The wonderful myriad of color will be reaching its peak on trees in portions of the U.P. in the next couple of weeks. The Mining Journal is reporting that an early hard frost is beneficial to fall color. So those of us waiting on the color to begin can always head up north [...]

I do everything I can to promote the state of Michigan. I have avoided commenting on this whole state budget crisis up to this point, but I can’t take it anymore.
If on October 1, the state of Michigan does indeed have to shutdown our government due to a lack of a workable budget we [...]

Pike Alley, originally uploaded by Eye See 360.

Wow. I am eagerly anticipating the fall colors this year and just had to post this picture from somewhere in Michigan’s U.P. The mist rising off of the lake blurs the palette of color on the left and sharpens as the eye travels left to right.

The reflection of the colors in the water top things off and make it a definite favorite of mine. Bring on the fall color!

Yesterday I posted pictures of the new mural painted in downtown Constantine. Since then I have put together a little (only 5 seconds) animation showing present day downtown Constantine morph into the older downtown depicted in the mural. I think it’s kind of neat.

Watch it here if the video player does not appear.

A lot of folks from the community participated in the design and painting of this mural in downtown Constantine. Hardly a day went by this summer where I drove by and did not see someone or a group working on the mural. There is too much detail in it to show here in this shot.

Here is a panorama I created by stitching three closeup photos together. To get a better view, click on the photo and it will take you to flickr.com where you can click the ‘all sizes’ button at the top of the photo.

Click the blue marker in the map below for directions to the mural:

View Larger Map

Tomorrow I’ll post some detail shots of the mural showing how much work went into this plus a comparison shot of the actual downtown versus the one painted in the mural.

The Cyprus was carrying iron ore on only its second voyage and sank under strange conditions on October 11, 1907. Only one of the crew of 23 survived. The 420 foot long ship was discovered 460 beneath Superior’s waves by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.
The discoverers are hopeful that further investigation of [...]

Sweetwater’s Donut Mill in Kalamazoo was recently recognized as one of the 10 Best Doughnut Shops in America. The Kalamazoo based doughnut shop has two locations in Kalamazoo and one in Battle Creek. I have loved their donuts since attending Western Michigan University a while back.
My favorite is the Reeses (think Reeses Peanut [...]

, originally uploaded by myn91.

Wow! What a photo! The sun has melted into the waters of Lake Michigan leaving a wake of deep purples and pinks streaking across the horizon.

I love the dune grass in the foreground. It’s almost as if you are sitting there watching the sun go down.

Happy Friday Everybody!

Train Engine at Escanaba train graveyard, originally uploaded by All Things Michigan.

On our visit to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula over Labor Day weekend I did some exploring around Escanaba. I wanted to see where the old loading docks were for loading iron ore onto freighters so I followed the train tracks where they cross U.S. 2 on the east side of town.

After a few twists, turns and dead ends I stumbled upon this train graveyard. Old engines, cars, and other pieces of train equipment litter the rusted rails behind barbed wire topped fence.

A sign at the entrance inside the fenced enclosure stated something like, “No trespassing. Train fans keep out.” I obeyed the sign and parked in the lot for the Little Bay De Noc boat launch.

I was able to get some neat shots by leaning over the fence. I would have loved to explore and peak inside the engines, but alas I obeyed the no trespassing sign.

Here is a satellite view of the train graveyard. I don’t know how old the satellite photo is, but the boat launch and parking lot are not there.

View Larger Map

We visited Michigan’s beautiful U.P. over the weekend and I have to say that just like summer - it went by far too fast. I’ve been busy today getting out everyone’s orders from the weekend (don’t worry, they all went out today just like I promised ) so I haven’t had time to [...]