A Fool's Paradise

Found on a tiny island in Batchawana Bay near the mouth of the Chippewa River

Chilly Dip

First swim in Lake Superior this year
Photo Erich Schoahs

Self Portrait

While the girls were getting their manis and pedis
 I was goofing around  with the camera.

Jenice's Day

Instead of a traditional shower we had a special day for Jenice that ended up lasting more than 12 hours.  A fun filled girl day!   I made Palatschinken (Austrian crepes) with fresh berries and maple yogurt cheese for breakfast for Jenice, Linda, Nicollette and I.  

Jenice looks so relaxed after her massage

Then we headed for Trillium where the girls were treated to manicures or pedicures and Jen got a prenatal massage.

On to Park Garden Cafe' for lunch, gifts and a game.

Full of energy we stayed downtown for a little shopping, then to 

Kilwin's new candy and ice cream factory.

                                                   
                                      

Next stop, miniature golf to flirt with pirates under the waterfall...

Time for dinner already?  Takeout from Mim's Mediterranean to enjoy on my deck!

  As if all that wasn't enough we made one more trip into town 

for the Bear River Walk in Petoskey.

Mary, Linda, Jenice at the Bear River

                                                           

POP Goes the Eggplant

I like to roast eggplant on the grill for babaganoush
 but it's rained every day this week so I put one in the
oven last night instead.  I forgot to prick the skin...
Then I heard a muffled bang from the kitchen.  I'll remember
to prick the skin next time.

Linda at Work

Linda was caught on a trail cam that was installed at a job site for observation of wildlife…..  

Lost Creek Adventures

The kayak tour Erich and I took two weeks ago was guided by Lost Creek Adventures, a new company in The Apostle Islands area.  I posted about our guide Alissa a week ago.  The other couple on the trip wrote to the company and it turns out one of Alicia's photos made it onto Lost Creek Adventures' website.  Erich and I are the couple in the red tandem kayak entering one of the sea caves!  Check it out.

River Kayaking Part II

This is what's at the mouth of the Bear River where it reaches Lake Michigan 

downstream from the paddlers in yesterday's post...

Mitchell St. bridge

The river narrows and gets fast and turbulent.

I've never seen this volume of water at the mouth of the river before.

Just before the Lake St. bridge where anglers fish
 for trout and salmon in spawning season

                    Therefore, this is what you see just

above the mouth of the river...

                                                                       
                                       

River Kayaking

Nice day for a paddle...

                                                                                 

                                                               

So far so good...

We saw these guys kayaking the Bear River last weekend.  After some heavy rains the river was running pretty swift.  They were novice paddlers but I give them a lot of credit - that water looked COLD!

whitewater!

listing to starboard!

                                                             

almost submerged

good effort

uh-oh, where's my kayak?

retrieving one of them

                         

           

Flying Kites

 We ran into a guy at Bayfront Park flying about a half dozen huge kites, some as much as 10-12 feet across.  When he would get one stable up in the breeze he simply tied it to a tree or post so he had several flying at once.  He asked if we wanted to try it and I was surprised just how heavy they were.

A Superior Tattoo

Alissa was our guide for an amazing kayak tour of sea caves in Lake Superior at the Apostle Islands last weekend.  She has many years of experience paddling and guiding in Lake Superior and this was proudly displayed by the tattoo on top of her right foot.  When she told us where she had paddled and worked before she just pointed to the map on her foot!  It's the simple outline of the "wolf's head" that we know as Lake Superior.  

The above outline of Lake Superior (without the label) looks like Alissa's tattoo.
The Apostle Islands are right in the snout of the "wolf's head",
 an archipelago of 21 islands in northern Wisconsin.

Here she is entering one of the larger portals in the sandstone formations.
Thank You, Alissa!