Yesterday at the north shore and Muskegon with my brother ...

Yesterday afternoon started out with mild temperatures and lots of sunshine. My brother, David, had come into town for a brief visit and since we both love the water and the beach and everything related to it, we headed out to Grand Haven to take a nice, long walk. Usually, I can hardly take a bad picture out here ... but out of yesterday's 262 pictures, not very many of them are very ... remarkable. I am only posting these ones because they are "borderline" acceptable ... besides, I want to journal our day together and since I am not a good writer, I simply MUST use pictures! 

Aside from the fishermen out on the pier, we didn't see any other folks out and about. I love the beach when it is secluded like this ...  

 Naturally, there were plenty of seagulls ... I love them. I wish I could take flight like they do ...

David and I hiked along the north shore in Grand Haven, never out of sight of my favorite lighthouse and piers. The wave action wasn't anything very exciting, but it was very nice to hear the sound of the breakers just the same. 

We were trying to figure out HOW this enormous stump arrived on shore ... it obviously was cut down from someWHERE ... but there it was out on the beach! David is wearing a sweatshirt that was a gift from his daughter (my niece), Elisabeth ~ Stetson is where she went to law school.

 We decided that since it was such a nice day, we'd just drive on up to Muskegon and have a look around over at Pere Marquette. I still can't decide which is my favorite place really ... because I absolutely love both of them.

 Both David and I were really surprised at how LOW the lake level was ... we could see and measure it more clearly here in Muskegon than we could in Grand Haven. The rocks my brother are standing on are usually submerged. I have never seen them exposed like this!

 And for some reason, although this plaque most likely has been out on the breakwater for years and years, we noticed this yesterday and I photographed it hoping that I could later google these two fellows and find out what happened to them. Do you see that they are twins? They died 9 years apart. I wonder how? I've googled every single possible name and date without any success at all in gaining any further information. I found out their middle initials and exact dates of death, but not the whys and wherefores of any of it at all.

This is the Coast Guard lighthouse that is inside a small harbor right off the beach. I have never in my life seen the water so low in this harbor.  

 This is the breakwater that leads out to the South Pier Light. The water is usually covering most of these rocks. I did enjoy climbing down and walking on them and exploring a bit down here ... but I didn't find anything hugely interesting at the bottom or anything. Aren't these mammoth rocks?! And yes, that's David walking the breakwater ...

By late afternoon, there was ZERO sun which made the air feel so much colder to me! But it really was quite a mild day and we enjoyed ourselves so much out in the peacefulness of this beautiful place.

Most of my pictures were too dark. I tried to edit them and lighten them up, but even then it was difficult to turn any of the pictures into a "good" photograph. That's OK. I have 100's of beautiful pictures of the lakeshore. But spending these hours with David was precious and very happy for me.

Thanks, David, for making time out of your busy life and taking this quick trip to Michigan.