One of the things I like best about this type of vacation was its spontineity. Lee Ann and I went up to Washington Island with no plans other than to 1) possibly visit some lighthouses (for me), 2) eat at KK Fisks restaurant (for Lee Ann), 3) read a LOT (both of us) and 4) have a bonfire (both of us).  (I’ve probably missed a few of the “things we gotta do” that we had agree upon, but the nature of vacation is that once you’re back your brain is so “relaxed” that you tend to forget some things - like what we had planned to do and didn’t). 

Most of those that know me fairly well (or have seen my office, or have been in my house) know that I like lighthouses.  When I first moved up to the Chicagoland area I was looking for something that I could do as a photography theme (I like photography) that would let me explore a little bit of this part of the country (I had never been in “the middle” as I like to say).  One of the things that caught my attention was the sheer number of lighthouses that are on Lake Michigan, and for that matter, all the Great Lakes.  So it was decided – I was going to drive around Lake Michigan and visit (photograph) all the lighthouses.

To date I have photographed 24 lighthouses.  This weekend I added 4 (4 of the 24).  Here are the ones that I visited and photographed.  First up are 2 lighthouses that I had to re-visit because the last time I was there my film camera started to break and I ended up with no pictures.

Next 2 were “dive by’s”.  Pilot Island (not pictured) and Plum Island.  These are 2 little, uninhabited islands that are inaccessible except by private charter, which I cannot afford.  They were taken on the ferry to and from Washington Island.

Finally, Lee Ann and I took a ferry out to Rock Island and then hiked (3 miles round trip) to the Pottawatomie Lighthouse, the first one in Wisconsin.  This trip turned out to be lucky because the gentleman who lives at the campground (that’s his job, actually, to live at the campground, so he is not some skanky old man who loiters at a public campgrounds) was at the lighthouse and opened it up and gave us a tour.

The pictures of the lighthouses can be found here.  This link will take you to another page on my website and will have a link at the top to get you back here (but only if you want to come back!). 

PS – How do you like the new face lift for my blog?

Toodles!

Vacation.  Nature. Relaxation.  Time.  Four ingredients to a perfect day.  Then add books and knitting and this makes a bomb of a vacation day.  My plan was to read 2 books – 2 relativelely short, lively books that should have not taken more than 2 days each to read.  I had even read the first book half-way through already, which should mean that it would take me one day to read the first book and leave me three days to read the second book.  Unfortunately it didn’t work that way.  Book number one is Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde, the sequel to The Eyre Affair, which if you haven’t read it – it is the absolute funniest book you’ll have read in a long, long time.  Jasper Fforde has the wierdest sense of humor that a man could posess.  His books contain bookworms that can fling people into books, regenerated dodo birds, Literature Detectives and neanderthols.  Sound wierd?  They are.  But they are some kind of hilarious wierd.

While the reading was slow, I think you can imagine that I can’t read and knit at the same time.  (I’m sure that some people can, but I don’t know how they do it – it’s like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time, something else I can’t do with grace.)  So while I was knitting, I was listening to The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski.  I’m only 3 hours into the story, and it is starting off a little slow, but it is interesting.  In one of the chapters, the story is told by a dog.  Who wouldn’t love a story as told by a dog?  As to the knitting, the pub was a little on the dark side and so the knitting was on the slow side.  I think I only progressed about 1.5 inches, which is a repeat and a half of the pattern.  Progress is progress.

The weather on the Island was perfect, although slightly on the chilly side.  It didn’t rain on us while we were up there – perfect! – but it was a little on the windy side.  We attempted to sit on a beach on Friday and it took Lee Ann about 30 minutes to get a fire going (sorry Lee Ann, your secret is out…) and it only took me about 30 minutes longer than that to freeze.  Lee Ann was gracious, though, and was willing to pack up and leave – after eating a few hotdogs, of course – couldn’t let the fire to go to waste!

I will have some more pictures up tomorrow – mainly of the lighthouses that we visited.  I actually got 3 stamps in my passport!  Woohoo!  (For those who don’t know, there is Lighthouse Passport program sponsored by the United States Lighthouse Society.  Each passport  has 60 “boxes” in it that can get stamped.  Once you’ve completed each of the first four passports you fill, you’ll receive a patch - bronze, silver, gold and platnum.  I’m at 5.  I think this may take a while.)

I’m sure that there were a few occasions that Lee Ann really wanted to vote me off the Island.  We are just polar opposites, though, when it comes to body temperature.  I am ALWAYS cold and Lee Ann is ALWAYS hot.  Never ‘tween the two shall meet.  Seriously.

There are a couple of firsts that happened to me.  I took my first car ferry ride.  If it hadn’t been so windy it would have been fun.  Once on the island, everything to Lee Ann was “just down the road” (actually, the “just down the road” thing had been happening for a while, I’ll only recount the parts while on the island).  She said that we could make it across the island in 5 mintues.  Well, I maintain that it takes more like 9 minutes, if one were to maintain the speedlimit.  (okay, small confession here – I did end up behind 2 slow pokes, so the 9 minutes might be a little inflated, but by only a skosh, which is still well over Lee Ann’s statistic.)

I visited my first Stavkirke.  This is a small, timber building that was used as the first church on the Island, dating back to 1890(?).  It was built, I believe as a replica of a Danish church from whence the settlers came.

We did a prayer trail near the Stavkirke.  It was very calming and soothing.  Here are some pictures of that.  WARNING: this link will actually open up another page not connected with my blog, but there will be a link to get back here, so click away.

We also did some yarn shopping at Sievers School of Fiber Arts located on the island.  They offer many classes on a large variety of topics, from basket weaving to wood working.  It seems like a really cool thing to do – but it seems rather expensive to me so I haven’t checked out the classes too much (just drooled a little, that’s all).  She actually walked away with a bag of material for costume making for Kat, the woman in charge of the drama program at church – for a buck.  Can’t beat that.

We also did some general schlepping things – none of which I can remember right now.  Maybe it’ll come back to me.  All I know is that it was a true vacation.

Click here to see some pictures.  This link will take you to another “non-blog” page, but there is a link at the top that will bring you back here.  But only if you want to come back.  Otherwise you can just “move on” and visit some other website.  ; -)

1.  Slept
2.  Read (Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde)
3.  Listened to a book (The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski)
4.  Knit
5.  Listened to a book while knitting (Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson)
6.  Sat on a beach for 10 minutes (and froze to death, but that is another story)
7.  Hiked
8.  Visited a lighthouse (4 to be exact)
9.  Hung out at an Irish pub and read (various, already mentioned books)
10.  Went to church (Lutheran)