Manabezho Falls in the Porcupine Mountains State Park

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Manabezho Falls, long exposure

Manabezho Falls, long exposure, photo by DA2Brian.

GoWaterfalling’s page on Manebezho Falls says:

The Manabezho Falls are part of the Presque Isle River’s spectacular final dash to Lake Superior. The entire 1 mile stretch is very beautiful, with lots of bare rock and rapids. It is easily accessible from the Presque Isle entrance off of CR-519 on the western end of the park…

Manido Falls are just short distance upstream. Nawadaha Falls is a bit farther upstream. Downstream of Manabezho the river plunges into a narrow gorge. The “falls” there have no name, but they are quite interesting.

The falls are located in the Porcupine Mountains State Park and you can see more photos of Manabehzho Falls on Flickr (slideshow) and also check out the Porcupine Mountains group!

I’m pretty sure that “Manabehzo” is Manabozho, the Ojibwa/Algonquin trickster and messenger of the Great Spirit. For more about this colorful figure, check out Manabozho, the Mischief-maker by Rick Walton.

Autumn in Michigan … and fall color tours

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Ready for Carving

Pumpkins: Ready for Carving, photo by simply, Diann.

Diann writes:

Autumn is definitely my favorite season. Boxes of pumpkin line the roadway leading into the local pumpkin patch. Which one should I choose?

This photo is part of Diann’s Autumn set is one of many photos in the new Autumn in Michigan group on Flickr (slideshow).

Click over to check them out and/or add your own. They also have discussion on fall topics that included a link to Michigan Fall Color Tours.

Michigan Fall Wallpaper series

When one door closes

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

When one door closes

When one door closes, photo by chinkon.

I don’t know anything about this photo other than that I love it, that chinkon has a whole lot more where this came from and that it broke all speed records in going from web to wallpaper!

Not much remains of Grindstone City

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

grindstone03.JPG

grindstone03.JPG, photo by smartee_martee.

Marty Hogan writes:

One of the few remaining grindstones on the beach. This one is about 3.5 feet in diameter. The beach used to be covered in the old Grindstones; from 1.5 feet to six feet in diameter. Bad, bad thieves plundered them all away.

This photo is part of Marty’s great Huron County, Michigan photo set (slideshow)

I went looking for a photo and details on Grindstone City so I could feature a site I found the other day, but there was little to be found from Michigan.org’s page on Grindstone City or the Port Austin Chamber.

UPDATE: March 2012: The best resource I found at the time of this post was willett.org, which featured piles and piles of photos and information about Michigan and its history. Among their were some postcards and old photos from Grindstone City, from which I learned that Grindstone City had a quarry and stone mill and made and shipped a whole lot of grindstones. Nothing at willett.org seemed to have been updated, and it felt like going up to an attic in an abandoned farm and poking through partially labeled boxes. Sadly the digital room has since fallen in, leaving nothing.

Fortunately, there are other resources, so check out today’s post Truing up a 3 ton stone in Grindstone City.

If you have anything to share about Grindstone City, post it in the comments!

Harvest time for Michigan vines

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Vineyard

Vineyard, photo by zotttgeek.

This vineyard in Antwerp, Michigan is part of a nice set of photos called A Perfect Day in Michigan (slideshow). The vineyard is just one of a rapidly growing number of Michigan vineyards that will be harvested in the days and weeks to come.

Harvest time brings a host of wine and harvest events including the Leelanau Harvest Stompede (Sep 22/23), Detroit Uncorked (Sep 28), New Buffalo Harvest Wine & Music Festival (Oct 6), The Big Grape Tour on the SE Michigan Pioneer Wine Trail (Nov 10), Holiday Cheer on the Lake Michigan Shore Wine Trail (Nov 10/11), Toast the Season on the Leelanau Wine Trail (Nov 10/11 & 17/18) and the Mac and Cheese Bake-off on the Old Mission Wine Trail (Nov 24).

There’s a bunch more events at individual wineries along with all kinds of Michigan wine and winery information available at Michiganwines.com.

Reflections of the Past

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Reflections of the Past

Reflections of the Past, photo by the pentax hammer.

Gary says:

Yeah, I know… everyone in Grand Rapids has taken a photograph of this. But how many of them did it the way I did? Leaning against a lamppost, hand holding a camera to capture 3 RAW shots, without a tripod? NOW you are only talking about half of the residents of Grand Rapids!

The old building is the beautiful McKay Tower. The new building is… well… just another glass building :-)

See the same building in winter…

“L” is for Lansing Tower … or is that a “B” for Boji?

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Lansing Tower.

Lansing Tower., photo by Corey (a.k.a. ten0fnine).

Corey writes that this was formerly the Michigan National Tower and you must look at this photo bigger.

When I went a-Googling for the history of the building, I stumbled upon L is for Lansing:

…an online community for Lansing students, teachers, parents and anyone interested in hearing the stories of how this area, its neighborhoods, businesses, families, and citizens of note contributed to the history of “the land of the big bend” we call Lansing, Michigan.

The site looks to be one of the innumerable “ghost sites” that you find around the net where some energy and thought was applied to a topic before it was abandoned by its creators (the Young Spartans Program, who have themselves vanished). While the Lansing Timeline was never completed, their Lansing Tour, letter by letter, is kind of cool with some photos from the recent and distant past and links to more info as on ““O” is for Olds“.

Now where was I? Emporis says that this 341′ tall building is tallest in the Capital City and now known as the Boji Tower. Completed in 1931:

The Michigan National Tower was originally named the Olds Towers in honor of industrialist Ransom E. Olds. The brick and stone tower, with its tall, narrow profile topped with a spire and beacon, was typical of American skyscraper design in the early 1930’s. Four engraved panels in the portals of the main passenger elevators also reflect themes of labor and industry typical of the time.

Here’s the Boji Group’s page on Boji Tower and some more photos of Boji Tower.

The Zipper

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

The Zipper

The Zipper, photo by Hooks Pix.

Don took this photo at the 2007 Allegan County Fair.

Check it out bigger, on black.

Fall Wallpaper: Up North, 1975

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Up North

Up North, photo by _PaleBlueEyes_.

A ton of the visits to Michigan in Pictures come (unsurprisingly) from people searching for all kinds of things. Some from the last 2 days include the specific (Hessel boat show, Henderson Castle, Hartwick Pines – must be “H” week) and the general (surfing michigan, pics of detroit, nature photos). One thing remains constant: people are always looking for something nice to adorn their desktop. I’ve noticed a spike in people searching for “fall backgrounds” and “fall wallpaper” over the last few days that mirrors the changing of the trees, so it must be time to start rolling out some of the fall color photos I’ve found.

If you’re looking for fall color photos, try the fall tag. I tag any photo that’s large enough to make a nice background with the “wallpaper” tag – just look at the bottom right of the post to see that!

About this photo, PaleBlueEyes writes:

So, my grandpa has a ton of old slideshow photos that I’m helping him convert to digital pictures, then make into slideshow DVD’s. The pictures are mostly of the family and various vacations in Europe, India, and around the US. This picture happened to be one of my favorites. It was taken on my grandparent’s property in the UP in the fall of 1975…I think even with all the technology on cameras today, I’ll never be able to take this beautiful of a picture.

two lights

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

two lights

two lights, photo by The Real Ferg.

Ferg writes the moon and a flashlight, having some fun with lightpainting. no editing at all. This photo is part of a cool set of night shots (slideshow).

Wikipedia has something to say about light painting. Flickr’s lightpainting tag has some cool examples as well.