Up North Weekend

I'm back from my little blogging break. We had a nice weekend in Northern Michigan, and enjoyed a little Fall color.  Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great.  We had quite a bit of rain up there, some wind and pretty cool temperatures, but we still had fun.

Our plan was to drive along the 45th parallel, across northern Michigan.  This is the mid point between the equator and the north pole.
We went with my sister Terri and her husband Dave and we left Friday morning. We headed for Alpena, MI, about 5 hours from our house. We live in SW MI and Alpena is in the NE portion of the state.

We saw some pretty color along the way, and thought this sheep pasture with the colorful trees was very picturesque!

We stopped and had a little lunch here, on the shores of Lake Huron.

When we arrived in Alpena, we had supper and then wandered around a little while.  They had some great murals on the sides of buildings, including this one with 3D fish.

Here's another one that we liked.

The next morning, we set out on our trek along the 4th parallel.  We saw several of these signs along the way.

This was our view for much of the day.

This is the welcome, on the edge of Ellison MI.  It's the Elk capitol of MI and this one is encased in glass as you drive in.

Another lovely scene along the way.

Our next stop was Gaylord, Mi, where they have a large Elk park.

Isn't he majestic?  I had to do a lot of walking to get this picture as he kept walking off to different areas when I tried to take his photo.

Next we drove to Elmira MI and hiked up a messy, muddy hill!  We were a mess, but it was worth it to see this view from Dead Man's Hill.

Bob and I at the top of the hill.

Here's the 4 of us!  Bob, Me, Terri and Dave.

This Cairn is in Kewanee, MI.  It was built and dedicated in 1938.  It has a stone from each of the counties in the state of Michigan.  I live in Ottawa County, and you can see our stone here.

We've now made it to Lake Michigan. These stones are usually all under water, but the levels are very low this year because of drought.

This is the Old Mission Peninsula Lighthouse, our last stop on our 45th parallel tour.

We would be spending the night in Traverse City. We stopped here, at the Grand Traverse Commons, an old psychiatric hospital which has been renovated and is now home to restaurants, stores and condo's.  It's a beautiful place.

We also stopped at the Grand Traverse Botanical Gardens, which are beautiful even at this time of the year.

The next day, it was time to head home.  We took a scenic route home, including a drive on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Loop.  It was raining again, so our photo stops were minimal.

This covered bridge is on the scenic loop, so pretty!

We had a fun time together and saw lots of fun and beautiful things.