I just don’t think it’s possible for me to travel cross country and not stop for a barn photo opportunity.
Even if it’s a drive I’ve made many times before there always seems to be something that looks pretty enough to warrent a detour from the freeway.
The question is, always, is there an exit nearby and can I find my way back to that beautiful barn without spending too much time searching?
And, once I get back there, will there be a place that’s safe for me to stop and snap a quick shot?
In reality I see many amazing farms while traveling on big interstates and they’re often not possible to find again. Usually there are miles and miles of interstate before the next exit, and no obvious roads back to what I saw.
But I remember them, and they make me smile, so even though I don’t get to keep them forever in my files, I get to enjoy them for a brief moment.
And that counts for someting too.
***Don’t forget to be thinking about where you’d like to take us on your version of our annual Walktober! Take a walk, or ride a bike, or hop, skip or run and take a few pictures to share with us. Post about it and link your post to my Official Walktober post (which I haven’t written yet but I will very soon!) and at the end of October, or maybe in early November, I’ll put them all together in one giant post for everyone to enjoy.***
On my way down Lookout Mountain I saw this. Of course I had to turn around and spend some time in awe.
Sometimes I go camping just to have a few days away from everyday responsibilities. Time to nap and read and snack and daydream.
Just one exit up the road from home.
Sometimes I go camping with a specific goal in mind. I’m hoping to get that perfect Milky Way image, or find a new bird to photograph, or see a part of the state I haven’t seen before.
My favorite site at this campground.
Last week, at the last minute, I got to reserve 3 nights in my favorite campsite at the local state park. It’s a spot where Katie and I camped many times. This trip I hoped to introduce Penny to campground noises.
“Did I hear something over there, mom?”
She’d been there for a couple visits last year, but it was all overwhelming to her, and even with her dad and me right there she was pretty nervous about all the people and cars and noisy trucks with trailers driving by.
“Hey! What’s my tent doing out here in the woods, mom?”
This year she’s older and wiser and a little bit calmer. Though she still looked when noisy things including people with their dogs walked by, she didn’t automatically come undone.
“I’ll just stay real close, OK mom?”
She was only visiting me for a few hours each day, and while she was there we took plenty of walks around the campground, letting her sniff the vacant spots…
“I approve of this one, mom.”
…and moving swiftly past those occupied.
“Nothing to see here, just protecting my bikes.”
She even got to walk past a couple of pitbulls and their flustered dad. She was a rockstar.
See them coming around the corner up there? Penny’s tail was already up in alarm and I didn’t notice them until they were much closer. She knew right away. She never barked, she just heeled with me right by them.
We spent about an hour on her second visit inside the tent as evening fell. I think she would have been fine spending the night in the tent if I had insisted. But she was a little restless after an hour and if I’m honest, I wasn’t looking forward to packing up in the morning with her on site.
“I guess this is OK mom. But daddy has air conditioning and a bed. Just sayin.”
It takes me an hour to pack up without the distraction of a curious dog. But next time, if she’s willing I think we’ll spend the night in the tent. Maybe she’ll begin to understand it’s all an adventure and mom’s got her back.
“Umm, excuse me mother, let me be clear. I’m not taking a shower.”
The other reason I jumped at a chance to camp at this site is the opportunity to photograph birds. Every time I’ve been at site 16 there have been birds flitting around. Their images are hard to capture, they’re not like Kensington birds, posing for treats.
A really poor image of a cardinal that swooped in and then out.
These birds are never happy when they stop by and you’re at their site. I sat for hours, still in my chair, camera ready, and didn’t catch a good look at one bird, though I heard redstarts and vireos and wrens all around me.
Mostly I got bird imposters like these brown leaves.
Then this guy bounced out of the underbrush.
A gorgeous brown thrush.
After looking at me he hopped up on a vine with his back to me. In a moment, though, he turned his head to make sure I got the shot, and then he took off.
“Did you get my good side, lady?”
I smiled, at least I got one decent image of a bird!
And then I noticed this little red squirrel looking a bit worse for wear. She skittered around the campsite and then disappeared.
A skinny little red squirrel.
While I’m looking for her, tossing a few blueberries in the direction she ran, a opportunistic chipmunk showed up, very happy with the blueberry offering.
“Hey lady! You got anything to spare?”
