Mackinaw Island & Whitefish Point

Carolyn & I began the day by taking a 7:30 am ferry ride to Mackinac Island. It was probably the roughest ferry ride that I have experienced due to high winds and large waves. We were both glad that the ride to the island only took 16 minutes and that the cabin was enclosed. Tourist season on the island runs for 4 months per year. Of course, we're at the end of this year's season. Everyone was cold today (we were glad that we weren't the only ones). The locals reported that temperatures have dropped significantly over the past few days. Of course, the high winds didn't help the situation.

We learned that it is warm enough to swim in Lake Michigan during August and September. I'm guessing that it's still cold by east coast standards.


We spent the morning exploring Mackinac Island via foot and carriage. Automobiles were prohibited from the island beginning in the early 1900s.

Of course, I had to take the usual flower related photo of rose hips.

Here is an arch that is located in the state park that's located on the island.

Pretty fall colors everywhere.

A view from Fort Mackinaw:

Next, we headed back to the mainland and north to Whitefish Point to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.

Here's a photo of Mackinac Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world (between anchorages). Shore to shore is approx 5 miles.

Northern Michigan is very remote and beautiful. It looks like a paradise for people that love the great outdoors and hunting.

Here's an interesting set of directions regarding diving that was part of one of the museum's displays. Would you meet the criteria?

The museum had the bell of the Edmond Fitzgerald on display. Sad story but only one of hundreds of shipwrecks that have occurred in the area.

Here's a quilt made using the Lone Star Quilt pattern that Mom used on her quilt (yes, it was part of an exhibit at the museum). I found the impact that using like colors had on the overall quilt to be interesting.

We visited the shore of Lake Superior. It was windy and cold

with big angry waves (mid 40's). The Edmond Fitzgerald was lost about 17 miles from this point.

An employee at the museum reported that the average temperature of Lake Superior is 38 degrees. Sailing anyone?

Here are a couple of shots:

The stones looked like what I would call river rocks, smooth and round. I didn't have any luck finding any "sea" glass but I'm not sure that it could survive the lake very well. Notice the dark pieces of wood that have washed up on the shore.

Please note that not all of my pictures contain flowers.

After a long day, it's back to Mackinaw City for dinner. Here's the beautiful bridge at night. I was pleased that my camera almost did it justice.

Tomorrow, we're heading south back to northern Indiana and milder weather.

Indiana & Northern Michigan

We arrived on Saturday afternoon. Ended up spending a little more time in Indianapolis than planned but went to a quilt show while there. This one dated back to the Civil War. All of us like the pattern.

Spent some time on Sunday afternoon looking through lots of old photos with Mom, Paul, and Christine. Here's an interesting one that illustrates how sweet and innocent all of us really were (Clean too!). Please note how Carolyn looked up to me even then.

Off to dinner with the family. It's always nice to see and visit with everyone. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to come.

On Monday, Carolyn & I headed for Michigan and found us a couple of Big Boys. It was the best we could do! Carolyn recalled the "Big Boy" piggy bank that she had when she was young. If I remember correctly, it was a gift from Mom and Dad when they went to Nashville leaving us behind.

The fall colors are lovely just like I had hoped with lots of reds. We also enjoyed the tremendous variety of evergreens...like seeing Christmas trees everywhere. Many were such a rich shade of blue/green that they looked as if they had been painted.

The lake looked choppy with lots of waves. At one point today, we even saw people surfing in Lake Michigan. Of course, they had on wet suits. We knew we had arrived in Mackinac City when we saw the towers for the suspension bridge. Upon arrival, advisories were posted due to high winds (65 mph) with speed limits of 20 mph for tractor trailers. We decided to cross the bridge tomorrow and take a ferry over to Mackinac Island (lets hope the winds are calm!!!!).

Pad Thai Inspired Stir Fry

I enjoy Thai food. Two of my favorites are Pad Thai and Thai Fried Rice. This evening, I decided to create a stir fry that included some of my favorite ingredients from both dishes along with lots of other veggies. I stir fried asparagus, snow peas, broccoli, red pepper, carrots, minced garlic, pickled onion, pickled ginger, fresh pineapple, raw cashews, mushrooms, and tofu in 1/2 tsp of chili sesame oil. 1/2 tablespoon of Pad Thai sauce was added. (All of the bold faced items are used in the either Pad Thai or Thai Fried Rice.) I enjoyed the mixture with 1/4 cup of white rice and 1 tbsp chili honey sauce. My need for Thai food was met. Bean sprouts and some fresh lime juice would have been good as a final garnish but I didn't have any readily available.

Thank goodness for vegetable oil spray and non-stick pans. Otherwise, using 1/2 tsp oil to stir fry would not have been possible. I cut the tofu into small strips. After stir frying, they had an interesting chewy texture.

At an estimated 300 calories per serving, my calorie consumption should be much lower than I'd consumed had I ordered from the restaurant.

Eat to Live

I've tried a couple of recipes that I gathered from Karen and from the Moosewood Cookbooks including pickled onions made with slices of purple onions and champagne vinegar, creamy Italian dressing made with tofu, and country chili made with TVP. The pickled onions and dressing were great on a salad made with romaine, green peppers, chopped pepperoncini peppers, chopped kalamata olives, and carrots. I've also decided that fresh spinach is a great addition to lentil soup.