Vacation Pics

spent some time in Michigan a couple weeks ago, scouting out good campgrounds and kayaking rivers: here are pictures...probably more pictures than you want to see...

First campsite, about 15 minutes from Grayling, MI...central michigan. i was the only one at this campground...it was pretty primitive. just the way i wanted it.  right next to the beautiful Au Sable River....

Au Sable....within walking distance of campground...

clean, deserted, and beautiful.  several nice put-ins right by camp ground. 

dinner first night (yes it started raining a little, as soon as i had gotten the tent set up).  this is one of my fav camping foods....pizza pocket: italian sausage (spicy) tomato sauce, mushrooms and cheese.  butter outside of bread and roast carefully over fire, voila! 

the only "luxury" at this campground.  the water pump.  all in all, a very nice campground with good river access, but i am very picky.  i could still hear a faint highway sound at night and that was unacceptable.  i need to hear nothing man-made when i camp except maybe the occasional airplane.  so, i packed it up and drove east and north to Ossineke, Michigan, which is right on Lake Huron. 

 can't remember what town this was...there were so many little one-stop-light or one-yellow-light towns on the way.  the drive was beautiful.  mostly forest.

best camping ever!  right on Lake Huron.  primitive and deserted.  the only sounds are the waves on the beach, the wind in the trees, and the sounds of wildlife. 

trail from campsite to Lake Huron.  can see the lake from the site.

miles of deserted beach. 

here's me smiling because its the best camping EVER.  billions of stars at night, could even see several satellites streaking across the sky.

playground near Ossineke.  with totem pole. 

scary clouds.  luckily i had already packed up by this point and was driving home. 

i like dead tree pictures.  don't know why. 

paul bunyan and the blue ox.

the "Double Nickel" roadside thrift shop and hot-dog stand.  stopped in and chatted with the owners for a while.  neat stuff. 

old, old stove.  i really wanted it.  someday......

 Double Nickel owner Dennis and his wife and their son chillin' outside. 

uhhh....i forgot to ask them if this is really rideable. 

charming blue house that caught my eye.  stained glass in windows and gargoyles and statutes in garden.

 some little towns had all cut-stone buildings.  a lot of stone houses. just beautiful.

your typical northern Michigan one-stop-light town.  nostalgia. 

a sunset.

i love these country-side scenes, small farms inbetween miles and miles of dark northern woods.

self-serve corn stand.  just put your money in the box and take your corn. 

self-serve camp sites: just put your money (yes, they even take out of state checks) and put it in the slot. 

Lake Huron, very clean and very shallow for about a mile out.  yes, you can literally walk about a mile out from shore and the water is still knee-deep. 

He's got the whole world in His hands, and the dinosaur garden is next door. 

another sunset.

me again, feeling relaxed, inspired, surreal and a little hopeful that one day i will live in a place like this. 

met family on Lake Michigan on Labor Day...Warren Dunes.  Very windy. 

my wonderful double nickel purchase....2 cypress knees for $8 that immediately found their place in my living room.  I've always wanted some but most places its illegal to cut them. 

 last but not least...newest project just about finished: fabric forest picture i made...about 3 ft by 4 ft....pretty big, not sure where its going to go, but i like it.