I was in Mackinaw City yesterday. It’s famous for lots of things, the Mackinac Fort, Mackinac Island, the Mackinac Bridge.
And the fudge.
Good stuff in here.
I stopped there on my way home from the Upper Peninsula specifically to do a storefront photo for Cee’s challenge. Not to buy fudge.
Of course not.
I was in Mackinaw City yesterday. It’s famous for lots of things, the Mackinac Fort, Mackinac Island, the Mackinac Bridge.
And the fudge.
Good stuff in here.
I stopped there on my way home from the Upper Peninsula specifically to do a storefront photo for Cee’s challenge. Not to buy fudge.
Of course not.
When Katie and I camped in northern Michigan over on Lake Huron we had a great time even though we had to cut the trip short due to rain.
Ship chugging along the horizon at sunrise.
But when she was telling you all about it she focused on herself. As befits a princess I guess.
Our first day was beautiful.
Still, there were plenty of pretty things up there that you didn’t get to see because they weren’t always about her.
Loved how the lake disappeared into the morning sky.
There was beauty in the big expanse of the space, and tiny things too.
Is this a buttercup?
So I thought you might want to see a couple of the things that didn’t get shared. And yes. One or two of them might even include the princess.
Low clouds closing in.
But don’t tell her.
“The spotlight should ALWAYS be on ME mama!”
She’s already got a big head.
“Which is prettier? The lake or me?”
No it’s not mama who thinks waves are evil. It is I, Princess Katie, who doesn’t trust those noisy, ever moving, elusively wet things. Not at all. And mama knows I don’t like them, yet she took me on an adventure where there were lots of waves! Sometimes I don’t understand my mama. At all.
Our home away from home.
But you know what? I had a really good time anyway. You know how much I love to camp with my mama and we went to a park we’ve never been to before, way up north, on the shores of Lake Huron. Mama scored a beautiful campsite with our own private path to the beach (and those pesky waves!). Lucky for me it was a ‘no dogs allowed’ beach so I didn’t have to spend much time out there!
Some people ask me what I do all day when we’re camping. Well! Let me show you! We go on lots of walks around the campground where I can show off my beautiful self…
Not too many people around to admire me!
…and we take lots of naps. When my mama is reading in the tent I like to nap up on her bed, right next to her…
Reading is boring mama!
…unless I’m busy keeping watch on my private pillow from my own private window.
What’s going on out there?
And when my mama is reading in her chair outside I like to keep track of the world while keeping cool under the picnic table. It’s my secret hideaway. Nothing gets by me!
My secret hiding place!
But we explored lots of other places too. This campground has a dog beach and the first evening we went to find it. The path went through some tall trees and the sun was getting low which made the trees (and me!) just glow. Mama spent a long time in there taking pictures of everything.
Isn’t the light cool in here?
When we finally got to the dog beach I made it very clear with my flat ears that I did not like it mama! I especially didn’t like when the noisy waves were behind me. Mama tried to tell me that these were just little, harmless waves and she wasn’t going to make me get my feet wet but I was still very glad we didn’t stay there long.
What IS that mama?
The next morning mama almost missed the sunrise! I slept all night, hardly moving at all, while my mama shivered under four blankets while wearing layers of clothes. She finally fell asleep in the early morning hours and expected that I’d wake her up at the usual 5:30. But I didn’t! It was so nice sleeping in the cool night air that I just rolled over and kept sleeping. She woke up at 5:45 and woke me up! She wanted to go out on the beach to see the sun? Is she crazy?
The sunrise was nice but I didn’t want to be there, so she brought me back to camp, put me on my long leash and gave me breakfast to keep me busy while she went back out on the sand to take more pictures.
Morning light on my fur.
Well. I do not like to be separated from my mama! So after I finished my breakfast (You didn’t think I was going to leave that in the bowl did you?) I figured out my leash wasn’t really attached to my collar and so I walked casually right back out to the beach to find her!
Hey mama! Whatcha doing out there?
She turned around to check on me and there I was, standing next to the path (I don’t like the sand in my toes.) watching her! Mama came running and I got hooked up to my leash really good. I think she was sort of surprised that I came back out on the beach on my own. I like surprising my mama. Keeps her on her toes.
