Road to the Sun: 2009 Autumn Equinox
September 22, 2009
Road to the Sun, photo by Hooks Pix.
Bill Steffen at WOOD-TV says that the autumnal equinox – the starter pistol shot of fall – officially occurs at 5:18 PM today. For much more equinoxical goodness, check out Autumnal Equinox: the start of fall from last year’s Michigan in Pictures.
Be sure to check this photo out bigger and also Don’s fall slideshow. It’s from the famed Tunnel of Trees between Harbor Springs and Cross Village (see this post from the State of Michigan).
Houston, We have Tulips!
May 2, 2009
We have tulips!, photo by StormchaserMike Photography
Holland’s 2009 Tuliptime Festival starts today and runs May 2-9, 2009. In addition to parades, music, celebrations of Dutch heritage, kids events and fireworks and somewhere around 6 million tulips, they are celebrating the 80th anniversary of Holland’s signature celebration this year. All who attend are entered to win all kinds of prizes including a trip to Mexico, $1000, dinner for 6 at the B.O.B., a night at the JW Marriot and a party at New Holland Brewing!
You can get Mike’s photo bigger or check out his whole Flower set (slideshow).
If you’re still feeling tulip mania, check out past tulip posts from Michigan in Pictures, the tulip slideshow from the Absolute Michigan group and Absolute Michigan’s tulip page.
Holy Spring, Batman!
March 28, 2009
Holy Spring, Batman!, photo by Rudy Malmquist.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, Bokeh!
Be sure to and get yourself a Bokehlicious Background from Michigan’s Perspicacious Prince of Pictoral Presentment.
There’s music on the Spring Wind
March 20, 2009
Love calls like the wild birds, it’s another day.
A Spring wind blew my list of things to do … away.
~Greg Brown, Spring Wind
In celebration of the first day of spring and the vernal equinox, I went looking for a photo of “spring” in the Absolute Michigan pool. With almost 2000 photos, it’s practically a synaesthesia inducing experience. It also shows the riotous glory that is Michigan in springtime: flowers, flowing water, new shoots covered with snow and people who don’t care that the water is too cold for sensible folk to wade in.
Be sure to check this photo out bigger and in Yolanda’s Nature sideshow.
Check out one of my very favorite songs, Spring Wind by Greg Brown on YouTube and enjoy the return of spring.
Petoskey’s Underwater Crucifix
February 23, 2009
Petoskey Crucifix, photo by Latitude 45.
Martin says that this beautiful crucifix rests in four fathoms of water (24′) in Little Traverse Bay, near the breakwater beacon. He pointed out this article in the Petoskey News Review about the history of Petoskey’s underwater crucifix and the annual viewing event:
The crucifix is made of white marble from Italy, and was a special order for a family in Rapson, Mich., as a memorial for a son killed in an accident on the farm.
After the structure arrived, it was discovered there had been damage to it. The family sold it as an insurance sale to a southern Michigan diving club, who wanted to place it as a memorial for their friend who died diving at Torch Lake. (ed. Charles Raymond)
The crucifix made its way to Little Traverse Bay, and was first placed by the U.S. Icebreaker Sundew 1,200 feet off the Petoskey breakwall on Aug. 12, 1962.
About 20 years later, the Michigan Skindiving Council tried to salvage what they could of the structure. It was lifted from the water, a new base was built in the Petoskey marina over the course of a day, and it was replaced in the bay.
At the time, Jessick was president of the council, and he proposed a winter viewing. The first was in 1986, affording the community the opportunity to view the statue through a hole made in the ice.
Jessick is Harbor Springs resident Dennis Jessick who helps organize the event. Sorry that I didn’t know about this in advance – I’ll try to keep an eye out next year but it doesn’t sound from the article like there’s a lot of lead time! There’s a little more in this Roadside America article about the Skin Divers Church.
Martin writes that the water seems to be half the actual depth. Be sure to check it out bigger and (probably soon) in his automatically generated Pretty Petoskey set (slideshow).
More great winter pics on our Michigan Winter Wallpaper page!
