When is the last time you planted a tree?

I sincerely believe that this journey we call Life, has always been not about now, but in planning for the future. If not, how can anyone hope for a future you can be happy with, and to live and grow in?

This weekend, Sheila and I participated in a huge tree-planting project in Wedgwood Park, a park we often visit for its trails, and with Sheila's grandchildren for its huge interactive and traditional playground.  

So we walked over Saturday morning with borrowed shovel in hand to the park, meeting up with many other Grandville, MI residents, and after a demonstration on how to prepare a tree to be planted, then moved out in small groups to areas where trees were sitting next to pre-dug pits, in today's plan to plant over 70 trees in the park!

That's a LOT of trees!!

Of the three types planted, White Birch was the majority, being an area native along with its adaptability to the climate. It was also very heavy as the many volunteers discovered, and had to be wrestled into 2-3 foot pits already dug and waiting to be filled. The roots were encased in a ball of clay making it even heavier!

Signing in to provide Hope for a Green Future!

Volunteers waiting for tree-planting to begin

This tree still awaits its new home

All this happened thanks not only to the city of Grandville and ReLeaf Michigan, but also through a green partnership between the city with the Davey Resource Group, the Lower Grand River Organization of Watersheds, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the Urban and Community Forestry Program, and the Grandville Community Tree Project. 

Words from Kyla Bos, Grandville Community Tree Project

More words and demonstrations of planting who know about trees

Getting out more words about tree-planting

This being written and posted after the fact, I'd like to say THANK YOU to everyone who showed up very early last Saturday morning in Grandville, Michigan to assist with the tree-planting, and to make the community more green now, and in the future!!  

Holes dug, trees ready for the new home!

Trees just aren't able to step into into their home by themselves

ABOVE: Newly-planted trees look nice in their new home
at Wedgwood Park!

When was the last time you planted a tree? Use any excuse you want: an anniversary, a wedding, a memorial for someone dear to your heart....  any reason!
Plan now for your future with a tree...  and for a greener planet now!

Enjoying Michigan's Upper Peninsular

So we have been back in Michigan again, and even took a few days off from our babysitting duties to visit the desolate area of Michigan's Upper Peninsular, also simply known as the UP (pronounced as U - P).

It's about a four-hour drive from Grand Rapids to the north of the  lower portion of the state, and due to its shape, is called the "Mitten". Well, we were at the mitten for a few days and enjoyed it. Then we continued our travels to the UP by crossing the long Mackinac Bridge, then heading north. We met people while visiting Whitefish Point, and discovered we were there during a big birding event. We have never been to a birding meet before, but if there's a way to ID birds easily while snapping away, then why not?

The Mighty Mackinac Bridge connects the U P with the southern areas of Michigan

We had arrived on a Thursday, and while we were seeing a few early bird arrivals, it was still quite early for what was predicted as a big event with bigger amounts of birds due to recent wind storms. While we were there Thursday and Friday, we saw over 15 hawks and over 50 Sandhill Cranes! To make it even sweeter, there were at least five Bald Eagles in the air too!

To be honest, since we arrived at "The Mitten" and crossed the bridge to the UP, we'd seen already an eagle each day, and sometimes even more, and it's always an awesome sight!

One thing we did notice about the UP is that we both had NO cell or data coverage! Almost a week later, we asked a local about  this problem, and were told that only one phone provider services the UP right now. We are both under a different company other than this company, which explains WHY we had NO service! Even after returning to the southern area of Michigan across the bridge, we still had NO service! We actually had NO cell service till after three hours on the road heading south toward Grand Rapids.

Otherwise, we really enjoyed the area! The vistas are fabulous, the people are friendly, and amazingly, the roads are fairly better than in most of Michigan, and MUCH better than the roadways in western New York (WNY)!

While in southern Michigan (south of the Mackinac Bridge) we already have already visited the International Dark Sky Park, and seen some of their area lighthouses. Did you know that Michigan is the one state of the Union with the most lighthouses? I never knew that!

Poor Sheila had to drive through a surprise snow storm that turned to white-out conditions at times while we were in the UP! We got through okay and stopped at a rest area to sit it out, as it continued to snow for a few more hours into the night! Smaller amounts of snow fell during the same week!

As a wrap-up to our UP portion of this trip, we stayed in a lakeside rustic cabin in the southern areas of the UP. For those not knowing the meaning of a "rustic" cabin, that means no TV or phone, wifi or water, no stove, no shower nor sink, and NO indoor toilets. The cabin DID have a tiny refrigerator and a smaller microwave. BUT We had the time of our lives then, and hoping to return once again when most of the hotels, campgrounds, and attractions and landmarks are open; we were told to forget visiting the Pictured Rocks area of the UP, since there may still be NO access to the area due to snow.

Within 3 days of arriving in Michigan, it snowed. Within minutes, this scene was completely white!

As of 29 April, we have now seen the lakes of Michigan, Superior and Huron within a two-day period (they all look alike - very watery). We have seen about five lighthouses during our trip thus far. We have (typically) walked in rain/snow and high winds yet again, though in a new different location, and we have spun yet another few numbers of the first three digits in the odometer of our spiffy minivan camper!

What's the highlight thus far of our yet-to-be-completed travels?

