Thursday, September 24, 2009

Camping and Whitefish Point--Post 1

Last weekend my friend, Renee Beaver, and I went and camped at Muskullonge State Park for the second annual Rock On Agate Show. Our "new" tradition is to leave Grand Marais on Thursday evening to drive the 20 miles to Muskullonge. On Friday, we head out for the day to agate hunt at Vermillion Point, which is located west of Whitefish Point.

On the day I left, I finished polishing another great agate found by Dan Kinney, who is from the Soo. I didn't weigh the agate, but it is well over a pound. The husk was quite thick, not allowing you to see the banding very well. It gave you enough of a hint, though, that Dan asked me to face polish it. Once through the husk, about a zillion eyes started popping through.







As people walked by our camp site, I am sure they had a chuckle. Renee and I have beds in the back of our respective vehicals. Thus, there are no tents or RVs. However, we do have an agate lamp to facilitate playing cribbage.



On Friday, we agate hunted at Vermillion for at least 5 hours. We found some chippers, seam agates, and Renee found one decent agate -- but nothing earth shattering, unfortunately. It didn't matter. It is a beautiful beach.



I call this the Christmas plant.



A piece of a shipwreck. Although the wood looks old, we were not sure why there was a modern piece of blue plastic rope. We figure that maybe someone was trying to tow the section.



A huge track -- we think it was a moose.



A smaller animal track trail that looked neat between the rows of rock.



Thursday, September 17, 2009

Hikes and Sunsets

Since I didn't get much of a chance to enjoy the summer during June, July, and August, I have taken a few days this month. After the Mackinac Bridge walk, I camped with friends at 12 Mile Beach for a couple of nights. Here are a few shots taken of the beach, hike on the nature trail above the campground, and the sunsets. While taking photos of the giant bee hive, sure enough, my friend Marsha was stung. I guess the 3 of us surrounding the hive taking pictures was a little too much.









Last Sunday, I walked from the Log Slide to Sable Falls with my friend, Kim. It was a glorious hike.







A couple of nights ago, we had one of the best sunsets I've seen in a long time. Since I was busy working on art at my house, I didn't take the time to go down to the beach to get a shot from the lake's edge. These shots were taken from my front porch.


Saturday, September 12, 2009

Labor Day Bridge Walk

Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to participate in the Labor Day walk across the Mackinac Bridge. When my friends, Marsha Hendrickson and Denise Reitz informed me that they were doing it this year, I agreed to go along.

It was a gorgeous day with mostly sunshine and temperatures in the upper 60s. The fog did roll in and out a few times, which made it even more interesting. We took our time so that we could take a zillion photos. Thus, we took a little over an hour and a half to walk the 5 miles.

Below are just a few of the photos I took.

View from the new welcome center on the north side of the bridge.



There were national guard posted everywhere.



The start of the five mile walk, going from north to south.



View under one of the towers.



View of both towers.



View of the tower support, taken through the grid on the inside lane of the bridge.



A spider web on the bridge.



Even though the bridge opened in 1957 after 3 years of construction, the signs on the towers reflect their building in 1955.



Denise, Marsha, and me.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Whitefish Point Agates

In the www.agatelady.com September update, I also included some of the photos of the agates people showed me while I was at Whitefish Point a couple of weeks ago. I've decided to include all of the photos on the blog, for you rockhounds that want to see the detail.

Sheryl Wegmann -- Agate 1, side 1



Sheryl Wegmann -- Agate 1, side 2



Sheryl Wegmann -- Agate 2, side 1



Sheryl Wegmann -- Agate 2, side 2



Becki Cornish -- Agate 1, view 1



Becki Cornish -- Agate 1, view 2



Becki Cornish -- Agate 2



Joan Snyder agate -- close up view



Joan Snyder agate -- side 1



Joan Snyder agate -- side 2