Michigan Meltdown
February 11, 2009
Michigan Meltdown, photos courtesy Great Lakes Coastwatch
Usually when I want to blog about something in particular, the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr has what I need. In this case, however, I think that everyone may have been out enjoying the amazing thaw that happened across the state yesterday as Mother Nature dropped the hammer on Old Man Winter, shattering record highs all across the state. From Marquette (48.5) to Detroit (59), the state of Michigan basked in springlike weather. Even Pellston aka “The Icebox of the North” managed to set a new record high (54).
Fortunately, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had their eyes in the sky on the job and dramatically captured what happened in just a few days. You can check these pictures out at Great Lakes Coastwatch and also right here in my Flickr where it should be big enough for some nice wallpaper. I used Lake Michigan because there seemed to be clouds everywhere else (and I’m a total homer). You can click the pic at the right to see the statewide view yesterday and also the Coastwatch link above for live satellite views!
Michigan grapes, ready for the harvest
October 9, 2008
Fenn Valley Winery-5, photo by Mi Bob.
Bob took this photo of grapes awaiting harvest at Fenn Valley Winery in Fennville, Michigan. He’s uploaded it “background big” and has more luscious grape photos (slideshow).
Fall is a great time to visit Michigan’s wine country. Check out this slideshow of recent photos from vineyards in the Absolute Michigan group and learn much more about Michigan’s wineries and wine trails from Michigan Wines.
- Lake Michigan Shore Wine Trail (home to Fenn Valley and others)
- Southeast Michigan Pioneer Wine Trail
- Wineries of Old Mission Peninsula
- Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail
River of Mystery – exploring the St. Joseph River
November 2, 2007
St. Joseph River Valley, photo by mojophiltre.
Mojophiltre took this photo of the St. Joseph River, just above the Buchanan Hydro-Electric Dam. He has a view of the water going over the Buchanan Dam that you’ll want to check out too.
As usual, Wikipedia has an entry on the St. Joseph River – I like to include these so that people who are passionate and knowledgeable can add to the phenomenal resource that Wikipedia offers. The St. Joseph River Watershed site (which has some cool maps of the watershed but some rather annoying Java) says:
The St. Joseph River Watershed is located in the southwest portion of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and northwestern portion of Indiana. It spans the Michigan-Indiana border and empties into Lake Michigan at St. Joseph, Michigan. The watershed drains 4,685 square miles from 15 counties (Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Hillsdale, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Van Buren in Michigan and De Kalb, Elkhart, Kosciusko, Lagrange, Noble, St. Joseph and Steuben in Indiana). The watershed includes 3,742 river miles…
The Friends of the St. Joseph River has a nifty historical photo of the Buchanan Dam and a great article about the history of the names of the St. Joseph River by Bob Owens & Scott Null. The river was important to native peoples – all the way from the enigmatic Hopewell Mound Builders who made their home all along the Saint Joseph River valley to the Fox & Sauk who moved in as mercenaries for the English. This very interesting page lists various names for the river and I think it’s fascinating how one river can provide such a wealth of insight into Michigan’s history:
- The Miami called it Sauk-Wauk-Sil-Buck (which The Google thinks means “River of Mystery”).
- The Iroquois, who apparently conducted a nasty genocidal campaign on the Algonquian in the region, called the river The Illinois – maybe because the first Algonquian tribe they met were the Illinois.
- In spring of 1672, Explorer Rene-Robert Cavalier De La Salle (searching for the best route between Quebec and the mouth of the Mississippi) ran into the Miami (who by this time were in the pay of the Iroquois against their Algonquin brethren), so naturally he christened it The River of the Miamis.
- Jesuit Missionary Claude Allouez (who earlier had named Lake Michigan “Lake Saint Joseph” after first sighting it on Catholic Feast Day of Saint Joseph) founded a mission at the rail junction at Bertrand. It’s noteworthy that when LaSalle returned later, he still called it the River of the Miami.
- North and east, the French built Fort St. Joseph near Niles in 1691. At that time the Potowatomi (who called the river Sohg-Wah-Se-Pe – also Mystery River) were friendly with the French.
- Around 1700, the Fox & Sauk tribes, who were allied with the English and named the river O-Sang-E-Wong-Se-Pe (Mystery River again), began to tangle with the Potowatomi and French.
The authors advocate for naming the river the Sagwa. I don’t know about that, but I do know that time seems to mysteriously disappear when I run into cool Michigan history like this!
