The Ina Passes Port Huron

And on Sunday, I headed up with a friend to the Port Huron area for a little bit of shipwatching.

 First up is the Posteam ship Ina.  Surprisingly, she has not appeared on this blog before.  There are many people who don't like the salties, I don't really mind them.  I think they bring a different set of colors than the ones I'm used to.

 The Ina is owned by the Polish Steamship Company out of Szczecin, Poland.  She was built in 2012.

 A shot of her bow markings.  The circle with the x indicates where her bow thrusters are.  The numbers show how much of her is under water.

 She is 492 feet long and can carry 16,900 tons of cargo.  I'm not sure where she is heading.

 Nor am I sure what that squiggly line means.

 A shot of her pilothouse.

 I really like her logo.

And one more shot as she pulls away.

Amongst the Wildflowers

There was a little trail behind the lighthouse.  I wouldn't have walked down it but something caught my eye.

 What caught my eye was this flower, which I believe is wild blue phlox.  This was at the edge of the woods and would have been enough.

 However, some trillium caught my eye.  So I wandered over to get some pictures of that.

 As I moved around the trail, I found more trillium.

 And then I saw the green and white variety.

 Another green and white one.

 And just a normal white one.

 And a pink one.

And then I was back where I started.

I thought it was pretty cool to see some trillium since I was thinking it may have been too late for it.  I was pretty happy to get a good variety of it to boot.  I could have wandered through the trail more to catch more of it.

Old Mission Lighthouse

At the tip of the peninsula is the Old Mission Lighthouse.  It was established in 1870.

 Currently it is a park and I don't believe it is an active lighthouse.  In fact, I don't think it has a light anymore.

 The lighthouse stands on the 45th parallel.

 Another angle of the lighthouse.

 I kind of liked this angle.

 I tried to get it through the trellis but I'm not sure I like this picture.

 Looking back from the front of the lighthouse.

 I was trying to use the stairs as leading lines.

And back where we started.

Amongst the Cherry Bloss

So next I wandered up the Old Mission Peninsula because that's where I remembered where there were many cherry orchards.  It's actually a pretty nice little drive and is sandwiched between the Leelenau Peninsula and the main part of Michigan.  It also splits the Grand Traverse Bay into two parts.

 I'm not sure how many tons of cherries are grown in Michigan but I'm pretty confident there are alot.  Last year, we had a warming period followed by a freeze and didn't help the area much.    This year, we had a late sprint and it looks like things are finally starting to bloom.  I suspect they wont get hit be a cold spell again.

 The blossoms are pretty though.  It was a little windy, so some of my pictures didn't turn out as well as I would have liked.

 Looking across the bay towards the main part of Michigan.

 Another cherry blossom.  It almost looks like they are getting ready to fall off the trees.

 I was trying to get three in one picture.

 An older orchard.  I think the frost also killed some of the trees last year.

 The Old Mission Peninsula also has several vineyards.  Over the years, Michigan has started to make some pretty good wines.

 A closer shot of that.

 I kind of liked the look of the barn in this shot.

 Another farm.

 As we were wandering, I stumbled across this church.

 Another angle.

 I kind of liked the look of this barn.

Looking down a row of cherry trees.

Wandering Up M-37

So yesterday I decided to head up to Traverse City to possibly catch the cherry blossoms.  Instead of the normal way I take which involves going up US-23 to I-75 to M-72, I decided to take M-37 up.  Although I discovered that I didn't start at its beginning but I was close enough.

M-37 starts somewhere near Battle Creek and goes all the way up to the Old Mission Point Lighthouse.  Like many of the state highways it is based on an old Indian trail.  At one time it was known as the Muskegon, Grand Traverse and Northport State Road and then the Newaygo and Northport Road.  It officially became a state highway in 1919 and in the 1940's it recieved its current designation.

 Much of M-37 parallels railroad tracks.  I first ran across this caboose and water tower in Grant, Michigan.  It is amongst the last wooden water towers in Michigan and was built by the Grand Rapids, Newaygo and Lakeshore Railroad.  It ceased operations in the 1966 but it was used by the fire department well into the 1980s.

 A grain elevator next to the railroad tracks.

 Another view of the water tower.

 Showing the C&O Logo on the caboose.

 The Mid-Michigan Railroad incorporated in 1987 for the purpose of acquiring rail lines from the CSX railroad.  At its inception it was owned by RailTex which also owned many other short haul railroads.  In 2000, it was bought by RailAmerican and is currently owned by Genesee and Wyoming.  It runs on a 56 mile rail line from Greenville, MI to Lowell, MI.  It used to support the Frigidaire Plant but with its closing, it now mostly carries grain.

 A typical grain car.

 Newaygo's history goes back to the French Voyageurs and Courier du Bois (explorers and trappers) who would explore up the Muskegon River.  It is theoretically named after Chief Nuwago who was one of the signatories of the Saginaw Treaty.  Originally it was formed as a lumber town and used the Muskegon River to transport lumber to Lake Michigan (and points beyond).  Its founder was John Brooks who settled there in 1836.  He would become it's postmaster in 1847. 

 I'm not sure what these buildings are.  But back in the day Al Capone used to stay in Newaygo.

 Just kind of a typical Michigan town.

 This building is now an antiques mall.

 The Marquette Railroad was established in 2005 and serves roughly 126 miles of track.  Much of it is on old Pere Marquette lines.  Its lines run from Grand Rapids to Ludington and Manistee.  In 2012, it was bought by RailAmerican.  It is now owned by the Genessee and Wyoming.

 Another angle of the train.

 It looks like they bought an old Union Pacific engine.

Like many of the highways, once you get up north, it is surrounded by trees.  If I weren't in such a hurry, there are some nice hilly parts.