August 30 Arnold's Ferry

Saturday Morning:  We were up nice and early this morning and enjoyed a yummy FREE breakfast at our hotel at 7AM. We had purchased our ferry boat tickets the night before at a discount (!!) at the hotel and decided to take the ferry that was going UNDER the Mighty Mac--the earliest one we could take was the 9AM boat. We walked over to the dock and arrived almost an hour early ... but we wanted to be sure we could get a seat on the upper deck of the boat and ... what if there was a line and we missed out?!?!?

No worries! We were the very first ones there! The 8:30 ferry was ready to go and we watched it leave for the island. We had no problem getting a seat on the upper deck of the 9:00. What a beautiful morning it was--although a tiny bit brisk, but thankfully not terribly windy. This was our view of the bridge from a distance.

I zoomed way in (which I am lousy at doing) on the coast where I knew the Old Mackinac Point Light sits and tried my best to get a few good shots ... but only a few were worth keeping.

Here we are, about to go under the Mighty Mac!

I cropped the above picture to get rid of the people ...

I did the same with the picture below--

The result was OK but not stellar by any means ... a little too muted I think. Anyway--I just wanted to get this perspective of the bridge. Too bad I don't own a boat (!!) and could just cruise under it myself and take all the angles I could wish!

Here is David (well ... the back of him at least) taking photos as well. David loves this bridge. 

Here we are, directly UNDER it!

As we went under the bridge, turned around, and then headed over to Mackinac Island, I tried to get a few good shots of the Round Island Light; however, I was shooting directly into the sun (which I also am lousy at!); so the results were less than optimal. I was a little disheartened by this but then remembered that I have another opportunity to photograph it on the way back to the mainland later today.

!! Do you see what I see?!?!?  A CRUISE ship!!!

Wouldn't it be amazing to cruise the Great Lakes?!?!?!? I looked it up once we got back to my little house and the cost is just ... completely prohibitive. So ... oh well! I live right here in Michigan--how blessed am I? I love Michigan!

August 29 Bridge View Park

Friday Evening:  So ... we kind of miscalculated how much time it would take for us to get to Mackinac City from my house because we took that little "detour" over to see the lighthouse at Mears, Michigan. But we were okay about it once we figured it out! We had kind of figured on arriving at our hotel by about 5-ish and it was actually closer to 6:00 by the time we checked in. 

I neglected to take even a single picture of the beautiful hotel David booked for us: The Hamilton Inn--which is conveniently located very close to the Arnold Ferry Boat dock, which we would need Saturday to go over to THE ISLAND. Why THE ISLAND (all caps) ... because Mackinac Island is ... the ultimate island! We love it there!

But back to Friday night ...

Once we checked in, we mapped out the route to Bridge View Park (St. Ignace)--which necessitated crossing the Mighty Mac. YES! We LOVE crossing the bridge. Here are my photos from Friday night:

First, of course, we CROSSED the bridge! Always a thrill! I didn't take any pictures while we were driving across the bridge because they never turn out very good. It wasn't difficult to find the park at all. We arrived at a lovely time of night to take photos.

Isn't this bridge just stunningly beautiful?

At Bridge View Park, there is a nice grassy area where you can walk around and get good pictures--so I did!

I walked as far as legally possible (until I hit the "NO ENTRY" sign right at the side of the road that takes you over the bridge) to get as many angles of the bridge as I possibly could. I'm only posting a fraction of the pictures I took!

Once we savored the sight for awhile, we got back in the car and drove down a little dirt road that had private homes set back from the water ... with THIS view.

My favorite photograph is the one above. I just like all of the aspects of color, texture, shadow, etc., so ... presently, I am using it as my wallpaper on my computer.

Labor Day Weekend: David!!!

Friday: In the wee wee hours of this Friday morning (12:10 am), I picked my brother, David, up from the Gerald R. Ford International Airport. David has been coming up to Grand Rapids to spend Labor Day weekend with me for several years now. It is a weekend that I look forward to ALL YEAR LONG ... like from the very second I take him back to the airport to return to his home in Florida ... until he comes back. He requests (!!) that I make him a DIY list every single year, and he never fails to do every last item listed with a genuine smile on his face. I will do a separate post later and show you what improvements he made around my little beach house this weekend.

When we woke up Friday morning, we headed over to Menard's to pick up some needed DYI supplies. I fixed us a rather modest lunch, we worked on our travel map, packed up "Ruby" with all of our vacation gear, and off we went!

We decided to go WEST and re-visit Little Point Sable Lighthouse on our way (??) up to Mackinac--because Mackinac was our ultimate destination. We just decided to take a tiny detour over to Mears, Michigan ... just because!

The last time David and I were here, there was NOT a paved walkway from the parking lot to the lighthouse--I think there was just mulch ...

Isn't this a nice picture of David?

Last time we were here, it was only $5 to climb this 115 feet tower; but it is 2025 and the cost is now $8. Totally worth it, though.

Here is the view looking south ...

... and looking north ... isn't it gorgeous?

I love this place! It's almost impossible to take a "bad" picture here!

See how small people look in comparison to this very tall lighthouse?

There is a much taller one in Florida--actually TWO in Florida that I can think of, and that David and I have actually climbed together. One of them had 230+ steps! Little Point Sable has 132 steps (I think).

Many of these photos are similar ... but it is SO pretty here, and there are slight differences in these pictures.

Looking north ...

So many of these will be used for cards ... I can't wait to design a few more cards with these very pictures.

I climbed around some of the lower dunes looking for the "perfect shot" of the lighthouse. David patiently. waited for me at the base of the lighthouse.

From here, we traveled north and reached our hotel in Mackinac City sometime near 6:00.

August 28 RVO ladies

Thursday Evening: I was invited to join a few of the ladies I used to work with for dinner tonight over at SHOTS (Standale). It's been at least five years since I have seen them. Peggy was the one who arranged this little get-together, and I was pleased to join them tonight.

It was just a few of us: Peggy, Connie, Annette (sister to Peggy and Connie, but she never worked with us), and then Cheryl. Peggy decided to surprise Connie and Cheryl about my joining them tonight. It was so nice to see them again!

It took awhile to get caught up with everyone. Five years is quite a long time to not be in touch. I could listen to Cheryl talk for hours--she is a very articulate, intelligent, and funny person. Connie, Peggy, and Annette are all sisters! They have large families--it was very nice to hear how all of them are doing. Peggy said she would call me next month when they get together again. I will look forward to it very much.