While camping at the UP area near the Tahquamenon Falls, we saw the Northern Lights!!! Even before starting our trip, we knew about a possible sun storm that would give us a great night lightshow during the early days of our UP trip. Though it was cloudy/overcast when we drove up, the overcast sky continued when we drove up to Whitefish Point, but took a detour to camp out under the stars. That night, I woke and looked straight up out the back window of the van. I started to see what I thought looked to be colorless swirling waves in the sky, and Sheila saw the same thing. I would also see what I thought to be a star, then that "star" would begin to bounce all over like a ping-pong ball, all the while the black sky growing lighter with those sky-waves splashing around and around over and over in the sky. After a bit of sleep, I woke again to see the same thing, but this time painted in a bright flaming red color BUT sunrise wasn't for a few more hours. It was so intense that it lit up the leaves of the trees over our van, and again, Sheila saw this too, though it lasted a few minutes only!

No pixs of the aurora BUT I was able to catch a meteor while in the U P

It was all just so amazing! My first probable Aurora sighting!! No pictures unfortunately and it was freeeeeezing and windy!!

Last leg of our trip, the clouds were gorgeous!

While camping, I built a fire then noticed the awesome sparks. This was snapped with my S5 handheld in auto-mode

More awesome clouds along the drive

This has become a familiar sight in our drives West to Michigan

Dramatic skies were not lacking during the drives

A look backwards to the sunset through the rear window

One of the sunsets viewed while at a rest stop

Back in western New York

It was a loooong drive back home, but we made it back safely. After 88 days in western Michigan, not including the week we drove to WNY to get new tires and have the car in for its annual inspection, etc; we only spent one night on the road to sleep but otherwise enjoyed a nice drive. It's over 500 miles on the roads south of the lower Great lakes, but this time we were delighted to have missed the worst of the rush hour on departure, and enjoying fairly good weather along the way. 

We saw only one bad accident that had westbound traffic backed up for several miles, but this is what can be expected when states set their interstate and highway speeds to 70 (or higher) miles per hour! When the speed limit is so high, I do not believe vehicles are able to stop within a safe distance. Only by encouraging people to drive so fast, is just asking for a massive loss of life and for future accidents of a major type to be the norm instead of the exception. 

You'll remember months ago WE were stuck in a major accident just miles from our Michigan destination, and traffic was at a standstill for over five hours! As you can guess, I am against high speeds for any roadway anywhere. Just because you can drive at a high rate of speed doesn't mean you have to....  and Michigan is a state where cars come up to your back bumper and ride along for some time, hoping you'll be frightened enough to move over so they can finally pass. How close is that "back-bumper" riding? You cannot see their license plates ~ THAT is how close they get! Add to that, the typical Michigan driver who pass you even when the lane has a double-solid yellow line(s), and on curves, and not even use their turn signals, thus building dangerous situations!

We enjoyed being with Sheila's grandchildren, the two twin boys who are more like rockets than little three year old boys. Add to that an adorable little girl who has a gorgeous smile and has now learned to crawl in a forward motion, and when we departed, is now standing on her own and taking exploratory little first steps, and it's a grand occasion to laugh and cry at the same time! 

What's most important - as always - is Family, and being there for each other. 

We enjoyed being able to see a tiny bit of Michigan's lake shores and lighthouses, and a getaway Thanksgiving weekend to the north staying in an old victorian house restored as a bed and breakfast. The Inn at Ludington was built in 1889, and is a delightful flashback to an long-gone era, but the breakfast was tremendous and delicious! According to their website, the morning meal consists of quiche, sausage potato egg bake, bacon, saute mushrooms, oatmeal, cereal, fresh bread, cinnamon rolls or muffins, fresh cut fruit, yogurt and, offering alternatives, such as vegetarian options and choices in meats. That sausage potato egg bake was fantastic, and I had two helpings of that, enjoying it immensely!! After breakfast, we stayed at the dining table and chit-chatted with several other guests for quite some time!

Talking of food, we ate fish and chips at a few places while in Michigan. While it was good, the quantity and appearance really lacked to what we get typically in WNY. One cannot beat the price and quality while in western New York for a Friday Fish Day, or any day of the week for that matter! We continue to get our Fish Fry at a certain TOPS supermarket store near us. You just cannot beat the taste, size and price!

Now THIS is a real Fish Fry!!

We also had time to search for, and photograph a Snowy Owl near Muskegon. As you know, we always attempt to responsibly seek out wildlife without scaring or flushing them, nor do we believe in baiting them in order to get a good picture. We were finally able to photograph one, but as usual, it was so far away that even with our long lenses, it was no larger than a tiny dot for us and the world to see! We've also seen quite a few Bald Eagles while in Michigan, and even along the route while driving to and from WNY and Michigan!

The Niagara Falls weather has been good too; during the past few weeks while in western Michigan, temperatures had been at, or just below freezing, and not improving, and that was without the chill factor considered. Grey overcast skies also do not make for good sunrises or sunsets either, but today Sheila dashed out to snap a sunrise, her first in four months!! You can also see the image at her website, and comment on her fantastic sunrise, as well as other lovely images she has posted! 

Sheila's fabulous sunrise on the Niagara River 
days after returning from Michigan

Work still continues within our humble tiny home, with great expectations for the future ~ so please stay tuned for exciting news. Once someone tells us of the excitement, we'll be sure to share it with you!

Here's another picture link of tonight's sunset from a different perspective  
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/golden-dark-reflections-tony-lee.html

ESCAPE!!

Yes, you have read correctly; ESCAPE!!

We are up to the highest point we've ever been in Michigan, though there is still a lot of Michigan to see!! Earlier today we braved high winds coming from the SSE, to snap a few pixs of the Ludington Breakwater Lighthouse. It's an interesting design, plus the rivets holding the metal sheets can be seen easily on the exterior walls. It was so freezing cold, I think my fingers fell off and I still haven't found them!!  ;)

Ludington Breakwater Lighthouse

I have no idea what we will do tomorrow, but it'll be cooold!!!