Uncategorized | Change Is Hard

October 12, 2014
by dawnkinster 11 Comments

Porcupine Mountains

So much to show you, so little time! Friday we spent in the Porcupine Mountains. I’ll wait while you go check a map to figure out where that is. (Elevator music now playing.)

Foot bridge over the Presque Isle River

OK. So now you know they are on the very western part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, over by the Wisconsin border, but up along the coast of Lake Superior. What? You didn’t know Michigan had an Upper Peninsula? That’s another blog; for now I’ll leave it to you to do your research.

Patiently waiting…

The Porcupine Mountains are truly beautiful and desolate all at the same time. We spent a long time wandering the trails beside the Presque Isle River. It flows from the mountains and into Lake Superior….

The river meets the lake.

…over a series of waterfalls.

A man and his dog enjoy the view.

We hiked way up to the third in that series, through deep woods, over hill and across crevices …

In the woods.

…and through swamps.

Walking the plank.

It was wonderful. Not all of the trails were as strenuous. There’s something for everyone at the Porkies.

Just a walk in the park.

Thirty-three miles away but still in the park is Lake of the Clouds. Can you tell how it gets it’s name?

Clouds reflected.

The road climbs up and up and up and finally there you are, high above a beautiful reflective lake.

We were there in the morning so we had to wait for the sun to come up and out from behind some clouds…

And then the sun came out.

…but when it did the trees were spectacular even though it’s past peak leaf watching season.

Fantastic views.

There are many trails in the Porcupine Mountains. In fact you can hike from the Presque Isle River all the way over to the Lake of the Clouds along the edge of Lake Superior if you like.

Grazing.

That would take us about 15 weeks, but you could probably do it in less time if you train. It’s getting to be late fall now, you’ve got all winter to get in shape for a spring hike. Up here spring should arrive sometime the end of June.

Yep lots of time.

You get ready. I’ll wait here.

October 9, 2014
by dawnkinster 9 Comments

Lighthouse Tuesday, UP Thursday

Original lens, Cana Island Lighthouse

Some of you remember when we traveled to Maine last July and took you along to see some of the lighthouses there. Well, this past Tuesday we explored Door County, that long peninsula that sticks out into Lake Michigan off the eastern edge of Wisconsin. There are several lighthouses along the coast and we found a few of them. Want to see a couple?

Below is Bailey’s Harbor lights. Ship captains lined up the red marker with the lights behind it (see the third structure way in the back?) to know they were in the deepest water of the harbor.

Bailey’s Harbor Range Lights

And here’s Cana Island Lighthouse, built in 1869.

Cana Island

You can go up to the top of this one and enjoy the beautiful view of the lake.

Lighthouse keeper (aka lighthouse docent)

That’s always the best part of lighthouses, at least for me. Going up the stairs and out into the fresh air with a stunning view. I like to imagine what it was like to live there every day.

Window on the world

Of course I imagine the beautiful sunny days like the day we were there, and don’t think too much about those long days in January and February. And March.

Then there’s Eagle Bluff Lighthouse, built in 1868. This one has a tour, but we had to be back in Green Bay for meetings and didn’t have time.

Eagle Bluff

It’s a stunning lighthouse, brick just glowing in the late afternoon sun, beautiful colors, the red roof, green shutters and golden walls. It looked like the quintessential lighthouse, sitting high above the lake, and it just glowed.

Windows watching

We spent the day Wednesday in important meetings surrounding truck safety, then Thursday morning we headed north, through stunning farm country in northern Wisconsin…

We saw these cement silos everywhere

…and on into the western Upper Peninsula where we stopped at an iron mine tourist attraction. Do you think this giant mining guy…

Miner guy

….looks a lot like the giant lobster guy we saw in Maine?

Lobster guy

Me too.

Tomorrow we’re going to explore a little bit of the Porcupine Mountains. It’s just past peak color here, still very beautiful. I’m hoping for sunny weather. Maybe with puffy clouds just for good measure.

Beautiful

I have a more serious, more contemplative blog to write about our meetings. It’s churning around in my mind and will spew out sooner or later. Tonight’s not the night. Tonight just enjoy the beautiful scenery.

We sure did.

Adventures!

October 8, 2014
by dawnkinster 18 Comments

Wordless Wednesday -last bit of summer.

October 6, 2014
by dawnkinster 13 Comments

It’s all about the water here.

We’ve been traveling up the coast of Wisconsin, along Lake Michigan. We didn’t get much further north today than where we stayed in Port Washington last night.

Morning fishing.

