Palm Beach Lighthouse 9/27/09

On Sunday after Church we headed up to a Palm Beach and a lighthouse on a high beachhead. Karen and I went to this beach with Clarice last year and we sailed on the bay off of Palm Beach last year as well. When we got to the beach there were four or five sailboarders really zipping through the waves, within a few yards of the beach. I got several really nice action shots.

We hiked a ways down the beach and got to a set of stairs that lead up to the lighthouse.

When we got near the top we got some nice views of the bay. The one below illustrates how fast the sail boarders were going. It is unusual to see a wake that is that significant from a sail board.

This beach is on the ocean side of the spit of land on the right.

When we got to the top the lighthouse was worth several shots form several perspectives.

This view is our over the ocean in the general area where we were sailing last year. I suspect the the wind was too strong form most boaters to be out.

Jon, Clarice Karen and Jay on a high rock outcropping with the ocean behind us on the Left and the bay/harbor on the right.

On the way down we saw several flowers, it is spring in Australia and there were several opportunities to do closeup shots of flowers.

After leaving the beach we stopped a restaurant on a high overlook and had hot chocolate on the terrace.

First Day in Australia 2009

We got into Australia at 6:15 or so on Friday Morning after about 30 hours of travel. We went out for breakfast/lunch with Clarice while Jon took his on-line class. Later we did a little shopping and then went out for a walk on the beach. There were several kite surfers out on the beach.







Later in the evening we headed out to a local Italian resturant for dinner. Since we were pretty much toast we headed to bed a little earlier than normal, sort of, cause our bodies natural clock has a broken spring and has no idea what day it is or what time it is.

September trip into Michigan.

On Thursday afternoon, September 10th Karen and headed out for a long weekend/short vacation to Michigan. We had invited our friends Jim and Pam Kintigh along. Jim and I ran in the Indy Mini together this spring and were the “resident old guys” on the church Softball team in the summer. Most Tuesday nights after the games we would head over to Steak and Shake for a sandwich and cooked up a plan for this fall vacation.

We stayed in an older style small motel near Elk Rapids about 10 miles east of Travers City. Elk Rapids is a small town with about two restaurants and a fairly nice harbor, sort of a resort town with some walk ways and parks to accommodate the marine community.

On Friday we headed into Traverse City for breakfast and to see the sites. We rented some bikes and rode 20 miles or so on the rails to trails system.

In the middle of the afternoon we drove out on Old Mission Peninsula to visit some historical sites including an old light house of course and to eat lunch.

In the evening we headed into Traverse City in hopes of seeing some of the Schooners that were in for the Schooner Festival. I found a spot out on a long pier and was able to get several really nice shots of schooners in full sail. It was a pretty sight.

Saturday morning we headed to the Leelanau Peninsula northwest of Traverse City. We stopped in Suttons Bay for breakfast, a farm market and some site seeing and then headed to Leland.

We went to an historic fishing village in Leland and into several art galleries and shops. We did lunch in the village green

After Lunch we headed to Glen Haven to the Cherry Republic a business built on everything being made from cherries.

We then drove on to Sleepy Bear Dunes Park, did the hike up the dune and onto the beach. Later in the evening I got some really nice pictures of a sunset from a platform on top of one of the dunes.

Sunday we headed to Petoskey Michigan stopping at a couple of Art Galleries along the way. We did a walking tour of Petoskey, had lunch in a park near the water and headed back to Indiana.

Along the way we stopped at Hartwick Pines state park. There were some nice trails with some really old trees and some historic displays of a logging operation.

We finally got home about 11:00 PM or so. I’d say we got a lot done in three days.