Saturday morning Karen and I had breakfast, then headed to the cobblestone lined streets of St. Joseph.    

The buildings looked the same, but most of the stores had changed. My favorite toy store (Hobby Horse) was long gone.  And the store where I bought my first suit, Landis Company, is a shell of it's former self.  On the plus side, there's a ton more places to eat in the downtown area, like this place:

We then headed down to a favorite Summer hangout  - Silver Beach:

A lot sure has changed on Silver Beach in the last 18 years:

Fortunately, some things look just like I remembered:

We decided to walk out to the light house:

I got some great shots:

I really like this black and white shot of my lovely bride:

A great place for a wrist shot:

After walking around Silver Beach we headed over to Stevensville, which is where I actually lived and went to school - the next town over from St. Joseph.  I decided to drive by the old houses I lived in back when I was growing up.  Here's the first house we had when I lived in the area:

When we moved back to the area after having been gone for a few years, we lived in this house:

And here's where my father worked:

The trip down memory lane continued with a visit to my old high school - Lakeshore High!

The old building looked just as I remembered it:

Nice to know some things are older than I am:

This was added after I graduated:

We missed the official tour that was given earlier in the day,and the school was locked up tight.  But, my mischevious ex-cheerleader (aren't they all trouble?) of a wife found a way for us to sneak in the building so I could get some photos.  :) Here's a shot of the old lunch room - many an after game dance was had here too:

Karen admires the trophy cabinet now in the lunch room:

Our class had some state champion wrestlers:

This bricked up wall used to be the entrance to the private seniors only cafeteria. It was quite a right of passage to make it to your senior year and be allowed to eat in the Senior Cafeteria:

We even drove by the old Jr. High School...when did they start with this "Middle School" crap? I feel old as I realize I now have a son who is attending middle school. :(

After all the sight seeing, it was time to head back to the hotel, change and dash off for our dinner reservation. The reunion was serving dinner, but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to take my wife to my favorite restaurant in all of Southwestern Michigan - Tosis!

They still had valet parking - memories of prom came rushing back:

Right next door to Tosis is one of the finest bakeries you'll ever run across - Bit of Swiss:

My watch collecting friends will be disappointed to learn that despite the misleading sign, you can't buy any watches here. :D :D

After dropping off the car with the valet, we headed inside:

They've added this lovely garden since last I was here - I'm told they often hold small weddings here:

The dining room looked quite different:

But the food was as good as ever, and Karen and I enjoyed a lovely dinner:

After dinner, we headed over to the site selected for the Lakeshore High School Class of 1988 20 year reunion - the St. Joseph Yacht-Club:

Looks like we've come to the right place:

The reunion was absolutely perfect, and the reunion committee along with everyone involved (Steve, Vicki, Maureen, Chelley...hopefully I'm not missing anyone) deserves a great big THANK YOU for all their hard work! Thanks too go to Regina and Jennifer for the much appreciated opening prayer, and the very funny "why it was better to go to school in the 80's than now" bit they read to us.  As the duly appointed photographer, I was busy all evening snapping shots, but Karen and I had such fun.  I must however express my extreme disappointment in my fellow classmates in that we never did any DANCING!  The invitation clearly said there would be dancing!  I'd been looking forward to shaking my tail feathers to some old 80's music for weeks!  Are my fellow classmates so decrepit with age that we can no longer get down!?!?  In all fairness, I guess the location didn't lend itself well to dancing, and everyone was so busy catching up that we just plain forgot....but still!

Here's a shot of Karen and I enjoying the evening:

For those interested in seeing the photos of all the LHS 1988 classmates that attending the reunion,

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