Anyone else remember the ’80s TV Show “Ripley’s Believe it Or Not?” I used to LOVE that show! The theme song…Jack Palance’s breathy voice…the freaks/oddities. You were always given a choice about whether you should believe what they presented to you on the show…or not (pssst…I ALWAYS chose to believe)!

Now I present to you this scenario – which you can choose to believe – or not. My trivia team spent 13 weeks playing trivia Monday nights in a “dive” bar in Ypsilanti with the goal of qualifying for the trivia league’s semifinals, and ultimately, finals. Night after night, two of us (we had three players on a couple of nights) waged trivia battle in a mildly competitive trivia spot, though not nearly as competitive as some spots we’ve played in the past. Would we wind up sandbagging our chances to qualify for finals – or would we just f— it up in earnest? You can decide!

The plot really “thickened” when we found out the trivia “finals” were going to be the same weekend as our 21st wedding anniversary, and we’d already booked a cabin at Cheboygan State Park months earlier. Uh-oh – what were we going to do?

How about moving the trip back one weekend? Schedule the trip for the following weekend? No can do! If we did that, we’d run into Memorial Weekend, and the cabin we’d selected was already booked – as were all of the others in the park (and most of the good ones in the state as well). So THAT wouldn’t do!

Well then! How about just skipping the trivia tournaments for just one season? Yes, I really did suggest this idea to my main trivia “pardner,” aka my husband Mike.  Believe it…or not!

If you chose to believe me, you can also choose whether or not to believe his answer. He flat out said “no” to that idea (believe it…or not). He’s not as “into” trivia as I am, but he has quite the drive and competitive streak anyway…

“We finish what we start,” he said. And I agreed (he certainly didn’t have to twist my arm). Sounds pretty believable, right? Aww, come ON! You believe me…don’t you?

Another monkey wrench thrown in was one of our strong players Brad would be unable to play in finals if we made it because of a dog show in Sandusky, OH. This man is pretty much ALL about his dogs. All in all, it was just looking like it was going to be either a weekend we celebrated our anniversary – or just “work it in” around a trivia game. And the trivia tournament started looking like more and more of a “chore.” Believe it…or not!

So I logged into the state park reservation system to see if I could just move the trip back one day – stay in the cabin Saturday and Sunday nights instead of Friday and Saturday nights. Yes, we would be able to do that – but would have to book the cabin next to the one we wanted, not the first one we booked. That would be OK!

So our plan was, if we qualified for finals, to head up north immediately after the tournament was over, which would mean leaving around 3:30 p.m. or so, and if all went well with minimal stops, arriving at our destination about 7:30-8 p.m. That didn’t sound so bad at first…but the more I thought about it, the more I actually DREADED it. We’d be getting up there with barely any daylight left. We’d have to unpack – and scrounge for wood to build a fire outside. We’d have to make sure the wood stove inside was fired up – and we’d have to gather water at the pump. But what about watching for freighters on Lake Huron – watching the sun set – and having some drinks? Getting up to the cabin late was sounding worse and worse the more we thought about it.

“Freighter spotting” is the ultimate Great Lakes “I Spy” game! Plus you can fantasize about having one of your OWN! Argh – prepare to be boarded, ye scurvy dogs!

Then I started thinking…”How in the world am I going to be able to do a recap of this game at a cabin without WiFi/electricity (and maybe not even bars on my cell phone)? Sure, I COULD wait until I got back home from the trip on Monday to do it (if you think I seriously considered that option, then clearly you don’t know me very well)! I actually thought about typing the questions up on my tablet on the drive up, heading into a joint with WiFi, and e-mailing the questions to someone who could post them. Yes, I really thought about all of these things (the crazy things I do for the readers of the trivia game recaps, lol). I’m very, very dedicated to what I do (I love you guys)!

Then the “deciding” day was upon on…semifinals Saturday, May 12…the gang was all assembled – me, Mike, Brad and Archie convened at Maplewood Lanes in Saline. Game on! We actually did quite well, and were in first at the half – and tied for first with one other team going into the final, which we did not get correct. We put in a guess that we weren’t too sure about, and wagered “almost” full points. Did we deliberately sandbag our chances? No, I don’t think we “deliberately” did that (there’s your “believe it or not” scenario). Whether on purpose or not, we f—ed up.

Yes, we were initially kind of disappointed that we stupidly wagered points on a final question we didn’t know for sure (that wound up stumping all of the teams in the room). We always play to win, and well, we didn’t win.  But as we all gathered for lunch at a local bar afterwards, the more we talked about it, and the more we thought about it…that was “OK!” Even Archie was OK with it, since the FA Cup Finals were going to be on around the same time as the trivia finals (Brad may be all about his dogs, but Archie is all about his Manchester United). Archie’s plan was to arrive early for the tournament in Northville and “hope” that the bar would put the match on for him (now THAT’s dedication)! Pssst…don’t tell Archie that I almost always root for the team playing AGAINST Manchester United!

Lyrics from the title track from the 1993 film In The Name of the Father

Since we didn’t have a trivia tournament anymore, the silver linings were becoming more apparent. We could arrive as early as 3 p.m. at our cabin, enjoy several hours of daylight, have plenty of time to get firewood, chill our drinks in ice, unpack our gear, maybe toss a Frisbee around, stare at the lake, take a short hike, do some “freighter spotting,” have some drinks. And that’s much, much nicer than spending the better part of the day driving to a trivia game, answering questions in said trivia game, and driving four hours to get to our cabin, isn’t it?

The first cabin we rented had a “Florida room” attached to it (which is my name for rooms that are also screened porches). The second cabin we booked does not have a Florida room, but looks just as nice!

All of this said? Believe it…or not (sounds much better coming out Jack Palance’s mouth)!