Meanwhile Ms. red squirrel, apparently a tired mom, was up in a tree at the edge of the campsite, happily chowing down on a nut.
Nom, nom, nom…
She was happy until she noticed the chipmunk was feasting on blueberries.
A special treat!
That seemed to make her very unhappy. She watched the chipmunk more carefully. I tossed a few more blueberries. She was conflicted.
“Wait! Those blueberries were for ME!”
And then she ran as fast as she could down that tree and back out into the site where she scored a blueberry of her own.
“That chipmunk got one, but he’s not going to get the rest!”
It all made me smile.
Camping generally makes me smile, even when it rains, which it inevitably does at least one day on every camping adventure. At least this time it was overnight. And in the morning the sun rose again.
Another beautiful morning.
Time to get packing and head home. A little fuzzy girl was waiting for me to provide her next adventure. She’s kind of demanding that way. I don’t mind.
Another adventure in the books.
Till next time, site 16. Thanks for the new memories.
Ms. Downy Woodpecker spent a lot of time on the new feeder yesterday.
They wait every morning, growing more impatient every hour I’m late, for their feeders to be filled.
She was curious about me, just inside the window, but not frightened.
Yes feeders. As in multiple.
They already had an oiler feeder, a thistle feeder, a flat feeder and an oriole and/or hummer feeder, depending on the season.
I love capturing her fuzzy fluffy feathers.
But I follow a bird photographer who just purchased a new feeder that seemed to be a bird favorite, so I ordered one too.
Then Mr. Downy showed up, chasing her off. He thinks he’s special I guess.
The birds love it. I don’t know if it’s just because it’s new, or because the bigger birds who can’t fit through my caged feeder have a new source of snacks.
He’s fuzzy too.
Yesterday it enticed three different types of woodpeckers to spend time near our windows.
And then Ms Red-bellied arrived, chasing Mr. Downy off the feeder.
I hope you enjoyed seeing them as much as we did!
And Ms. Hairy Woodpecker arrived too, with her long beak. She at least shared the feeder with the little birds.
And go over and read Backyard Bird Nerd’s blog. You’ll love the variety of birds that she attracts to her yard!
Hey! What about ME? I’m pretty too….but they won’t let me on the popular feeder.
I’m looking forward to spending more time with my birds, but I’ll try to get up earlier to get those feeders filled before they go on strike and demand one treat per image taken. It’s possible Katie left them a copy of her contract and I don’t want that kind of thought process to spread.
I’m new around here (red breasted nuthatch, I’ve never seen here before!), so I’ll just look for seeds over on the railing.
I’m taking an online Milky Way photography course. There are many modulus, lots of basics, but lots of details too. Our homework this ‘new moon cycle’ was to take a single image of the Milky Way. I’ve been trying to get somewhere dark on a night when there are clear skies.
March 12 at Katie’s park. Clouds AND too much light! (Bortle 5)
It hasn’t been easy. There is so much light pollution where I, and most of us, live. You can check out the amount of light in your area using a light pollution map. There are 9 levels of light pollution, from a bortle 1 (darkest) to bortle 9 (the most light).
Friday late afternoon I drove a couple of hours up into the thumb of Michigan, with a specific destination in mind. Though we were under heavy cloud cover the weather people said the sky would clear by 9 p.m. and stay that way up till 3 a.m. The Milky Way wasn’t scheduled to rise until 3 a.m. But I was running out of nights when there would be no moon, so I decided to hope and headed north.
I reserved a hotel in Bad Axe, and thought I’d shoot in the Dark Sky park which has an elevated platform and pretty close to 360 degrees of sky and was located ten miles away in Port Crescent. Imagine my despair when, after checking into the hotel, I arrived at the park to explore before sunset and found it closed for the season! OH NO!!!
March 27. Too much light, and so cold my fingers froze after only 7 shots.(Bortle 4)
I drove up and down the thumb coast looking for another location as the sun began to sink. I slowly came to the realization that any open access to the beach was going to have me pointing my camera in the wrong direction. I needed to be able to see the horizon in the southeast. I’d be looking north or west on the western side of the thumb.
Downtown Port Austin. Too much light, and looking northwest.
So I drove over to the eastern shore, remembering two spits of land at Grindstone City that Katie and I had explored three years ago while camping up there. I needed to see if I’d feel safe there alone at night.
