Holland, South Haven, & Saugatuck MI; and Buffalo NY

As you can see from my heading, Roger and I have been busy visiting friends and we've been "on the move".  We stayed in our friends, Art and Carol Greene's yard where Carol and I had fun cooking and Art and Roger visited and we all got to relax for a couple of days.  We then met good friends Ron and Kathy Griffith in South Haven MI.  We spent 2 days in the area in and around the Sagatuck, which is a lazy harbor town with cute shops and great food.  We always enjoy catching up with Ron and Kathy but they headed off to Petosky MI and we left for Buffalo NY.

I was able to introduce Roger to two very dear friends, who I have been friends with for over 35 years, Art and Linda James.  Art is also my son Ben's Godfather.  The first night they took us to a local restaurant to have true Buffalo fare: hot & spicy chicken wings, carrots & celery with blue cheese dressing and roast beef on a kummelweck roll.   The kummelweck roll has kosher salt and caraway seeds on top. The roll is then  topped with thin sliced medium rare roast beef and topped with horseradish then you dip the whole thing in au jus. YUMMY!

The next day they took us all around the Buffalo Downtown area including Canalside and the Outer Harbor,  Buffalo is home to the end of the Erie Canal.  It is a beautiful vibrant city and was really buzzing the day we were there.

Roger in front of Niagara Square with City Hall behind

Niagara Square

Just a taste of some of the beautiful architecture

Buffalo's Statue of Liberty

Art and Linda in front of the tribute to the old bridges Canalside

Remote Control Sailboats Canalside

"The Big Adirondack" Canalside

Shark Girl bio

Shark Girl

Erie Canalway

Original Erie Canal Blockwork

The end of the Erie Canal from the Bridge

End of the Erie Canal

Harbor Lighthouse

Kayaks in the Harbor

Sloop in the Harbor

The Harbor is alive with recreational boats

One of the Marina's

More Harbor recreational boats

War of 1812 Flower Garden with the Ghent Roses

Military Museum

Military Museum

Buffalo will host the NHL Draft next weekend

Inside the Original Tim Horton's Donut shop

Bronze statue of Tim Horton

Tomorrow, our trip to Niagara Falls Canada.

Charlevoix Michigan and Surrounding Area

On our way to the Chain-of-Lakes Michigan campground we stopped at a beautiful roadside rest named Gros Cap.  We could see an ore boat that was approaching the Mackinaw Bridge.

Lake Michigan Bio

Ore Boat approaching Mackinaw Bridge

Wave Action

Yesterday, we were able to spend the afternoon and evening with good friends from Riverbend Motorcoach Resort, George and Lois Nienhouse. They have a beautiful home on Old Mission Bay of Lake Michigan.

George Nienhouse

Lois Nienhouse

Today, Roger and I made our way to Charlevoix Michigan.  We spent quite a bit of time in this sleepy little town on Lake Charlevoix, which is connected to Lake Michigan, when we spent one of our summers in the nearby town of Petoskey.

East Harbor

Lift Bridge and Channel connecting Lake Charlevoix to Lake Michigan

Charlevoix Beach on Lake Michigan

Light House at the Channel

Ferry Boat that takes passengers and cars to Beaver Island Wisconsin

Sail Boat coming into Charlevoix

Lunch on the patio at the Weathervane Restaurant

Charlevoix is home to Mushroom Houses and the Weathervane Restaurant is one of those Mushroom buildings. They are a collection of houses and one business that were designed by Earl Young and resemble, in some respect, a mushroom.

Tomorrow and Monday we will be spending time with more good friends from Riverbend Motorcoach Resort, Art and Carol Greene at their home in Holland Michigan.  Carol will be inviting two other couples that we know and enjoy from Riverbend, Bob and Trish Lamar and Ric and Cindy Brokus.

Door County - Day 2

Today we started our day by driving the Highway 57 side of the Peninsula.  The first town we came to is Baileys Harbor.  We stopped at Ridges County Park where we could see a very nice view of the town and some of the beautiful Spring wildflowers.

Some of the quaint Town of Baileys Harbor

This is an endangered species, proclaimed by Ridges Nature Sanctuary, but I don't know what it is. Debby Graziano, any ideas?

Yellow Stargrass

Wild Hyacinth

Indian Paintbrush

 We drove several back roads and ended up at Cave Point County Park on Whitefish Bay.  The caves created by the wave motion against the rock ledge are beautiful and the water is crystal clear.

Kayakers on Whitefish Bay

 

 

Columbine

 

Roger in the shade of the cedars

After we left this beautiful "find", we drove some more back roads and found Kangaroo Lake.  It averages only 6' deep so I would guess that it's not a fishing hot spot but it sure was pretty.

Kangaroo Lake

As you can see, by the background in the picture of Kangaroo Lake, the clouds were getting darker and darker so we decided to go get some lunch and head home.  Tomorrow we leave for Escanaba Michigan.