Later that day we went on a little road trip. And guess what? I got to see a real lighthouse in person! This is Sturgeon Point lighthouse. It’s very beautiful. Mama would have walked up to the top, but the tower was only open on the weekends. And she had me. As you know I don’t do stairs.
What is more beautiful than a lighthouse? Why ME of course!
Of course there was a beach there too, with even bigger waves and I didn’t like it. So mama and I walked around the grounds of the lighthouse instead of out by the water like she wanted. She’s good about compromise, my mama.
There is also a one room school, the Old Bailey School, on the site. Mama said that since there weren’t any waves nearby could I please sit and look pretty so she could take a picture with me and the school. But I was more interested in what that thing was over to the right of me. Plus there were two people on the other side of the school and I could hear them talking and I wanted to go see what was over there. So all my mama got was this.
What IS that mama?
By the time we got back to camp I was exhausted! I slept all night again, and mama shivered all night. She put on all her clothes and even wore a pair of socks on her hands and she was still cold! I don’t know about you mama! I was wearing all my clothes too and I thought the weather was perfect for sleeping! Anyway, this time my mama set her alarm to wake us up at 5:30 so we could go out and see the sunrise. It was spectacular. I couldn’t stop looking at it.
The sun’s got nothing on me!
Wouldn’t you? Out on the horizon was a fishing boat which made it even more interesting. The sky was just gorgeous. Everything was gorgeous, and this time I didn’t even act scared of the waves! I let mama enjoy everything!
Colors beyond description!
But then the clouds started rolling in….
Uh oh…
…and it began to rain. And rain….and rain. Mama and I hung out in the car. We drove into town so she could check the radar. We drove back to camp. We hung out in the car again and it continued to rain. And the wind picked up and the waves were getting bigger and noisier.
Getting noisier out here!
Mama thought about another night of sleeping in the cold. And now we were both wet from me making her take me on walks to do my thing. Even if she wore all her clothes again she’d be cold. And she didn’t think we’d ever be dry again. So she packed up camp. She didn’t even ask me if I wanted to go home! And I did not!
Goodbye lake! We’ll be back!
Sometimes mama uses that old excuse “because I said so” and I have to just go with the flow. But I have to admit I was really happy to see my Dad when I got home. I guess it’s nice to be here too. I slept upside down on my king sized bed that night. But now I want to know….what are you going to do to top this one mama? Huh? Huh?
What’s next mama?
It better be good, that’s all I have to say. Because a princess has certain expectations you know. And it’s very bad if she’s disappointed. I’m going to go take a nap now, in preparation for the next royal event.
I like the woods best!
Those of you that live in or around Michigan have surely seen and heard the promotional advertisements aimed at getting tourism. So when I saw that this week’s WordPress Challenge was Pure…and knew I’d be ‘up north’ enjoying some of the best that Michigan has to offer….
Pure Michigan
…well, I couldn’t resist tying the two together.
Katie here. I’ve been bugging my mama (so what else is true, right?) to let me tell you about our camping trip. Here it is almost two weeks since I went on my season opening camping adventure and she still hasn’t let me on her blog!
My campsite!
She says she’s been busy. Sure mama. I think she just doesn’t want me to tell you about it in case you get jealous of all the fun I’m having. That’s what I think. So anyway, mama is outside weeding and I figured I could sneak in here and show you, cause she’ll be too tired when she gets back inside to even notice I was messing around with her laptop. You can click on any of the photos to see them better.
Trillium! And me. 🙂
We went right down the road to our local state park which was lucky because it was really really hot the four days we were out there and in the middle of each day we got to come home to get out of the sun! In fact mama had to come home a couple of times to get stuff she forgot! I don’t think she was very organize but don’t tell her I noticed. I don’t want her to feel bad. But I hope makes a list of what to take next time, because we’re going camping far far away pretty soon!
We were camping in the woods and the spring flowers were blooming. Trillium and geranium were everywhere! This next picture is mama’s favorite from the trip. (Make sure you click on it so you can see beautiful me even better!) She made me sit here for a looooong time and then I didn’t even get a treat! Mama says she’s cutting back on treats, and I can understand that for her, but I don’t think it’s fair that I have to go on a diet too.
