Michigan's Little Finger

This is the Marina at Suttons Bay, Michigan. It's cold, and the boats have taken shelter. But still a remarkably pretty place.

This pretty pergola is my favorite picture from last week's outing [originally posted elsewhere on 3/7/2005] ; the play of light on the trellis worked very well. If the rest of the fence at Old Mission Light was this attractive, folks would stop complaining about it....

Old Mission Lighthouse on February 27, 2005. Notice that the snow's high enough to mostly hide the ugly fence they've built around the yard. I don't blame the folks for building the fence; the building's a private residence in the midst of a public park. But it's such an unattractive fence that I feel obliged to remark it....

Explored! #103 [February 4, 2013] Thanks! Leelanau State Park, Northport, Michigan. Best in large size, methinks. Two more views of this bay.

Our hotel in Traverse City.

Leland, Michigan. Joan parked the car in the parking lot at the Bluebird. I got out, saw the ducks all lined up for me, and reached for my camera. I particularly like the straying bird, to the left. Camera: Nikon N90s

Explored! # 392 [December 20, 2006] Thanks! From a "wayside" on the west bay.

At the foot of the East Arm of Traverse Bay, Traverse City, Michigan. As Larry points out in his comment, the "undeveloped" beach is Traverse City State Park. This photograph used to get 6 views a day, like clockwork, and became (therefore) my most-viewed photo on Flickr. I'd sure like to know why....

Light and shadows on the trail. What we did for Joan's birthday....

Another Cathead Bay photograph from last September. Leelanau State Park , at the end of Michigan's "little finger." Memorial: Norris Ingells, a photographer whose skills always captivated and delighted me, passed away Friday . I only knew him from his photographs and his writing, but it's a great loss nonetheless. One of Lansing's great treasures. -Added to the www.flickr.com/groups/cotc/ in the morning on December 20, 2005. Explored! #19 on Sunday, July 29, 2007, where it remains. Thanks, everyone!

That's my mother, looking out over the Sleeping Bear Dune in 1973. Dad took this photo with his Argus C3, and I scanned it from a slide. That much I know for sure. What follows is speculation. My best guess is that this was shot from what is now called Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, but which was then called Sleeping Bear Dunes Park. I think the view is across Glen Lake, generally toward Glen Arbor. As I say, speculation. But there really aren't all that many places you can find a view like this, and fewer yet with picnic tables.

My family has a long tradition of vacationing in or near Leland, Michigan--for instance, my Cathead Bay pics were taken only a few miles north from here. Historically, Leland was a fishing village on Lake Michigan, and Fishtown was the village heart. While Leland's always been a tourist destination, tourism's become the town's mainstay in the past few decades. Fishing, correspondlingly, has become less important. More like unimportant, except to the few fishermen who remain, and to those tourists who come mainly to fish; there are charter boats catering to those folks. By 1973, Fishtown was already transforming itself into a commercial tourist attraction. As I recall, there were still some real fishermen selling fresh and/or smoked fish in the place at that time. I'm not sure you can find that, now. [Rich says you can; see below .] For the record: The look of this place was (and remains) authentic, rather than touristy, and it's well worth a visit. Camera: Argus C3. Roger Dinda photograph, scanned from a slide.

Another of Dad's 1973 pictures of Leland's Fishtown . Camera: Argus C3

This-- Jolli-Lodge , near Leland--was, we think, Mom's favorite place. She and Dad vacationed there regularly, and after Dad passed away she continued to take refuge at Jolli in late summer. She'd invite the rest of us up for Labor Day, and we'd join her for a peaceful and relaxing weekend. We really need to resurrect that tradition. Jolli-Lodge has several buildings, including cabins and a sprawling waterfront lodge, in a park-like and family-friendly setting. The resort faces Lake Michigan--down 25 or 40 steps from where I took this picture--and the Manitou Islands; to the south are the high dunes of Pyramid Point. The view is simply incredible. Photo taken on Labor Day weekend in 1993. Camera: Chinon Genesis III

From the top of the dune at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in 1973. The national park was only a couple years old at the time. Worth noting: The farm in the foreground, and its surrounding orchards, seem to be gone , now. Local residents were quite opposed to the establishment of the national park, fearing that the feds would preempt their property, attract undesirable tourists, and generally disrupt the place. They weren't shy about telling visitors their opinions, either. Since we visited the area quite regularly, we heard those opinions many times. The hostility continues, by the way, though it's less visible to visitors. The Parks Service has an excellent discussion of the issues, and the history of its relations with local landowners, on the Sleeping Bear website. Dad's photograph shows the terrain well, but doesn't do justice to Glen Lake's riot of colors. Scanned from a Roger Dinda slide; Argus C3.

Another scan from Dad's Argus C3 slides taken in 1973. This is Lake Michigan, but I really can't be much more precise than "somewhere around Sleeping Bear Dunes." If forced to guess, I'd suspect it's at Glen Arbor, just from the slide sequence. But I'd not depend on that. Pretty and peaceful, whereever it was. It's clear to me that my photography was influenced by my father's--and that his was influenced by mine. It's something more than we vacationed the same places; I see the same sorts of photo ops that Dad did. That's OK, of course.

Joan at Jolli-Lodge, near Leland, Michigan. Lake Michigan in the background. Camera: Nikon N90s. Labor Day weekend, 1999.

Jolli has a central lodge--that's this building--and a fairly large number of cabins and other dwellings scattered around the grounds. Lake Michigan's just barely visible in the lower left corner. Camera: Nikon N90s. 1999; near Leland, Michigan.