The first photo was taken from a pontoon boat on Silver Lake. There is also a great view from on top of the dune. If you don’t feel like making the hike just hop on a dune schooner!

Looking out from the cottage on Lake Michigan. Relax, take a load off…

And enjoy the view! The weather in Michigan is perfect, not sweltering hot but definitely warm enough for shorts in the evening. (Although now that I am a Florida resident for most of the year, a long-sleeve shirt became a nightly necessity for me.)

Watch out for the dune grass – this stuff is fun to photograph, but not to step on!

Lydia enjoys long walks, picnics, and bonfires on the beach. (Well, wouldn’t you?!)

The many cottages of the Little Point Sable Association are nestled into the woods along Lake Michigan’s coast. A perfect place for a peaceful stroll.

The Grand Haven Pier makes for a great walk too. And hopefully a bountiful, fresh catch!

Pier Jumping. Ahh the memories! I’m glad to see this group of local teens keeping the tradition alive. You can find good pier jumping in any one of West Michigan’s water towns.

Cowabunga Dude!

My last night in Michigan was spent visiting college friends. I was pleasantly surprised with this gorgeous scene along my route. Icing on the cake.

And of course, the greatness of a Lake Michigan sunset. Home in Michigan is definitely where my heart is.

Ross MacLachlan and his caricature!

Well, it’s true.  I’m definitely a sucker for Rag.  I came accross Ross MacLachlan today listening to The Rack on The Sixty One.  The rack is a feature that allows listeners to listen to songs of their chosen genre that are not yet on the homepage.  I racked, or raked, in a good find today!  If you like Rag, you’re sure to like this stuff.  Listen here on my Sixty One profile.  My favorite is the Happy Cat Rag because it reminds me of the good ol’ days when I was growing up in Saugatuck.

Oval Beach on a Sunny Summer Day. What a Goldmine!

Sometimes we don’t realize the goldmine we have until we’re rooting around somewhere else.  You may have heard of Saugatuck before.  It’s a small, little big time town  located on the fresh waters of Lake Michigan.  One of my favorite memories of growing up in Saugatuck is Charlie’s Around the Corner Ice Cream Shop.  So many tasty Sherman’s Ice Cream Cones were eaten on the brightly colored benches outside the light pink sided walls of ‘Around the Corner’.  It was a neighborly event to walk down after dinner for ice cream, taking the dogs of course and stopping in the park to chat and play.  Sometimes we drove down to ‘Around the Corner’ and then headed out to Oval Beach to watch the sunset over the lake.  No matter how we got there, Charlies Around the Corner Ice Cream Shop was, and still is, famous for the cheer and delight it brought to Mason Street with the ragtime music that was always pouring out from the balcony and into the smiling audience.

The Sign at Charlie's Around the Corner Ice Cream Shop and a Homer Look-Alike

Homer and Hannah.  They were my childhood pets and well, they were basically imfamous throughout the neighborhood.  My mom has said for years that she should write a childrens’ book series on the stories of those two hounds and yes, I have to say, all of their antics would probably make one heck of a book.  On one occasion, Homer made his was all the way town to Charlies Around the Corner Ice Cream Shop to sit and mooch off the cones of innocent ice-cream enjoyers.  We found him perched right out front, listening to the great music and tasting one to many ice creams cones!  The dog in the photo isn’t Homer, but he does look very similar.  We decided Homer was a mix; part Airedale and part Lituanian Fish Hound.  Airedale because he had the look, Lituanian becuase that’s one lineage of my family heritage and Fish Hound because well, he always seemed to smell like fish.  It’s really a wonder he was getting ice cream rather than a swat with a broom.  Poor Homer.