Hiking in Ludington State Park

Most of this last weekend was gorgeous, and warm weather is going to continue through most of the week. To take advantage of this, my friend, Jason, and I headed to Ludington State Park to go hiking. And hike we did, for over five hours! Now, this might not seem all that much to you, but I was quite impressed with ourselves. We also walked around the harbor and a bit by the beach.

Contemplating the trail map...

Mike and I hiked a bit in Ludington last July (see 2009 July posts) and went to the lighthouse. Jason and I took some different trails this time around.

I thought this piece of wood was twisted in an interesting way.

There was a strong breeze and good tree cover, which were most welcome given the heat.

New Facebook profile picture. Thanks, Jason! :-)

A Ludington institution: the SS Badger Lake Michigan car ferry (see http://www.ssbadger.com/home.aspx).

The harbor park had several statutes commemorating what seemed to be Ludington's more glorious past.

Fred Meijer Gardens -- March 2010

In March, Mike and I went to see the butterflies at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids (see http://meijergardens.org/). It's a nice break from the winter, and taking photos of butterflies can be fun! It can also be frustrating; I had to delete quite a number of them because they were blurry.
Before we left, Mike took a little snooze on the sofa, and Anya decided to join him. Soooooo cute!

As we entered the part of the indoor gardens with the butterflies, there was a desert exhibit. Here's a javelina, about which I recently learned when we visited Mike's parents in Arizona.

The sculptures of the desert animals were very cool.

This is Mike, saying that he likes the warmth of the gardens, especially to the new snow we were getting that day. Look out the window behind him.

The Meijer Gardens are also known for sculptures.

As you can tell, there aren't just butterflies to take photos of...

There were feeders throughout to attract the butterflies.

The butterflies shared the spotlight with some beautifully colorful birds...

and some gorgeous flowers, which are easier to photograph. :-)

You might recognize our outfits; we went to the Gardens the same day we had our photographs taken.

The inside of the building gives you a forest-like feeling. See the trees?

The leaves in the floor are a great addition, too.

The glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly were also fantastic. There's a special exhibit all summer long featuring his glass sculptures, so stay tuned for a post on that one, as I'm definitely going to go at some point.

Pictured Rocks Formations

So, now, let's check out why these are called the Pictured Rocks.
Here is what is known as the Castle Rock, called as such due to the fact that it resembles a castle.

This rock formation is known as the Indian Head. Look at the profile and see whether you think it is aptly named.

I was amazed by every rock formation that we saw. In fact, during the entire 5-day trip, I took almost 400 photos (382, to be exact). Images such as this were just breathtaking.

Our tour guide gave us good explanations as to why the rocks have these various colors. Yeah....I can't remember those explanations off the top of my head. I guess that's what I get for waiting for so long to post these photos. All I kept thinking was ... PRETTY!

Pretty, no?

I have tons more photos, but I'll end it here. I definitely recommend seeing the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and I hope to get back there to spend a bit more time. If you want to find out more info, here's the National Park Service website: http://www.nps.gov/piro/index.htm.

Mackinac Bridge

Finally! I have a couple of moments to post some photos of Mike's and my trip to the UP over the Labor Day weekend. I'll start from the beginning....with the Mackinac Bridge, which connects the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan. What many do not know is that this bridge is actually longer than the more famous Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. In fact, it is the third longest suspension bridge in the world. At 26,732 feet, it far surpasses the Golden Gate, which is 8,981 feet.

The Mackinac Bridge was opened in 1957 after three years of construction and forms a significant piece of Michigana. In fact, a photo of it is on our Michigan driver's licenses.

Here's where I got my information. First, you can visit the Mackinac Bridge website at http://www.mackinacbridge.org/ and the Golden Gate Bridge website at http://goldengatebridge.org.