Happy New Year 2010!

I spent the first days of 2010 in Northern Lower Michigan with my husband and extended family. It was a very simple few days. Cards and board games, good food, drink and conversation with family in the evenings, and day trips.

We picked up a county map in Rose City, MI on Friday and headed out, with the idea of ending up at Grayling. There was a most interesting logging road/trail that we took. Good thing we had the suburban with 4 wheel drive! It was a nice excursion through heavily wooded areas and areas of stacked pine. We saw a couple deer along the road. In a few spots, the driving was a little tricky. How would we ever direct anyone to us if we got stuck? There were no road names or trail numbers. These are the kind of adventures we really enjoy, seeing things we would not have seen if we'd stayed on more main roads.

Why Grayling? No special reason, I guess. We ate at Pizza Hut there, and then ended up driving through Houghton Lake with a stop off at Walmart and Home Depot. We are so exciting! Not!!
I did take some pics though. A couple on that logging trail, and then on M-72, between Mio and Grayling, we spotted Old Smith Bridge. The sun was hitting the red bridge just so, which is why it stood out to me. We had driven that stretch of road before on other drives, and never gave it any attention.

On Saturday, probably the coldest day of our weekend, we left the Lupton, MI area and drove Kokosing Road over to M-65 and took Slosser Rd East to River Road. Slosser Rd turns into another trail! We do like trails! Once we reached Oscoda, we took M-23 North. The shoreline drive is always beautiful, I'm sure, but this was the first time we had traveled this portion of it in winter.

At Sturgeon Point, with the Lighthouse being closed, I walked out onto the beach at Lake Huron. I wondered what the wind chill must be, but the view was so spectacular! Crisp, clear, and full of brilliant color! It sure was easy walking on the sand, as it was frozen! Looking north, I could see the top of the Sturgeon Point Lighthouse not far up the beach, so that's where I headed, taking pictures along the way. Finally, my face was numb enough that I decided I'd better head back to the suburban, where my husband waited, nice and toasty-warm. I told him, "Well! That was invigorating!" It really was, not just that the extreme cold invigorated me, but also that outstanding view was a real treasure and I just knew I had some great shots of it.

I hope Michiganders don't take Michigan's treasures for granted. I see many photos of Western Michigan, and not as many of the Sunrise Side, as it's called. I want to change that, and I hope others will want that, too.

I have all of my photos of January 1st and 2nd on my flickr page: http://flickr.com/photos/pichappy1
Check them out and comment!