Roadside Ramblings in the Michigan Radio Picture Project

Posted on by farlane

towers
towers, photo by mfophotos

This “castle” in Owosso was actually a place used for entertainment and a writing studio for James Oliver Curwood. Now owned by the city of Owosso, it overlooks the Shiawassee River. Curwood made a living as a writer of wilderness adventure stories, some of which became screenplays for early movies. The castle was constructed to resemble a French chateau. August, 2009.

The above picture is one of many in the latest photo essay at the Michigan Radio Picture Project: Roadside Ramblings, the photography of Mark F. O’Brien. Mark is a regular on Michigan in Pictures (as is his daughter Marjorie) and shoots with all kinds of cameras. He writes:

Michigan is a state criss-crossed with highways. As the home state for the auto industry, the roads have played an important part in connecting communities, bringing in tourism, as well as being the main thoroughfare for commerce. Exploring Michigan’s roads, whether the major highways or the gravel backroads, has become one of my photographic pursuits. I often shoot with a “toy camera” — simply a plastic camera with a cheap plastic lens, limited exposure control, and infinite possibilities for photography. While I use all kinds of really nice cameras, it’s the Holgas, Dianas, and thrift-shop wonders that produce many of my most memorable and endearing photographs.

A full tank of gas, some maps, and a few cameras inevitably leads to a long day traversing some part of the state. If one is curious enough, just traveling all of the roads in a single county can take a long time to complete. Driving around and letting serendipity take its course is one way of learning about my state, as well as coming back with some photographs that sometimes offer a surreal aspect of what’s off the side of the road.

Click through to see the photos and I hope you get to do some roadside rambling of your own this weekend or soon!

Be sure to check this out bigger and also his whole Michigan Roadsides set (slideshow).

Seney and the Seney Stretch

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

The Seney Stretch

The Seney Stretch, photo by Justin Bugsy Sailor.

Today is the last Wednesday of June, and on Absolute Michigan, that means it’s a Weird Wednesday. Today Weird Michigan author Linda Godfrey has a piece on Shocking but Scenic Seney that features Hemingway and the Ogre of Seney and the seedy history of this town that you’ll want to check out.

Hunt’s UP Guide says that while Seney was once the Upper Peninsula’s most raucous lumber town with a population of 3000 – now just 300 – today Seney is best known as the start of The Seney Stretch:

…that mind-numbingly monotonous 30 miles of M-28 between Seney and Shingleton that’s the most direct route from the Mackinac Bridge to Pictured Rocks and Marquette. Here the highway is almost straight as an arrow and flat as a pancake because it’s crossing a swamp. The scraggly, flat, boring landscape can get burned into a motorist’s brain and mistakenly become representative of the entire U.P. interior.

Wikipedia’s entry for Michigan Highway M-28 adds that the Seney Stretch is the longest curveless section of highway in the state, and one of the longest straight stretches of curveless highway east of the Mississippi.

Check it out bigger in Justin’s slideshow.

Michigan Loves Fireworks

Posted on by farlane

{j & t} by caterpillars
{j & t}, photo by caterpillars

As the 4th of July approaches, it’s a good time to dust off the link to MichiganFireworks.com. From Adrian (July 3)  to Ypsilanti (July 2&3), the Michigan Fireworks guy chick! remains dedicated to one thing and one thing only: letting you know when and where the sky is going to light up with professional pyrotechnics!

Speaking of lighting up, that’s some kiss! Check it out bigger in Laura’s slideshow and see hundreds more pics in the Michigan fireworks slideshow in the Absolute Michigan pool!

Have a happy & safe Fourth of July!

Whitefish Point Groyne Study

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Whitefish Point Groyne Study

Whitefish Point Groyne Study, photo by Jeff Gaydash.

Jeff writes:

On November 10, 1975, the famous SS Edmund Fitzgerald, one of the largest freighters on the Great Lakes sank about 17 miles from this location in approximately the direction in which this groyne is pointing. All 29 crew members were lost.

In case you’re like me and wondering “What’s a groyne?” Wikipedia has the answer:

A groyne (groin in the United States) is a rigid hydraulic structure built from an ocean shore that interrupts water flow and limits the movement of sediment. Groynes create beaches, or avoid having them washed away by longshore drift.

Be sure to check this out bigger and in Jeff’s The Great Lakes slideshow.

Absolute Michigan has lots more on the Edmund Fitzgerald including a phenomenal video.

Water is the Magic of Michigan

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Viv goes surfing!

Viv goes surfing!, photo by kevindooley.

“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.”
~Loren Eiseley

This week on Absolute Michigan we launched our Celebrating Michigan’s Water Photo Contest with a grand prize that includes a 2 nights at The Homestead Resort in Glen Arbor and a Crystal River eco-tour from The River.

To enter, all you need to do is add 1-3 photos of any Michigan lake, river, waterfall, pond or wetland to the Michigan Water Group on Flickr by July 23, 2010.

Here’s the Michigan Water slideshow – what an amazing gift we have been given in Michigan! Here’s hoping we can protect it.

