When fear takes flight: A dad's first flight with his daughter as the pilot
A parenting rite of passage is teaching your child to drive.
Parents can feel anxiety when their child moves into the driver's seat and the parent becomes the passenger. But it’s something completely different when your child starts flying planes.
On a recent spring morning, I stood on the tarmac at the Ann Arbor Municipal Airport, trying to steady my nerves. My youngest daughter, Sara, had just landed in a tiny two-seat Diamond to take me up for a flight. It’s a single-engine plane, and my first thought was: this thing is small. I wasn’t quite ready to climb in, so I stalled with a few questions.
“Would you state your name and title?” I asked, slipping into interviewer mode.
“I’m Sara Johnson, and I am a private pilot,” she replied confidently.
I smiled. “Also… my daughter.”
She laughed. “What? Crazy! When were you going to tell me this?”
Parents can feel anxiety when their child moves into the driver's seat and the parent becomes the passenger. But it’s something completely different when your child starts flying planes.
On a recent spring morning, I stood on the tarmac at the Ann Arbor Municipal Airport, trying to steady my nerves. My youngest daughter, Sara, had just landed in a tiny two-seat Diamond to take me up for a flight. It’s a single-engine plane, and my first thought was: this thing is small. I wasn’t quite ready to climb in, so I stalled with a few questions.
“Would you state your name and title?” I asked, slipping into interviewer mode.
“I’m Sara Johnson, and I am a private pilot,” she replied confidently.
I smiled. “Also… my daughter.”
She laughed. “What? Crazy! When were you going to tell me this?”
In Michigan, sometimes when we are driving and we want to turn left, we have to turn right first — and it turns out that quirky traffic design can help prevent car crashes. Most people call it a Michigan Left or a Michigan U-Turn. But there are some Michiganders that have another name for it: the Banana Turn. What do you call it?
From Chicago fine dining to Michigan’s wild peninsula
Deep in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, there’s an off-the-grid bed and breakfast called the Milkweed Inn. It’s not the kind of place you stumble upon.
The Milkweed Inn is run by Michelin-starred chef Iliana (Lane) Regan. Regan ran Elizabeth, a fine dining restaurant in Chicago, before moving to the UP. They said the Milkweed Inn has been a dream years in the making.
“I've wanted to do this for such a long time, probably even before I started my restaurant,” they said. “I think that Elizabeth was the stepping stone to get to this, which is what I really wanted to do.”
Regan has built a reputation on hyper-local and foraged ingredients. That vision has landed them on “Best Chef” lists and earned Michelin recognition. Today, the same creativity shapes weekends at Milkweed, where up to 12 guests are hosted across a couple of cabin rooms, an Airstream camper, and two large tents.
“Here, it's perfect. I get to use all the little things that I'm foraging and gathering and all my little tinctures and such,” Regan said. “Trying to forage for 30 people a night, five days a week is way different than 12 people on one weekend.”
The Milkweed Inn is run by Michelin-starred chef Iliana (Lane) Regan. Regan ran Elizabeth, a fine dining restaurant in Chicago, before moving to the UP. They said the Milkweed Inn has been a dream years in the making.
“I've wanted to do this for such a long time, probably even before I started my restaurant,” they said. “I think that Elizabeth was the stepping stone to get to this, which is what I really wanted to do.”
Regan has built a reputation on hyper-local and foraged ingredients. That vision has landed them on “Best Chef” lists and earned Michelin recognition. Today, the same creativity shapes weekends at Milkweed, where up to 12 guests are hosted across a couple of cabin rooms, an Airstream camper, and two large tents.
“Here, it's perfect. I get to use all the little things that I'm foraging and gathering and all my little tinctures and such,” Regan said. “Trying to forage for 30 people a night, five days a week is way different than 12 people on one weekend.”
Why are Michigan and Ohio State football rivals?
For many of us, Michigan vs Ohio State is not one of college football’s bitterest rivalries.
It’s THE rivalry.
I should know. I was born in Columbus, and grew up marinating in the single-minded, grid-iron obsession that is Ohio State fandom. Living on the West Coast in the early Aughts, I met and married a Wolverine. Through 15 years of dating, marriage, and child-raising, I think he wasn’t fully convinced my Buckeye DNA hadn’t hexed the outcome of The Game during our acquaintance until we both attended in person in 2021. [The drama of that day was enough to make me turn in my Ohio passport and start rooting Blue.]
