The Journey to Big Red

The walk down the beach to the state park where the lighthouse stands is often referred to as a "death march." That is an exaggeration, but today's walk to Big Red was more arduous a trek than is often the case. The wind at about 25 miles per hour from the north made the journey south easy. In fact I was feeling pretty strong as we walked down the beach. But the way back was quite a bit hampered by having to walk into the wind.

I try nearly every year to get the definitive picture of Big Red. This year's attempt has to overcome the disadvantage of a total cloud cover. During the entire hour and a half journey, we encountered not a single human being on the beach or on the pier by the lighthouse. It was just too chilly. We saw from a distance during the walk, two humans and two dogs - almost a shutout.

Santini joined us for the first section of the trek, but turned back when we reached the yellow boats. She's dressed for the day.

The MOTU (aka Unky Herb) was barefooted, but otherwise warmly dressed. He and I completed the trip, even so far as to go about three quarters of the way to the end of the pier. We stopped because the waves were breaking over the surface of the structure and we thought we'd get drenched if we went further. There were other photos taken, not reproduced here, of a turtle, sandpipers, and more gulls.

Here's one of the gulls as he hovered in the air, or at least appeared to, because his forward progress into the wind was completely nullified. It made photo taking a bit easier.

It was a pretty complete day entailing a trip to the Farmer's Market to obtain veggies for soup and a return here to actually put the 12 veggies and some assorted additions together in a tasty soup. Lunch.

Later this afternoon, the COTU and OSLO and Brad came for dinner and later still the traditional walk to the park with the tunnel through it. I even managed my own first run down the dune on the side opposite the inland sea. There is no video.

Back from the shore of Lake Michigan

I'm back in Minnesota after a week on the edge of Lake Michigan. I played no tennis there, but managed to eat well, walk the shore of the big lake and rest up for some more sessions of tennis. This week promises to be filled with the sound of strings meeting fuzzy tennis balls.

In honor of the last week I present two photos. One of the pictured objects graces the shoreline and has since 1907 - more than 100 years. The other was there for but a fraction of a minute, during which time I was able to capture its image.

Big Red, the Holland State Park light house was built in 1907 and still guards the harbor. The gull on the rail was a fortuitous accident. Every trip I have made to Michigan seems to result in me taking another picture of this structure. And it doesn't change very much from year to year.



This footprint in the sand is gone. I took it as PP walked up the beach and I followed. It's her footprint. Shortly thereafter a wave erased it. That's about as temporary as any of my featured photos has ever been.



I managed to get in three sets of tennis and a ten point tiebreaker this morning at Marie Park. Rich is in town from Tucson and we are planning some extra sets tomorrow. Singles. After taking a week off, I played pretty well this morning and didn't tire out as I have sometimes earlier in this very hot summer. I did take a hard serve from my partner on my melon in the second set, but seem no worse for the impact. Not even a knob at the point of impact. A tennis ball is much less harmful than one of those baseballs that the Twins use in their sporting endeavors. It's nice to be back in the company of the geezers: Rich, Curt, John, Tom, Bryce, Dennis, and Bill were part of the action today.

The Winds Came

It was a very windy day by the big lake. It seemed like a day to recover from bike trips and, perhaps, to take a march to Big Red at the state park. It's a long trek, but one that I've repeated many times in the past. The reward is a chance to see if the lighthouse has changed since my last visit and the challenge is to get a unique photo. This, at least, proves that I made the full distance to the pier.


On the way back from the Big Red visit, I ran into this gang of ruffians. They seemed friendly and, indeed, familiar. They were coming to meet me on the beach - Nikki, Totally Jammin', Unky Herb, and Nancy.



Later in the day, after a trip to the farmer's market for cherries, blueberries, tomatoes, cukes and zukes we trekked to Tunnel Park to run down the dune and get a picture of Herb jumping off the wall next to the downhill. We're trying to get him in midair with his arms flailing about. We'll be trying again tomorrow after something less than success today. The picture below is the walking group standing on top of the dune in the wind. I guess it was gusting to about 30 mph, at least according to some reliable sources.



Another fine day in southwestern Michigan.

Big Red and some blue

I start with a photo that I took at Holland State Park in the middle of a "death march" last week. The light house that I know as Big Red, is an icon of the area and my annual trip there, and it is the subject of many photos that I have taken. I like this one because it has blue in it and I know what the blue thing is. A hand rail next to the side walk out to the pier. It was a nice family vacation brightened by the visit of GPa Tom.


Today was jumping off day for the youngster. KS packed her bags and went to the airport. She's in the air as I write, winging her way to Nagoya and another stint as English teacher and adventurer. It was great to have her home, but the three weeks flew by. I include a photo taken at the Humphrey Terminal just prior to her departure. Herb was there, in his Cray Sweet Sixteen tee, to see her off before going on to work himself.


Tomorrow is a tennis day as the normal pattern of life returns. It'll be good to see the other geezers and smack a few forehands down the line. The vacation is over. Time to get back to retirement.