Crocuses are pretty much the distilled essence of Spring for me. What says “spring” to you?
Check this out bigger and in Al’s Flowers slideshow.
Michigan Wine Month: Vineyards and the Bay
Vineyards and the Bay, photo by mono1980.
Although the vineyards don’t look like this right now, April is Michigan Wine Month, a time to celebrate the vines & wines of Michigan. You can chekc out all kinds of Michigan wine information and events including the SUPER HUGE Michigan Wine Month Giveaway from Michigan By the Bottle!
Check this out bigger and in Josh’s Wine Tasting Traverse slideshow.
Check out the vineyard slideshow from the Absolute Michigan group and also vineyards on Michigan in Pictures!
1830s Sloop Discovered off Saugatuck
Stern of Mystery Ship, photo by Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates
Through Absolute Michigan we found out about a cool discovery off South Haven by Holland-based Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates in collaboration with nationally acclaimed author Clive Cussler and his sonar operator Ralph Wilbanks of the National Underwater & Marine Agency (NUMA).
MSRA’s historians have verified that the vessel’s construction and design is consistent with ships built in the 1820s and 1830s, making it perhaps one of the oldest vessels discovered in the southern basin of Lake Michigan. The vessel sits upright and is in surprisingly good condition considering it was built nearly 200 years ago. Exact identification will be difficult as these small, early sloops were rarely documented and most had wrecked or been scrapped before photography became available. MSRA will continue to research and explore the wreck during the 2011 season.
Underwater video of this new discovery will be shown at the annual “Mysteries and Histories Beneath the Inland Seas” evening event on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 7:00 pm at Holland’s historic Knickerbocker Theatre.
We have all the details (including a video and sonar showing the ship) on Absolute Michigan and you can learn about and register for the conference at the MSRA web site!
Check this photo out bigger and see it and a couple more in their slideshow.
Bullets & Torpedos, Seger & Sheen
Bob Seger 281, photo by John Rothwell and Fox Charlie Sheen, photo by Wade Bryant
Michigan had two superstar performances on Saturday.
By all accounts Bob Seger’s show in Grand Rapids was by far the more successful. You can click over to mLive for a review of show and highlights of Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band rocking Van Andel Arena that included a special guest performance by Kid Rock. Michigan-born Seger is on a nationwide tour that will come back home to finish May 17-21 with 3 shows at the Palace of Auburn Hills – details on his web site.
The second was Charlie Sheen’s My Violent Torpedo of Truth, which was violently panned by reviewers and the audience. Wade writes:
The show’s failure has been overblown by a lot of people and the media. My wife and I went out of curiosity. The tickets sold so quickly that within 2 minutes of them going on sale there were no adjacent seats available so we sat 13 rows apart. The crowd was mostly a young party audience. My wife figured they were expecting a big wild Charlie Sheen bash and that’s not what it was. Charlie came with good, if not slightly delusional intentions of gaining grassroots support for his strange ways. The people around me were quite respectful and seemed to enjoy the show. The people near my wife were booing, fighting and getting kicked out of the theater. It was an entertaining evening.
Wade has a shot from Sheen’s show that you can see bigger and you can check out several more shots of Bob Seger in Grand Rapids from John!
spirit of detroit redux
spirit of detroit redux | detroit, michigan, photo by s o u t h e n
Michigan in Pictures has more about the Spirit of Detroit by Marshall Fredericks and you can take a step inside the lobby of the Guardian Building.
You can see Ryan’s photo bigger, in his Detroit slideshow or purchase it right here!
jurrasic station
jurrasic station, photo by hardyc
You never know what you might find when urban exploring these days. More photographic fun today on Absolute Michigan.
Make sure to check this out big as a brontosaur and see some of Chris’s other work in his creative – modified slideshow!
Detroit Tigers Opening Day 2011
Opening Day, photo by Dave Hogg.
“You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen.”
~Joe DiMaggio on Opening Day
Today the Tigers open the 2011 Major League Baseball season in New York at Yankee Stadium at 1 PM. Get all the details on Detroit Tigers Opening Day 2011: Play Ball! from Absolute Michigan.
See this big as baseball and see more in Dave’s Opening Day 2008 slideshow.
There’s a whole bunch more Detroit Tigers photos from Michigan in Pictures – Play ball!
Get (April) Foolish at Festifools in Ann Arbor
tibihxE deeF toN oD esaelP, photo by jenny murray.
This Sunday (April 3, 2011) is the Festifools parade in Ann Arbor. It’s annual street festival of “HUGE PUPPETS and random acts of April Foolishness”. New this year is FoolMoon – April 1 from dusk to midnight. It’s a FREE event that invites you to bring your luminary (or kazoo / chicken suit / saxophone / what have you) to one of their three “Constellation Stations” and join fellow frolickers for the Foolish stroll! More updates about this Foolish weekend on Facebook!
If you’re not already familiar with FestiFools, you can get a sense of what we’re about by watching some videos on the YouTube FestiFools channel and at photographer Myra Klarman’s blog that includes a neat look behind the scenes at Festifools!
Jenny says that this was Anorexicsaurus or TyrAnorexicsaurus … from the Starvaceous Period. Check it out big as a bulemiasaur and in her Festifools slideshow.
There’s a ton more foolishness to be found in the flickr FestiFools group!
Big Sable Point Lighthouse in Ludington State Park
Big Sable Point Lighthouse (Ludington State Park, Ludington Michigan), photo by Michigan Nut.
I’ve featured Big Sable Point Lighthouse before on Michigan in Pictures, but most of you probably didn’t see that post. Besides, it was done on a day when the Great Lakes’ premier resource for lighthouse information, Terry Pepper’s Seeing the Light, was down! Terry’s Big Sable Point Light Station page begins:
In its report to Congress in 1865, the Lighthouse Board presented the case that “the interests of commerce demand that Grand Point Au Sable be suitably lighted” Congress responded favorably on July of the following year with an appropriation of $35,000 on July 28 of the following year. The State of Michigan responded by providing the Federal Government with fee deed to nine hundred and thirty-three acres for the station later that year.
Construction began in early 1867 with the arrival of Lighthouse Board and Army Corps of Engineers workers, who immediately began the construction of a dock at which to unload the necessary supplies for the project. Next, a temporary cofferdam was constructed to keep waster from entering the foundation, which consisted of tightly fitted cut stone blocks beginning a depth of six feet below grade and extending three feet above.
On this sturdy foundation, the skilled masons began to raise the tower. Constructed of cream city brick, the walls were laid five feet thick at the foundation, tapering to a thickness of two feet thick immediately below the gallery. Within the tower, a circular inner wall, eight feet in diameter supported the cast iron spiral staircase. On its vertical climb, the stairway passed through three landing areas.
Read on for the history of the Big Sable Light and see many more Michigan lighthouses on Michigan in Pictures.
See this photo bigger and in John’s jaw-dropping Michigan lighthouses slideshow. He says that it’s a two mile hike to see Big Sable, so bring a flashlight if you plan to see a sunset!
Charlevoix Railroad Depot
Charlevoix Depot………, photo by smiles7.
The Charlevoix Railroad Station to the Charlevoix Historical Society in June 1992 on the 100th anniversary of the first train arriving in Charlevoix.
When I was a kid, a friend of mine’s dad shot dealership posters for car companies. I couldn’t find the one we were in (fog machines and white clothes made it look like England as I recall) but I did find a 1957 Dodge Royal Lancer at the station.
Check this out bigger and in Julie’s Charlevoix slideshow.
Michigan in Pictures 