team T-shirts. Here's mom and Candy sporting
theirs. Candy is the Casino's General Manager's Assistant and
was team captain for the event. |
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| Here I am with them, camera at the ready. |
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| Here's a cool sign. I should have stretched it out before
shooting, but you'll get the idea... |
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| It was a festive place with lots of colors, like this cool balloon
arch. |
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| There was lots of entertainment, including this Elvis
impersonator. |
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| Face painting was VERY popular and helped to raise lots of cash
for cancer research. |
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| Casey got her face and both hands painted. |
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| Each booth had it's own theme, based on the event theme of famous
persons, real or fictional. This is the booth of the Hatfields
& McCoys. They won "Best Site" award for their
effort. It was REALLY cool. |
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| We all helped work the booth where we could. Here's mom
taking a turn at one of the game tables. |
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| Casey worked concessions and game tables. |
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| I took a few turns too. |
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| The donated prizes went fast and helped raise lots of money. |
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| Here's one of the cancer theme bears that was for sale. I've
got mine sitting on top of my monitor right now. |
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| Part of the Hatfield and McCoy booth. |
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| Mmmmm.... Bar-B-Q'd pig for the folks running the booths and
putting on the event. There was lots of great food and of
course donations went to cancer research. |
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| Casey and I before the event started. |
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| Deep into the event, Candy gets a little rest. |
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| Candy's husband Sam gets a rest too. |
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| Don't let that last pic fool you. Sam worked hard throughout
the event and took many of the pics on this page. |
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| This is one of the donation bags. They were $10 each.
You can decorate them any way you like, then you put a little sand
in it and a candle and set it along the half-mile long track around
the event. |
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| A half-mile track with bags lining both sides was a LOT of
bags. Most were in memory of cancer patients from friends and
families. |
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| Folks walked the track in support of cancer research and checking
out all the colorful bags and their messages of hope and
remembrance. Here's the event mascot bear on one of those
walks. |
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| More walkers honor their loved ones. |
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| Our team's theme was the Wizard of OZ. It won for "Best
Theme" and most money raised for a new team. First year
at the event and we raised $6,700.00 YAY!! All of the
characters in the story wish for something - We wished for a cure
for cancer. |
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| Cassie (here as Glenda the good witch) was the team
co-captain. At the Casino she's the Marketing Assistant.
Next to her is Lucy, the Casino's Asst Dining Room Manager. |
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| Here's the Cowardly Lion, but he was no coward when it came to
fighting cancer!! Inside is a fellow cancer survivor who asked
if he could wear the costume and play the part. Linda (barely
seen in pink) played the scarecrow and works in accounting. |
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| More walkers from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, and just look
at all those bags! |
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| The Flintstones walk towards a cure.
I walked the track twice, so I got a mile in too. |
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| Pooh Bear, Tigger and others from the 100 acre woods did their
part. |
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| I got a cool Survivor T-shirt. This is the back. |
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| Here's the front of that same T-shirt. It glows in the dark! |
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| Here's the Victories Casino Team T-shirt, designed by the very
talented Kristy, who's the Casino's Graphics Designer. Yes, I
agree... It's beautiful! |
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| I got some other things, like this little survivor pin. I
wore it on my hat. |
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| And this survivor button I wore on my shirt. |
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| This Relay For Life coffee cup was just TOO cool, so I donated the
$8 bucks to call it my own! It holds a LOT of coffee! |
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| Here are some more T-shirts that were for sale. |
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| And yet another T-shirt. |
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| The event brought help from every kind of person you can think of,
even this spike-haired dude who worked hard all day at the booth
across from us. |
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| Kristy is the very talented artist that did the team T-shirt
design and worked the face painting table, which was REALLY popular
with everyone. |
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| Kristy's son Andrew. Now, I have to tell you, it was only
between 40 and 50 degrees and we were all bundled up pretty good
with multiple shirts, sweaters and coats. But THIS little guy
must have his own internal furnace, 'cause his mom couldn't keep a
jacket on him to save her life! LOL!! Some people are
just MADE for cold weather, I guess. |
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| Jason, the casino's Safety Coordinator with Sandy in the
background. I'm sure he's making sure the sucker in his hand is safe
to eat! |
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| Sandy's son Jordan. Sandy is the casino's Sales Manager and
my cousin. |
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| This beautiful girl is Kristen, and she's my cousin Susan Keller's daughter.
She walked for us late at night during the "Glow in the
Dark" lap, when most everyone else was tuckered out.
Thanks Kristen!! |
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| Mike drove the horse-drawn wagon full of cancer survivors around
the track. |
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| Casey managed to get a front seat right next to the driver.
It must be that winning smile she has. It could also have to
do with Candy asking the driver if Casey could go for the ride. |
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| He told Candy it was for cancer survivors only and Candy told him,
"Yeah, her dad's in the back" and pointed at me. So
he told Casey to climb aboard! Here she is smiling and waving
just before we pull away. |
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| Here I am, sitting in the back with some other survivors on our
little horse-drawn ride around the track. |
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| Here we are making the final turn on the track to come back to
where we started. |
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| When we got back from our ride we were treated to a song of hope
from the people that ran the event and the booths. |
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| Here's a copy of "The Survivor's Song" that was sung to
us. |
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| All the survivors signed a book and for each year they've been a
survivor a chain link was made. All the links were put
together into one long chain and after the song we all got up to
hold the chain. Then we all went around the track in a
procession, holding on tight to the chain. |
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| Here I am on the Chain Gang! LOL! |
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| As dusk settled, the candles in the bags were lit. |
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| It was beautiful. |
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| Here's a close up. |
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| The booths were lit too. The event went non-stop for 24
hours. This is our team's tent. It was one of the few
places folks could get warm, with the industrial strength heaters we
had inside. It was very popular! |
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| The lit bags went the entire half mile on both sides of the
track. What a sight! The pic is neat, but doesn't really
come close to doing the real thing justice. |
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| One last shot of those lit bags at night, and we called it a
day. People came and went the entire 24 hours and walked the
track into the wee hours. |
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| Here I am, reflecting on the day's events. |
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| Candy was very pleased with the way it all went. |
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| Casey had a good time too. |
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| And we made the papers! |
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| Casey and I even got our photo in the paper. Ok, so it's my
back... but hey, that still counts! LOL!! |
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