Presque Isle: Thank goodness for our Forefather's foresight!

I grew up as an Air Force brat, but most of my childhood was spent in Marquette, Michigan which rests on the lovely shores of Lake Superior. It is very scenic and beautiful, even if the winters are long and harsh. I graduated from Marquette High School and spent many an hour out at Presque Isle. It is the place where I feel the most "at home" and what I think of when I get nostalgic for my childhood. We now live about an hour away, so I am lucky to be able to come and visit it whenever I need a dose of the past.

The founding Forefathers of the city decreed that a peninsula that jutted out into Lake Superior (called Presque Isle) should never be developed, but instead, kept free for its citizens to enjoy forever.

We are so lucky that they had the foresight to preserve this wonderful lake area. Some of it has sandy beaches, but most of it has rugged stoney cliffs and shore full of natural beauty.

We have ore docks which the ore boats come into to load up with ore, so often you can sit on a picnic table, overlooking the lake and watch the ore boats coming into port.

Here are some pictures for you to see. (And Joannie from Joannie's Random Ramblings, since my pictures cheer you up, these are especially for you!):


First, a shot of the rocky shore, littered with driftwood:

The walkway out to the lighthouse:

There is a sign not to walk out on the walkway to the lighthouse during stormy or windy weather. Several people have died there because they were washed overboard:

I usually stop my walk where the rocks begin out to the lighthouse.....

On my way out to the lighthouse, these mallards were riding the waves:

Our lighthouse:

I was lucky the day I went out the take photos for you....an ore boat was coming in to dock at our port:

It came delightfully close to the lighthouse walkway, so I could get some photos and wave at its Captain!:

This is a photo taken from the lighthouse walkway, looking back at Presque Isle:

This close-up shows you the rocky cliffs that exist all around the peninsula:

On the walk back from the lighthouse, the mallard was showing off and showing me how he "hangs ten" in the water:

A close up of the shore:

Many tourists come and collect the Lake Superior stones for their many colors and smooth shapes:

After you drive through virgin forests of the peninsula, here are the shores on the other side:

Many folks also boat all the way around the peninsula:

Nothing but nature to love and admire:

What is THIS???? A spaceship in nature??!!!

Nope.

It is Northern Michigan University's football dome...the only all wooden dome in North America!

My husband and I are both graduates of N.M.U. and loved attending school in such a beautiful place.














It is right across the bay from Presque Isle. All students that attend NMU have wonderful nostalgia about Presque Isle, too, because you can walk to it from campus with a little ambition and good shoes :-)

If you ever make it to the U.P., make sure you make plans to ride out to Presque Isle. It has many hiking trails, wild deer, and virgin forests (the forefathers forbade cutting the trees or building any houses on the shoreline). Many, many weddings are held there, also.

Oh, and if you come, would you let me know? I would be happy to be your tour guide!!

Useless Facts and Trivia: Volume 9

Here is the next installment of Useless Facts and Trivia, along with MY COMMENTS (in bold italics):




The king of hearts on playing cards is the only king without a moustache. (don't check the queen...I hear she is post-menopausal. There may be a little chin hair there...I'm just sayin'. )

A Boeing 747's wingspan is longer than the Wright brother's first flight.

(Wow, I kind of feel bad for the boys. But think of it, they STARTED it all. They can be PROUD! Now, if they would've just figured out a way for my luggage to never be lost....)

Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise. (Who really stares at it long enough to know this?) (Does this mean the bathtub water drains the opposite way there then?)

Apples are more efficient than caffeine in waking you up in the morning.

(I hope Starbucks doesn't hear about this. An applechino will be the next concoction, I am sure!)

The little plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets. (Who knew they had a name??? I DARE you to go to Walmart and ask them if they have any aglets. They will say "do you mean anklets? and then you will repeat aglets, and they will escort you out of the store....by the Walmart Greeter).

Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.

(All together now..let's say: " EEEEwwww!") Also, have you seen the dust bunnies under my bed and couch? I must be shedding more than your favorite thousand snakes!) Good grief!

1. The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer.

I had heard this. I find it incredibly sad. And incredibly predictable.

Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. (I had heard this too...just think, they could have called her Millie instead, for her middle name. It just wouldn't be the same!)

Betsy Ross, Jackie Onassis, JFK, and Daniel Boone have all appeared on Pez dispensers. (Wouldn't they be proud? ) And now, I suppose we will have Farrah and Michael and Ed McMahon pez dispensers soon?!

Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined. (There ought to be a law against THIS one!)

Finding the Art in the Wood..............

We recently had the opportunity to be involved in some very fun art.

We had two huge pine trees on a lot where we are renovating a building for a future business.
They were leaning towards some power lines, so the power company wanted to cut a lot of the branches away.
Rather than hacking the trees so that they looked totally ugly by having half the branches gone, we decided to cut them into stumps and see if we could have them carved into statues instead.

Here is the journey!:

Here are the trees marked for cutting:

And here is the worker cutting the tree branches (and eventually the trees) down:

Leaving the stumps, ready for art to happen!:

Here is Chad, our woodcarving artist, starting on the first statue:

A closeup of how he used a CHAINSAW to make beautiful art!:

Hmmmm...any guesses what this will become????:

Yes! It is an eagle on the top:

The eagle will be holding a fish and the lower half will have a little bear peeking out from the stump. Chad had the vision of what would work....

And the Second stump HAD to be this:

A bear!:






Here is the eagle holding the fish, along with the bear peeking out. This only took him a day to do!! (With a chainsaw!) It was amazing to watch him do this!:

Here is a closeup of the side of the fish. Done with a chainsaw!:

Here is the finished bear. He is handsome, no???











The front view of our bear:

And the finished eagle, holding the fish and the little bear peeking out

from the stump below the eagle!:

A closer view of the detail:

We were so impressed by our chainsaw artist's capability to look at two ugly stumps and to carve them out into two pieces of art. Everyone that sees them, stops their car and asks us who did them. The little town we live in loves these, as they are right across the street from a restaurant and on the main street when you first turn into town on the way to the lake.

I will always admire the artist's talent.

And you thought YOU were having a bad day.....

I love passing along some of these news stories that I read!

Just in case you thought YOU were having a bad day, I thought I would share this one with you!:

* First-time bank robber (according to police) Jason Durant, 32,
reported to the hospital in New Milford, Conn., shortly after
knocking off the National Iron Bank in April. As he fled the crime
scene, he accidentally tumbled down a steep hill behind the bank,
losing control of his stash, and his gun, during the fall. He broke
his leg in several places (saying, later, that he heard snapping
sounds). At the bottom of the hill, he crashed into a plow blade,
slashing himself before dragging his bleeding, broken body to his
getaway car (with only $2 left from the robbery). Suspicious
hospital staff members notified police. [Republican-American
(Waterbury, Conn.), 4-30-09]

There!

Don't you feel better now???

Antique Car Show: Part 2

As promised, here is Part 2 of the Antique Car Show pictures. If you missed Part 1, go back two posts and you will see more!

Another great hood ornament!:

I would LOVE to have this one to go for a spin in!:

I really liked the front of this one:

This one is the rear of a Harley. I really liked the fringed saddlebags!:

Another great hood ornament!

A peek at the simple interior/dashboard:





Nice Grill!:

Love this logo!:

Gentlemen: Start your Engines!:

Is this cute or WHAT??? Even for my "mini-me"!:

Even trucks had style!:

Another shot of an interior!

A stylish bird hood ornament:

A classy convertible!:

Loved this one's color and style!:













Another "by gone" car logo:

I doubt if this came in yellow back in the day:

Hope you enjoyed these car photographs. It was such fun to see them in person!