Happy Valentine's Day!

To everyone out in Blogger-land...Happy Valentine's Day! Today I'm taking a break from my usual posts to share with you a few quotes about love to celebrate this "Lovers" holiday.
Looking for a quote, go see my friends at
The Quote Garden!

Feel free to leave a comment, tell me which is your favorite quote, or leave your own!

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To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.
~David Viscott.

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Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking
in the same direction.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand, and Stars, 1939

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Love, and a cough, cannot be hid.
~George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum, 1651

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You know when you have found your prince because you not only have a smile on your face but in your heart as well.
~Author Unknown

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I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, I'll be back on Monday!

Coming Home.

Continuing on from our last post, we were finishing up the "thumb" of Michigan. After we left the Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse, we continued to travel south on Lakeshore Drive (or route 25) to the town of Harbor Beach. From their very unique (and well built) pier, we viewed the Harbor Beach Lighthouse. As I was walking up to the long pier, I couldn't help but get a picture. It really was a striking view how everything seemed to line up.


The pier @ Harbor Beach.

At the end of the pier, a distant view of the lighthouse could be seen across the harbor. I went alone to the end of the pier, Matt and Taylor were not up to the walk, so they stayed in the car for this one. At the end I met three fishermen trying to nab the catch of the day. They said,"...in the summer time the beach is packed with people lookin' at that thing." I didn't stay long since I was alone, it really isn't much fun looking at a lighthouse without sharing it with someone. The brisk walk back helped my body loosen up again from the days long car ride.


The Harbor Beach Lighthouse from the end of the pier.

When I got back to the car, Taylor was having a normal tantrum. She had enough of the long car ride and wanted to get out and stretch her legs too. We convinced her to wait a few more miles until we got to the Port Sanilac Lighthouse. Maybe there they would have a playground she could jump around on. Playgrounds or ice cream usually helps, either one and she is content for a while longer.

Port Sanilac Lighthouse was hidden at the end of a residential area, and we almost missed it! When we arrived at the light, Matt and Taylor stayed in the parking lot and walked around looking at the trees and leaves (a new hobby she was starting--collecting leaves). I started the walk out onto a heavily overgrown breakwall/trail. It was pretty thick, but not nearly as bad as Ashtabula was (see Road Trip Part Deux! post). I couldn't see exactly where the lighthouse was, so I thought the further I walked out, the easier I would see it along the coast. So when I got out aways I just happened to turn around--voila!--there it was right behind me! Oh, but that's not the best part!


Port Sanilac Lighthouse from the breakwall.

Apparently, we parked right next to the lighthouse and no one noticed! When I returned to the Jeep, Matt asked me if I got any good photos of it and how far down the coast it was. I could hardly contain my laughter while I pointed over to an ivy covered brick building next to the parking lot! At least we both got a good laugh. Here I am thrashing through the jungle when all I had to do was turn and look next to us!


Port Sanilac Lighthouse from the..um..Jeep!

Taylor got her much needed stretch, and mom and dad had a good laugh. We were now refreshed and ready to go...last stop for the day, Port Huron Michigan.

When we arrived in Port Huron there was limiting sunlight. I hurried quickly through the park and over the sand dunes to get a couple photos of the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse as well as the Huron Lightship. My body really got a workout trying to hustle through the soft sand, it was a race against the nature. My legs felt like two ton bricks when I finally made it back to flat land.


Fort Gratiot Lighthouse @ dusk.


Huron Lightship permanently docked in Port Huron @ dusk.

The water, what we could see of it, was very clear, very blue, and very turbulent! Port Huron is the southern most point of Lake Huron, the point where Lake Huron flows into the narrow St. Clair River. The water really gets pushed through this area and its amazing how fast it moves! Because it was now dark, we decided to put this on our list of places to return as well. We talked it over, when we finish the lights of Southeast Michigan, we will start from Port Huron and work our way down the St. Clair River to Lake St. Clair. We really wanted to see Port Huron during the day, guess we'll have to wait now.

Til next time...

