Spring Golden Hour

"Bullfrog Pond"

Lower Peninsula Splendor

"Beauty and the Beast"

Pier fishing with "little" success

As a wrap up to last weekend's fun Chels and I made a trip to our favorite Lake Michigan beach: Portage Point.

This place holds many special memories and offers, what I believe to be, one of the most beautiful spots to access the big lake.

It was a blustery day for early June, but in an effort to do all that we wanted to do, nature be damned, we cast our lines regardless of conditions.

I was unsuccessful on the North Pier (we should have opted for the deeper water offered from the South Pier, next time) however Chelsea managed to reel in this whopper:

Tech Sweatshirts in June, Love Michigan!

Onekama's North and South Piers

Cryptic Messages on the porta-pottie walls.

-J

You can make the world a better place.

When you enjoy something you try your hardest to keep it nice; like your car, if you want it to last you have it maintained regularly, wash and wax it and avoid unnecessary wear and tear. What about other things that you enjoy? If you are a religious person you give your penance to keep your parish running so that others may be enlightened as you have been.

What about Earth? I can honestly say that one of the worldly possessions that I hold dear to me is the world itself. Obviously I reap the benefits of enjoyment of diverse seasonal changes that bring about a kaleidoscope of colors, I relish in newly fallen snow and the thunderous downpours of the spring, summer and fall. I live for walks on endless sandy beaches and the ability to hop into the water without fear or harm or sickness. And I find great pleasure in the moments when I get to experience nature without the encumbrances of human interception.

What if, however, I was not so fortunate? What if the trails were lined with Cheetos bags and pop bottles? What if every time I dove into the water I had to fight my way through a slew of floating man-made debris and garbage?

What a terrible world that would be. This post is not intended to be in support of any political position of in contrast to any ideal of the free market. I am writing it to inspire you.

I want you to take the extra 0.00001 second to bend over and pick up a bag or bottle, or paper scrap when you are out enjoying the world. I usually carry a plastic bag with me to fetch trailside/ beach garbage. It takes no extra effort on my part and the world is a better place for it. I am in no way tooting my own horn, merely illustrating how one person is choosing to make a difference, in hopes that you too do your part, however big or small. Nothing is insignificant in this world.

This past Fall we took a short walk on the Lake Michigan shore near my hometown of Onekama, and in the span of 15 minutes I collected the following:

It took nothing extra to pick these up and our return trip was all the more beautiful as a result. I would like to think that maybe the next person to walk the beach found it to be clean and enjoyed it all the more. If all you do is to restore that which is damaged to its original state you have done your part.

If we all just do this a little more, then we can enjoy things like this forever:

Thank you for listening. Enjoy this week.

-J

Pic 'o the day 1//27/2011

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.

With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go it was bigger than most
With a crew and the Captain well seasoned.

Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ships bell rang
Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.

The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane West Wind

When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it's been good to know ya.

The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her.

They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the ruins of her ice water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams,
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.

And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.

Great song, great skies over Lake Michigan, late fall

Prepping for some summer fun out in the boats! I am very excited to take these things out the first chance I get. If there was a safe way to get them out into Lake Michigan so that we could paddle up to the huge ice mountains on the shore that would be awesome. Maybe the best place to do this would be from a pier, it would probably be calmer in a channel.

Well, there you have it, today's inspiration; me, getting ready for some sunny paddlin'.

I am ready to work out!

-J

Today's Inspiration:

I know you have all seen this picture before (if you really read the blog that is!). If you are not an avid reader well then look here for the full details!

Anyway, I love to snowshoe, and today's inspirational shot is of Chelsea snowshoeing. It inspires me to keep in shape so that we can continue to do things that we love, and also so that we can experience new things!

What kind of new things? Well: biking, rockwall climbing, slacklining and cross-country skiing to name a few!

Hope your weekend went well.

-J

One week and counting, plus a cool tidbit!

Dear followers,

the time is coming when I will be shoving off for about 10 days to pursue adventures of New England and I am very excited.

Mostly I am excited for Acadia:

I took out my new Stylus Tough 8010 today in some pretty harsh conditions: temp 55f, winds 20mph+, Lake Michigan Spray: 5-6' above pier.

As is the case most of the fall, the lake offers a beautiful, moody backdrop to any shot.

It was very cool.

That pic above was taken after I was drenched by a large wave. All it took was a quick wipe down of the lens cover and the Stylus was ready to continue shooting. I have not gotten much use out of it yet, but I can already see this becoming a go to piece of gear for me! It also came with some cool "ib" software program that I am excited to learn how to use.

