More Fall Storm Photos

The fall storm continued all through yesterday. I think the most severe wind was during the middle of Friday night and early Saturday morning. The wind woke me up a few times, including around 3:30 am when the power turned off and on a few times.

I got some work done in the morning and then made football game-watching soup. Friends, Gerald and Jill, came over to watch the big game. I really thought that Michigan was going to win this time over Michigan State. Things went well with the game until the 4th quarter. As I was cheering for my team (Michigan Wolverines), and Jill cheering for hers (Michigan State Spartans) -- we lost power. We immediately jumped in our cars and drove over to their house, which still had power. We have three phases of electricity that supply Grand Marais and very often only one or two sections of town are without power during a storm. 

Just when I thought Michigan was going to come back at the end of the game -- they lost power. We jumped in the car and finished listening to the last few minutes of the game on the radio down on the end of Coast Guard Point. Michigan did not come back.  Congratulations to the Spartans. 

At least I was able to capture some more great images of the storm. The waves were even bigger on Saturday than they were on Friday. I would say they were 10-15 feet high!


This first shot I took from the south side of the Lighthouse Keepers Museum looking straight north down the breakwater.

We then parked on the north side and walked north.  I almost got wet by the wave in the picture below.

You can see why the freighter captains call the waves of Lake Superior "liquid fire."

While walking back to the car, I took this shot with the memorial on the left and the channel with channel blinker on the right.

Notice the extra big wave just left of center in the picture below.

Waves hitting the rocks on the south end of the east breakwall.

As we drove back into town, we noticed this tree that fell on one of the houses on Coast Guard Point.  It didn't appear to do much damage.

I had an appointment at the museum.  When I left, I saw and captured these pictures of a fall rainbow.

Incredible Lake Superior Fall Storm

As I sit here typing, I am very surprised we have power. Around 3:30 this morning, the power did turn off and back on a few times. The wind starting blowing hard yesterday afternoon. With the help of my friend, Paul, I headed into town to drain the pipes at the museum. First I drove through Woodland Park to get a better view of the waves. There was one brave soul on the beach and only five remaining RVs camped in the park.

Then I decided I had to see more waves and capture their energy. I drove out Coast Guard Point and walked over the dune to capture some photos of the waves hitting the breakwater and light house. I couldn't decide which pictures I liked best, so I narrowed it down to a few.

I have been making mineral art like crazy, trying to get ready for the remainder of my shows.  I've been experimenting using the acrylic to make agate windows -- rather than using the soldering technique.  I'll have a few for sale at the Mason show next weekend.

With the nice weather last week, I decided to make A LOT of agate plates, candles, and sink caddies.  Here are just some of them.

Go Blue!  I hope that Michigan, wins today over Michigan State.  Us alumni have had to suffer this past few years.  It is great to be back in our winning ways.

Sable Falls Area Hikes -- Post 2

Our Grand Marais contingent was supposed to play golf today in Newberry. However, it is raining, windy, and cold -- not conducive for golf. Since I am trying to stay on my exercise routine and it doesn't look like a good day for a hike, I'll probably stack the rest of my firewood. Thanks to friend, Jill, who helped me stack some of it the other day. We didn't finish but did throw the rest inside my wood shed to keep it out of the rain.

Today I'll post the remainder of the pictures taken during two recent hikes in the Sable Falls area.   First, another shot of the beach looking east toward the rising full moon.

A few weeks ago while we were still in drought condition, I was told that there wasn't enough water at the mouth of Sable River to push a path out into the big lake.  Apparently the river's water was exiting under the sand.  Now with recent rain the water flow has increased and enters Lake Superior along a westward curve.

It was a beautiful evening to fish at the river's mouth.  When I walked by I asked if he had successfully landed any fish.  He had only been out around an hour and had not yet had any success.

I know -- more full moon shots.  I just have to use my camera's zoom lens.

My friend, Jill, went with me on the second hike. 

It was too dark on the first hike to get pictures of the falls.  During the morning hike I was able to capture the river below the falls as well as Sable Falls with a backdrop of autumn color.

Sable Falls Area Hikes -- Post 1

Twice in the last couple of days I hiked from the Sable Falls parking lot into the dunes, down the bluff, east on the beach to the mouth of Sable River, and up the steps along Sable Falls back to the parking lot.

Here are a couple of more fall color shots....

I snapped these photos of Sable River as I approached and walked over the foot bridge that leads up into the dunes.

Here is where I went down the 150 foot dune to the beach......

And a shot looking back up.....

It was a beautiful night on the beach -- calm and warm.

Notice the full moon rising in the upper right corner of the photo below.  There is also a fisherman sittiing on a five-gallon bucket and a couple with a tripod at the river's mouth.

Fall Dune Hike -- Post 2

Here are the remainder of the photos from the dune hike I took the other night. The colors in the dunes this time of year are especially wonderful.  With calm winds and blue skies the color of Lake Superior was more blue than normal.

When you add in the fall colors of the leaves.......

Even the dune grass seemed to be glowing in the late afternoon sun.

And then there were the red foliage from the ground cover in the dunes....

I liked the stark contrast between the Grand Sable Banks and the lake...

More color in the dunes.......

From the log slide, I walked east along the bluff and then headed due south down the back of the dunes, through the forest, to the access road.  Along the way I spotted this colony of shelf fungi.

At the log slide a tree fell over in some of the incredible winds we have been having and took out this bench.

While bushwhacking through the woods I came across artifacts from the old logging camp days.