Sable River Snowshoe

Yesterday Lois Fite and I snowshoed from the Sable Visitors' Center to the foot bridge over Sable River, into the Dunes to the bluff over Lake Superior, and back.  It was warm with temperatures in the low 40s.  The south wind broke the shore ice off and pushed the ice flow all the way to the horizon.  The next north wind will most likely blow the ice back.

It is still Winter in Grand Marais

It is still winter in Grand Marais.  We have almost two feet of snow on the level, with drifts up to seven feet or more.

Ice on the breakwall...

Outer harbor lighthouse...

Shelf ice across the bay on what is left of Lonesome Point....

Snow out on Coast Guard Point....

UofM Botanical Gardens

As usual when I was down state, I made a quick stop at the UofM Botanical Gardens.  As many of you know, I just love taking photos of flowers.

Blue Ice

On my way back home from down state, I stopped south of the Mackinac Bridge to get pictures of the blue ice.  From what I hear, the ice at the Straits is only blue once every seven years or so. 

But why is snow the color white and ice can be blue?  Snow is white because all wavelengths of light is scattered and reflected at the boundary between snow and air. The white color of bubbles at the top of a dark beer work the same way—small pockets of air reflect and scatter visible light. Ice only appears blue when it is forms solid without air bubbles.  Thus, blue ice does not have bubbles to interfere with the passage of light. Without the scattering effect of air bubbles, light can penetrate ice undisturbed. In ice, the absorption of light at the red end of the spectrum is six times greater than at the blue end.  A lack of reflected red wavelengths produces the color blue in the human eye.

Kensington Park

Last week I decided at the last minute to head down state.  The main purpose was to attend the wholesale gem and mineral show in Livonia for the first time.  Since I did not drive out to the Tucson show this winter, I decided to see if I can get what I need for the museum's gift show by attending a regional show instead.  Although I heard from other attendees that this show is MUCH smaller than it once was, I was able to go over budget in a quick amount of time.  We were not allowed to take photos at the show, so I am sorry I do not have any images.

While down state I visited with my son and his family.  While he was playing in his disc golf league, my daughter-in-law, grandson, and I went over to Kensington and visited the petting farm and nature center.  Temperatures were in the 50s, so it was great to get a jump on spring.

Trying to feed the birds....