It is no surprise to any of you that know me well, I love Michigan! The Great Lakes are always calling me to wander their shorelines. Lake Superior is the largest inland lake in the world, and the largest of the Great Lakes. LAKE Superior Facts
Drive in the high winds was nerve wracking and tiring for Mike and Sparky. It made for spectacular waves crashing onto the shoreline which made for great pictures. And also washed up many rocks for me to enjoy. The sound of the roaring surf was impressive.
The favorite spot of our vacation was inGrand Marais, right along the shores of Lake Superior. The town has 400 winter residents, that more than triples during the summer months. Its right at the eastern edge of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore . Beautiful, wild country. Sparky and Gizzy took us for a twilight walk through the streets of the little town. Many of the homes were lit up with the orange lights and decorations for autumn/halloween. In the background was the sound of those wild winds and waves. We were bundled in our winter coats, hat and gloves.
Snowmobile trails were right at the campgrounds. Very nice campgrounds,managed by the city. Woodland Park was our home for two nights. We will definitely return!
We enjoyed a full day Sunday afternoon/evening welcoming our daughter Lyndy to northern Michigan. Here Mike is giving her some advice... doesn't he always? actually no he's not, he's just telling her how happy we are to have here closer. She has a lovely home she's renting in Suttons Bay (such a nice small community, with a few blocks of great shops). Right out her front door is the bay, with a park and beach.
She's just 5 minutes from her older brother Bryan and his family. The girls and I enjoyed being on the beach in front of her place.
Being with family can be so satisfying .... today, anyway.
Daughter Daylen is already quite an entrepeneur. She started selling her framed paintings this past year, and yes Grandma has bought several. Sunday she whips out her bag, and shows me a sign that says handmade books 4 sale $4 or OBO. Then she had 3 little paper books she had made out of notebook paper and colored tape. I made a deal with her and purchased one for $3.00 which featured pictures of fish. (She is her fathers daughter)
a Yesterday was the Second Annual Tractor Parade across the Mighty Mac. Neighbor Sue went up to take a look. This is a pic of the staging area. She said they had approx 900! tractors, going 8 mph, it was a long parade. Alot of fun.
Mike got out fishing with our oldest son Bryan on Lake Margarethe, Grayling. Bryan is in a fishing tournament tour, and Sunday they'll be on that lake. So he wanted to do pre fishing. Mike got to ride his rocket ship! ... (he thought his snowmobile was a rocket ship but discovered what a rocket ship really feels like yesterday). Bryan just got a new fishing boat this month, with a huge engine (no, i don't know what size motor... cause I didn't really pay attention) and they blasted from one end of the lake to the other with Mike hanging on tight. He said he couldn't see a thing as they flew across the water. It didn't seem to have a slower speed....... son Bryan said, if you've got the power, you got to use it! ... hmmm wondering if he's racing or fishing.
Still enjoying the sunny very comfortable days, and cool nights. Its been a great stretch of weather.
This weekend we have girls soccer teams in .. they're in Gaylord for a big soccer tournament. Many of them came from Marquette. That's a long drive for soccer. They didn't get in until later last night, and up so early for the early games.
We haven't been able to get away camping lately but we did manage to get out in the boat yesterday. We explored Wildwood Lake, up by Wolverine. A great day to spend on the water.
It's no secret that I love Michigan!
I love being Grandma Michigan!
I just love anything Michigan! What other state can boast it has 11,000 inland lakes? 36,000 miles of streams. At any time, any place in Michigan you are within 6 miles of water! Anywhere, anytime you are within 85 miles of the Great Lakes!
Which means lighthouses! 116 of them.
Here's Sparky Collie friends enjoying a break at Fayette State Park overlooking the bay.
Even with the cool summer we've had, its still great to be living in Northern Michigan.
There's always something to do in Northern Michigan, no matter what the season. These pictures were taken Saturday at the Northern Michigan Angtique Flywheelers 22nd Annual Show held on 131, just north of Boyne Falls.
We were both surprised at just how big this event was!... Of course, there were lots of tractors. Every day at 2 pm, they have The Parade of Power.
There are also threshing, silo filter, hay loader, shingle mill, shingle branding, saw mill, tractor balance, woodworking, hay press, corn chopping, stone crusher, baker fan, blacksmith, veneer mill, basket making, equipment weighing, and of course tractor pulls.
A good sized flea market and petting farm. Concerts daily and every evening. It was an enjoyable outing.
The Au Sable Canoe Marathon was also this weekend, starting out of Grayling yesterday morning. It was celebrating its 62nd year, of the longest non stop canoe race in North America as well as North Americas richest canoe race.
As Sparky may have told you, we enjoyed a summer weekend with Merill, Linda and Lucky. Things were slow around the motel, so we were all down at Otsego Lake State Park. Spent most of the day and evening Saturday out on the lake. This past weekend was the Otsego Lake Fly In... we had a great view of the water planes as they competed.