In other news it is nearly my birthday. The best present that you all could give to me is to continue reading my blog, commenting, following it and telling your friends. Whenever you see something interesting or fun or informative just link it to your Facebook or Twitter. Every little bit helps. Thank you all very much.

While out east I will have very limited connectivity, however The Timster and I will be making daily stops at coffee shops and McDonald's in order to post news of our travels!

Cool Tidbit: Random Stream was recently featured on http://www.facebook.com/FirstAscent?ref=ts for our review of their shell! I would like to thank them for recognizing RSOC, and encourage them to keep up the good work. Glad to see them pairing up with Moosejaw too!

You will be seeing this flag all over the place in New England representin like what what!

Well well well, the time has come to fuel the beast inside with some of Gram's Ham! Family Birthday dinner is nearing. Take care. Fishing in the morning. Hopefully tomorrow night I will have some shots of steelies and salmon for you, as pier fishing was too blustery today to amount to much.

-J

Spring Break at the beach

So I omitted a small portion of my Spring Break from the last post.

I did get a chance to go to the beach, Portage Point that is. I welcomed the brisk wind of the day and took advantage of some great lighting for pics.

Enjoy:

-true symbolism of America unfortunately, frozen and rusting.

A few quick shots of the channel from the development site atop Onekama:

After the beach I went to Glen Park for a quick walk. The quaint park was so pretty under the canopy of the leafless trees:

Onekama, so pretty, and in your backyard. Love Michigan.

-J

Updates and a busy year ahead of me

Ok, so as with everyone of my other posts I will start out by saying that I have not updated in a while. Got that out of the way. Since the pre-4th of July post I have been on many adventures, and picked up a new hobby or two and taken some adventurous trips!

So to start out:

4th of July: We took the first, of what is to hopefully become an annual event, hike along the shore from Onekama to Arcadia.

It was a looong nine miles, and we braved a mini rainstorm but the things taken from the trip were well worth it.

The journey started out by finding an infinity shaped clump of seaweed which was a symbol that nature is everything. Further down the beach we came upon a true rarity, the remains of a sturgeon. This was quite possibly one of the coolest thing that I have ever seen in my whole life, due to their near extinction sturgeon sightings are definitely unique. It's a shame that this one was dead.

Nearing the end of our trip we feared that we would only leave with pictures and blisters, however much more was in store. Beneath the Arcadia Bluffs we happened upon two huge Petoskey Stones while searching for golf balls.

-one of the two large Stones we found

Following the Onekama-Arcadia trek I showed Chels the joy of kayaking on several short excursions in Portage Lake. During one of the trips we found ourselves in the middle of a sailboat race. Below are a few shots from our trip.

The fall brought a few hikes and trips home, but nothing too adventurous as I was studying for the LSAT and trying to get things in order for the upcoming year. However we did get the chance to walk around some family property and snap a couple shots of the beautiful fall color before it was blanketed by snow.

Finally with the LSAT behind me we celebrated a wonderful Christmas in the company of our great families. In fact, this could possibly have been the best I have ever had. Chels got me a Wii, which we have made good use of in the cold months, my grandparents got me a handgun and Chels's mom gave me money that I used to fuel our new favorite wintertime hobby; snowshoeing!

Talk about a healthy addiction, if you have never tried this relaxing sport you need to strap a pair of them on and go explore the places that are usually unreachable in the winter. Great investment.

With the passing of winter and spring upon us my brother and I decided to make good use of a decent day during our spring break and take to the Manistee River.

The trip took much longer than originally planned, you see we thought that it was 5-8 miles when in fact it turned out to be more like 22 miles and took about 6 hours. However it was a great trip, the ice cold river was refreshing. Found a few rapalas, fished a while and endured on and off sprinkles.

All in all it was a good trip.

This brings you up to date with the major outings of the past year.

For the future, I will be graduating from FSU in a few weeks, and going to law school in January. At first I was a little put off by the later start, but I now see the time off as much needed, and a chance to breath. Chels and I will also be using the time off to take as many adventures as we can. Some ideas include: Manistee River Trail Hike, as many kayaking trips as possible, multi-day camping in the UP and a trek to the East Coast around D.C. If you have any other ideas for us to try out I am happy to hear of them, preferably in the Northern Michigan area.

That is all for now, hopefully I will post frequently more on here, but time will tell. We also plan on beginning to review products as well under HopeThisWorks Productions, with links for the best places to find gear that we trust.

Take care, and remember that some of the bes adventures are not half way around the world, they are right in your backyard.

-j