Thumbs Up!

I wanted to take a moment and thank all of our new followers-- welcome everyone to our blog! I hope everyone can come back again and stay a while!

Now, on with our journeys...
This fall our family was given a few extra days of play than originally anticipated. Our family, working with the automotive industry for years, has felt the wrath of our weakened economy. We were hit by intermittent days off and lack of work lay-offs. So, to make our days a little brighter we planned another day trip to visit "the thumb" of Michigan. We left early on a Friday morning heading north to Bay City Michigan. It was another long car drive, but we were packed and ready to go. Boy was this going to be a long day!

Our first stop was the Saginaw River Rear Range Light. I called the day before our trip to inquire about visiting the lighthouse, but my call was never returned. What to do? With only two major highways going north into the thumb, we were going to be in the vicinity of the light anyhow. Matt and I talked it over and decided to see if we could view it from afar. Without any clear cut directions to the light, we had to use our detective skills once again. Unfortunately, there is not much to see, and we did the best we could. Access to the light is only available when the Historical Society is working on restoration. Next time we're up this way I'm going to call further in advance to see if they will be working at the light.


Our view of the Saginaw River Rear Range Light through an old factory yard.


After this disappointment, we had our sites set on traveling the coast up to the Port Austin Reef Lighthouse. Driving up the coast was very beautiful. The bright blue waters were a gorgeous backdrop for all of the beautiful cottages along the bay. With the light being offshore, it is viewable for miles along the coast. At every clearing we would peer out to see if we had a good shot yet. We lucked out when we came across a park just outside of Port Austin. Here we could walk out a long boardwalk/pier that took you offshore approximately 1/4 mile. From this we got a few pretty decent distance shots.


Port Austin Reef Lighthouse from a distance.

Taylor really didn't care for the catwalk, especially because she could see through it. So to keep her moving and make it not so scary for her, she got a ride from daddy.


Taylor & Daddy--the best seat in the house!

On our walk out we met a very nice couple constructing some sort of rock formation. They told us they had been working on this for a couple of hours or so, and were contemplating every move fearing it may topple. They didn't mind that we stopped and admired it for a while with them.


Here is their creation--almost 5 feet tall!


We had to let Taylor get some of her energy out from our long car ride, so a stop at the playground was mandatory. She played on the jungle gym and swings while mommy and daddy enjoyed the view. But as the saying goes...all good things must come to an end! So we hopped back in the jeep and headed off to our next stop, the Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse.

The Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse is off the beaten path between the villages of Port Hope and Port Huron Michigan. Located in Lighthouse County Park, the light isn't the only attraction we encountered. There were deer were everywhere! We really needed to stay focused on our driving so a deer didn't wander out on the road. Taylor had a blast watching all of the deer standing right outside her window!


Three deer wandering around the park area.

The lighthouse itself was very picturesque. I wish I wasn't rushed. I'd love to have spent more time here and maybe take in a tour as well. (the tours were done for the day by the time we got there--what luck!)


The Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse.

Matt and I agreed with so many deer we didn't want to travel too much at dark. If we had seen this many deer now, imagine those same deer traveling at night. So we wanted to continue on before dark. We had four more lighthouses on our agenda for the day, and the daylight hours were slipping away.


The Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse from different angles.

So we continued on...

More to come...

Road Trip Part Deux!

Making our way home from Erie Pennsylvania, we wanted to stop at a couple of lighthouses east of Cleveland Ohio. If you've ever traveled in Ohio during the summer you know construction is inevitable. Well, today was no exception. While trying to locate the Ashtabula Lighthouse we made a few too many turns and ended up getting lost! The Ashtabula light is not pictured in the guide books we usually carry, so we wanted to see why everyone says it's hard to photograph--we now know why. But for today the detours were hurting us...if you're keeping score it's construction 1, our family 0.


Construction always makes things harder.