April 1. This looks promising. (Bortle 3)
Turns out one of the spits of land is a boat ramp, and the houses at the top of the ramp didn’t appear to be inhabited in this offseason of cold and wind. I didn’t see a street light either. I figured it was my best chance. I drove back to the hotel for a nap, setting my alarm for 2 a.m.
But at 2, when my phone started chiming I was so nice and warm in a comfortable bed I considered just rolling over and letting sleep claim me again. After all, the clouds were supposed to be moving in and what were the odds I see the Milky Way anyway? Plus it was a half hour drive to a dark boat ramp. Kind of scary. Maybe I’d just stay in bed.
But that would be a waste of careful (and not so careful) planning. It was my last night of clear skies before the moon put in an appearance. My last chance this moon cycle to try. So I convinced myself to at least get in the car and drive up there. And I gave myself permission to not get out of the car if it didn’t feel right.
On the drive I could see stars overhead. I never saw another car the entire trip. Arriving at the boat ramp it felt comfortable. Twenty-eight degrees, no wind, I could set my tripod up right next to the car, facing out over a small bay and Lake Huron.
I decided to sit in the car and let my eyes adjust. Also to make sure that I was alone out there. So I turned off the headlights and waited for the dash lights to dim They stayed on. And on. I thought maybe if I locked the car doors they’d turn off. So I clicked the button and the doors locked and the dash lights still stayed on. I sat there waiting and they shone brightly back at me.
Well darn.
Maybe I’d just get out and set up the camera and wait for my eyes to adjust out there. I pulled the interior door handle to release the lock and the car alarm went off. Well double darn. Here I am trying to be inconspicuous and the dash light won’t turn off and now the headlights are blinking and the horn is blaring and I’m fumbling trying to get it all to just stop!
Deliberately overexposed to check star focus. Is that the Milky Way near the tree?
I finally click the right thing and the horn stops, and I sort of fall out of the car, slam the door and begin setting up the tripod. But one of the top sections of the tripod isn’t tight, and the camera flops around and in the dark I can’t figure out what I have to turn to stop the flopping.
I take a deep breath and tighten up everything I can figure out to tighten and wonder why nothing seemed loose in the hotel room. I take a test shot, deliberately overexposed, to help me check the focus of the stars. I think I see the Milky Way in that shot, but frankly, it’s hard to tell.
Whatever, there are stars so I’m happy.
I take several (ok, 50+) images, moving around a little bit, but finding that if I move away from the car I’m in even more light from the streetlight over on the other spit of land, and hope that maybe at least one of them is exposed correctly while also in focus without tripod tremor. (At one point my camera slowly sank to the right because something still wasn’t tight!)
I never felt nervous, never got cold, and I lost all track of time. I packed it up around 4 a.m. I was pretty much taking pictures of the same tree the entire time, but I was never bored. That’s what getting lost in the stars does for me.
April 2, 3:00 a.m. Lots of light everywhere. Not even sure that’s the Milky Way, but it was pretty!
I wish I could do more of this, but it’s just so hard to find a place that’s dark enough but where I still feel safe. I’m going to start planning for the next new moon cycle. Where to go, where to go…
And a side benefit? There were lots of barns around Bad Axe. Lots and lots of barns.
Katie and I spent Halloween day wandering together under beautiful blue skies. The leaves here are finally turning, and in the early morning light they were spectacular. Walking under them, with my girl, watching the light shift and glow was special.
On the way to our early morning adventure.
When Katie got sick last spring we hoped we could get her to fall, when the temperatures drop and she has, in the most recent years, transformed from a middle aged, lethargic dog of summer into a youngster who throughly enjoys her walks.
I love this rug, mama, it compliments my beauty!
Somehow, in the fall, she turns back time and prances during her walks in the woods and around the neighborhood. But this year, the year we needed those cooler temperatures to hurry up so she could enjoy them, October held on to summer with an iron grip.
I’ll sit here for you mama, but you better have treats!
I enjoyed those warm days with temperatures in the 70s, but worried that Katie and I wouldn’t get our cool walks in the woods. So on the last day of October, with early morning temperatures dropping and as the sun began to creep up into the sky, Katie and I headed out in search of adventure.
Don’t you just love this weather, mama?
