Michigan Exposures Hits the Road - Day 5

And Day 5 was today and unfortunately, it meant coming home.

The car we used had a moon roof, so I had the chance to get a shot I've wanted for a while.  Looking up at one of the towers of the Mackinac Bridge.

It was a fun trip but I have a ton of pictures to go through.

Michigan Exposures Hits the Road - Day 4

Day 4 was actually Saturday but when I got back to the hotel on Saturday night, I was pretty tired, so I didn't post.  This picture was part of the reason why.

For some reason, I got up at 5:30 in the morning and checked Marine Traffic on my phone.  I saw that the Paul R. Tregurtha was in the locks, so I decided to head down to Mission Point to catch her.  I'd have to say I got my favorite picture in a while.

Michigan Exposures Hits the Road - Day 3

Today would have been Engineer's Day for me but as we were driving by, it looked crazy.  It was kind of nice a few years ago but it didn't seem as well known.  I didn't feel like dealing with all the people there.

I did go down to the Locks later to catch the Lee A. Tregurtha as she entered the locks.  Unfortunately, I was shooting into the sun for this but it came out fairly nicely.

Michigan Exposures Hits the Road - Day 2

The internet service for the hotel was out yesterday, so I couldn't post my second day picture.

Of all the things I took pictures of yesterday, I had to post a picture of my favorite ship, the Roger Blough.

Michigan Exposures Hits the Road - Day 1

So once again it is the end of June and once again I am up in the Soo.  Engineer's Day is Friday and that should be fun.  I'm hoping that tomorrow is a good boat day.

The final stretch of I-75 after crossing the Bridge and entering the Upper Peninsula.  The clouds were fantastic and I'll have some pretty cool pictures when I get home.  As always, I just post a picture per day while I'm on the road.  I will post the rest when I get home.

A Northern Michigan Whirlwind

 So last Saturday I decided to take a whirlwind tour of the state.  I wanted to go to the Frankfort/Traverse City area since it has been a while since I've been up there.  So we ended up taking a bit of a ride.

 The first stop was the covered bridge at Fallasburg.  It was a pretty nice day and I expected to see more people here but there wasn't.

 The river was pretty calm and that made for some nice reflections.

 There was only one person there taking portrait photographs and for the most part, I was able to keep them out of my pictures.

 And one more picture of the bridge because I liked the smoothness of the water.

 I next headed up to Frankfort.  It has been a while since I've been here.  I want to say it's been almost 2 years.

 As I was taking pictures of the lighthouse, I caught a sailboat heading in.

 It made the turn for the channel.

 Since Point Betsie is nearby, I headed there.  It has been even longer since I've been here.  When I tried the last time, the road was snowed over.  Before that, it was pretty crowded.  It was pretty crowded on Saturday but I was able to get a spot.

 I couldn't get some of my normal shots as the water was covering the little path but I was able to make due.

 Looking up at the tower.

 There were some lilac bushes growing on the side.

 Another group of those flowers.

 Another angle.

 Even though this angle isn't much different, I liked it.

 Next we headed over to Sleeping Bear Dunes.  It was pretty crowded, so I didn't get the pictures that I wanted.

 But I think they were okay.

 the barn off in the distance.  I tried to get a picture of the Manitou Lighthouse but it didn't work out too well.

 Next we headed over to Traverse City.  There is a farm nearby with a nice iris field.  And just like my luck with other flowers, it wasn't too good.  I have a feeling there were more a couple weeks ago.

 But I was able to get some shots.

 I liked the variety of colors that I did see.

 I really like this one.

 I thought this one was okay.

 A poppy.

 Another poppy.

 Not sure what kind of flower this is.

 Another poppy.

I really like this one.

And I like this one.

 One more before moving on.

 It was my plane to head up to Mackinaw City but it was getting late and I didn't want to get home after midnight.  So I took M-72 out of Traverse City and that took me through Kalkaska.  They have this giant trout statue.

 I'd have to say it's pretty detailed.

And one more angle of it.

And that was a pretty cool whirlwind.

Save the Mad Dogs!

So I decided to head to the airport last Friday.  It wasn't 787 night but I was missing the airport and I was glad I went because it was nice night and I got some nice pictures.

 First up was a United 737 arriving from San Francisco.

 It was followed by an A320 coming in from Grand Rapids.

 Normally I don't post doubles of A320s, but I liked this shot.

 An A319 arriving from Monterrey.

 I prefer to have my planes bigger, but I like the clouds in the background.  The Air France 787 arriving from Paris.

 It was a night were the planes were arriving from the south.  That meant I had to decide which side of the airport I wanted to be on.  Since I wanted to catch the MD-11, I was on this side.

 This particular plane was arriving from Memphis.

 Not sure what it was carrying.

 but it was nice to catch.

 It was followed by a 757 from Mexico City.

 As it got closer, I realized it was a special 757.

 the Spirit of Freedom one.

 I don't think I've caught it on this side before.

 I decided to wait for the A350.

 Or the Trash Panda as I affectionately called it.  I'll have to say that this plane is growing on me.

 And it was coming in from Beijing.

 I decided to head over to the other side of the airport to catch some planes taking off.  With 21R under construction, most of the planes are taking off from 22L and that means I get some decent views.  this Frontier A320 was off to Raleigh-Durham.

 Piedmont Airlines was formed in 1948 and headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  Like many pre-deregulation airlines, they didn't have hubs and flied mostly in the East.  It fell into the hands of USAir in 1989 which in turn fell into the hands of American.  I like this livery though.  This particular plane was heading off to Phoenix.

 A Spirit A320 off to Austin.

 A Delta 767 heading to Rome.

 Another plane that I was happy to catch.  American Airlines formally announced that they are going to retire these planes by the end of the year.  They also announced a schedule of sorts.  Sadly, these planes probably wont retire with the fanfare of the 747.

 This particular one was on its way to Dallas-Fort Worth.

 A Southwest 737 off to Baltimore.

 A CRJ-700 heading to O'Hare.

 this Southwest 737 was heading to Nashville.

 A Delta A319 heading to Washington DC.

 A Delta 737 heading to Las Vegas.

 A Delta A330 heading to Heathrow Airport.

 A 737 heading to Seattle.

 This particular 737 was off to Denver.

And I finished the night with this 767 flying to Frankfurt.