Blog Archives

Welcome! It has always been a dream of ours to share our photography on the web. Hope you enjoy it! Keep coming back since we intend to add to it regularly in both our galleries as well as journal postings.

December sure flew by. With a bittersweet sense of life moving way to fast, we turned off the Christmas tree for the final time in 2011, gave Dobie a festive scratch behind the ear, and jumped in our cab headed for SFO and family festivities.

Jeff and I spent a week in Muskegon leading up to the 4th of July.  Our visit started off with a major snag…a freak summer storm in San Francisco, a cancelled flight, and comedy of United ineptitude.  Long story short: rather than fly to Muskegon, we had to take a red eye to Dulles (yes Dulles), circle back to Chicago, and then DRIVE 3.5 hours to Muskegon.  Fun times, to be sure.


















But yes, we did make it…no worse for the wear.  This was an extra-special 4th of July visit for us, because it marked my parents’ first visit to Muskegon to meet Jeff’s family.  A full-on family adventure!


So, I went a bit crazy (as usual) with the photo edits.  So, I’m going to test out the WordPress “gallery” feature and see if this is an efficient way to show lots of photos in a shorter space.  Fingers crossed.


Below, the careful observer will catch scenes from the White River; food pics from U.S. 31 BBQ, G&L, and Hobos; a serene nature walk; family and friends…and pets 🙂  Oh yes, check out the fireworks!!

So, I wanted to end with this whimsical shot of my dad.  This pretty much sums up our collective mood at the end of this special week.  G’night 🙂

As we wrapped up our mid-summer visit to Muskegon, Jeff and I joined his father for an afternoon kayak down the White River. As we have in summers-past, we put in at the Happy Mohawk canoe livery…one of those classic old-school river-side rental spots with the politically incorrect logo and converted school bus to cart paddlers back and forth. Set forth in three sea-blue kayaks…the comfy wide-bottomed ones…perfect for a slow, winding river. This is a fun old river with low brush-covered banks and tall hardwoods (maples and oaks from my limited tree vocabulary) with long, heavy branches reaching out over the water to provide shade. The greenish-brown water is broken (frequently) by fallen trees and hidden sandbars… creating a leasurely obstacle course… one that we navigated with the occasional dip of a paddle or shrug of a shoulder. Unseen birds and breezes through the treetops formed our soundtrack. An otter slid past, dragging some long blades of grass. Dragonflies dotted with irridescent blue topped every sunny log. A light drizzle cooled us at the midway point. A pretty perfect way to see Western Michigan up close and personal.

A 12:45 flight meant we could sleep to a reasonable hour, grab a latte to go, and re-pack all of our treasures for the long trip home. Checked every nook in our lime-green room, walked down the dark purple hallway, and exited the red and silver lobby. A friendly but timid taxi driver rationed air conditioning and forward momentum like it was gold in her little Prius.

Madrid's Terminal 1 is unnotable. Functional and efficient (at least at our hour), but lacking any signs of style or comfort. But soon we were on board our Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, watching as we banked over sun-drenched Madrid for one final glimpse.

Lufthansa crams a lot of service into even short intra-European flights. A beverage service and a warm meal (chicken and rice) are surprising touches for U.S. travelers used to flights with no free pretzels.

Frankfurt's airport surprised us with its efficiency…even more than usual. No additional U.S. security checks…odd. Certainly a pleasant change, but definitely makes it hard to predict how long it takes to get from gate to gate. A Dieter look-alike stepped out of SNL and walked by with slick, jet-black hair, a lean-yet-friendly German face, and (of course) a tight all-black outfit topped off with a high turtleneck. Apparrently HE hadn't been walking in southern Spain recently.

Our United flight home was uneventful and ahead of schedule. This time, our flight path took us over the northern edge of Iceland, for a cool view of the rocky island as we passed. Greenland. Canada. And then south over Washington and Oregon. Pleasant cool temperates greeted us…as did Chris and his speedy chariot.

Home again, home again, jiggety jig.