June 16, 2003 - St. Clair, MI - 7
YIKES!! Almost caught up again! Must be time to go sightseeing. This is a parking lot in St. Clair, and I wanted you to see the "red" pickup. That grayish colored mud is all over these cars and trucks in this area. Wasn't until after a good rain we saw why. The roadways in MI are giving CA a run for its money for having the worst roads in America. The patches they do to the highways and side roads, all seem to have this clay sort of dirt in them, and as soon as it rains, the clay turns to mud, and every body wears it for a while. We'd gone south on Hwy 29 from Port Huron after sneaking into Canada to get some literature on Ontario to see if we'd go through Canada on our way to Niagara Falls, and approaching the town of Marine City, here's one of Barb's favorite houses. She just loves those cylindrical corners with curved glass in the windows.
Another shot of the extremely well kept house (small sign indicated it was a Bed &Breakfast) and then guess what. Us under the awning! What a surprise! Neither of us could remember the last time we'd been in weather nice enough to take out the awning, and then sit under it. What's that between my red cone that helps me not bang my head on the awning rod, and Barb?
Why, it's Caboose the goose, in her sundress. We finally have a pet. She's right at home, too.
Caboose is pretty comfortable in either a man-made or natural environment. And then it rained in a couple of days, and she couldn't stay in her sundress, now could she? And no snide remarks about all the pictures of her, either, OK? New pets, new babies, new anything deserves plenty of pictures early on.
There now. It stopped raining and then next day it was time to do some gardening. (I really didn't know I'd taken so many pictures of her, really I didn't.) Lake Huron (one of the Great Lakes) is huge! We've never seen a body of fresh water this big in our lives. We're driving north on Hwy 25 along the eastern side of the "thumb" of the Michigan on our way to Bad Axe. This is a state-owned marina. Pretty empty, as the weather has been, well, to say it politely, rotten!
That dog (mostly pup) was literally leaping out of the water to return the stick to its master. And then just a shot of a little spit of land going out into the huge lake.
Lighthouses are a big deal here. A park devoted to one of them, and then some lawn art in front of a home nearby.
This isn't the low-rent district by any means. Neat place here at the top of the thumb. Port Austin is the name of the town.
And then the main reason we took this trip up the thumb. To see Eleanora. Sharon's mom. As in Steve and Sharon Wilkins, our friends from Kirkland, WA, that we've known since 1983 or so. George passed away a short time ago, and Eleanora is adjusting pretty well. Talking about going back to playing golf again, and we sure hope she does. She does really neat needlepoint and cross stitch work, and on the right is the first piece she ever did (hard to see the incredible detail, but it's a rendition of Noah's Ark).
I was (am) impressed by the colors she has in the sky. Most of her work seems to have horses and buggies in it.
And that's just in case you thought I was pulling your leg by telling you we were going to Bad Axe, MI. There really is such a town. This sign is located at the town's railroad station. Pretty big town, too. Had a Lowes and a Home Depot, a Wal-Mart that is being enlarged into a SuperStore, and everything. And hard as it is to believe, I think we're caught up for now except for a few shots left in the camera.