Homeward Bound

Monday, we drove the rest of the way home from Portage, WI. We stopped at a rest area near Black River Falls, WI and followed a beautiful trail to a scenic overlook. We took a walk up the trail, through a forest along a wooden walk way. Todd did pretty good with his bad knee using his cane. We were rewarded with some beautiful scenery.

Here is Todd at the end our walk.

The scenery at the end of the boardwalk at the top of the scenic overlook.

Todd & Sonja............triumphant at the end of their walk.

On the way back to the parking lot, Sonja stopped on the walkway to admire some of the fall leaves.

Just past the Scenic Overlook, we stopped at the Orange Moose Bar & Grill. Todd just had to have his picture taken by the big Orange Moose. We also purchased a small stuffed orange moose as a momento.

Beautiful fall foliage across the freeway from the Orange Moose Bar & Grill.

Crossing Lake Michigan On The S.S. Badger.......again.....

Sunday morning dawned clear, cold & still. What a difference in Lake Michigan from when we watched the ship come in on Friday night! It was very calm & very blue. We had to be at the dock for the S.S. Badger at 8 am for a 9 am departure.
Todd's brother, Kevin & their Dad came down to the harbor to see us off. I was hoping they would, so I was really excited to see them there. Kevin took some great pictures & sent them to us. The next 3 pictures are ones that Kevin took. :)

There's Todd (waving) & me on the Badger..............I was so excited to get this picture............thanks Kevin!!

The S.S. Badger is definitely one big ship!

There we go............past the lighthouse.

Here is a beautiful view of the Ludington Lighthouse from the ship. The water is so blue.

Sonja & Todd on the deck of the ship.

Todd & me............it was a beautiful morning............but it was pretty cold.

We were surprised that we could see Big Sable Lighthouse............and the fog horn tower.........from the ship. I took this picture with the zoom lens all the way out to 12 times, but it was still cool to be able to see it. Especially since we had been there on Friday. :)

This time we played Badger Bingo for a good majority of the time that we were crossing the lake. You could win Badger memorabilia...........we did not win any bingo games..........but Todd did win a bag of Badger Coal for answering a joke that Todd, the bingo caller had asked of someone named Linda. He said, "Oh, we have another 'Linda' in the room. You can come up and get a bag of coal before we are done here today." :) It was fun & it did help the 4 hour trip go much faster.

Introducing Matt & Heather Johnson

On Saturday afternoon our nephew, Matt Johnson, married Heather Brandis in Manistee, MI. Matt is in the Coast Guard, so he was in his dress blues.

"With this ring I the wed."

Our twin niece & nephew, Natalie & Nathan, were a bridesmaid & groomsman. They are Matt's brother & sister.

Mr. & Mrs. Matthew Johnson

Natalie & the flower girl............aren't they cute! :)

The wedding cake.

The groom's cake. :)

Natalie & Nathan at the reception. Todd blew some bubbles & I took the picture............we thought it turned out pretty good! :)

Heather & Matt's first dance as husband & wife.

Todd's stepdad, Jerry, & mom, Jan, dancing at the reception. Don't know how I captured that lighting but Todd & I think it's a pretty cool picture! :)

Ludington State Park.......Big Sable Point Lighthouse

Friday we went to Ludington State Park to see the Big Sable Point Lighthouse.

We had to walke 1.8 miles to get to the lighthouse. We had a wheelchair that we borrowed from Todd's co-worker, but the park ranger told us that it would be too hard to use it on the gravel road covered with sand. Todd's knees did pretty well on the walk up to the lighthouse, but after the walk up & down the 130 steps of the lighthouse, he had a harder time walking back to the car. But the lighthouse was so cool & the view so beautiful, Todd said it was worth it.

Sonja in front of the Big Sable Point Lighthouse.

We took pictures out of the port-hole windows going up the stairs of the lighthouse. The foghorn house, sand & Lake Michigan.

The roof of the house portion of the lighthouse........a bird is under the eaves of the roof for shelter from the cold wind.

Lake Michigan & the beach.

Sand dunes & the road up to the lighthouse.

Todd........halfway up the 130 steps to the top of the lighthouse.

Lake Michigan.

Sand dunes.

Sand dunes, Lake Michigan & the beach.

Lake Michigan.

Todd in front of the lighthouse.

Todd in front of the fog horn house.

Sonja on the beach.

I found a rock & threw it into the lake, but I wasn't paying attention & that wave rolled up & got me! :)

After our day at the lighthouse, we decided to go to the harbor in Ludington to watch the S.S. Badger come in & get some pictures of it. All day long the wind had gotten stonger & colder. This is the Ludington Lighthouse.

The waves were very strong & crashing over the breakwaters & lighthouses.

Todd & I all bundled up.............it was very cold!

Here come the S.S. Badger..........it was really rockin' on the waves. We were glad we weren't on there trying to walk and that we had come over the day before! :)

The Badger sure makes the lighthouses look small!

The S.S. Badger car ferry.

The S.S. Badger car ferry.

Waves crashing over the breakwater of the Ludington lighthouse.

Crossing Lake Michigan On The S.S. Badger

Thursday we crossed Lake Michigan from Manitowoc, WI to Ludington, MI on a car ferry called the S.S. Badger. We are going to our nephew, Matt's wedding in Manistee, MI on Saturday & decided to go a couple of days early so we could take in some sights.



The lighthouse in the Manitowoc harbor.

Our truck being driven onto the ferry.

Our truck is parked somewhere up on that shelf.

This over-sized load was one of the things parked on the ferry to go across the lake............along with 25-30 cars & trucks, 2 motorcycles, a pickup truck with two ATV's on a trailer, 3 campers, a motorhome, a tour bus and 3 semi-trucks! It was amazing as we kept watching them load vehicles on the boat..........we couldn't believe how much fit in that boat!

Todd on the back of the boat watching stuff being loaded.

Todd & me eating lunch on the ferry. This is the deck where they used to park cars & train cars used to be parked below where they park everything now.

Sonja on the ship..........it was getting pretty windy. One of the lifeboats is up above.

Todd on a bench on the front deck of the ship. The front deck was extremely windy.

Coming into the harbor at Ludington, MI.

This is the Coast Guard station where our nephew, Matt, is stationed in Ludington.