More from the Michigan Fall Wallpaper series
maplepath, photo by Aunt Owwee
Our next fall color tour from Travel Michigan, Lansing – Grand Ledge – Hastings – Battle Creek – Eaton Rapids, starts where the above photo was taken: at the Fenner Nature Center in Lansing (once known as the Fenner Arboretum). The park is named after biologist Carl G. Fenner and has 130 acres with 4 miles of trails winding through maple groves, pine forests, swamp forests, old fields and 3 different ponds. This weekend (Oct 20 & 21) they’re having an Apple Butter Festival. Aunt Owwee (Shirl) has a cool four seasons view from here and lot more great shots of autumn in Michigan.
If you’ve got the nature center bug, you can stop at the Woldumar Nature Center, located along the Grand River not far southwest of Lansing. From there, head out M-43 to Grand Ledge. Fitzgerald Park aka “The Ledges” are absolutely gorgeous in the fall, as evidenced by this photo from Rein Nomm of Fall at the Ledges that appeared last year on Michigan in Pictures. Not convinced? Search fall at Grand Ledge on Flickr. Last weekend, the city of Grand Ledge held their annual Color Cruise, but there’s still plenty of color to be found.
Then it’s on to Hastings and Historic Charlton Park, a re-creation of a 19th century town. The structures are open only Memorial Day to Labor Day but you can certainly enjoy strolling along the river. For a little more exercise, jump on the non-motorized vehicle only Paul Henry – Thornapple Trail (see photos of the trail on Flickr). When complete, the trail will be a 42-mile route from Grand Rapids to Vermontville. The photo to the right of the Thornapple River was taken by hansendm.
The it’s on to Gull Lake and the W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary. The sanctuary is one of the North America’s pioneer wildlife conservation centers and offers a chance to see birds in the wild, bird displays and birds of prey enclosures featuring rare and common raptors including a bald eagle, red-tailed hawks and eastern screech owl.
Travel Michigan suggests a possible detour to the Fort Custer Recreation Area, located between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. It features three lakes, the Kalamazoo River and an excellent trail system that includes 16 miles of mountain bike trails. The 3000+ acre area was farmland that was acquired by the federal government to establish Camp Custer, an induction and military training center for the US Army during WWII.
If it’s raining or all this outdoor stuff doesn’t sound fun, consider stopping at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners which features almost 200 vehicles spanning over 100 years of automotive heritage from a 1899 Locomobile to the muscle cars of the 60s and 70s.
Continuing south, we come to the city of Battle Creek where recommended stops include the Sojourner Truth Monument (check out this set of photos of the Monument), Binder Park Zoo, the Leila Arboretum and Children’s Garden and the Battle Creek Linear Park. The park is a walkable, bikeable and billed as “the world’s largest classroom,” featuring signs that tell about plant, animal, cultural and historical points-of-interest along the park.
If you’re hungry as you head out on Old 27, consider Cornwell’s Turkey House aka Turkeyville USA. A bit further south is the town of Marshall. In addition to being a shopping mecca, Marshall’s downtown is designated as a National Historic Landmark District and features a wealth of historic attractions including the American Museum of Magic.
The photo to the right is of the Kalamazoo river from the Nature Center bridge by cathie and it’s just one of the places you can stop as you ease on down the road back to Lansing through the towns of Albion, Springport & Eaton Rapids. They recommend a stop at The English Inn of Eaton Rapids for dinner. Having eaten there before, I can only say “got room for another?”
Just so it’s clear, these fall color tour entries are produced by Absolute Michigan & Michigan in Pictures using the great information compiled in Travel Michigan’s Fall Color Tours as a starting point. We’re trying to add to what they’ve put together – not rip them off! As always, if you have links to information or photos that we missed, comments or reports, post them in the comments below!
Don’t miss our Michigan Fall Wallpaper series and see more of Travel Michigan’s Fall Color Tours.
Fall Color Tours: Mackinaw City – Charlevoix – Petoskey
October 9, 2007
outside east jordan, mi., photo by redmudball
The above photo is of the St. John Nepomucene Catholic Church of East Jordan (link) and is part of Casey’s Fall in East Jordan set.