So pretty in the woods!
One day my friend Deuce and his mom stopped by and we went for a walk in the woods together. We didn’t go real far because it was so warm, but we went far enough so that Deuce could see what a beautiful woods it is. He likes to get on top of stuff, like logs and rocks. I don’t like to do that so much so I just stayed with my mom who was busy taking pictures. For once it wasn’t me she was making pose!
My friend Deuce
Then they stayed into the evening and mama made a big fire. She said it was the best fire ever, because Deuce’s mom brought her some fire starter! The moms made themselves treats…
Hey! Whatcha got there?
… and they didn’t even share! I think that is just unforgivable, don’t you? Deuce and I were very good though and only begged a little. Then he got to sit on his mom’s lap while they watched the fire. I asked my mom if I could go take a nap in the tent but she ignored me so I went off and slept under the picnic table while they talked.
By the time we went to bed I was totally exhusted! Mama said I slept in some pretty weird ways that night…
zzzzz…..
…and she can’t figure out how this is comfortable at all:
More zzzzzzz…..
We had a lot of fun camping near the woods. We went on lots of walks, and took lots of naps.
Come ON! Let’s go this way!
It was almost perfect. Perfect would be if we were near a big lake. At least that’s what mama says.
It’s a little warm to be running mama!
On Thursday, before the big Memorial Day weekend, mama packed up. I was not so happy for her to dismantle my camp! But she promises that we’ll be out there in my tent again soon!
What are you DOING mama?
I can’t wait to see where she takes me next!
Let’s go again soon mama!
Katie here. Mama says she’s too busy weeding the garden to tell you about Wiliamsburg even though she’s promised more than once to do just that. Mama makes promises all the time and then doesn’t do the stuff she promised. Like take a certain dog to a park. If you know what I mean.
Conversation on the courthouse steps.
Anyway, I guess it’s up to me to tell you what I heard about mama and daddy’s day at the colonial village, even though I’m still mad at them for going there without me. I hear it’s a dog friendly place! They said they saw lots of doggies there and I don’t understand one little bit why I couldn’t go.
Mending.
Ahem…
So mama said she was very interested in all the places they visited, and particularly took lots of pictures of the people that were explaining the different houses and occupations. Like the lady that was showing how residents used to spin the yarn…
Beautiful colors
…and the woman that was weaving thread into fabric.
Explaining how the loom works.
They visited a lot of houses too, this one was the home of Payton Randolph who was the first president of the Continental Congress. She described how the slaves interacted with their owners inside affluent homes like this one, and how some owners gave their slaves freedom while others did not.
Important politicians lived in nice places.
Their personal slaves slept on pallets outside the owners bedrooms.
Bedroll stored in a corner
The governor’s palace was pretty spectacular too.
Governor’s palace
The foyer was lined with swords and guns as a sign of wealth and power.
Lots of wealth on display.
And the Capitol Building was amazing. It held two sides of government, the Colonialists and the King’s representation. They each had their own side of the building, but met in the center, up above the arches, to discuss policy.
Mama and Daddy learned lots of history here!
But mostly mama and daddy visited and talked to people that represented the regular day-to-day lives of people. Like this little boy selling lettuce from the back of a wagon…
Lettuce for sale!
…and this silversmith making a bowl.
It’s a slow process.
There were lots of people interacting with the tourists. This guy was explaining a battle, using stones and twigs, to a group of children.
What if you moved your troops to the east?
He made it into a game letting them make strategic decisions. Mama said they were all having a great time trying to win the battle.
Mama said there were lots of pretty little places too, gardens tucked into spots behind houses, or out along the street.
Simple and beautiful.
It was a beautiful spring day. Not too hot, not too cool. Seems to me it would have been a perfect day for a certain sheltie-girl to go for a walk with her folks in an historic village. Just saying. It’s not like mama didn’t pet a sheltie or two or three while she was there!
THREE of them!!
That’s right. I know she cheated on me! This is exactly why I’m still giving her the cold shoulder, not that she’s noticed or anything.
OK. Enough whining. Back to the tour.
Mama and daddy also went to a concert that evening at this church.
