Rocky Racoon

fell into his room...Only to find Gideon's Bible.

Anyways, as I was taking pictures of the moon, I heard some rooting around near the trashcan and saw this....

This was one of the racoons. He was a small one, not much bigger than a cat.

Another angle of the same racoon.

This was another racoon. He was a bit bigger than the other one.

The racoon above.

They are pretty neat looking animals.

Some Moon Shots...

Playing around with the new zoom lens a bit more. So I took some pictures of the moon.

I love how you can see all the little craters and things.

The clouds passing by made for a cool shot.

Earlier today as I was taking pictures, this plane was flying fairly low.

Another moon shot. This one was a little earlier today.

New Zoom Lens

I got a new zoom lens off Amazon. It is made by a company called Kenko and goes from 420mm to 800mm and there was a 2x telephoto with it. The lens is not too bad except that it has a fixed aperture and it's a little unwieldy so I may have to use my monopod or tripod with it.

Anyways, I went to the park with it to give it a try out.

This is probably my favorite of the bunch. Fairly clear and not a bad shot.

A turtle I saw sitting there.

Another shot that I like. This one was taken across the lake.

This one is not bad although there seems to be some aberation in it.

I don't mind this one either....

Michigan's Second Biggest Joke

I apologize for the quality of the image as it was taken on the camera phone.

Michigan's biggest joke is the Men Working sign because I rarely see people working on construction sites. The second biggest joke is this exit. There is even a little jog so that it gets Marker 69 (actually I'm not sure why the jog is there but it seems plausible). So I present to you, Exit 69 - Big Beaver Road....

Gallup Park

It was a nice night so I decided to go to Gallup Park tonight. It was a pretty nice walk. Saw a few geese and things, so here are some pictures.

A Canadian Goose just swimming around.

Some sort of black bird. I liked the yellow eyes set off against the bluish feathers.

A goose family.

Another goose family.

Some flowers. I liked the purple set off against the green.

A swan family.

A Mallard.

I liked the contrast in colors in this shot.

I also like the contrast in this one.

The sun setting.

The same swan family. Notice that one of the little swans is riding on the back of the parent. I thought that was pretty neat.

Looking down the Huron River.

The bridge at Gallup. This is closer to sunset, notice the pinks on the bridge.

Sleeping Bear Dunes

These are some pictures from the Sleeping Bear Dunes. At one time, the Dunes looked like a Sleeping Bear and there is a Native American Legend which states that the Dune was created to commerate a mother bear trying to escape from a forest fire. She swam across Lake Michigan with her two cubs. She waited on the shore but her two cubs got tired and drowned. The Great Spirit formed the Manitou Islands to mark the spot where they died. The dunes were created where she fell asleep.

This is a shot of one of the dunes and the Manitou Islands.

A shot as the sun is starting to come down.

The Manitou Islads.

This is a shot of the North Manitou Island from the Leelenau Peninsula. I kind of liked the shot with the trees, mist and the red from the starting to set sun.

This is a view of the South Manitou Island from Sleeping Bear Dunes.

This is the lighthouse blown up. I'm working on getting a new lens, so hopefully I can get a better picture of it.

Some Random Cherry Orchards

Traverse City is famous for it's cherry orchards. This was about the right time to visit them as many of them were blooming the flowers. It is a truly a beautiful sight.

Looking down one of the orchards.

A shot of a barn through the orchard.

A close up of some of the flowers.

Another close up.

More Trillium...

The Traverse City area is crawling with trillium. It was growing on just about every road we went down. It is a very beautiful flower. Don't pick it on State Land though as it will carry a fine.

The green indicates a disease. It still looks pretty cool though.

This is a pink one.

Another pink one.

A bunch of trillium.





This one was really cool.....green and pink.

Log Cabin

At the site of the lighthouse there is a log cabin. It is one of the few surviving log cabins from the frontier days of Michigan. This particular one belonged to some of the earliest settlers in the area.

This is a shot from the front. Although you really can't tell, this is a pretty small structure.

They have the cabin opened up so you can get an idea of frontier living. This is one of the beds.

Another shot of the inside.

And a shot of the stove. This particular cabin had one room and loft.

Old Mission Lighthouse

The Old Mission Lighthouse is at the end of a penisula that juts out between the Leelenau Penisula and the main part of the state. It is roughly 30 miles north of Traverse City and you end up passing through a bunch of vineyards and a few cherry orchards. This is called the Old Mission Peninsula.

This is a shot as you are approaching the lighthouse from the land side. The lighthouse is almost exactly on the 45th Parallel. The lighthouse is no longer active but you can tour in it.

A view of the tower.

A view from the side. It almost looks like it is settling.

A view from the front.

A view directly from the front. It is a pretty nice looking lighthouse.

Another shot of the tower.

Some rocks out in the water in front of the lighthouse.

The beach in front of the lighthouse. This is a pretty typical looking beach on Lake Michigan.

A shot of the tower framed by trees.