Travel by Any Means Necessary

Category: Project: State Parks Page 9 of 13

Wordless Wednesday: Chapel in the Woods

Chapel in the Woods//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

McLain State Park

Superior Self Portrait

Last summer, during our road trip, we made a stop in the Keewenaw Peninsula on at McLain State Park. The park had breathtaking views of Lake Superior and allowed you to view both the sunrise and sunset over the water, but it was in desperate need of repair. In my campground review, I mentioned that the bathhouse was the worst of the whole trip and the fact that the park had a bizarre layout due to the fact that the old campground road virtually crumbled into Lake Superior. Well, as I began planning our camping adventures for this summer, I noticed McLain was not open for reservations. I did some digging and learned that the park is beginning a major renovation this spring. Well, it seems like someone at the DNR must read this blog, because the first phase of the construction is going to focus on all of my complaints.  The plans include a new bathhouse as well as 30 new campsites and a new road throughout the campground. I am very excited for the renovations and will have to make reservations once its all complete.

About the Photo
I posted a similar photo shortly after our road trip and once I set up for that shot, I realized, it would make a great location for an epic self portrait. Sometimes, its fun to put yourself in the landscape to give it perspective.

Camera Gear
Nikon D3100 with 18-55mm kit lens on a tripod

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For more information about the construction plans for the park, click here.

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Muskegon Winter Sports Complex

Skating Trail

Towards the end of my winter break, we took a day trip to Muskegon to check out the winter sports complex. I had heard about the ice skating trail and that sounded like a lot of fun. What I didn’t consider about this plan, is that I hadn’t skated since college. At least the first half of our visit was spent on the ice rink, trying not to fall down. We finally ventured to the 1/4 mile skating trail but decided to play it safe and use these walker-like devices to keep from falling on our faces. It was a little embarrassing being lapped by 6 year olds, but it was still a lot of fun.

Skating isn’t the only winter activity offered at the sports complex. There is a sledding hill and miles of snowshoe and cross country ski trails. If you want to try something exciting, check out the luge. The winter sports complex is home to one of only four luge tracks in the entire country and anyone daring enough to try it will be trained by an experienced luge coach.

I want to mention that any time you are traveling in Michigan in the winter, it is important to pay attention to the weather. On the day we went, it wasn’t forecasted to snow at home, but traveling several hours west, the forecast was different. We arrived at Muskegon State Park to flurries coming off of Lake Michigan and terrible roads that obviously hadn’t been plowed. It was a treacherous journey to say the least.

About the Photo:
The Muskegon Winter Sports Complex is full of exhilarating outdoor activities and as I am not the most athletic person, I decided bringing my camera was a recipe for disaster. So, this photo was taken with the Lightroom App on my iphone.

Camera Gear:
iPhone 7 raw capture through the Lightroom App

Date Taken:
January 7, 2017

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. To plan your visit to the Muskegon Winter Sports Complex, visit MSports.org.

Wordless Wednesday: Frozen Landscape

Winter Landscape

Wordless Wednesday: Milliken Lighthouse

Milliken Lighthouse

Wordless Wednesday: Superior Sunset

McLain Sunset

Fort Wilkins – Protecting the Copper Country

Fort Wilkins B&W

During our summer road trip, we spent a day at the tip of the Keewenaw Peninsula, in Copper Harbor. One notable site in Copper Harbor is historic Fort Wilkins. I’ve visited a few forts in my travels from Fort Michilmackinac in Mackinac City  and Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West to Castillo de San Marcus in St. Augustine and there was something about For Wilkins that felt different. There are no stone barricades meant to keep enemies from invading. The buildings of Fort Wilkins look like small houses. This is because this fort was not built for war, but instead to assist the law enforcement in the Keewenaw. When copper was discovered in the upper peninsula, it was anticipated to bring lawlessness and chaos like the gold rush in California, but the miners that came were well behaved. When The Mexican American War broke out, the soldiers moved down to Texas and the fort was abandoned. After the Civil War, it was reoccupied to serve as a place for soldiers to serve out the rest of their enlistment. In 1923, the fort and nearby lighthouse became a Michigan State Park.