It was getting late, and we've been circling for an hour trying to follow the detours with no luck. Before we left on our road trip I tried making our own directions on map quest, but our printer was on the fritz. So I wrote a few directions down hoping they would work, ha ha ha. Maybe in a perfect world without orange barrels and torn down bridges? After the detours were getting us nowhere, we decided to follow our intuition. If you keep the water in your sight long enough you will eventually find a lighthouse. Just when we were about to throw in the towel, there it was!


Ashtabula Lighthouse from the Great Lakes Marine and U.S. Coast Guard Memorial Museum.

As I'm sure any light buff will tell you, this view was just unacceptable and I wanted to get closer! So we headed down Lake Avenue which dead-ends into the Walnut Beach Park. We could really see the large attraction at this park was fishing. Everyone there was carrying fishing gear and poles. But today we had another agenda.

One problem, the lighthouse couldn't be seen anywhere. From this view point, the coastline makes a large curve obscuring the lighthouse behind an overgrown grassy marsh. Through that grass there was a trail that went in the direction of the light, so we went for it. We soon found out it was so overgrown with tall grass and weeds we had to walk single file down the trail. If you know me, I gotta keep going!

So with Taylor riding piggy-backed we started to hike the grassy lane. The deeper we got the less developed the path, the taller the grass. By the time we decided to turn around we were walking in 8' tall grass with no trail and spongy ground. Another couple ahead of us were also trying to walk out to the light. When we caught up to them, they had got separated and his wife was panicking in the grass. Everyone had enough and we all turned around. It was like a bad maze we couldn't find our way out.

When we finally got back to the Jeep, my husband decided he would walk out the uneven breakwall and get a photo for me. The breakwall was VERY uneven and with my clumsiness I would've fallen into the lake! Besides, how do you take a 2 year old out on the rocks? So it was settled, I would stay with Taylor while he walked out. We played games and colored for what seemed like an hour until Matt came out into the clearing. I was worse than a kid at Christmas, I couldn't wait to see what his pictures looked like!


Matt's photo of the Ashtabula Lighthouse

Matt didn't return alone though, he walked back with a local fisherman he met out on the breakwall. The older gentleman was telling us stories about the beach when he was a young boy, walking out to the lighthouse and how everything has changed over the years. He also told us how the walk was very treacherous and ever year it is getting worse. Matt said he almost lost his balance a couple of times on the uneven walk, so I was really happy I stayed in the car.

At this point in the day we didn't know how many more lighthouses we would be able to see before sunset. We decided to continue west towards Fairport Harbor Ohio. Maybe if things would have gone differently throughout the day we may have made it, but it was dark when we finally arrived.


Fairport Harbor Lighthouse at dark.

The village was hopping when we got there. Boy were we surprised to find that they were hosting their annual PerchFest festival. Because it was already dark, and we had a long drive home yet, we put this quiet village on our list of places to return. At this point we are still a decent 3 hours away from home. Making the most of our night visit, I used the night mode on my camera. Not too bad, grainy in my opinion though.


Fairport Harbor Lighthouse using Night vision mode

Below is an excerpt from their website describing the festival.

Lake County PerchFest(TM)
The Lake County PerchFest(TM) is Ohio's largest perch fish fry/festival. The PerchFest is held at a scenic 25 acre Lake Erie beach park, Lake Metroparks Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park. The Lake County PerchFest features live entertainment, additional food and crafts vendors.

A perch fishing tournament with a $1000 first prize attracts hundreds of fishing contestants. A karaoke contest with a $500 in prizes also attracts both contestants and a full tent of visitors. Improved affordable Lake Erie yellow Perch fish fry meals are the main attraction, selling 2,200 pounds of perch and 9,000 meals in 30 hours. The fish vendor uses Lake Erie Yellow perch with a special breading machine on site and fries the fish in canola oil. Walleye fish fries are also included, plus shrimp baskets and steamed clams.

Tours of the Fairport Marine Museum/Lighthouse is also part of the PerchFest plus youth activities . Youth activities include a youth fishing tank, plus other performers. More vendors, both arts and crafts and non-fish food vendors, also are part of the PerchFest(TM). The PerchFest received national publicity with a six minute segment on the Travel Channel program, "Taste of America.".

