Back in the real world Friday..The trip was great fun and a wonderful break from the norm.  I learned all sorts of new things and historical information, and feel a bit selfish about learning new ,"old", stuff at this stage of my life...   The pictures are just odds and ends from the trip..  It's a good thing that Turkeys aren't 200 pound carnivores...re the road sign????Does St Ignace have very slow readers???...  The playground equipment says volumes.... We need to fabricate steel trees for kids to climb on  and also post warnings that helmet chin straps can kill you..... also a soft foam pad to land on .  
   This ends this trip report.

Don't go out of the house....There are things out there...

 WHY???

 

shhhh!!  We're hunting wabitts.

                                           More from the next one,  Jay

 

10 9 12 to the woods

Spent the morning in the woods and marsh, and learned that I need to get out more. I'd never seen Michigan Holly in full Fall fruit, only as a dry winter berry. I had no idea the plants were so loaded with fruit. The difference being that the robins love them. There must have been 50, feeding in the area I was watching... I have been pleasantly surprised, by the size and quality of the preserved natural areas adjacent to the State Parks. I even watched a Pieleated Woodpecker in one, and they don't suffer people gladly. I remember reading an account of an ornithologist who paddled the lakes of Northern Minnesota for a whole Summer trying to observe one, unsuccessfully. I guess I'm spoiled, living in Benzie Co., thinking we have a lock on wild areas. The other surprise was Petosky stones. On one beach on the lower Huron side, I found more petoskys and numerous other corals in an hour, than I've found at home in two years...Who knew.

10 8 12 Cadillac MI

We gave up our coastal hugging and came inland to stop and see the grand kids...Back home in a few days.

I can't say enough good things about the State Parks system. The fact that we're off season has a bit to do with it. We've had our choice of camp sites the whole trip. A waterfront site every night except for two. Even tonight we look out over Lake Cadillac. I was in the Glenns (Prevos) in Petosky yesterday, picking up a few things, one of which was a simple automotive item. After searching in vain I asked for directions....and was informed that they didn't do “automotive”....It was a great store, lots of interesting and unusual items on the shelves, fresh cut meat, and the wine dept. was the size of the Frankfort Glenns produce and bakery areas combined...I don't see why the Frankfort store can't have a wine steward also... Today's pictures are from the Straits...

Be well, Jay

 

Back to the Lake Michigan side. I found a few Blue Bells still in flower in a small pocket of beach, at our last stop on the Huron side. Also an interesting fern in the process of drying out. We found a re constructed, water powered sawmill, dating from 1790 East of Cheboygan. Quite a clever contrivance, made mostly with wooden parts. The numbers for board feet of lumber sawn a day were incredible.

We made a short jaunt across the bridge into the UP for two nights. It was fun watching all the ship traffic navigating under the bridge in the fog. We're now back on our home coastline, just below the bridge, working our way South.

The idyllic weather is gone and we're into full fall mode. Wind, rain, overcast, and 48 for the high temp for today......Sunday AM newsflash..One of the rangers from Gaylord had 1/2" of snow on her car this AM.....Talk about bearing bad news so early in the day....Be well,  Jay

Closing in

We're closing in on the North end of Lake Huron.  The shipping history on this coast has been interesting.  More shipping and more wrecks than on the Michigan coast. I've lost track of all the lighthouses We've seen and will have to go back to correctly identify the pictures correctly.  The pleasant weather is still holding for a few more days....Jay

There are more lighthouses on this part of the coast than McDonalds....That is almost true...(I'm actually looking for Mc D's...they are my primary internet hot spot on the road)

I'm learning all sorts of lighthouse lore that I didn't know, and generating all sorts of questions for the Betsie folks at home. As you can see the Fall colors are starting and the weather is holding at mild ....Jay