Michigan Vacation 2009

I won't be posting an entry for Photo Friday this week (or next) as their theme, 'Cameraphone Shot' runs for two weeks and I don't carry a cell phone and the cell phone that we do have doesn't have a camera. Feel free to go on over to the Photo Friday site and see what other folks are sharing, though.

Instead, I finally finished my post about a trip we made up to Michigan over the weekend of July 9-13.

Here are the photographic results:

Friday, we (Our family, Christy's Mom, Dad, and brother, Paul) all took the boat to South Manitou Island. The weather forecasts for Friday were not good. We actually noticed a few raindrops on the windshield as we approached Leland.

As time passed though, especially as we approached the island, the sky cleared and sun broke through and a nice breeze off the lake actually made for a beautiful day to be on the island.

In Leland before leaving for the island:

On the boat:

More on this interesting object in Lake Michigan here and here






Approaching South Manitou Island:



On South Manitou Island.



A lake on an island in the middle of Lake Michigan.

Our guide for the motor tour of the island reached into the lake with one hand and pulled out two baby turtles: a painted turtle and a snapping turtle.

At the schoolhouse

Our guide also managed to find several snakes under logs, etc. much to the amusement of Hannah and Harrison.

The lighthouse on South Manitou Island is operational and accessible to visitors. We were able to go to the top, but several members of our party were unable to deal with the heavy wind once we got up there.

Saturday, the prority of the day was to go see the new Michael Mann/Johnny Depp film,

Public Enemies (2009) dir. by Michael Mann

It was good. Not fantastic.

I don't know how authentic to the original historical events Mann was, but it seemed to me that when there were opportunites to go "all Hollywood" and over-the-top with production, he played it safe and stuck to the story and the characters.

Depp was subtle in his portrayal, but very good.

Nobody can shoot a gunfight like Michael Mann.

Grandma and Grandpa took the grandkids to a beach on Lake Cadillac while Christy, Paul, and I went to the movie.

Later that day we all took a walk:

The sun was sinking and I couldn't help but notice the difference in how the trees looked on one side of the trail verses the other side:

Woods looking West (dark side of the trees)

Woods looking East (light side of trees)

Hannah and Harrison had a good time on our walk:

(three successive images taken within two seconds)

Sunday:

After attending church and grabbing lunch, we headed for Sand Lake.

The best ice cream in America, according to "Good Morning America."

Moomers