The Badger — Steaming out of the harbor, photo by Diann*.
Diann says that the SS Badger leaving its home port of Ludington en route to Manitowoc, Wisconsin was the grand finale of a great Labor Day weekend.
It’s one of a number of cool shots in her Trains, Tugs, and Ferries set (slideshow) and she has posted it in big, beautiful, background-class glory!
More about this Lake Michigan car ferry at the SS Badger web site and from Michigan in Pictures.
at Mackinac :: a composite from -3 and -43 by Emery Co Photo
Last night I was looking for Creative Commons photos* with the appropriate license of the Mackinac Bridge so I could photoshop up a little something for Weird Wednesday: Michigan Sea Monsters (be sure to go back and read this!). I love it when the last Wednesday of the month rolls around as I get a chance to indulge my love of fooling with Photoshop. I was especially fired up as this month’s feature from Weird Michigan by Linda S. Godfrey because it was the feature that I had hoped to run last year as the debut of Weird Wednesdays on Absolute Michigan.
In my search, I saw this photo of the Bridge and thought “Now that looks cool & misty.” Then I came upon this photo of a rock and said “Sea serpent ahoy!” The coolest part was that both photos were taken by Emery Co Photo (emerycophoto.com). I contacted her and she graciously allowed me to use them.
Hope you all get some time on the water this weekend and that everyone remembers that on the list of things we should be worrying about, sea serpents in Michigan come in somewhere around #23,432,555. ;)
*That would be the Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons license. There are also a number of people in the Absolute Michigan pool who have told me that they are OK with me manipulating their photos for features on Absolute Michigan.
Mooring Not Required, photo by ( Jennifer ).
Jennifer has a number of photos of this Amphicar at “The Sand Bar” on Torch Lake (located in Antrim County).
I don’t know if it’s the same Amphicar that appears in these pictures (music warning), but it might be!
The History page at Amphicar.com says that:
The Amphicar was built in Germany from 1961 to 1968. Total production was 3,878 vehicles. The Amphicar is the only civilian amphibious passenger automobile ever to be mass produced. 3,046 Amphicars were imported into the United States between 1961 and 1967. The Amphicar is rear engined and uses a 4 cylinder British-built Triumph Herald motor producing 43hp. All Amphicars are convertibles, and the civilian models were originally offered in only 4 colors, Beach White, Regatta Red, Lagoon Blue and Fjord Green (Aqua).
The Amphicar has a top speed of 7mph on water and 70mph on land. Hence, it was dubbed the “Model 770”. The Amphicar is moved in the water by its twin nylon propellers … The “water transmission” is a 2-speed offering unique to the Amphicar featuring single forward and reverse gears. In the water, the front wheels act as rudders.
Be sure to click through for old photos (including on with the Mackinac Bridge in the background) and vintage ads and check amphicar.net for information about Amphicars in the Great Lakes region. I guess we better have a video of Amphicars in action too!
The Last Sunset of July, Wishing You Were Here, photo by limegreen_kayak
Limegreen kayak says that the pier in Muskegon was a great place to see the last sunset of July and that if you have the time, view it large and on black. Take the time!
Round Is. sunset, photo by yooper1949.
Carl took this photo at Herring Bay in Isle Royale National Park. It’s part of his super-cool Isle Royale National Park (slideshow) which, in addition to having many more kayak photos, has some incredible views of this amazing Michigan park including a sweet shot of the northern lights over Amygdaloid Island Ranger Station (plus he has them uploaded at “wallpaper size”).
This weekend, July 17-20, 2008, head up to Grand Marais for the 24th annual Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium. It’s the oldest kayaking symposium on the Great Lakes and offers paddlers of all ages and abilities for a weekend packed with fun and learning opportunities including on-the-water classes, classroom lectures, kayak demos and vendors, social events, a race and of course plenty of opportunities to paddle including guided tours of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Keynote speakers this year are adventure filmmaker and expedition sea-kayaker Justine Curgenven and Sam Crowley, who circumnavigated Ireland in 2007 in a sea kayak.
This photo is part of Yolanda’s Somewhere in Michigan set (slideshow) that includes some
cool dock photos.
I just noticed this is the third photo titled “solitude” I’ve posted to Michigan in Pictures.
Big Red and sailboat, photo by ER Post.
It’s true we have challenges aplenty in Michigan, but how many other places have colors like these?
Happy Independence Day and I hope you all have something to celebrate!
Holland Harbor Lighthouse aka “Big Red” on Lake Michigan.
Here’s a few more 4th of July posts from the Michigan in Pictures archives:
Lunchtime is Laker Time!, photo by mdprovost and American Victory, photo by smiles7
Last Wednesday, mdprovost captured this photo of the American Victory under the Blue Water Bridges between Port Huron, Michigan and Pte. Edward, Ontario. On Friday, smiles7 photographed the vessel as she passed through Sault St. Marie on the annual Engineer’s Day. And then they both added them to the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr – how cool is that??!!
No word as to whether or not Kevin Bacon was aboard.
The Higgins boats discharge their cargo. (IMG_1314), photo by bill.d.
From the Things I Wish I Had Known About in Advance files comes this fantastic set of photos of last weekend’s D-Day re-enactment in Benton Harbor and St. Joseph (slideshow). Bill uploaded them all nice and big so be sure to cruise through that slideshow link. Or even better, download PicLens, click the set link and enjoy. (trust me on the PicLens thing – coolest web software I’ve seen in quite some time).
The 2008 Saint Joseph and Benton Harbor WWII Reenactment Weekend took place last weekend and was sponsored by the veterans’ organization Lest We Forget of SW Michigan. It was designed to teach folks about WWII history, veterans, and the equipment utilized and featured reenactments of the battles at Normandy (D-Day) and Peleliu (Palaus archipelago in the Phillipines).
Because I can, here’s a link to an amazing reenactment of the landing at Omaha Beach.
Michigan Women Antique Northern MI Bathing Beauties Card Love It, photo by UpNorth Memories – Don Harrison.
I am sure that the publishers of this card intended the title to be slightly mocking.
When I saw it, however, I was struck by how much fun they appear to be having and how little they care about anything other than each other’s company and enjoying Michigan’s amazing watery fun.
Hope you get a chance to do some beautiful bathing of your own this summer, and also that you check out Don’s postcards (slideshow) because he posts them big and has hundreds and hundreds!
Michigan in Pictures 