Kevin says his Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim went surfing! Check it out background boomtacular and in Kevin’s Water set (slideshow).

The Quincy Dredges

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

164/365 - Dredge

164/365 – Dredge, photo by dcclark (catching up again!).

Brenden Balliod’s Great Lakes Shipwreck Research (a fantastic resource for divers & historians) has this to say about the Quincy Dredges #1 & #2:

For almost 100 years, the copper mines of the Keweenaw extracted copper from mined rock with the use of stamp mills. The mined rock was smashed by large stamp heads and the brittle non metallic rock broke off leaving the metallic copper. The broken poor rock was ground into “stamp sand” and simply dumped into the lake. Subsequently, large fields of stamp sand now line the Keweenaw Waterway and Lake Superior. Portions of Torch Lake by Lake Linden and Hubbell were almost completely filled in. After WWII it was found that the stamp sand still contained a great deal of copper which could be extracted at a profit by regrinding it. Because of this, in 1947 the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company built a suction dredge capable of vacuuming stamp sand off the lake bottom to a depth of 110 ft. The dredge was operated by the Quincy Mining Co. and was a common sight on Torch Lake throughout the summer months, where it could be seen “mining” the discarded tailings from Torch Lake.

The dredge was usually laid up during the winter months by anchoring it out in the lake, and it carried onboard pumps to combat the slow leakage of water through its hull. Apparently, at 9:00 AM on Sunday January 15, 1956, the pumps stopped working, and before they could be restarted, the dredge plunged to the bottom, leaving only her roof exposed. Raising the dredge was thought to be uneconomical and only limited salvage was conducted. Gradually, the dredge settled into the lake bottom leaving only the peak of her roof above water.

Today, the Quincy Dredge #1 is barely visible above the surface and can be seen from Hwy. M26 by Hubbell. Her sister dredge, the Quincy Dredge #2 lies near her, up on the beach at Mason. The Dredge #1 is a truly creepy dive and offers low visibility, especially near the lake bottom. Her steel superstructure is all that remains, and it rises over 40 ft. off the lake bottom. A good deal of machinery has been left at the site, but low visibility and general creepiness hampers most exploration. Divers who want to explore the Dredge should do so in early Spring or late Fall with a good dive light. Ice diving the Dredge in the Winter may also be a good option for divers with ice diving experience.

Click through to see old photos & maps. There’s a lot more shipwrecks and other diving opportunities in the Keweenaw Underwater Preserve. About the photo, David adds:

This photo has a fun story behind it. The dredge is beached at the shore of Torch Lake, not too far from the highway. I parked near it and walked in, where I met two kayakers who had just come to shore after looking around the water side of the dredge. We chatted, and not five minutes after I’d met them, they offered to let me take a kayak out and see it for myself! — Which I did, of course. I love the UP!

Check it out bigger and in his slideshow.

keep calm

Posted on by farlane

keep calm.

keep calm photo by riot jane

Sound advice.

Check this out bigger in Bethany’s explored slideshow.

Summer Solstice: Welcome to Summer 2010

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

~~ Summer Solstice ~~

~~ Summer Solstice ~~, photo by suesue2.

Wikipedia’s summer solstice entry says:

The Summer Solstice occurs exactly when the Earth’s axial tilt is most inclined towards the sun at its maximum of 23° 26′. Though the Summer Solstice is an instant in time, the term is also colloquially used like Midsummer to refer to the day on which it occurs. Except in the polar regions (where daylight is continuous for half of the year), the day on which the Summer Solstice occurs is the day of the year with the longest period of daylight. Thus the seasonal significance of the Summer Solstice is in the reversal of the gradual shortening of nights and lengthening of days. The summer solstice occurs in June in the Northern Hemisphere, in December in the Southern Hemisphere.

That exact instant in time was 7:28 AM Eastern Daylight Time this morning.

Check this out bigger in Sue’s Explore The Intrestingness! slideshow.

Cathedral

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Cathedral

Cathedral, photo by Mike Lanzetta.

For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.
~Martin Luther

See it bigger in Mike’s slideshow.

Happy weekend to everyone, and I hope all you folks without power get some soon!

Take a walk through the trees on Michigan in Pictures.

Harbor Springs, Michigan

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

fog in harbor springs 08

fog in harbor springs 08, photo by northern_latitudes.

Wikipedia says that Harbor Springs :

…is in a sheltered bay on the north shore of the Little Traverse Bay on Lake Michigan. The Little Traverse Lighthouse is a historic lighthouse on the Harbor Point peninsula that forms the natural harbor there. M-119 connects with US 31 seven mile east and south at Bay View, with Petoskey just five miles away on the south side of the harbor. The area is known for its historic summer resorts, such as Wequetonsing, which was founded by Illinois businessmen and lawyers Henry Stryker, III, and Henry Brigham McClure, both of whom were interconnected with the Jacob Bunn industrial dynasty of Illinois.

Check out the Harbor Springs Chamber of Commerce and Harbor Springs on the Absolute Michigan Map of Michigan!

Check this out bigger in Tim’s massive Harbor Springs Images slideshow (view the whole set of 600+ pictures!