We stopped first in Milford, a town that always dresses the storefronts for fall, complete with a giant pumpkin in front of a fancy restaurant. For the past few years I’ve taken Katie there for a photo shoot.
Hey mama! THIS is the giant pumpkin you talked about??
This year we were disappointed, as the entire town is dug up with some sort of construction project, and the giant pumpkin was less than giant. Still, we walked around town for a little bit. Like the princess she is, she insisted on doing some window shopping, checking out every single shop doorway. That made me smile.
Anything good in here, mama?
So I took a window shot of the two of us.
Me and my girl.
But we didnt stay in town long, we headed out to my favorite park, and to her favorite walk in that park. The color as the sun rose was spectacular.
I was giggling like a schoolgirl it was so pretty.
And walking there, on a service road through the trees with my girl, I contemplated the shortness of life. Though her numbers were better at the last vet visit, Katie is still near the end of her life.
Isn’t this amazing, mama?
She’s a happy girl, and good at hiding her discomfort. She still likes to go on adventures, she still loves her suppers. She still loves us. But sometime, maybe sooner then later, we’re going to have to make that hard decision.
Light and color ease the angst.
And it’s not just her. I’ve been dog sitting for a neighbor whose husband had a combination of cancer and heart disease. He’s been in the hospital for the last few weeks, and this week, when she thought he was coming home, he died.
I always feel better when I’m near water.
He was a very nice man, loved his garden, his wife, his dogs. I’d talk to him when I was out walking Katie. He’d always tell me what he was planning for next year’s garden, “if I’m still here,” he’d say. Now his flowers are still blooming in our long, extended fall, but he isn’t here.
A bit of fall trapped in last summer’s volleyball net.
I dog sat for his two pups while his wife and family attended his funeral. I would have gone myself, but my time was better spent taking care of the two little dogs who have lost their man.
Be like me, mama, live in the moment.
And another friend just had surgery, leaving her two cats at home for the duration. She had someone to come in and take care of them, but I stopped by to play with them too. They always came running for a tummy rub, or a romp through a tunnel. I enjoyed spending time with them, but they’re so much happier now that their person is back home.
I love it out here mama.
And there’s my own family member who has spent the last two weeks in the hospital and had major surgery too. She has a long road ahead of her, and though she has no pets for me to take care of, she’ll still need some visits and perhaps help with some household chores.
Nature’s art installation.
It has seemed like trouble and tragedy is everywhere. But it’s easier to bear while walking through a beautiful woods with my girl. And someday, hopefully far in the future, when I don’t have my girl walking next to me, well, I’ll have the memories, and the pictures. And that will have to do.
Mama? Do you feel better now?
I’m grateful that I have had so many years with her. I’m grateful I knew my neighbor and his gardens. I’m grateful to the friend with the cats, and the long life of my relative now recuperating at home.
Life is a road, mama.
But sometimes…sometimes it feels like time has flown, and life is short, and there’s just no way to slow it all down.
Don’t try to figure it out, mama. It’s all going to be OK.
The Upper Peninsula is mostly rural. Though there are small towns everywhere, and a few larger more urban areas, much of it is woods and water. That’s why I like it so much.
Someone cared enough to paint the trim.
But as I travel around I always notice the old homesteads. The places where people once lived but have abandoned. Nature is gradually taking back what was always hers.
Somehow the goldenrod made this one seem a bit friendly.
I think about the people that used to live here. I wonder what happened to make them leave. I wonder what dreams they had when they first built, moved in, worked the land or at the neighborhood store. I wonder when and why they gave up on their dreams.
Sometimes, in cold climates, bright colors help to make the winter more tolerable.
Maybe they haven’t left at all, maybe they’re around the next corner, maybe they just built a bigger, stronger house somewhere.
This one was already quite large. Love the virginia creeper taking over the porch.
While I was camping in the Upper Peninsula last week I got to roam around several waterfalls. I’d been to all of them in years past, and if you’re a long time reader you’ve probably seen them all. But come along with me anyway, you deserve a short break and waterfalls are fun.
The biggest waterfalls in Michigan are near Newberry in the Upper Peninsula. Tahquamen Falls are a big tourist attraction, there’s a state park campground there, and a few hotels in neighboring towns. I just drove over from my campsite down at St. Ignance.
