What: Double JJ Ranch
& Golf Resort
Where: 5900 Water Road,
Rothbury, near Muskegon.
About a three-hour drive
from Metro Detroit.
Contact: (800) DOUBLE-JJ;
doublejj.corn
"The water park offers something that's not just for
young kids," explains Joan Lipsitz, 50. "Teens love the
great thrill slides," she says of the facility, which was
designed by a firm out of Boston, Mass.
Water activities join luxury condominiums, cabin-style
lodging, campfires, Old West dining options, an Arthur
Hills—designed golf course, a snow tubing hill, cross-coun-
try skiing, wintertime sleigh rides and dog mushing and
more. Adult-exclusive days in certain areas are woven into
the resort's itinerary.
"We have a very extensive master plan that is driven
by our guest demands," explains Bob Lipsitz, 55. "So a
2,000-acre ranch provides lots of options." The Lipsitzes,
who once ran a camp and conference center and worked
with at-risk youths, bought the ranch with the dream
of making several positive changes over the years — a
Starbucks outlet even trotted onto the scene. "It's the only
one in Oceana County," says Joan proudly. "I get good
coffee every day!"
She also has a hard time passing up the ranch's barbe-
cued dishes, a flavor that acts as a side dish to the spicy
western theme that permeates the vast acreage, where visi-
tors quickly begin to appreciate cowboy life.
"I think back to when some of the guests first came,"
Joan recalls. "They had no feel for the West, for riding or
for the warmth you get in an environment like this. Not
only are these guests buying the homes here, they now
own horses and board them here."
Bob, who once planned to be a veterinarian, always has
loved animals. And Joan and Bob's own horse, the reddish,
spotted Sienna, is the couple's connection to their favorite
pastime: forays around the resort, along peaceful golf-
course trails and far from the three-bedroom on-site home
where the Lipsitzes live while in Rothbury.
Reflecting upon their vast accomplishments and the
resort's exciting development, Joan and Bob, who have
two grown children, now sometimes contemplate a
quieter lifestyle. "I would like to work less," shares
Joan, who grew up in Detroit and Southfield.
But for now, she and Bob, who was raised in
Southfield, enjoy the sounds of neighing horses,
splash-park visitors roaring with laughter, the crack
of golf balls among tree-lined fairways, the chatter
between cowboys and gals as they prepare those home-
on-the-range-style sweet barbecued dinners.
"When you have the same people return year after
year for the past 20 years, it is like family visiting from
out of town," Bob says. "Each year as the resort grows,
that family grows." ❑
Top: Equestrians of all skill levels can explore Double JJ's 1,500
acres of horseback-riding trails. Left: The Gold Rush Indoor
Waterpark offers attractions for all different ages.