Firmly into a lower gear; time to travel on...

Empire Beach, Lake Michigan

Michigan's biting flies, buzzing lawn mowers, sand in toes, ice cream, fireworks, tourists, river-soaked shoes... this is how we knew our summer had begun. After down-shifting in Michigan for a week, it was time to get back on the highway again in order to see the Great Plains we'd set out to.

Our onward travel was delayed a day when Jenifer's knee buckled over the wrong way bringing us reluctantly to the emergency room. This meant we had find room in the car for crutches and adjust some of our later plans for hiking and backpacking, but with a couple couch pillows to elevate her leg on the long ride ahead, we drove down the eastern shore of Lake Michigan for Illinois and points west.

Michelle, Jenifer, Jeff (mother, daughter, father) looking out over Empire, the dunes, the lake and all that

Thanks Jeff, Michelle, Hayley and everybody up there for a great time!

Under the Milky Way

The skies in northern Michigan are so far from city lights that even staring into a backyard fire for a couple of hours does not erase the brilliant Milky Way over head. One of my favorite things about traveling up there is the way our galaxy reveals itself beyond the usual smudge across the sky. Looking sideways into our galaxy's disc, there appears to be wisps of cotton floating above and below the whirling plane. The night we built this fire was chilly, so to boost the fire's effectiveness we opened the bottle of whiskey we'd bought at the duty free shop on our way through Canada.

Slow paddle on the Crystal River

The Crystal River empties Glen Lake into Lake Michigan just over a mile away. But, because of the slow, meandering course the river takes, there are about 15 miles of paddling via canoe or kayak to get to the village of Glen Arbor on Lake Michigan. A map of the river looks like the chart a seismograph makes in an earthquake, but the land surrounding the river is mostly flat, sandy cedar swamp that occasionally opens up for lush reed fields -apparently good habitat for huge snappers and strange bitterns.

The stream itself is very shallow and clear with a sandy bottom. This apparently allows one's companions to feel brave about smacking water toward fellow paddlers, and getting faces full of water in return. Right, Jen?

What would it sound like...

paying for something convenient, Empire, Michigan

What would it sound like if all of the labels, words, images and colors used to get our attention were making noise instead?

Steeped in culture on the 4th of July

What better way to bury oneself in the smells and flavors of the United States on July 4th than at a classic car show in Michigan? In many ways the car show culture is as foreign to me as is being anywhere else in the world, so while I don't know anything about cars, the shapes, forms and colors of their fans were rich and fascinating! Especially fun to watch was the pride of the owners as they sat back taking in the appreciations of the wandering crowds. Oh yeah -the cars were interesting too.

Who's made it to this year's Polka Fest?

Checking in on the Polka Fest, Cedar, Michigan

evening walk, Cedar, Michigan

Of all the tiny towns sprinkled around the Leelanau Peninsula, Cedar has one of the bigger local festivals every summer in their Polka Fest. The way many rural areas lose a large portion of their kids after high school or college, it seems like some of these festivals serve as nothing more than a reunion for all those who've left home.

Lake Michigan's bearish dunes

Sleeping Bear Dunes, Empire, Michigan

Sleeping Bear Dunes, Empire, Michigan

The prevailing winds off of Lake Michigan pile sand dunes up on top of already high glacial moraines making the dunes reach heights of over 400 feet straight out of the lake. This means many familiar beach functions like water gazing and sunbathing take place far removed from the lapping waves. It also means, for anyone running down to the water, a long, steep, very soft, thigh-burning, waterless hike back up. It's not unusual for the rangers to have to rescue people from below using jet skis.

Cottonwood stands of Michigan and points west

All the way across the Great Plains and into the high country of Wyoming and Colorado, stands of cottonwood trees stretch along thousands of miles of river bottomlands. Seeing them, often camping out in their shade, and hearing their always-rustling leaves became one of the more consistent details of our trip last summer, and it began in Michigan, on the sand dunes in the wind coming off the big lake. There are occasional cottonwoods in the east, including the large lightning-scarred one in Margaret's yard outside the kitchen window. But there is something sturdy and comforting about being among the large western patches of them and as we headed back east, it was one thing I knew I'd miss.

Empire beach, Lake Michigan

Empire beach, Lake Michigan

Empire beach, Lake Michigan

Just about everything anyone loves about beaches can be found in the upper Great Lakes: smooth soft sand, vast horizons, clear blue water, tiny strange sand bugs, gull footprints, the bubbling sand after a wave recedes. One thing not usually idolized however is the freezing-cold water of the lakes. It can make swimming something you have to "get over with" in order to lay out on the beach. For many locals however, the icy temperatures they grew up with translate to cleanliness. It means they get turned off by warmer southern waters since it feels "dirty". I think it's just a way to identify themselves with the land they're from...

Michigan, July 2009

I'll begin the photo-blog style flash-back to last summer's road trip where I left off previously -in Michigan, before we set out onto the midwestern prairies. Staying in northern Michigan for a week visiting Jenifer's family allowed us to shift gears and sink right into so many wonderful clichés of summer including beaches, classic car shows, local festivals, canoeing & kayaking, sun-baked sand dunes, cool starry nights with distant coyotes howling, and -not least- ice cream...

Left to right: summer job at an ice cream shop, black cherry ice cream