That’s because we slept in and then spent a few hours this morning exploring the pretty little town. We walked way out on the breakwater; it’s all huge rough stones that you have to climb up and down. When I was a kid this would have been a breeze. Now? Not so easy.

Walking the wall.

It’s harder than it looks!

Then on our way back from that adventure we came across a fisherman landing a salmon! Huge fish! I felt sorry for her (he said it was a female)…but it was still interesting to watch. It took two guys, one with the pole and one with the net to bring her in.

Almost as big as him!

After that adventure we wandered into town to find breakfast. As we walked up the main street we saw this beautiful church high on the hill.

Cute town.

Of course we had to go up there and see. Saint Mary’s Catholic Church is stunning, built around 1870, the stonework is beautiful. It’s beautiful inside as well, though we didn’t take any photos inside. It has an absolutely huge pipe organ up in the choir balcony.

St. Mary’s

Then we accidentally found the old lighthouse, built in 1860 while we were trying to find another way down the hill. Sometimes you find the prettiest, most interesting things when you just wander around! Too bad it’s only open on Sundays.

Old light house.

Finally we had breakfast which was actually lunch and then we headed north, mostly along the lake. What a beautiful afternoon we had, watching the lake, the birds, and seeing other lighthouses along the way.

Love this lake, from both sides.

Oh! I almost forgot! We also stopped in Manitowoc at a maritime museum and got a tour of a WWII submarine!

Submarine!

During the war the country didn’t have enough capacity to build all the subs that were needed, so they tapped a shipbuilding company here in Wisconsin to build more. They towed them down the Mississippi to get them to the ocean. This one, like the one we toured out in LA, was really interesting inside.

Forward torpedo bays

So that was our day. Now we’ve settled in for the night. We’ll see a bit more in Door County Wisconsin tomorrow, then head over to Green Bay for meetings tomorrow night and Wednesday. We’ll share more when we’re able.

Meanwhile, hope you enjoyed the scenery as much as we did! (Some photo credit goes to the husband.)

Evening sun + red lighthouse = magic

October 6, 2014
by dawnkinster 11 Comments

On the road again…

As the last post hinted we’re on the road. Want to come along?

First stop was meant to be just a quick break, a little walk after a few hours of driving, a check of one of our favorite lakes.

Beautiful!

Lake Michigan. With a stiff wind from the west we got to see some pretty nice waves. I kept my camera hidden inside my winter coat most of the time; the sand was blowing with the wind.

Amazing!

There were huge waves being blown into the channel at South Haven. Pretty cool to watch. Someone I was with got his feet drenched.

Huge!

I did not. Just saying.

Then on past Chicago. I love Chicago…really I do, but we had places we needed to be, so we just waved at the city as we went by.

Chicago!

Milwaukee was really pretty from the freeway too. But I didn’t have the camera out and it passed in a flash.

By late afternoon we were near Port Washington Wisconsin. There were only two hotels advertised on the freeway, a Super 8 that we could see from the highway exit, and a Holiday Inn that was in the other direction. We headed toward town and the lake. And this was our view for the evening from our hotel room.

The other side of Lake Michigan.

This morning we are going to explore what appears to be a cute little town in search of breakfast a bit more satisfying than the buffet scrambled eggs and orange juice offered by the hotel for $6 each.

And so the adventure begins.

Good Morning!

October 5, 2014
by dawnkinster 7 Comments

What we leave behind

I’m getting ready for a road trip, my favorite kind of travel; a little random, sometimes spontaneous, always interesting. Freeing. But as I’m packing the last bits of things into the suitcase I look around. Is the house clean? Is the bed made. Are things put away?

Do you do that? Check out the house before you walk out the door? I do. Every single time. Whether I’m headed for work, a week long trip, or just running to the grocery store. Because you never know if you’re coming back. You never know if someone else will be walking into your home after you’re gone and you wouldn’t want the house to be a mess.

I’ve been this way for ten years. Ever since the summer of 2004 when my mom went off to church and didn’t come home, and then dad went to the airport for a holiday visit and didn’t come home either. Neither of them knew they were leaving home for the last time. I often picture mom picking up her purse, climbing into the car and driving off to town. I picture dad tossing his luggage in the trunk and heading out into the dark morning. I imagine they checked a few things, mom making sure she had her reading glasses because she played the organ at church, dad making sure the thermostat was turned down because he’d be away a week.

Neither of them could possibly imagine that their children would walk back into that house in tears and without them. But I can image it. I know what it’s like to walk into a place that was once someone’s home and is now just the keeper of the memories and the stuff belonging to people we loved. So before I head off on the next adventure I take a quick look around.

Just in case.

Because you never know.

