Great Lakes

Joan and I spend a couple weekends each year in St. Ignace, on the Straits of Mackinac. This is why.

McLain State Park is west of Calumet, in Michigan's Copper Country on the Keweenaw Peninsula. While there are many other reasons to visit the area, the sunsets alone can justify the trip. This photo was taken in July of 1998 with my Nikon N90s

Beach, Pictured Rocks National Seashore, Lake Superior, Michigan.

Camera: Chinon Genesis III Photo by Joel Dinda More information

Joan took this lovely photo of the Mackinac Bridge a few years back from the lighthouse grounds in Mackinaw City. If you compare this pic with mine from a few weeks ago , you'll see they were taken from opposite ends of the span. This photo looks toward St. Ignace. Camera: Minolta point-and-shoot Photo by Joan Bennett in June, I think in 2000

We're back! And here's where we were. On Sunday, we parked the car at Foley Creek campground and hiked to Horseshoe Bay, on Lake Huron, where we spent the afternoon sitting on the beach and reading. Unfortunately my photograph just hints at the riot of colors in the water--shades from near-black, through redish-brown and turquoise, on toward indigo. A beautiful, relaxing, wonderful day. That's Mackinac Island off toward the right, and Bois Blanc (Bob-Lo) behind it.

Two bridges named "International"--the high bridge carries the highway across the rapids at Sault Ste. Marie, while the low bridge carries the railroad. (I've mentioned this before .) Taken from the Soo Locks Tour Boat. The weather, as you can see, was terrific.

M/V Walter J. McCarthy, Jr, heading toward Lake Huron under the Blue Water Bridges early yesterday afternoon. When I published a photo of Indiana Harbor a few months ago I remarked that the American Steamship freighters all look "pretty much alike"--still true, as you can see by comparing the photographs. It's still a thrill to see these big ships on the water, particularly when they're lightly loaded and seem more like a portable wall than a vessel. This boat is Indiana Harbor's twin, though their normal cargoes differ somewhat. By the way, it isn't always grey in Port Huron, but the town does seem to have its own private weather much of the time.

Missabe Railroad's Duluth Docks. Now Kaye E. Barker. (Thanks, NIN) I love Duluth. Camera: Minolta Freedom 100

All primped up & posed; to all appearances these birds wanted their picture taken. This is Port Huron's waterfront park--Pine Grove Park, more precisely, though several parks run together along the St. Clair and you can easily walk for several miles without getting far from the river. Note the fishermen in the foreground and the waterfront homes--no longer shacks, I notice--in the background. Dobrush is sneaking around the bend, and the Coast Guard's new bouy tender, Hollyhock, seems to be parked on the sidewalk. Neat place. Camera: Nikon N90s

It ain't always grey in Port Huron.... Shot this picture with a throwaway Kodak panoramic camera. The Blue Water Bridge between Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia, Ontario, on a gorgeous summer day in 1995. The photo was shot from the walkway near Port Huron's Municipal Office Center (called M.O.C.)--a building with a dull name but an exceptional view. The ship under the bridge is Algosoo, and there are a handful of sails out on the river. They'd just started to build the second Bluewater Bridge when I took this pic, and the warehouse across the way's since become a casino. All in all, though, the scene's about the same today. An amazing place.

LS&I Dock, Marquette. The ship in the background is Lee A. Tregurtha. 1990, I believe. Camera: Minolta 110 Zoom SLR

Still another picture of Fayette's Opera House and the Company Store, with the limestone cliff that defines Snail Shell Harbor visible in the background. This picture dates from the early eighties; perhaps 1981, but I think a couple years later. "Opera House." Hmmm. It would be better styled a community hall, near as I can tell; the town government (such as it was) lived in this building, as did one or more businesses. The second floor's a meeting room, where (among other things) visiting entertainers put on their shows. I call it the Opera House because the state park did when I started visiting the town; I'm not sure whether the residents shared the conceit. Camera: Minolta Zoom 110 SLR

We're back in Fayette. Here (again) are the company store (on the left), the opera house/town hall (on the right)--and the hotel! When Fayette was an active town--mostly in the 1870s and 1880s--these buildings constituted the bulk of the Fayette "business district." The skilled tradesmen lived out on the peninsula (to the right), while general labor lived near the blast furnace (to the left). Everyone shopped at the store, and met for entertainment and governmental functions at town hall. The hotel--called the Shelton House--was both a boarding house and a host for visitors. For over a century, now, Fayette's been a tourist destination--a ghost town--and these buildings have survived largely because of formal and informal preservation efforts. A beautiful and attractive place which happens to be a significant historical artifact. The reason there's no background for this photo is that the buildings are on a relatively skinny spit of land. The photo was shot in June of 1981 from near the superintendent's home.

A couple walks along the beach at Old Mackinac Point, just east of the Straits Bridge and Colonial Michilimackinac. The weather on this June day in 2000 was interesting, but quite odd. The fog obscuring the view at the point was extremely local. Quite near this place the air was clear and visibility was more or less unlimited. But the bridge? You could just barely make it out.... Camera: Nikon N90s

The local ducks hold their morning coffee klatch while a couple sandpipers look on. That's Old Mission Point in the background and the east arm of Traverse Bay in between. Photo taken in late September, 2004, at Pointes North Inn in Traverse City. Camera: Nikon N90s Scanned from a negative. Grainy; probably mostly because it was a fast film.

Breakers, at Marquette (from at or near McCarty's Cove, it looks like), on a dark June day in 1992. Camera: Chinon Genesis III

A gull floats over the water at Grand Haven's pier lights on November 13, 2004. Shot from Grand Haven State Park. Scanned from a negative.