Who else is ready for summer sunsets?
Scott shared this incredible sunset shot of the St. Joseph Lighthouse ten years ago. See more in his Lighthouses gallery & check out his latest photos on Flickr.
Many more Michigan sunsets on Michigan in Pictures. Sunrises too!
Gordie Gets Lit!! by Windsor Aerial Drone Photography
This Canadian Broadcasting Company article on issues surrounding the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge makes it pretty clear that the problem with opening the bridge is the problem with a whole of things these days:
For months, Canadian officials have maintained that the long-awaited opening of the $6.4 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ont., is dependent on various testing and commissioning tasks.
But fresh comments from a Canadian cabinet member as well as two top U.S. officials suggests there is a link between the current trade war and the new border crossing’s opening timeline. A White House official on Friday said the Trump administration “continues to engage with all of our trading partners to resolve longstanding unfair trade practices.”
…Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said in a statement Friday that “[d]iscussions on the Gordie Howe Bridge continue.” CBC News had asked his office similar questions about the bridge’s opening and whether it’s tied to broader trade talks. Earlier this month, Hoekstra reportedly said that Trump himself has to sign off on the opening. “There’s a lot of issues right now between the U.S. and Canada. The bridge is one more,” he told the Detroit News.
Windsor Aerial Drone Photography shared these photos & the video below from the first lighting of the Gordie Howe Bridge on September 18, 2025. Follow them on Facebook for their latest and view & purchase their work at windsoraerialdronephotography.com.
Lots more of the gorgeous Gordie Howe International Bridge on Michigan in Pictures!
Clyde W. Fogg heading to Beaver Island by Julie A Christiansen
St. James Marine Company shares that it was founded in the early 1970’s by Clyde Fogg as a hobby business and is now run by Clyde Fogg’s grandson, Matt, a graduate of the Great Lakes Maritime Academy in Traverse City. The company has two tugs, the Jennifer Anne Fogg and Clyde W. Fogg.
Julie shared this shot of the Clyde W. Fogg heading to Beaver Island with a fuel barge loaded with 35,000 gallons of fuel for the winter months in our Michigan in Pictures group. She captured it from the Charlevoix Bridge Cam and let me say that it’s way less frustrating watching the bridge from your computer than from your car!
Although Julie didn’t take the photo above, here are two more she did take from her Facebook. She has also shared a ton on Michigan in Pictures over the years, and I’ve linked to a few of my favorites below!
Hanging Out by Stephen Trynoski
Stephen took this at Lac la Belle Marina WAAAAYYYY up north in Michigan on the Keweenaw Peninsula. You can click to see this on the Flickr photo map and see more in his Boats gallery on Flickr.
Hope you get to spend at least a little time hanging out before summer is gone!
Grand Haven Traffic by Scott Ward Photography
mLive shares that a record 2.6 million people are expected to travel for the Fourth of July in Michigan, up 3% from 2024.
AAA projects nearly 2.4 million Michigan residents will take a road trip, up 2.5% from the same holiday period last year. Another 96,000 residents are expected to fly domestically, and more than 160,000 to travel by bus, train or cruise.
No word on how many will be traveling by personal watercraft, but probably a lot more than usual!! They say that the busiest days on the road will likely be Wednesday, July 2, and Sunday, July 6. with afternoon hours as the most congested.
See more in Scott’s Planes, Trains & Automobiles…Boats too gallery on Flickr. For sure view & purchase his work on his website and follow Scott Ward Photography on Facebook for his latest!
Back in the day, I used to feature excerpts by Linda S. Godfrey from the definitive book of Michigan mysteries: Weird Michigan. A good story to share when you’re floating around this weekend is the tale of the Lake Leelanau Monster.
The story of an early 20th Century sea monster sighting was sent to The Shadowlands Web site by a reader whose great-grandfather was the witness. The boy was fishing for perch one day in 1910 in the shallows of Lake Leelanau in Leelanau County. The lake had been dammed in the late 1800’s to provide water power for the local mill and to enable logging. The dam also flooded much surrounding area, turning it into swamps and bogs punctuated by dead, standing trees.
