Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Mark, Cede, & I would like to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

We spent our Christmas Eve with good friends, Mel & Denise, and Barry & Cindy, and had the pleasure of attending Christmas Eve service at their little country church.

Christmas Day was spent with Cheri's side of the family and phone calls with our children (maybe 2012 we can have our boys and their families in person).










The Henry Side





2011 had a lot of milestones. Mark's parents, Earl Mark and Doris Gail, passed away this summer. This was followed by the loss of good friend, Russ Payne. We also had some happy milestones, Borchers 75th anniversary, our 20th anniversary of owning Borchers and the wonderful news that niece, Emily, and her husband, Jerry, are going to make us a great aunt & uncle.
(We have always been a good aunt & uncle, but now we are going to be great!)

We are looking forward to 2012 and a happier year.

This post is dedicated to Dad & Mom Hunter

November

We had the pleasure of seeing both of our sons in November and for one brief evening, this mother hen had both of my "chicks" in the same place!












Our son and daughter-in-law, played tour guide in Chicago for our Thanksgiving week-end. We rode the el, went to a great little german restaurant, and just spent some kick back time together.

Teresa's family welcomed us for a fabulous Thanksgiving feast!

We went to the Museum of Science & Industry and I'm sorry to say that the giant walk-through heart that really impressed me as a kid is gone. :(

Michael & Teresa

Christmas on the Magnificent Mile and "The Bean"

Autumn

We have had some great guests through this fall. The Toledo Gang was here and treated Mark & I to another great cook out! Out September & October have included so many great guests; families, couples, returnees, newbies....

Ed, Sandy, and Alex were back for a visit. Ed & Alex headed down river
while Sandy enjoyed the porch.

It has been a rainy fall and we have been experiencing "Lake Borchers" in the big yard where we park cars. In the twenty years of improvements to the place, we have gotten rid of the willows, fixed the broken drive way, the city made some major repairs to the street behind us and the dam in the park has changed to a spillway. We think they are all contributing to a change in the water table.

Most recently, we had the grade on the yard fixed. We hope to have beautiful new grass next to the freshly sealed driveway by spring. Good work Shawn, Asphalt Seal Kings, and Millikens!

"The Old Ladies Kayaking Group", their title not ours! These women are amazing. Back at Borchers for their annual kayak trip, they spent three days touring different sections of the AuSable.






Roberta, Jeanette, Margie, Darlene, Joan, and Janet.





Breakfast with the ladies.

You don't stop paddling when you get old, you get old when you stop paddling.

Borchers 75th Anniversary Jubilee

Borchers celebrated it's 75th anniversary this summer. It was establish by Ernie Borchers in 1936 and is the oldest canoe livery in Grayling.
Also this summer, Mark and Cheri celebrated their 20th year of owning Borchers.
In celebration of these anniversaries, Borchers hosted a staff reunion. Many staffers, past and present, attended along with previous owners Jack and Aggie Trudgeon, and Ernie Borchers' daughter, Barabra Borchers Sojka along with husband, John.

Two decades of Borcher Babes.
Madi, Amanda, Mary, Cheri, Kim, Sara, and Tracey
Missing are Kim, Allie, Tasha and Lindsey.

This year, three staffers were honored with a 5-year plaque
(staffers must complete five years to make "the wall of Shame".

Ryan (left) finished his fifth year and is currently training for the United States Coast Guard.

Jimmy (center) finished his sixth year in 2010 and has filled in periodically throughout this summer. He is now living in Marquette where he attends Northern Michigan University and is interning with an engineering firm.

Alex (right) finished his fifth season and is currently attending Michigan State University and will be living in East Lansing. Alex works with the video/broadcasting crew for MSU football and is studying kinesiology.

These three young men will be greatly missed next season!

Marathon Weekend Highlights

Our friendly Borchers staff busy signing up participants for the 2011 Casey Challenge kid's race. All participants receive a t-shirt, and the top three finishers in each division receive medals.










The girl's participating in the Casey Challenge tear up the water. Grayling girls are no strangers to the river; the competition is fierce!









The highlight of the staff's marathon weekend was when they heard the sound of the ice cream truck coming down the drive way!


Ending the weekend on a high note, "our" teams all had a great finish.

Boat # Team Finish
18 Mike Davis & Ryan Foguth 14
63 Matt Meersman & Rebecca Barton 16
72 Peter Heed & Michael Fairchild 24
07 Sean Casey & Spencer Derenzy 26
05 Nick Lyesiuk & Wally Werderich 35
26 Matt & Nick McDonald 36

"The Connolly/Ellis Group" returned to Borchers for their annual visit. Borchers guests since 1998, we have watched all of the kids grow up and look forward to catching up with these favorites every year.









Mid-Morning Brunch



Canoeing Fun

The "Mitchell" Group took their annual trek down the AuSable. These hardcore paddlers take a trip from Burton's to McMaster's and then follow up with a trip from Burton's to Wakeley the next day.