The view from the trail to the falls.
The upper falls are the highest. Notice the red tint to some of the water? That’s tannin from the cedar trees growing along the banks of the river. Sometimes the whole thing looks like frothy rootbeer. You can walk down a lot of stairs to see it from river level.
Should I or shouldn’t I?
Of course I did.
The view from down at the river.
On the way back up I stopped to take this picture of the rocky walls the river has cut away over hundreds of years. Don’t tell anyone, but taking pictures is a good way to rest when you’re having trouble breathing on your way up a whole lot of stairs.
Carved by the river centuries ago.
Then you can take more stairs down to the brink of the falls.
Definitely don’t want to skip this!
It’s important to take these stairs down so you can get a good, closeup look.
Sometimes it’s good to have a hand to hold on to.
Even if your knees and back are protesting.
Getting up close.
Then you can walk the four miles through the woods to the lower falls. Not many people do that, as the trail is quite rustic. I drove. Those stairs were plenty of exercise for me.
When you get to the lower falls you walk along a boardwalk back to get a good view of the falls.
I love this walk almost as much as the falls themselves.
Some years, when there’s less water kids play in them. But not this year! The noise and spray were pretty intense.
Lots of water roaring over the falls.
You can rent a rowboat and paddle over to an island where it’s safe to play in the water. As I was taking pictures I heard the thunder of a storm coming in. The people working at the rowboat station were calling everyone to come back, to get off the water. Everyone did but one young lady who was having trouble paddling in a straight line.
I don’t think he was a lot of help.
I enjoyed Tahquamen Falls, though I lost my phone somewhere there. I don’t remember putting it down anywhere, the last thing I remember doing was taking a picture at the bottom of the first set of stairs. Once back at the car I realized I didn’t have it and I traced my path again, all those stairs included, but never found it.
Ah well, it was pretty anyway.
I learned there are ways to survive without a phone, and continued on my trip, heading north and camping at Hurricane River. From there I explored a few waterfalls, the first being Sable Falls, just a few miles from the campground.
Guess what? There were stairs, even more stairs than at Tahquamen!
They have a sense of humor at Sable Falls.
But it was worth it! No one was there but a fisherman who was further down the river. I set up the tripod and had fun working on smoothing out that flowing water.
Such a pretty waterfall.
But I forgot to carry down my remote shutter release. So after I shot a few images by physically touching the shutter, and worried that I might have moved the camera doing that, I climbed back up the stairs to my car, grabbed the shutter release and clomped back down.
Smoothing out all the edges.
To be honest, I don’t know which of these pictures used the shutter release and which might have been just me and my finger. It didn’t make any difference, but you never know. It was worth the extra steps to me.
Then I drove over to Munising which has several falls. I visited Wagner Falls which has a small parking lot and a short walk back to the falls along a boardwalk…
This was a small waterfall on the walk back to the main event.
..where along the way you can hear the water flowing over the falls hidden by the trees.
Another beautiful waterfall. And very few stairs!
I can’t decide which image I like better of this falls, so I’ll show you both.
Water glides over the rocks.
Then I drove into town and visited Munising Falls. There’s a visitor center there with information about the area, and a very short level walk back to the falls.
The water was ethereal.
Both Wagner and Munising falls are easy walks from the parking lots. I recommend you visit them yourselves if you’re ever up there!
Last time I was up in that part of the woods (literally woods!) my husband and I walked the mile back to Miners Falls in the snow.
No bugs to speak of on that trip.
This year it was getting dark and the bugs were bad, so I didn’t. Plus, have I mentioned tourists? I hadn’t been in the UP (Upper Peninsalia) in tourist season in years. I’d forgotten about all those darn tourists everywhere!
I did drive out to see Miner’s Castle, a rock formation that you shouldn’t miss, and you get this vantage point from very near the parking lot. You can also walk down to see it closer. But did I mention tourists?
Spectacular.
So those are the waterfalls I had the opportunity to visit this trip. I hope you enjoyed them, it was nice to have company on all those stairs…and while I was running from the black flies!
Next up, maybe I’ll show you lighthouses….or maybe it will just be other pretty things. I have to hurry up or I’ll be talking about this camping trip the rest of the summer!
Watching birds fly over in the morning light from my cozy tent.
Change Is Hard 