Redundant Sundown and Lighthouse photos

Yes, it's redundant but I'm still drawn to a pretty sundown, especially with something like this Ludington, Michigan lighthouse in it.

This one was taken with my HTC Android cell phone.

Same place but with the Badger Auto Ferry coming in from Wisconsin.

Yet another one

and finally, this one.

Lighthouses of Lake Michigan

On Lake Michigan, there are 50 or so lighthouses. Some are large, old and works of art while others are small electronic structures.  Nevertheless, Michigan has 18 while Indiana has 6 and Illinois' contribution amounts to 30 or more.   Over the past few weeks, I've visited a few on the western shore in the state of Michigan.

Small lighthouse at St Joseph, Michigan

Little Sable Point Lighthouse, Pentwater, Michigan

White River Light Station, Whitehall, Michigan

Grand Haven Lighthouse, Grand Haven, Michigan

Just as I was about to leave the area, I saw a couple of people
in the water.  It's not something you would look for but found
a couple of surfers trying to catch a wave.  One who turned
out to be a girl was mildly successful.

Grand Haven Channel Marker, Grand Haven, Michigan

Ludington North Pierhead Lighthouse, Ludington, Michigan

Mackinac Lighthouse, Mackinaw, Michigan (one of several)

Near the Mackinac Lighthouse, is the mile long Mackinac
Bridge spanning lower Michigan and the upper peninsula.  It's
a big deal up here.

As an added curiosity, there is a windfarm being installed just
offshore of Lake Michigan, near Pentwater and Ludington.  A
quick count out the window, suggest a couple of dozen of them
scattered across the countryside.

Michigan....once again

I Received a call Friday morning from the home office, beckoning me too Ludington, Michigan. Of course, they wanted me there now. There were no flights out of Baton Rouge so I booked a 5:20 pm out of NOLA and enlisted the aid and truck of my brother-in-law for the trip to the airport.

It never entered my mind to check road conditions and 10 miles south, we found the interstate shut down due to flooding from Sorrento to LaPlace. I called DOTD asking about closures and the nice lady told me that I-10 and even I-55 was closed so we hooked back to Baton Rouge then took I-12 toward Covington & the Causeway. I found out too late that 55 from Hammond to LaPlace was not closed.

After rerouting back on I-12, we ran into congestion such as you could not imagine on an interstate. Realizing I would not make my flight, I called in and changed it to a 6 a.m. Saturday morning out of New Orleans.

Four hours later, we arrived at the airport

To shorten this tale, lights were still out near the airport rendering all the hotels nearby out of business, so I elected to camp out in the world's most uncomfortable seating currently available in US airports to wait for the sun to rise and an airport coffee shop to open.  The stores and shops close early at MSY so I managed to grab an overpriced shrimp poboy before everything shut down.

It seemed like every 10 minutes some maintenance guy would roll a cart through making lots of noise or one of the cops would sail through on a 3 wheeled scooter and key his little Micky-Mouse siren, so there wasn't much sleeping going on. 

I may be getting too old for this nonsense.

Sandy Lake Michigan

Here I am in southwest Michigan, just a few miles north of Indiana. It's been somewhat windy since my arrival last weekend in St Joseph but I've enjoyed taking pictures of the Lake Michigan shoreline

St Joseph, MI is right on the shore and has some fantastic opportunities. I went down after work one afternoon and squeezed off a few frames. The wind was blowing steady and hard, carrying sand with it and felt like I was being sandblasted. Moreover, I was concerned about the Nikon.

The Weather Channel had quite a story on it and was broadcasting from Muskegon making it sound as if the entire lake was being blown onshore. It must have been a slow news day for the weather guys.

Saturday, I rode down into Indiana and checked out the Indiana (I never knew they existed) Dunes State and National Parks. I walked quite a bit on various beaches and climbed Mount Baldy, a huge sand dune. The 125 foot"climb" was pretty much a trail in soft sand that would make you pant for breath even if it was level. As it was, it gave me my cardio for the day.

I've spent a couple of winters in Michigan and hopefully, I'll be out of here soon as the temperature has been dropping into the mid thirties at night. A sure sign of colder times to come.

The Kingdom of Cornflakes

(click pictures to enlarge)
Since I was a kid, I've always seen names like Battle Creek, Michigan on cereal boxes and so the image of Michigan being the corflake kingdom of the world was pretty much set in my mind, just like Detroit makes you think of the auto industry.

Since leaving Ada, Michigan back in February, I had not given much thought about ever coming back up here. Fortunately, this time, I arrived in the fall instead of mid-blizzard like the last time.

Ray, the other guy I'm working with, and I took a drive over on the shores of Lake Michigan to the village of Saugatuck Saturday. Really a nice day driving through the colors of red, yellow and orange. He's from west Florida so we both agreed it was really nice seeing real fall colors. Usually, at home, the leaves go from green to the ground before much change.

Worth noting, is the fact that Lake Michigan is like being near the ocean when the wind whips up the waves and somehow your mind keeps telling you it's the Pacific. It even includes sand dunes much like you'd find in places like the Oregon coast.

Looks like I'll be here past Thanksgiving so I started scrambling today for some tickets home. Usually I don't get them this early but knowing what it's been like in the past, I thought it best that I put my name in the hat already.

So, I'll be hanging out in the cornflake kingdom for a while when I get back.