Borchers appreciates Sean, Mike, and the rest of the gang along with our other annual paddlers.

The Canoe Marathon is just around the corner! Borchers is once again sponsoring the Casey's Challenge Kids Race. Sign up starts Sunday July 17th. Be sure to get your team signed up!

Mike and Dave Steel have been coming to Borchers for years. Today they made their annual trip downriver.

This was another great weekend here at Borchers. We had so many lovely families enjoy their own "AuSable Adventure!" This family is outfitted with a pair of very stylish Borchers bucket hats.

We had a fantastic 4th of July here at Borchers! So many great people made their way to Grayling to celebrate America's Independence Day.

Our bed and breakfast guests enjoyed a

delicious breakfast of french toast and sausages.

Some of our patriotic customers even dressed in red, white, and blue to celebrate the holidays!

Ed & Sandy enjoyed a stay at our bed
and breakfast for their anniversary.

Our crew says farewell to a very nice
family heading downriver.

One of our long time guests, the Brubakers, stayed with us again this 4th of July weekend. Gary, Becky, Josh, and Luke are always a fun family and we always look forward to their visits.

This weekend the Ann Arbor Ski Club made their annual trip to Stephan Bridge Landing. Sticking with tradition, many of their boats were decorated in tropical fashion. As you can imagine, this group is tons of fun!




Group leader Julia in her palm tree decorated canoe

It's been a rainy week here at Borchers. Thankfully the local Red Hatters stopped by and brightened our day. These lovely ladies got together to enjoy a delicious brunch prepared by our wonderful staff.

After ten long years, the Mock and Dixon Clan returned this year! They had a blast on their trip to Stephan Bridge Landing and got to enjoy some of our "World Famous" Borcher's Pie.




This group is always a bunch of fun and we hope to see them year after year :)

A beautiful weekend ahead

The forecast just came in and it is supposed to be absolutely gorgeous this weekend. Every day this weekend it is supposed to be at least 75 degrees and sunny, which is the recipe for a great weekend. Come on out and enjoy a nice float down river.

Mercedes the wonder dog.

Cede has been working very hard being Borchers official greeter. However she feels she is ready to take on larger tasks such as answering phone calls and taking reservations haha.

Have no fear..the Boy Scouts are here!

This weekend we were graced with the presence of Boy Scout Troop 419 from Ohio. For some canoe camping was nothing new, however for a few members of the group it was their first time camping on the river. These young men and their leaders faced a lot of challenges on their journey from Grayling to Mio from the weather, with it raining 3 consecutive days on them. However they persevered and they were all smiles at the end. We hope to see these Boys Scouts again in the future.

School is Out....almost!

Wow, what a hectic week it has been with 3 different school groups taking an end of the year class trip down river.

On Tuesday we had Mrs. Gabriel and the entire seventh grade take a trip down to Burtons landing. They had beautiful weather and they made the most of it. They stopped at Rayburn's property where had lunch, swam for a couple of hours and made the trip educational by testing the water for a science project, before they made their way down to the landing.

Then on Wednesday we had Mrs. Casey and her fifth grade class take her annual end of the school year trip to Stephan Bridge. We got to see one of our favorite former employees Sean Casey that day, which is always very exciting.

Then finally on Thursday Mrs. Lewicki took her class down to Burtons Landing.

Here is Ryan giving students instructions on how to navigate the river.

It's Adventure Season

Here at Borchers it is not uncommon for us to have people who want to come and camp on the river, occasionally we get an adventure group like we did this past weekend. Iko Suzuki and 16 other members of the Michigan Adventures Club took a 2 day trip down river to Parmalee. Some of them were beginners so Alex and John taught them a thing or two about steering a boat.


After the trip was over they said they had a good time but they were pretty exhausted from all of the paddling. We hope that wherever their adventures lead them that they are always safe. We also hope that their adventures lead them back to Borchers. If you are interested in their group, check out their website http://www.meetup.com/MI-adventurers.

Cheri & Iko

Memorial Day

Finally canoe season is in full swing. Memorial day is the unofficial start to the canoe season and this year was no different. The weather was a little uncooperative, but is was still a very good weekend for us. We were able to get some new people in to learn the ropes, which is always fun.

Newbie, Levi

Also we got to see some familiar faces with the Vendt family staying with us for their 6th annual visit with us. It was nice to be able to catch up with them, and we can't wait to see the entire gang again next year!




Bob, Linda, Rob, Laura, Clinton, & Sherry

Ready For the Weekend?

Borchers is ready for the week-end, are you?



Our senior staff is checking off the details.

John & Alex taking care of reservations.

Ryan, Mark, and Matt finessing the yards.

National Safety Council

It was our pleasure to host facilitator, James, and his class this past week. Representatives of driving schools across the state came for a Defensive Driving Course presentation.