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Along the West Michigan Pike

Posted on June 18, 2014 by farlane

Amy Arnold has a cool feature on the West Michigan Pike called Highway to History at Seeking Michigan that says (in part):

You may know it as old M-11, old US 31, the Red Arrow Highway or the Blue Star Highway – all names for a road that was originally called the West Michigan Pike, the first continuous concrete highway in West Michigan. Begun in 1911 as part of a strategy to bring auto tourists from Chicago to Michigan, the road was completed in 1922 and ran from New Buffalo to Mackinaw City.

…In the 1920s, an effort to create a series of connected, safe places for auto travelers to stay resulted in the development of a series of parks along the route, including seven state parks between New Buffalo and Ludington. During the Depression, Ludington State Park was the first state park in Michigan to be constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and was a showplace for the National Park Service program. The West Michigan Pike was also important in Michigan’s early conservation history. Much of Michigan’s land had been clear cut and abandoned by the lumber industry. The state incorporated highway beautification and reforestation as part of its work to create good roads in Michigan.

Read more at Seeking Michigan, and you can also check out Amy’s historical study of architectural resources along the West Michigan Pike at Michigan Beach Towns. If you’d like to retrace the route, here’s an old flyer with the West Michigan Pike route.

Also, they note that there’s an exhibit titled Yesterday on the West Michigan Pike: Photographs by Vincent J. Musi, that shows the noted National Geographic photographers photos taken along the Pike in 2008. View some right here.

View Lori’s photo background bigtacular and see more in her Ludington State Park slideshow.

More beach wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures!

Lilacs on Mackinac … and lilacs in your garden

Posted on June 10, 2014 by farlane

Lilacs on Mackinac Island, photo by Steven Blair

While lilacs are starting to wind down around the state, they’re just getting going on Mackinac Island. The annual Mackinac Island Lilac Festival started last weekend and continues through Sunday, June 15th. Here’s a few tips courtesy the Lilac Festival and Jeff Young, Lilac Curator at the University of Vermont Horticultural Research Center, Master Gardener and presenter of the “Walk and Talk with Lilacs” program during the Lilac Festival.

Common Lilacs need to have 9-12 canes for each 6 feet
Leave at least 2 feet between mature Lilacs.
Plant new shrubs 16 feet apart (circular shape)
Allow for a few more canes if you are planting as a hedge with less depth.
If you have too many canes, consider the oldest canes for removal first, leaving good spacing between canes.
If not enough canes, pick one or two of the best suckers each year until there are enough.
Once the Lilac is established, consider adding one new cane and removing the oldest cane each year to create a vigorous, healthy full flowering plant.

More at the Lilac Festival website.

View Steven’s photo background bigilicious on Facebook and see more at the Artistic Mackinac Gallery & Studio.

More lilacs and more summer wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures!

Country Roads

Posted on June 7, 2014 by farlane

Country Road, photo by ruimc77

Hope your roads lead to someplace wonderful this weekend.

View the photo background big and see more in ruimc’s slideshow.

Spring Showers on Spring Flowers

Posted on June 6, 2014April 3, 2016 by farlane

Spring Showers on Spring Flowers, photo by David Marvin

View David’s photo background big and see more rainy, tulipy, irisy goodness in his slideshow.

More Spring wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.

Sunset on Crisp Point

Posted on June 5, 2014 by farlane

Untitled, photo by Paul Wojtkowski

Crisp Point on Lake Superior is home to the Crisp Point Lighthouse, one of Michigan’s most remote lighthouses. Here’s a map and you can check out the Crisp Point Lighthouse Society’s website for a photo of the docks that were once on these pilings.

View Paul’s photo background bigilicious and see more in his slideshow including this shot of the light. Also be sure to check out his photography website at the-woj.com. (music alert)

There’s more sunsets , more summer wallpaper and more about Crisp Point Lighthouse on Michigan in Pictures.

School’s out for Summer

Posted on June 2, 2014 by farlane

School Bus Heap, photo by Rust and Roses

Out for summer, Out till fall
We might not go back at all
~Alice Cooper (School’s Out)

Not in these buses at least…

Rust and Roses shot these retired school buses in Elsie, Michigan last September. View the photo background bigtacular and see more in their awesome slideshow.

Because half of you were probably going to Google it anyway, here’s Alice Cooper doing School’s Out for Summer on BBC’s Top of the Pops in 1972.

Bees & Blossoms

Posted on May 30, 2014April 3, 2016 by farlane

Blossoms & Bees, photo by Lee Lynn Awe

View Lee Lynn’s photo background bigtacular and see more in her slideshow.

More spring wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.

Middle Hungarian Falls

Posted on May 29, 2014 by farlane

Middle Hungarian Falls, photo by David Clark

GoWaterfalling.com is the go-to site for Michigan waterfalls. About Middle Hungarian Falls they write (in part):

There are three falls 15 feet or higher on a half mile stretch of Dover Creek, plus a couple of smaller drops. In the spring time, or after some good rains, these waterfalls are very impressive. Unfortunately the creek has a very small watershed, and the falls are often reduced to trickles.

The three main drops are usually referred to as the upper, middle and lower falls. The upper falls is around 20 feet high. The water spills over an irreguarly shaped cliff into a small gorge.

Downstream of the upper falls is a dam and artificial lake. Below the dam are a couple of smaller drops, and the middle falls. The middle falls is also about 20 feet high, and is perhaps the most scenic in lower water. The cliff face here is smoother, and the water is not segmented the way it is at the upper falls. The middle falls is also the easiest to reach and there are plenty of good viewing spots.

Read on for more including directions and info about the lower Hungarian Falls.

View David’s photo background big and see more in his Waterfalls slideshow.

Many (many) more Michigan waterfalls on Michigan in Pictures.

Miners Castle, with ice and kayaks

Posted on May 28, 2014April 3, 2016 by farlane

Miners Castle, with ice and kayaks, photo by Ann Fisher

The Washington Post has a feature on Lake Superior’s stubborn ice cover:

As of Memorial Day, ice covered 4.5 percent of Lake Superior according to NOAA, and 1.7 percent of the Great Lakes overall (though Superior is the only lake with remaining ice). The recent Great Lakes ice cover is unrivaled in records dating back to the early 1970s.

Ice cover the Great Lakes has been way above normal and, at times record-setting, for months.

In early March this year, the Great Lakes ice extent reached 94.19%, the second most on record for any month, dating back to 1973 in NOAA’s dataset, and most on record so late in the season. In late April, ice still covered nearly one-third of the Great Lakes, the most on record by a large margin so late into spring.

Click through for some photos of people enjoying the ice.

Ann took this last weekend at Miners Castle in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. How cold is that water right now? Michigan Sea Grant’s Coastwatch for the central UP shore of Lake Superior recorded a balmy 36.7 degrees on May 25th!!

View Ann’s photo big as Lake Superior and see more in her 2014 U.P. slideshow.

There’s more Miners Castle and more Lake Superior wallpaper on Michigan in Pictures.