Walking the Pier

One of our favorite places is the pier in Grand Haven. We haven't been there as often as we like this year, but last week the weather was beautiful and the pier was calling!

It's a beautiful walk, with the channel on one side...

and sand on the other!




Looking ahead, we see the lighthouse and a gorgeous sailboat.

Blue skies and sunshine, along with a little breeze - what a perfect day!

Here's the back of the lighthouse.

And here it is from the front.

Looking through the catwalk, on our way back.

I've said it before, but we are so blessed to live near Lake Michigan!

Windy Day!

My two sisters and I always try to get together on Friday. We take turns going to each others houses and have lunch together. This past Friday, we went out to Grand Haven, to wander around downtown.
It was extremely windy, so we went down to the beach to see the waves.

This is the scene that greeted us when we arrived.

I love to see the lighthouse, no matter what the weather is!

The birds seem to be unfazed by the wind and waves.

What a sky!

As we were getting ready to leave, the sun came out.
When we got back to the parking area, there were vans and cameras there from 2 local news stations. One was interviewing someone in a wet suit, getting ready to surf.
I don't think getting out in that water looks good - better to take pictures from the sidelines!

Grand Haven...again!

You may remember a post I did a little over a week ago about walking the pier at Grand Haven. Well, this afternoon we went back again.
I was at work and kept hearing how windy it was outside. When I left work, they were talking on the radio about how high the waves were; 10-12 feet!
Bob had the day off today, so when I got home, we took a little drive to see the waves at Lake Michigan.

This is the water in the channel. As we were walking, water was splashing up over the boardwalk. We saw one lady get splashed and she ended up soaked from the chest down!
If you look at the pier in the picture above, you can see people at the left side of the picture, standing on the pier. The rest of the pier was closed to walking, which was good as the waves were sweeping right across it.

Look at the size of those waves! If you look closely, you can see 2 people, holding surfboards standing on the pier to the right of the inner light.
Yes - people were surfing out there!

Here you can see them coming in.

There is a little speck in the middle of the water, under the outer light - another surfer.

Here's one of those waves hitting the lighthouse. There is also another surfer in this shot - in the foam directly beneath the inner light.
It was fun seeing the lake in a completely different state than it was the last time we were there!

The Pier at Grand Haven

We went out for supper with friends the other night, and then decided to walk the pier at Grand Haven.

This is along the boardwalk, near the Coast Guard Station.

Watching the waves roll is in always relaxing.

It was windy, so there were some boaters having a great time on the waves. They don't look too big here, but were really washing over the pier at times.

There were quite a few people walking to the lighthouse at the end of the pier, which brings up a funny story. As we were walking, my sandal caught in an uneven spot and you can guess what happened. Yes - I felt myself going down, in slow motion! I saved my camera but scraped up my knees and totally messed up my pride! Being graceful has never been my strong point. :)

It was a good night for sailing!

The outer pier light.

The waves were splashing up against the pier.

What you see above is a little fish, that washed up with one of the waves. It took several waves to wash him back into the lake. When that happened, there was a big cheer from everyone gathered at the end of the pier!

The inner pier light.

It was a beautiful evening. Tomorrow I'll share the sunset!

Blustery Day!

In the words of Pooh, today has been a "blustery day" here in West Michigan. It was really windy all day, so a friend and I decided to drive to Grand Haven and see what Lake Michigan looked like in the wind.

Lots of other people had the same idea, so the road was busy. It was also filled with sand, which was all blowing up from the beach.

We were parked and looking at the waves, when I saw something coming in on the water. Do you see that dark spot on the bottom right hand corner of the picture? We were surprised when we realized it was a person.

Here's a close-up of the surfer, coming up on the beach.

He must not have been too tired, because he joined his friend and went out again. Take note of the sand blowing in the foreground!

We decided to brave it and try to get closer to the water to get a few pictures. I can honestly say I've never been out in anything like this. The wind was gusting up to 58 mph, it was raining and we were being blasted by the sand. It was hard to stand, much less walk! I know this is nothing compared to what some of you have gone through who live in the hurricane belt, but I felt like I was in a small hurricane!
When we got back in the car, my jacket was soaked, my shirt was wet, my jeans were soaked to the knees and coated with sand. We were laughing though, and were really glad we took the time to see this.