About the Photo:
With this photo, I was trying to go for an old-timey postcard feel.  This is a single RAW exposure, edited in Lightroom. I tried a bunch of different presets and none of them really did was I was trying to do, so I converted it to black and white and then did color and contrast adjustments until I got the photo you see above.

Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 18-55mm kit lens, handheld

Date Taken:
June 28, 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.

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Downpour at the Falls

Falls in the Rain

During my summer road trip series, I shared about our day of chasing waterfalls between Munising and Sault Ste. Marie. What I don’t think I mentioned was how, when we got to Tahquamenon Falls, clouds had rolled in. We climbed all the steps to the Upper Falls and it began to sprinkle. People started heading out in droves. We headed to the Lower Falls and that is when the clouds opened up. We’re not the type to be afraid of a little rain, but I was getting concerned about our gear, so we headed into the gift shop and hoped it would pass soon. Cell signal is not great up there, so I wasn’t able to view the radar. After hiding out for about 15 minutes it seemed to let off a little, so we staked out a spot by the falls and as quickly as we could, got a couple of shots then ran to the car to dry off.

About the Photo:
To be honest, this was such a quick, don’t let the rain ruin my gear, kind of shot that I didn’t put much thought to the settings. Because of the rain, the colors were very muted and not very interesting, so I converted it to black and white in Lightroom.

Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 55-200 kit lens, leaned on the railing

Date Taken
June 30, 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. To plan your visit to Tahquamenon Falls (hopefully without the downpour), visit the Michigan DNR.

Kitch-iti-Kipi

Kitch-iti-Kipi
Kitch-iti-Kipi, AKA “The Big Spring” is the largest freshwater spring in Michigan. When I heard about this place, I had to add it to our road trip. Yes, it added a few extra hours to our longest driving day, but the view was unlike anything else I’ve seen. The only way to see the spring is by large raft that is maneuvered onto the spring by a wheel that propels the raft along a rope across the spring. An interesting fact about the spring is that the water is always 45 degrees so even in the dead of winter, it does not freeze. In fact, when it is cold, the fish congregate in the spring because it is warmer than surrounding waters.

About the Photo:
The spring was very difficult to photograph. It was a dreary, rainy day when we visited so the sky in my pictures was unusable. The above photo the best one I got and I actually took it on my phone and did a little Instagram editing.

Camera Gear:
iPhone 6

Date Taken:
June 27, 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. To plan your visit to the springs, visit the Michigan DNR.

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Pure Michigan Beach

Beach Sunset

For one final summer hurrah, Chris and I took a camping trip to Van Buren State Park in South Haven. While deciding what park to visit, I knew I wanted to be on the water, but other than that I wasn’t too picky as to where we would go (we even considered going back to Straits but the lower campgrounds were already full) after checking a few times, an spot opened up at Van Buren so we jumped on it! I began looking into what to do in South Haven and discovered that our trip coincided with the Blueberry Festival. We always enjoy a good Pure Michigan festival! We explored downtown South Haven and walked out to the lighthouse (since it was a festival, it was impossible to get a shot of it without a million people in it), and got some blueberry jam at one of the festival tents.

This was my first visit to Van Buren State Park. Our site was very sandy, which made our tent very sandy due to the rain, but it seemed like other sites had more grass. The beach at Van Buren was just a short walk from the campground. Once again, the bathroom facilities did not live up to Straits, but at this point I wasn’t surprised. One of the strangest things about the park is that it wrapped around a working nuclear power plant. On the way to the beach you encounter a fence with “no trespassing, violators will be shot” signs posted every few feet. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet park and if I was looking to camp in the area again, I would definitely stay here again.

About the Photo:
After exploring the festival, we headed out to the beach to capture the sunset. I love capturing the sunset over Lake Michigan because you get an unobstructed view but oftentimes it is difficult to find a compelling subject. After taking a few kind of boring sunset shots I pointed the camera down and captured the colors in a reflection of the receding tide. To get the motion of the water, I used a long (1.6 second) shutter speed.

Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 18-55 kit lens, on a tripod

Date Taken:
August 13, 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. To plan your visit to South Haven check out SouthHaven.org. To book your stay at Van Buren State Park visit the Michigan DNR.

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