Road Trip Part 3: Great Lakes Ranch

When I mention to people that my friend has an alpaca farm, they usually imagine a couple of animals on a couple of acres, but Great Lakes Ranch has nearly 50 animals on nearly 150 acres of land and is one of the country’s premier alpaca breeders. I didn’t even realize it myself until, last year, while honeymooning in Utah, Deborah and I ran into a couple at the welcome center to National Bridges National Monument. I noticed they had an alpaca sticker on their car, so I said, “I know this is a long shot, but I have a friend who raises alpacas, I wonder if you know him, Brad Sprouse.”

Not only did they know him, but they had just bought an alpaca from him and raved on and on about his knowledge and expertise.

“Huh,” I remember saying to Deborah, “I guess Brad and Jandy really have something going in the alpaca world.”

And they really do. Despite it’s size, it’s still a small family business. Brad and Jandy have two teenage kids at home who help when they aren’t in school, but for the most part it’s just Brad and Jandy taking care of it all. To see the impeccably maintained farmhouse, assorted barns, small garden, and pristine fields, it’s hard to believe. And seeing a photo album of what it all looked like before they bought the property didn’t make it any easier.

As we sat having cocktails in The Rose Lounge the night of our arrival, the Sprouse’s asked us to make a loose list of things to see and do while we were visiting. Top on Deborah’s list was alpacas. Ever since learning that Brad and his wife, Jandy, lived on an alpaca farm, and seeing the pictures on their website, Deborah has been obsessed with seeing them in person.

Winnie told Deborah that she has a picture of herself with the alpacas on her Facebook profile and Deborah decided she needed one too.

Brad couldn’t care less about “Facespace of Mybook or whatever the hell any of it is called” but he got a kick out of Deborah’s excitement.

“We can make that happen,” he said.

He explained that it would be best for us to get there before 9 a.m., before he let the alpacas out into the field. Arriving in Michigan as late as we did and being exhausted from the drive, we knew we weren’t likely to get there in time the next morning.

“No rush,” said Brad. “We have a few days. We’ll get it done.”

And a few days later, we did.

Once we were a little more in-sync with farming time, we made it to the ranch for a photo shoot. The animals had been fed and were waiting at the gate to be let out. The alpacas are very curious and will walk right up to you, but they don’t like to be touched and will turn away as soon as you lift an arm to pet them. But they’re used to Brad and he can work with them easily. “Pick out a baby for your photo shoot,” he said, “and I’ll round her up for you.”

Babies were dropping out of their mothers like ripe apples in October and every day there was a new one so there were more than a dozen to choose from.

Deborah pointed to a little tan one with smokey eyes. “How about that one?”

“Oh man,” said Brad. “Her mom is a bitch. I can try to get her, but unless you want to get spit on, I think maybe you should pick another one.”

“Um, yeah, no to the spit. How about the little white one over there?”

“That I can do.”

Road Trip Part 2: The Rose Lounge

Despite knowing Stephen Sprouse for nearly twenty years, I didn’t meet his mother, Joanne, or his brother, Brad, or any of his other relatives until after he passed away. When we finally met, we all agreed that it was long overdue and regretted that it couldn’t have been under happier circumstances.

In the years since, there have been a lot of Stephen Sprouse projects and events — a book, a retrospective, the famous Louis Vuitton special collection, a museum show in Hong Kong, and so on — keeping me in regular contact with Stephen’s family. But regardless of the quasi-professional elements to our relationship, I have a lot of affection for them as friends and really enjoy getting together with them socially. Unfortunately it doesn’t happen very often and when it does, it’s always in New York.

“When are you and Deborah going to visit us in Michigan?” they always ask.

“Soon,” I always say.

Well, this year, “soon” finally came.

And so…

We checked out of western Pennsylvania’s beautiful “Ritz” Carlton Motel and were on our way.

A long haul, nearly 600 miles, from Daisytown, PA to Michigan’s Leelanu Penninsula and with a windshield full of bug splatter and the late summer sun setting in our eyes to slow us down, we were later than expected.

I called Brad along the way to give him a status update and let him know when to expect us. “Okay, we’ll see you when you get here,” he said. “Big Jo has a surprise for you when you get in.” (Big Jo is what he calls his mother, Joanne.)

Over the river and through the woods, we turned onto the long, tree-lined drive of Joanne’s beautiful lakeside home. “It’s the quintessential grandma’s house, isn’t it?” I said to Deborah. “Albeit with a few additions.”

Brad, Joanne, Brandon and Brandon’s girlfriend, Winnie, greeted us in the driveway. After the initial hugs and hellos, we were led inside where we sat around the kitchen table snacking on homemade pie while Joanne prepared the surprise.

Several minutes later, “Okay, follow me,” said Joanne, and she led us through the living room and down the hall. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

She pushed open the door to the spare bedroom revealing a floor-to-ceiling Day-Glo and neon rose radiating in all its luminescent glory. “Welcome to The Rose Lounge.”

“Wow,” was about all we could say.

Joanne told the story about how, when the big Stephen Sprouse/Louis Vuitton promotion ended, she contacted someone at Louis Vuitton to see about getting one of the neon roses that had been used in Louis Vuitton’s SoHo store, thinking it would be nice to hang it over the piano in her living room. But apparently she remembered the rose being much smaller than it actually was and was shocked when a delivery man came to her door ready to unload a seven foot square wooden crate. “Where would you like it?”

The crate sat in the middle of the house for a couple of weeks until finally, with a little rearranging and some help from Brandon and Brad, she managed to find a suitable place to hang it which, in the process, created the simultaneously cozy and intense “Rose Lounge” where we sat for a champagne toast and some chocolates to celebrate our arrival.

“Welcome to Michigan.”