Episcopal church
Lots of famous people have attended church here. People like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. And President Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Thomas Jefferson sat here!
Mama and daddy sat in Thomas Jefferson’s pew to listen to an oboe and organ candlelit concert. It was nice even though mama said the seats were very uncomfortable, I guess to keep people awake in church!
The other musical thing they got to see was the pipe and drum parade.
On parade.
Everyone enjoyed watching and listening to them pass by…even people (and dogs) inside!
Are there treats involved in this event?
All in all I guess mama and daddy had a wonderful time even without me. They said they were looking out for my best interests when they scheduled me for camp instead of going with them. But I think they just wanted to keep all the fun for themselves. I’m going to protest louder if they do this again. I might even hire these guys to play outside their bedroom window for a few nights in a row.
After the parade.
That might work.
Meanwhile I guess I should forgive mama. I guess I can take the higher road. Especially if it leads me to a park.
Mama had to pay the price of leaving me behind!
We came back from our road trip to a typical spring in Michigan. Snow and sleet, frost and freeze warnings all in mid-May. It’s confusing. Just last week I was running on the board walk at Virginia Beach in shorts, getting overheated while wearing a long sleeved technical shirt, hair up under a hat, sun blinding my eyes.
Ah the memories.
There were times during the trip that I felt disoriented too. We spent a lot of time exploring the history that permeates Virginia.
Returning to another century.
Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown.
And then we’d drive back to our hotel room in Virginia Beach…
Crazy place.
…filled with tourists and cars and bright lights and seafood buffets. For a moment, standing on the top of the parking deck back at the hotel I had to shake my head to clear it. Which world was real?
Maybe neither.
Even out on the road we slipped between the seasons. Where it was early summer in Virginia…
Green hills of Virginia.
…driving back through Pennsylvania a day later we watched spring arriving all over again.
Regressing into spring.
It was all disorienting, almost surreal. But then Katie came home and took us under her paw. We’re back to reality now.
Thanks Katie-girl.
Good morning mama!
I was in Baltimore a few years ago for a truck safety event, but I never left the hotel. This visit was different. We began at Fort McHenry, which has been active in some fashion for every war, but is most notable for it’s involvement in the war of 1812.
Fort McHenry.
It’s also known as the fort that flew the flag that inspired the writing of our national anthem. In 1813 General George Armistead requested a “flag so large that the British will have no difficulty seeing it from a distance.”
The back of the barracks.
Mary Pickersgill sewed a flag 25 feet by 17 feet, and it was flown the day after a British bombardment, to show that the Americans’ still held the fort. Francis Scott Key saw the flag and was inspired to write the Star Spangled Banner as the national anthem.
She sewed the famous flag.
We walked along the waterfront below the fort, the sky turning grey with the promised rain. Still, it was a beautiful morning.
Tourists sailing on the river.
Just down the hill a tall ship was moored. The Pride of Baltimore II was getting ready for a summer voyage up the coast and through the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Great Lakes! She’ll be in Lake Huron sometime this summer.
Pride of Baltimore II getting ready to sail the Great Lakes!
We hope to see her near Bay City later this year.
It began to rain as we headed into the city of Baltimore. Wandering the inner harbor area we enjoyed all the shops and sights through a slow drizzle.
Vibrant Inner Harbor; books, bars, boats and more.
The USS Constellation is in the harbor and you can take a tour. It’s under renovation at the moment, and we didn’t take the tour as there was many other things to do. But it’s a beautiful ship.
A piece of history waiting to be explored.
There are a number of towers dominating the Baltimore skyline. Though it was beginning to rain harder we decided to climb several blocks up to the top of the hill to figure out what this tower was.
What is that up there?
Turns out it is the Bromo-Seltzer tower, built by a man named Emerson as an advertisement for his product. In fact originally this tower had a huge Bromo bottle on top!
Bromo-Seltzer?!
Apparently he saw a similar tower in Florence Italy, called his architect and said he wanted something similar, but instead of one clock like the Florence tower he wanted four clocks, and he wanted them to be larger than the clocks in Big Ben in London. No ego there!
An artist rending of what the tower used to look like.