The Lake County Perch Fest is hosted by the Lake County Visitors Bureau.

Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park is about 40 miles east of downtown Cleveland off Route 2. Dates are Sep 11-13, 2009. Visitors from as far away as Seattle attend.

If you'd like more information about the festival, please visit their website.
http://www.perchfest.net/

End of another day, and a few lights crossed off our list.
More to come!

Road Trip!

With summer coming to a close, we were determined to visit all of the lighthouses on the Lake Erie coast. To do this we really needed to get our maps out and start driving. Matt and I derived a plan to start at the furthest point we felt we could travel in one day and come home. This way, wherever we left off we would be close to home.
Traveling with a two year old is never easy, let alone 3-4 hour car rides to try to entertain her through. She did rather well, we carried a lot of crayons and coloring books!


Taylor's travel tools

For today's trip we talked about heading towards Erie Pennsylvania to see the Erie Land Lighthouse, the Presque Isle Lighthouse, and the Presque Isle Pierhead Light. Up to this point, this was the furthest we had gone for a day trip. Our plan was to drive the first 4 hours all at once and stop at the lights on the return trip.
We had planned this trip 2 weeks in advance, so why be surprised when Saturday came we awoke to a gloomy, rainy morning. So what do you do? This was the only weekend available for the remainder of the month where Matt and I both had a day off together. We went for it! The closer we drove to Cleveland Ohio the lighter the skies got as well. When we finally arrived in Erie, the showers had slowed to a mist. So, we decided to have lunch first and see how the weather looked when we finished.


Hummm...guess where we ate?

After lunch, the sun started to peek thru. It was really turning out to be a nice day. Our first stop was the Erie Land Lighthouse. I'd love to meet the person responsible for the directional signs to this lighthouse! Yeah we found it, but what in the world? We felt like the mouse chasing the cheese! We spent way too much time zig-zaging through city side streets, one block at a time. It took us 30 min. to travel 5 miles! Needless to say I made our own directions from here out! I found a far better way to leave.


Erie Land Lighthouse

From this point, we headed to the causeway that took us over to the Presque Isle State Park. Well into September now, summer has "unofficially" ended on Labor day. We were a bit bummed, many of the beaches in the state park were now closed for the season. Note to self: remember sandals to walk the beach, and our bikes to ride all over the peninsula! We definitely are looking into coming back again and staying for a weekend next time.


Presque Isle Lighthouse

The Presque Isle Lighthouse was a very nice lighthouse tucked away on the beach. The day was really turning out to be nicer than we anticipated, so we opted to walk along the sand to admire the beauty for a while. We couldn't get much closer to the light unfortunately, the Presque Isle Lighthouse is currently used as a residence for park personnel. This was good though, we were able to walk the grounds of the home though.


The U.S. Brig NIAGARA sailing across the bay.

We had no idea the USS Niagara was going to be out sailing today, did we pick a good day or what? It really put you in the mind of what things were like back then. I wish we had gone back to the museum on the mainland and gotten closer pictures and information. As things would turn out though we were running out of daylight and really needed to keep moving.


Erie North Pierhead Light

Our last stop on the isle was at the Erie North Pierhead Light. We walked out onto the pier and watched the local fishermen enjoying their late summer catch. There was a lot of activity out on the water. Sail boat after sail boat came back into the harbor-- seems everyone was trying for one last outing before the breezes turned cooler.

We did stop and seen the Perry's Monument also on the isle. In full circle, this is the same perry in history that we have learned about for years at put-in-bay. The monument itself is much smaller than the Perry's Monument at Put-in-Bay, but what a striking resemblance. I may show side by side photo's later.

The sun is now getting lower in the sky, and we're not even into Ohio yet. We better get moving if we want to see anymore lighthouses before sunset! With that we end our Pennsylvania visit and start heading westward. Definitely on our list of places to return!

Want to see more? Check out their website below for more information about Presque Isle State Park.
http://www.goerie.com/presqueisle

More to come...