Sisters Day Away

 I don't often have the chance to go out and do something fun with my sisters.  We all work and although we get a day off during the week, it's not the same day as each other.

A few weeks ago, my sister Terri told me she had to use a vacation day and wondered if I wanted to do a little day trip on my day off.  Of course I did!

It's not so easy figuring out what to do in Michigan in February, but we decided to take a trip to Ludington.  It's about 1 1/2 hours north of us, is on Lake Michigan, has 2 lighthouses, a big car ferry and is a cute little town.

We were so lucky, to have the most beautiful day to do this.  Sunshine, blue skies and temps in the low 40's, all of which are extremely unusual in February.  (The next day was cloudy with high wind warnings, and the day after that, we got hit with a snow and ice storm!)

About halfway there we passed these wind turbines.  When you get close to them, you see how huge they are.  Occasionally we see a truck hauling these blades, and each individual blade is longer than a semi truck.

When we got to Ludington, we made our way to Lake Michigan and one of the lighthouses.

We noticed lots of sea gulls, standing out on the ice.

The rocks making up the break wall were covered in ice.

Here's Terri braving the wind so I could take her picture.

Isn't that blue sky pretty?

We walked out to the end of the pier, and when I stepped through the rails at the end, she took my picture.  Never fear, I stayed far away from the edge.  That water looked far too cold to get close to.

There were large sheets of ice floating on this section of the lake.

When we walked back, we saw this little stack of stones someone had been working on.

The beach area was pretty desolate - no sun bathers this time of year!

This is the type of ice near the beach.

Doesn't it look pretty in this large area?

This is called pancake ice and it was stacking up on one side of the pier.

After we left the lake, we drove around town and saw some of the beautiful, old houses that are there.
We stopped for lunch in this old building that has been renovated.  It had old wooden floors, one wall was brick, tin ceilings, and our booth was in a little alcove.  Lots of charm and the food was good too!

After lunch, we walked around town and did just a little shopping.  Lots of the stores are open only on the weekends because it's a tourist town and the tourists come in the summer.  Several of the buildings had murals like this on them which were fun to see.

Soon it was time to head home.  What a great day!