As we were standing outside the building looking up at it in what was becoming a downpour a man opened the door and invited us in out of the rain. He explained that the tower is now being used as artists’ studios, and he was the curator. Though it wasn’t officially open he took us up to the 15th floor in an old manual elevator…
A Bromo collection.
…where there was a Bromo-Seltzer exhibit. And then we were allowed to walk down the 15 flights of stairs where the artists in residence were displaying their work. It was a fun example of the interesting things you might find if you just follow your curiosity.
It was raining harder on our walk back down to the harbor and the car. We noticed another interesting tower of sorts but decided it really was time to get out of the rain.
More interesting architecture.
After our tour of some of downtown Baltimore we headed out of town to visit a friend and his lovely family. I’ll share two of them with you. Griff….
I’m not sure about you yet lady!
..and Scout
All I want to do is PLAY lady!
Our friend has human family members as well. But…you know me and dogs. And I bet you think that the dogs were the sweet part of this post didn’t you. Well. They were sweet.
But this morning we stopped by Hershey Pennsylvania and took a little tour. We learned all about Hershey candy from a sweet little friend…
How do they make all that chocolate?
…and we shopped in the largest candy store in the world. It was almost as though sensible eating for months was thrown out the window. There was so much stuff! And suddenly I wanted it all.
Lots and lots and lots of candy.
But we were good and walked out of there with only $12 spent. It’s still more chocolate than I’ve had anywhere near me in a very long time. In fact tonight it’s out in the car so that I don’t eat it all at one sitting.
It’s calling my name. But it’s not going to win. Yet. I don’t think.
Tomorrow is a new adventure as we work our way home. It’s pretty here in Pennsylvania’s mountains. I don’t know where we’ll be, but I’ll share it with you after we get there.
Susquehanna River.
And of course…there’s still Williamsburg.
It was a little damp downtown.
We left beautiful Virginia Beach this morning as the rain began to fall. I felt sad to be leaving the ocean, but excited for the next adventure…
A cold, rainy run. But the dog doesn’t mind.
…because next on our list of places to explore was Assateague National Park! It’s on a thin strip of land, one of the outer bank islands, and it spans both Virginia and Maryland. It’s where the famous wild horses live.
There’s some youngsters in the herd!
I’ve seen photos Robin, from “breezes at dawn” has taken of the wild horses and I wanted to see them for myself. We visited the southern entrance to the park, in Virginia, and found a herd of them far off in the middle of a marsh.
Way back there is a mom and her little one.
Even after walking way back to an observation platform they were still a long way off, so these images are cropped. A lot. Still, it was very very cool to actually see them.
Robin sent me information about visiting at the northern entrance to the park, in Maryland, but by the time we got up there it was raining harder. Rain and cold temperatures made me decide that what I had seen was enough for this trip, though talking to Robin on the phone makes me want to come back and explore the Maryland end of the park.
We also stopped by the lighthouse. It’s beautiful, back in the woods and on the edge of the marsh…
Would have been fun to climb.
…such a lovely walk back to see it. You can climb the 175 stairs, but it’s only open on weekends right now. Later in the season it will be open all week.
Then we headed out to the beach where I saw several birds that I could not identify.
I have an idea what these are…can anyone confirm?
I told my husband I had to try to get pictures, knowing that some of you would be able to identify them for me.
What are these largish dark birds?
And even though most of these are not great shots, and they’ve been cropped to within an inch of being illegible…I hope you know what all these birds are!
I think there are a couple different kinds of birds here, none of which I recognize.
And as we walked through the forest opening up to the marshes, a huge flock of these swooped overhead:
They are medium sized, white (I think) with hooked beaks. What are they?
Here’s a better shot from directly underneath:
Does this help identify the bird?
We didn’t get up close to much of the wildlife, but we had a great time. It was so nice to be back in nature after spending two days in Virginia Beach and Norfolk with it’s crowds of people.
I did get pretty close to this clump of probable seagulls. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a bird with a mouth that is so red!
What you talkin about lady?
I can’t pronounce the name of this park, but I definitely recommend you all to visit! I hope to be back again someday soon myself! Thank you, Robin, for sparking my interest in this amazing place!
Shining example of a lighthouse.
Change Is Hard 