So when a listener asked us about why it’s Michigan and Ohio State – not Michigan and Indiana, or Michigan and Illinois – the On Hand team unanimously nominated me to get the story. And it's not the story I thought I was after. This grudge match did not begin with the coaching duel that was Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler's Ten Year War.
It’s THE rivalry.
I should know. I was born in Columbus, and grew up marinating in the single-minded, grid-iron obsession that is Ohio State fandom. Living on the West Coast in the early Aughts, I met and married a Wolverine. Through 15 years of dating, marriage, and child-raising, I think he wasn’t fully convinced my Buckeye DNA hadn’t hexed the outcome of The Game during our acquaintance until we both attended in person in 2021. [The drama of that day was enough to make me turn in my Ohio passport and start rooting Blue.]
So when a listener asked us about why it’s Michigan and Ohio State – not Michigan and Indiana, or Michigan and Illinois – the On Hand team unanimously nominated me to get the story. And it's not the story I thought I was after. This grudge match did not begin with the coaching duel that was Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler's Ten Year War.
In "The Gales of November," author John U. Bacon investigates the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald
When it launched in 1958, the Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest freighter on the Great Lakes. On Nov. 10, 1975, the massive ship went down in Lake Superior during a wild storm. All 29 of the crew members died. Now, nearly 50 years later, there are still questions about what happened in the final hours before the sinking.
The history of the Fitzgerald, the lives of the men who served on the ship, and the repercussions of that final voyage are the subject of the new book The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald. And the author is a voice that's very familiar to Michigan public listeners, John U. Bacon.
The history of the Fitzgerald, the lives of the men who served on the ship, and the repercussions of that final voyage are the subject of the new book The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald. And the author is a voice that's very familiar to Michigan public listeners, John U. Bacon.
Why is Michigan a black squirrel hotspot?
Squirrels might be one of the least exotic animals. They’re everywhere–from state parks to city centers. Forty-nine of the 50 states have least one native squirrel species. Michigan alone has nine! But it was one type of squirrel in particular that piqued listener Jonathan DeKoekkoek’s interest. He sent this question to the On Hand team:
Why is it that it seems like Michigan is one of the only states to have a large population of these black colored squirrels?
First things first: if you are looking at a black squirrel in Michigan, you are probably looking at an eastern gray squirrel. Black is just one of the naturally occurring coat color variants in this species. While Michigan is definitely not the only state where you can find the black morph of the eastern gray, research does suggest that they are a lot more common here than in many other states in the species’ range.
A 2022 study looked at the distribution of the black morph of eastern gray squirrels across 43 North American cities. Detroit ranked second, behind Ottawa and just ahead of Toronto.
Why is it that it seems like Michigan is one of the only states to have a large population of these black colored squirrels?
First things first: if you are looking at a black squirrel in Michigan, you are probably looking at an eastern gray squirrel. Black is just one of the naturally occurring coat color variants in this species. While Michigan is definitely not the only state where you can find the black morph of the eastern gray, research does suggest that they are a lot more common here than in many other states in the species’ range.
A 2022 study looked at the distribution of the black morph of eastern gray squirrels across 43 North American cities. Detroit ranked second, behind Ottawa and just ahead of Toronto.
Why do we do the Michigan left?
Here's the thing about driving in Michigan. A lot of it feels wrong.
The roads are cracked and cratered. People drive like they're auditioning for a Fast and Furious sequel.
And if you leave more than a few inches between you and the car in front of you, someone is going to cut in because apparently everyone's in a hurry.
But there's also this other thing about Michigan roads. Something that the first time you see it, it makes you stop and wonder.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Michigan Public (@michiganpublic)
It's when you're at a major intersection and you want to turn left, but instead of turning directly, you drive straight through. Make a U-turn at the median and then turn right to head in the direction you initially wanted to go to. But why do we do the "Michigan Left" - also referred unofficially by some Michiganders as the Michigan Turn?
The roads are cracked and cratered. People drive like they're auditioning for a Fast and Furious sequel.
And if you leave more than a few inches between you and the car in front of you, someone is going to cut in because apparently everyone's in a hurry.
But there's also this other thing about Michigan roads. Something that the first time you see it, it makes you stop and wonder.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Michigan Public (@michiganpublic)
It's when you're at a major intersection and you want to turn left, but instead of turning directly, you drive straight through. Make a U-turn at the median and then turn right to head in the direction you initially wanted to go to. But why do we do the "Michigan Left" - also referred unofficially by some Michiganders as the Michigan Turn?
