Life: Through the Lens

We are so fortunate to have a group of friends who share our love of photography, and sense of adventure.  This fall we have had two weekends to explore our beautiful state, reconnecting with old friends and stretching our skills.  Here is a recap of our first weekend away this October. Day 1 - Mackinaw City First stop - the Icebreaker Mackinaw.  We loved touring the ship and seeing and hearing the history of this important part of the Great Lakes story.  The last stop on the tour was the gift shop, of course, and we were delighted to see Tyler Benson's series about Onyx, the Coastguard dog.  Such a great series of books for kids. We do not tire of visiting the beach and lighthouse, getting that familiar view of the bridge. Attempts at night photography met with mixed results, but it was so much fun watching the sunset, and seeing the stars appear in the crisp night air. I captured the big dipper, though it wasn't dar...

A beautiful weekend.  Perhaps not as colorful as we have had in the past, but time in nature is time well spent.  Time with those you love, doing what you love, is a breath of fresh air in a far too busy life. Each October we try to take a photo adventure of some sort, searching out the color and beauty of our  wonderful state.  Usually it is our anniversary weekend, and this year we were just a couple of weeks early.  But we celebrate our time together whether it is on a specific date, or not. One thing we have noticed since we got the pup is that our photography has had to evolve.  No longer can we each take our time to set up shots, look for that perfect angle and have both hands free.  If we have Kaycee with us, she either has to wait in the car for us, or be part of the photo shoot!  The other option we also exercise, is one of us takes photos while the other walks the dog.  Or be her talent agent - as she draws so much attention...

One of the places we like to show off when people come to visit is Mackinac Island.  We have 7 grandchildren who live out of state, so when they come it is only natural we want them to visit this magical place.  I am glad we only had 3 of them at a time, though.  The energy level is amazing! The weather totally cooperated.  We stayed in St. Ignace on Thursday night, and headed to the Island as soon as we could get going.  Deep breath.  It's a process.  One of the reasons we stayed in St. Ignace was so we could drive them across the bridge, as well as show it to them from the water.  Our ferry trip even took us under the bridge, which was exciting for everyone. No one was disappointed as we took the Island tour, checked out the new Grand Hotel stables, had lunch at the fort and checked out all the attractions there, then shopped for fudge before heading home. Not our own ride, but we loved seeing the dappled grey's hooked to the Gra...