While the autumn color is still in full bloom in the Upper Peninsula, we better head south across the Mighty Mac and spend some time on color touring Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Our first tour of Mackinaw City – Charlevoix – Petoskey (as designed by Travel Michigan) begins just on the other side of the Mackinac Bridge in Mackinaw City. They encourage you to stop in at the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, a beautifully restored 1892 structure that serves as a museum and is part of Mackinac State Historic Parks. You might pop for the MSHP day pass and check out Colonial Michilimackinac and/or Mackinac Island, but we better not get sidetracked.
Travel Michigan suggests getting off I-75 (a suggestion with which we heartily concur) and heading south down US-31. Just a few miles down, take Gill Rd. west to Just a Plain Farm, which features a full farm market & bakery plus all kinds of activities including hay rides, pumpkin picking and corn mazes. Then it’s back to 31 to Levering Rd. where you’ll want a map to navigate to Petoskey State Park, featuring 300+ acres on Little Traverse Bay, sandy beaches and one of the many dunes named Old Baldy on Lake Michigan. If you like views like the one to the right of Harbor Springs by Latitude45, continue on because this area is full of them! Martin has great photos of fall color from all over the Petoskey area as well!
You’ll want to keep that map handy (or turn to Google maps) as you head through the city of Petoskey (and maybe stop for lunch or a coffee at Roast & Toast). You may also want to wind through historic and tree-lined Bay View and check out the scenery & fishing on the Bear River. Up the Bear River is Walloon Lake (it’s a town and a lake). You can’t say Walloon Lake without also saying “Ernest Hemingway”, so here’s the Hemingway Resource Center’s page on the family cottage Windimere on the shore of Walloon Lake. The cottage is privately owned, but there’s a wealth of detail about the history of the area.
Assuming you avoid the temptation to brood moodily at Hemingway’s favorite barstool, it’s on to Charlevoix. On any of several ways, you can pass through a large number of small towns which are well detailed by the Petoskey – Harbor Springs – Boyne Country Visitors Bureau. There’s a lot of beautiful scenery here and even the back roads have back roads.
Like Petoskey, Charlevoix is full of all manner of shops and stores. If you’re in the mood for a more extended color trip, consider the ferry to Beaver Island. It’s known as America’s Emerald Isle, but in the fall, there’s all kinds of color to be enjoyed. Near Charlevoix there are two state parks, Young State Park on Lake Charlevoix and Fisherman’s Island State Park on Lake Michigan.
Assuming you head back north, take M-32 out of Petoskey to Harbor Springs. North of Harbor Springs on M-119 is the “Tunnel of Trees” a gorgeous stretch of narrow road along the shore that is lined with maple and other trees.
The Legs Inn in Cross Village is a textbook example of the “It’s my darn place and I’ll do whatever the heck I want with it” style of architecture for which northern Michigan is justly celebrated. The picture to the right of the door by artbabee is just the barest sample – she has more in her Charlevoix, Cross Village, and Walloon Lake, Michigan set! Their Polish food is also justly celebrated – here’s what they have to say about the whole thing:
Located in historic Cross Village, Michigan, Legs Inn is a “monument to nature.” Built on a high bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, it is unique and mysterious as seen in its architecture and decor. The fantasy-like atmosphere of this medieval looking stone, timber and driftwood landmark was created by one man, Polish immigrant, Stanley Smolak. He fell in love with Northern Michigan and its people, many of them Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and decided to settle in Cross Village in 1921.
Authentic Polish cuisine is our specialty, but delicious American dishes, including local fresh Whitefish, are also served. The Smolak family and staff are dedicated to making your visit to Legs Inn an unforgettable experience, which will have you returning often with family and friends throughout the years.
In a perfect world, you might arrive at Wilderness State Parkin time for sunset over Lake Michigan. In an even more perfect world, you’d be at the top of a multi-year waiting list for a cabin at the park!
Just so it’s clear, these fall color tour entries are produced by Absolute Michigan & Michigan in Pictures using the great information compiled in Travel Michigan’s Fall Color Tours as a starting point. We’re trying to add to what they’ve put together – not rip them off! As always, if you have links to information or photos that we missed, comments or reports, post them in the comments below!
Don’t miss our Michigan Fall Wallpaper series and see more of Travel Michigan’s Fall Color Tours.
