September 6 and 7 Church, Emma, and Grand Haven

Sunday:  We worshiped this morning at Calvary Church and studied about the life of Joseph, the adopted father of our Lord Jesus. It was an interesting study and the worship was wonderful. Emma was with us! After church, Emma came over to my house for a little while. She needed a few card supplies for a wedding card for Chris and Ella, as well as a birthday card for Kota (one week away!). David took the car to Menard's and got a supply list purchased so that we can finish up "the list" tomorrow. 

Emma, David and I did play one game of Pachesi! I love to play this game with Emma, and I was so glad David got to spend time with her too. I can't even remember who won the game. It was probably David!

It was about 4:00 when David and I arrived at Grand Haven. It was super crowded, but we expected that because it was Labor Day weekend. Here is a shot of David flying his kite. He got it really high!

We walked the pier and saw so many beautiful boats. David knows a lot about boats--their size, the power of their engines, the cost, etc. It's so interesting to listen to him.

The "shot" below is of me looking inside the lower lighthouse -- see the portholes on the other side? It was no opened for tours today, so we did not get to go inside. But I HAVE been inside this little lighthouse way back in the winter of 1972!

What a beautiful evening to sit and watch the boats come and go.

When we got back to my house, we continued our Pachesi tournament. I was "down" quite a few games (shock!) and did not recover.

I asked David to play a few songs on my piano. I will say--this was a most treasured time. David plays piano like an angel, a lot of it by memory. So I listened as he played. I pulled up a chair and we sang some beautiful old hymns of the faith together and just worshiped our gracious God together. Such a precious time.

Monday, we (David) finished up my entire "list" of projects around my house. He even installed a screen cover for my eaves trough on my carport! YES! No more growing trees from the seeds that fall into the gutter there anymore! He also finished power washing the house and driveway. 

We had a little bit of time (!) before David had to leave, so we began a NEW Pachesi tournament and since I won SO MANY GAMES, we decided to combine the two tournament wins/losses and play ONE FINAL championship game. I lost. It ended up that for the entire weekend, David won SEVEN games to my SIX. But the games were SO CLOSE!

I was rather "blue" after taking David to the airport by about 3:15 Monday afternoon. Since my red cylinder bird feeder could not be cleaned out, I replaced it with this little blue one. I like it very much.
 

September 5 Back to Mackinac City

Saturday:  We decided to do a little more shopping, while in Mackinac City, and then have some fish 'n chips at little restaurant in the shopping area. We were set to start our drive back to Grand Rapids by about 6:30 in the evening. I asked David if we could take a little side drive so that I could get a few more pictures of the bridge ... and of course, Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse.

Years ago while I was with Emma, we found a road that was west of the bridge with a small parking area and a nice long stretch of beach to walk and photograph the bridge. Those pictures could not be recovered when my computer crashed, so I thought it would be really nice if I could find that same area and just take the pictures all over again. However, I couldn't find that place west of the bridge ... so we settled for the east side instead.

I was glad to get a few good pictures of this lighthouse. When Emma and I were here eight years ago, there was a scaffolding along the tower because they were working on restoration--but that scaffolding kind of messed with my pictures.

I will gladly use these pictures for many cards in the future!

We found a gas station, filled up, and headed back to Grand Rapids. 

September 5 Mackinac Island

Saturday:  We woke up to an absolutely PERFECT weather day! We checked out of our Days Inn, and they allowed us to continue to park there so that we could walk over to the boat dock without having to pay the $20 parking in that lot. This was very nice of them.

Our boat was named "Joliet" and the guide was a very upbeat and talented fellow who kept us laughing on the bumpy ride over to the island. We had taken the 9:30 boat because it went UNDER the Mackinac Bridge for a little added benefit. I did not take a single picture while we were on the boat! It was so windy, and we really didn't have a good seat for taking pictures. Plus, the emphatically stated that no one was allowed to STAND while the boat was moving. How could I possibly get a decent picture while sitting down? So, I didn't bother with it. I do have some photos of going under the bridge in prior years though.

We arrived at the island at a little after 10am. It was not too terribly crowded there in the morning. David really likes watching the fudge making process. This is Lorenzo, who was very friendly, and told us a lot about how the process works.

Fudge has gone up in price since I was a little kid, though. We used to purchase 4 slices for $9.99. Now, if you buy THREE slices it will cost you $35. No way!

We found a nice cafe' where we could eat outside for lunch. I totally forget what we ordered!

David purchased a small pocket kite at one of the cool toy stores, so we walked on down to the Park so that he could test fly it. Here is one of my favorite little lights: The Round Island Lighthouse.

The beautiful flowers are everywhere on the island ...

And such pretty houses!

This is the "Little Stone Church" ... I think Emma and I took a peek inside of it when we were here together back in 2018.

David had wanted to bike around the island, which would have been a lot of fun and would have offered me lots of photo opportunities. BUT ... we decided that the 3-wheeled bikes would be "safest" for me, and they were very expensive to rent. We did, however, pay to ride a horse-drawn carriage over parts of the island I had never seen ...

We finally came to Arch Rock, where we ended our carriage ride and walked DOWN the 200+ steps to the bottom so that I could get a few decent pictures of this cool place. When I was here with Emma, most every picture I took on the island was lost when my computer crashed later that year.

I'm pretty happy with these pictures ...

More flowers ...

Some private homes ...

More flowers ...

The marina ...

Our ride, the Marquette II, back to Mackinac City.

This out of place picture is of David flying his kite at the park on the island. At this particular moment, however, the wind did not cooperate ... but Sunday afternoon, we plan to head over to Grand Haven where he can try to fly it once again.