On that particular day, the young great-grandfather, William Gauthier, rowed out to a new fishing spot near the town of Lake Leelanau. Looking for good perch habitat, he paddled up close to a tree that he estimated to stand about five feet tall above the water, with a six-inch trunk. He was in about seven feet of water, and after deciding this would be a good place to stop and cast a line, began tying the boat to the tree.
That’s when young William discovered the tree had eyes. They were staring him dead in the face at about four feet above water level. The boy and serpent exchanged a long gaze, then the creature went, “Bloop” into the water. Gauthier said later that the creature’s head passed one end of the boat while the tail was still at the other end, though it was undulating very quickly through the water. The writer noted that Gauthier always admitted to having been thoroughly frightened by his encounter, and that the event caused him to stay off that lake for many years.
The writer added that his great-grandfather came from a prominent area family and was very well-educated, and that he knew others who would admit privately but not publicly that they, too, had seen the creature. No sightings have been reported in recent times, but who knows how many people have believed they were passing by a rotting old cedar when in fact they had just grazed the Leelanau lake monster?
Linda has regrettably passed on, but you can buy the awesome Weird Michigan right here.
Get more Michigan weirdness on Michigan in Pictures.
John says that eventually this boathouse will slide into the Lake Leelanau Narrows. See more in his huge Leelanau gallery on Flickr!
Crazy Fast Times on Torch Lake by Drew Shaffer
This morning I saw this fantastic pic shared without attribution for probably the 100th time. I knew the attribution because I had shared it from Instagram back in 2017.
I know that a million bots building social media using AI will only make things worse, so I really (really) want to make a plea to all of you to FOLLOW THE PHOTOGRAPHER. Every time you do, even if you don’t purchase their work, you build their following which makes it more likely that their work is credited and profitable because making pretty pictures is hard and takes lots of glass & gas!!
Drew Shaffer is a photographer/filmmaker from Ohio with a whole lot of fun stuff going on including some awesome eclipse shots & a very cool looking documentary called The Long Way Forward. You can follow him on Instagram or YouTube!
PS: Yes, dear skeptic. This photo is real and Torch Lake is really that clear some days. Michigan is lovely 😻
Here’s a sweet shot I shared 5 years ago on June 3rd of a boat in the mist on Lake Leelanau in the northwestern Lower Peninsula. See more in Francios’ Michigan Journey’s gallery on Flickr and have a great weekend everyone!
More fog & mist on Michigan in Pictures!
Indian River Skiff by Great Lakes Boat Building School
The Great Lakes Echo has a nice feature on the Great Lakes Boat Building School in Cedarville that begins:
At the northwest corner of Lake Huron, in Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula, is an 80 square-mile town of 240 people, one phone booth – and one boat building school.
That school is growing explosively, bringing the entire community along with it. Experts estimate that a planned expansion of the Great Lakes Boat Building School could bring an additional $2.5 million to residents of Cedarville.
The small town has a rich history of wooden boat building and repair. For over a century, wooden boats have been the primary mode of transportation around the nearby Les Cheneaux Islands. As the boating crafters grew older, the artful skill risked being lost.
To keep its wooden boat building heritage alive, the Cedarville community founded the school in 2005.
“In all of these academic qualifications we have for high school students, we have neglected our need for tradespeople,” said Ken Drenth, former Great Lakes Boat Building School president and current director of the Les Cheneaux Islands Community Foundation. “Everybody doesn’t have to get a four-year university degree. We need plumbers and electricians and wooden boat builders.”
The Great Lakes Boat Building School shared this on their Instagram. You can read more about their building of an Indian River Skiff on Facebook.
from a 4×5 glass negative by Bill Dolak
Bill shares:
The VanBuren County Historical Museum (a great afternoon visit, btw) is sitting on dozens, if not hundreds, of 4×5 glass negatives. Some of them were on display on a light table. I snapped a few with my iPhone and did a quick conversion of one using Snapseed (an iPhone image editor), which was perhaps the first time a “print” had been made from the negative in possibly a hundred years (these types of negatives were popular between the 1880s and the 1920s). Here are a few I “processed” in Lightroom. Sadly, I am sure that these images cannot reproduce the detail that is likely stored on those plates.
You can see more of his scans in the Michigan in Pictures group on Facebook & in his massive Michigan: Van Buren County gallery on Flickr!
