Playin' hooky

Working 10 days straight can do a number on your brain, not to mention your body. And here in northern Michigan, the weather can be temperamental this time of year (well any time to be truthful), so when the forecast for Friday afternoon was beautiful, we quit work early and headed out for a ride. But where to go? Well. my first choice is always to head towards water, and there is a state park nearby on Lake Michigan we hadn't been to yet. Plus we bought that new park pass for the bike so off we went to Fisherman's Island State Park, just south of Charlevoix.


                                     
                                                                          
                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                           

                                             
           
                 Just look how clear that water is. 

It was a good choice; other than the swarms of gnats that have hatched from the recent warm weather, we had a great time. Just being out in the sun and wind was a much needed break from work.

  

                                                                                                             
                                                                         



The park is named for a small island just offshore, which, due to falling lake levels is now actually a peninsula that you can walk out to. But I didn't know this when we were there, and in any case, we probably didn't have time as it was very late afternoon, and I'm not a fan of riding after dark.

 
Fisherman's Island

 

                                       

   

We had dinner on the way home at the excellent, but pricey, Rowe Inn in Ellsworth. Great food and vino, but I fear it will not be on the list of regular places to eat dinner out.  All in all, a great end to the week.

The lake

Our family has a lake cottage that my Dad built way back in 1953, before I was born. So you could say I grew up there, in and out of the water. My parents sold our childhood home the year my older daughter was born, and even the house my husband and I built as young marrieds and raised our kids in is no longer ours. (Though we do still get to visit as the older daughter and her husband live there now.) So this place is really the last link to my childhood and it is always like going home. We stopped in on Easter Sunday on our way home from visiting family downstate and were greeted with this.



You can't see the sun set from our side of the lake, but sometimes, like on this day, the show in the other direction is just as nice. Dad used to call it the afterglow.

In the summer, when the boats are in, we often go out on the lake to see the sunset, and if we are very lucky, we also see loons. But I also love the way it is right now, when you can really see the lake, without all the boats and docks lining the shore. Except this one that is in very early, no doubt due to the 80 degree weather we had two weeks ago.



                                   

                                                                       

Honeymoon capital of the world

Our plan after leaving our friends was to head for Niagara Falls, which Rob had never seen. I had been there once I think, probably when I went with my family to Expo 67 in Montreal. We stopped for a quick overnight in Albany, but didn't make any sightseeing or photo stops along the way. We were both ready to be home and also wanted as much time at Niagara as possible since we would be there only one night. So even though the drive through Massachusetts and New York was really beautiful, I have no photos to show for it. Sometimes I am amazed at the photos I don't think to take. An excuse to go back, perhaps?

 

Niagara bills itself at the Honeymoon Capital of the World, and since this was sort of an anniversary trip, it seemed appropriate that we visit. We arrived mid-afternoon, plenty of time to meander around and see the falls. I managed to snag a hotel right next to the park, ostensibly for a view of the falls, but we couldn't see much for the trees anyway. The nice thing is that we could just head out the door and walk to the falls, as the park was just about a block awa.



 

                                                               

   

Right across the street from our hotel was this building, which I didn't know at the time is a famous Art Deco building, formerly the United Office Building, now a luxury hotel. What caught my eye were the carvings, which looked Mayan to me, but my eyes not being what they were, I really wasn't sure until loading my pics onto the laptop and zooming in. Apparently this was a popular architectural style at the time. Beautiful, but seems a bit odd to me to have Mayan carvings in the frozen northland.



What can you say about Niagara Falls? Words fail, they really are too magnificent.



 


                                                               




You can tell from the pics that it was a cloudy day, in fact I think it had quit raining just after we arrived at the hotel, and held off the whole time we were out walking. I did get in my usual photos of birds and flowers. Too many pics of even these beautiful falls will get boring, you can easily get sensory overload. But being there is different, I could stand there and watch the water pouring down for hours. Just mesmerizing.

   

                               






   


                                                               

Looks like a convention going on here.



Amazing how the birds will stand out in the middle of all that rushing water, or even bob around in it.


                                                          



                                       




So in addition to the classic Maid of the Mist boat ride you can take if you are anxious to see the falls up close and don't mind getting wet, you can also buy a ticket to walk down to the Hurricane Deck and stand in front of Bridal Veil Falls. Guaranteed to get you soaked, and these people had a hard time standing up when they got close. Everyone I watched backed up to the falls, as the force there is tremendous.

 



                                                               


We thought we would stop the next morning and see the falls from the Canada side, but the day was wet and rainy, and that was enough to turn us off that idea. So off we set for our daughter's house where we would spend our last night away before heading for home.