Ishpeming Rock Show and Sunset

Yesterday I had a booth at the Ishpeming rock club show.  Other than e a few gusts of wind,  the weather was perfect with mostly sunny and temperatures in the low 70s.  Unfortunately attendance was down due to a Shriner's parade that disrupted traffic and parking as well as not having the renaissance festival that usually takes place at the same time, but was not held this year.  My sales were OK, but I did have a lot of great interactions that came by my booth.  Thanks to everyone who sopped by!  As I told many of you, this was my last Ishpeming show since in the future I will no longer do shows during the summer months when the museum is open.

Here are some photos from the show.

 

My booth ..

On the way home last night I stopped by the overlook (Sullivan's Landing) to capture a few sunset photos.

The Grand Marais history book is now available!

FINALLY the freight truck delivered the history book yesterday.  For now it is only available at the Gitche Gumee Museum.  Later next week it will also be available in the gift shop on the www.agatelady.com webpage.  The retail price is $25.95.  The book is 6" x 9", 259 pages long, with 205 images.  In September I will also begin wholesaling it to other retail stores and will put it on Amazon.

Hummingbird

It is hard to tell if it is the same hummingbird who guards my feeder each year, but his behavior and favorite perches are always the same.

Grand Sable Dunes Sunset

Last night I drove to the log slide and hiked into the dunes to watch the sunset.  It was an absolutely gorgeous evening!

By the way, the Grand Marais history book was shipped last Tuesday.   The truck arrives tomorrow!

Lake Superior Beach Photos

This evening after I closed the museum I conducted a rockhounding class with a wonderful family from Ann Arbor.  While they were competing in a friendly rock hunting competition, I took a few photos with my new camera.  Will my regular camera is getting fixed, I purchased a smaller Canon camera.  It does not have the same zoom as my regular camera, but it is not too bad at 30x.  Plus, the camera is a lot smaller and more lightweight.  In the future when I go out in bad weather, I will take this smaller (and less expensive) camera instead of my regular camera.

Looking west from First Creek...

Looking east....

Rocks and water...

Looking farther west...

Au Sable Point...

Outer Harbor Lighthouse....

People playing on the beach near the boardwalk....

Using my camera's zoom, I captured a photo of a fishing boat being followed by a flock of seagulls...

First Creek...

Beach art we saw while we were down at First Creek....

Sunset from my house....

Grand Sable Dunes

Although I returned from my two July shows a week ago, I have not been posting on the blog because my beloved camera broke.  The on/off switch quit working.  I have sent it in for repairs and acquired a smaller point and shoot camera to use in the mean time.  Plus, when weather is bad, I will use this smaller camera rather than my main camera.  The battery for the new camera is still charging, but I hope to use it tonight to take a few pictures.

In the mean time, I will reprint some of the information from a 2011 posting as well as photos of the dunes posted over the years.

The Grand Sable Dunes are located in the Grand Marais end of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

The Grand Sable Dunes are some the world’s most pristine perched dunes. They cover a five mile stretch between the Sable River and Au Sable point. Glacial ice that melted within the Superior Basin around 10,000 years ago produced many large rivers. These rivers deposited millions of tons of debris into many different configurations south of the Superior Basin. The Grand Sable Banks most likely originated along one of these glacial rivers.

Around 8,500 years ago, the Pictured Rocks area then became very dry when the Lake Superior basin changed its drainage pattern and began emptying to the north from its east end when this new outlet was the low spot. A north facing bluff formed and remained in place for 4,500 years right around the Grand Marais area.

Between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago, the land mass that is now the Upper Peninsula started to rebound upward from the weight of the previous ice glacier. This is called isostatic rebound. The U.P. is still rebounding today. The land forming the lake's outlet at North Bay began to rise, which reduced the amount of outflow and caused water levels to rise rapidly. In fact, Lake Superior rose to about 40 feet higher than it is today! The rise in lake levels formed Lake Nipissing. Lake levels of Lake Nipissing also began to rise which caused the Grand Sable Banks to become unstable. The higher water eroded the bluffs which left them exposed to wind. A dominant northwesterly wind blew through the Grand Sable Banks which carried the wind from the bluff to the top of the flat upland. This sand was “perched” on top of the upland, hence the name, “perched dune system.”

The climate of the Grand Sable Dunes is typical of any Michigan climate. The winters are fairly long and cold while the summers are short and cool. The location of the dunes happens to be the second most cloudy area of the United States. The average cloud cover is approximately 70%. Grand Marais’ annual temperature is 40.8 degrees Fahrenheit with precipitation totaling 31 inches a year. During the winter season snowfall accumulation ranges from 130 to over 200 inches. Because the dunes are so close to Lake Superior extreme low temperatures in the winter and extreme high temperatures in the summer do not occur.

If you plan on taking the hike to the Grand Sable Dunes the best way to get there would be to take the trail that starts at the west end of the Sable Falls parking area. While on the trail you will walk through an old field and eventually cross over a bridge that runs about Sable Creek. For the next ¼ mile you will go through the forests and dune transition areas. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE: Some of the information from this posting was acquired from http://www.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/grand_sable.htm and http://hunts-upguide.com/grand_marais_grand_sable_bank___dunes.html.

Vintage Grand Marais photo reprints in hand-crafted frames

A new item available in the Gitche Gumee Museum's gift shop is hand-crafted wooden frames made by my son, Jonathan, each with a vintage Grand Marais photo.  I am selling these for $35 each.  They come with either 4x6 or 5x7 photos.  Jonathan also makes custom frames if there is a certain size you need.  If you are interested in either, please send me an email to karen@agatelady.com or kbrzys@jamadots.com.

Plank Hill looking north (main hill going into Grand Marais)...

East side of Lake Avenue (main street)....

Shipwrecks off Coast Guard Point, located to the west of the break wall....

Back of frame....