Camping in the woods is fun, but it’s more fun if it doesn’t rain every single day and night. I guess I should count myself lucky that it didn’t rain all day every day.
I had plenty of time to get out in between rain showers and explore. Since it became obvious I wasn’t going to have any cloudless nights I deicded to use my time to find good Milky Way shoot posibilities. After all it’s a Bortle 2 up near Sleeping Bear (meaning really dark with less light pollution.) and you really don’t want to waste all that night sky by not being prepared.
But by Wednesday I was tired of battling the incessant mosquitoes and I was happy to head an hour further north to meet a couple friends in the little town of Northport. That’s at the tip of Michigan’s little finger. Really. Look at the map of the lower portion of Michigan and notice the mitten shape…and at the far upper left of the mitten is the little finger! Then imagine how wonderful it would be to live there!
Northport, way up there north of Traverse City, is beautiful and always fun to visit. I’m lucky I know a few people there so I have lots of excuses to go. This time I was going up specifically to buy a book at my favorite Independent bookstore.
I love to stop at Dog Ears Books when I’m in Northport, browse the books and chat with store owner Pamela Grath. And this trip was even more special because I was buying my friend, Karen’s, debut novel The Lost Woman. I’ve known Karen for a long time, and I’m so excited that her book has been published!
I’m ony on page 48, though I should find the time to sit down and just read. It’s so good. It’s almost like a very rich desert that you don’t want to gobble down too fast. You want it to last. But if I don’t find a bit of quiet to sit and enjoy the read it will likely be fall before I can tell you more about it!
Penny, like her sister Katie, is an anti-reading dog. No reading allowed mom!
Anyway…I meant for this post to show you all the pretty stuff I found up near Northport that day. But it’s really about good friends and good books…and that will have to suffice for now.
Because Penny is also an anti-typing dog.
And it’s time to go off on another adventure with her. More later, I suppose.
Change Is Hard 
July 6, 2025 at 12:02 pm
Looks like a lovely place to visit.
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July 7, 2025 at 10:32 am
It’s absolutely beautiful and fun too! Except for the flies and mosquitos and sometimes clouds. But really, it’s a lot of fun!
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July 6, 2025 at 12:14 pm
Maybe Penny needs an area of the yard that is fenced in so she can run and play while you relax and read. Honor that “me time” thing at home, just like you do when you go camping.
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July 7, 2025 at 10:33 am
I agree. Though she does have a kennel on the deck that on nice days she can sit out, under an umbrella. But it’s been sooooo hot, almost 100 for days, and that’s just too hot for her to be outside more than the time it takes to do her business. Of course it takes her a very LONG time to do her business…so she and her mom (me) spend plenty of time outside 🙂
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July 6, 2025 at 12:47 pm
Glad you found something to keep you busy in the rain and cloudy nights. It’s beautiful up there! You are going get that Milky Way photo.
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July 7, 2025 at 10:33 am
It sure is beautiful up there! And yes, someday I’m going to get that perfect Milky Way image. WIll I be satisfied? I don’t know. I might just always want one more.
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July 6, 2025 at 7:10 pm
Good friends and good books are life’s definite treasures. Wishing you rain free camping ahead!
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July 7, 2025 at 10:34 am
Definitely! And I think I’ve paid my rain dues, so I hope the rest of the summer it doesn’t rain on my tent!
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July 6, 2025 at 9:26 pm
Well, you certainly deserved a treat after your rain and mosquitoes. What a clever name for this independent bookstore – good for you going that route and supporting small businesses, rather than Amazon which is convenient, cheaper, etc. Unbelievably, on July 8th I will have lived here in Michigan for 59 years and have never heard of anyone refer to that little finger. How did I miss that as I often have referenced “The Mitten State” and bloggers ask why I wrote that so I also snag a little map to show them. Penny says “there are walks to be had, places to see and sniff, so no laptops or books because this is our time Mom!”
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July 7, 2025 at 10:35 am
Well, it’s very possible that I’m the only person that calls it the little finger! Maybe it’s just me who sees that…but it works!
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July 7, 2025 at 9:07 pm
Well you pinpointed it exactly and I learned something!
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July 7, 2025 at 5:57 pm
I hope you get your clear night soon! That bookstore and the owner sound familiar to me. Did Pamela used to write a blog back in the day? And has she published a book of her own?
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July 11, 2025 at 2:18 pm
Yes, Pamela still writes https://booksinnorthport.blogspot.com/ And she has one about shooting photos too…called something like Shot In Light. I don’t think she’s had a book published but I could be wrong. She’s the owner of the bookstore Dog Ears Books in Northport Michigan.
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July 7, 2025 at 7:09 pm
Pamela still has a couple blogs. The one that covers most of her life is https://booksinnorthport.blogspot.com/ There’s another one called Shot in Light where she puts photos sometimes. I don’t know if she has a book published of her own, I don’t remember that.
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Pingback: But what about the pretty stuff up in Northport? | Change Is Hard
July 30, 2025 at 2:34 pm
“Then imagine how wonderful it would be to live there!”
Exactly the idea that pierced our hearts so long ago when we camped at the tip (lighthouse), then later brought our growing family. Our love for Northport only grew and one day, at last, we bought our own place. Life went on, we retired, and now we live and love in this wonderful land.
So happy you appreciate it.
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