October 3, 2014
by dawnkinster 11 Comments

WordPress Photo challenge: Signs

Many years ago, seven to be exact, I spent a week in New York City as an intern at the Queens Public Library. It was part of my graduate school experience, and it was wonderful. Not the internship so much, but the New York City experience. It was my first time there, and I negotiated the subway from down near Chinatown out to Queens every day and just soaked in the…well…the New Yorkness…of it all.

This week I’m very busy in a different part of the country and I don’t know if I’ll find a new shot that I find interesting. So for this photo challenge I’ll give you one from that week in March of 2007.

Signs of a commercial shopping center reflected in the windows of the Queens Library. It made me smile then, it still makes me smile today.

I hope you smile too.

To see other examples of signs go here to the original post and check out the comments. Or here and here and here are a few of my favorites so far. There’s still a whole week to post so there will be lots more of wonderful interpretations I’m sure.

If I were you I’d check back at that original post again in a few days!

October 1, 2014
by dawnkinster 18 Comments

Wordless Wednesday

September 29, 2014
by dawnkinster 9 Comments

Company!

Here we all are together.

Katie here. Guess what, guess what, Guess What!?!?! We had company this weekend! And Cole brought his Mom too! They were only here for a little while, just one evening and overnight, but I sure enjoyed visiting with them.

OK. I’ll be honest. I really enjoyed the canned pheasant that Cole’s Mom Jamie let me taste. After all I have always liked the finer things in life. Not that I ever get the chance to enjoy delicacies like pheasant with my mama, but I sure did like it right away!

Yummmmmmy!

Cole and I were OK with each other. I was a little bit more curious about him than he was comfortable with. Give me a break, how often do I get to sniff a boy’s, well, you know? I wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass me by. But my mama and daddy were having none of it and I had to go on my leash after I wouldn’t leave Cole alone. Darn.

We sat out in the living room and talked for a long time. Cole had hurt his foot during the day on his trip north, and his Mom was trying to put ice on it, but he wasn’t having any of it. Still, he did get a nice tummy rub out of it, so I guess he felt pretty good.

Tickle tickle!

And then you know what he did? He took himself off down the hall and went to bed! All by himself! I guess he’d had a busy day and was tired. I know how that feels. I went off in the corner and went to sleep myself. But Cole went all the way to bed!

Nite nite Cole!

It sure was cool to have them visit us! My mama says she thinks this is the fifth blogger friend she’s met in person now! She and I went to visit Ricky’s Mom and Dad last year, and we went up to see Gerry and Sadie and Cowboy this summer, and mama’s been to see PJ and her dog Sarah, as well as Ellen and her dogs Tika and Boost without me (unfair!!)… and she says everyone is just as nice and fun as they seem to be in their blogs! Now she’s met Jamie and Cole!

Isn’t it cool that we get to meet people we’d never know without the internet? I think so. (Mama says she hopes she didn’t miss someone in her list above…if she did, let her know!) I think I need to make a list of all the people I can get mama to take me to visit…or you guys could all come up here – – right mama?

Well maybe not all at once…but we’d be pleased to have you!

Me and the flowers Cole’s Mom brought us! Aren’t they pretty!!

September 27, 2014
by dawnkinster 10 Comments

What’s your favorite part of the weekend?

Friday night, snug at home, out of work clothes and into something more comfortable, putting the badge up on the shelf where it lurks until Monday morning. That’s my favorite part of the weekend, when hours spill out into the future, nothing quite set in stone, potential for adventure or rest hiding just out of site, yes that’s my favorite part of the weekend.

Or Saturday early morning waking up automatically at 5:55 a.m. glancing at the clock and sighing because you know that alarm is going to shriek in five minutes and then you realize it’s Saturday and you don’t have to listen to that obnoxious sound and you turn over and snuggle back into the warm blankets and soft pillow, now that’s my favorite part of the weekend.

Maybe it’s at 6:05 a.m. when your sheltie-girl sighs and stands up and shakes and you know any semblance of sleep is over because she drops a kiss on your face and then stares at you while softly whimpering until you give up feigning sleep and gather her up and head out into the day. Yea, that’s pretty sweet too.

But don’t forget the sheltie adventure planned for some time in the next two days; a hike through the woods on a beautiful fall day, or a romp in the backyard with her Frisbee, can’t beat that, surely that is the favorite time of any weekend?

This weekend we have company coming on Sunday. Katie says she thinks, for this weekend anyway, that is going to be her favorite part of the weekend. She’s resting up now in anticipation.

So, what’s the best part of your weekend? Inquiring minds (and shelties) want to know.

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Category Archives: Uncategorized