A Year in Review

Recently, our friend entrusted her two pups, Duke and Lucky, with us while she was away for a few days.  Both pups are rescues, and both are the sweetest, most well behaved hairy kids on the block.  

Duke, AKA "Mr. Freckles".  Oh yes, he will figure you out.

Lucky.  Born to capture your heart.

Duke after a hard day of snuggling.

This summer, I took a solo motorcycle trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, specifically the area of Eagle Harbor and Eagle River.  I found the area to be very beautiful yet very depressed.  Many, many businesses have thrown in the towel, boarding up the windows and leaving.  Even with tourism being the primary means of income for the area, attractions such as museums and historical sites have closed for good.  Good places to eat are hard, sometimes very hard, to find.  I ate at a small restaurant which came highly recommended by a local and, a few hours later, I suffered the effects of food poisoning for 5 hours and a loss of 5 pounds. Needless to say, the next morning's 400-plus mile ride home in the rain was a little less enjoyable than predicted.   Here are several photos from that trip. 

Because no motorcycle trip is complete until you ride in rain.

Eagle Harbor Lighthouse

A piece of what used to be the wood dock built in 1895, used to bring coal, oil, and supplies to the light house, still attached to the rocks at the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse.  

My MC traveling companion, Mr. Happy, still wearing his necktie from a previous engagement, looking out over the big lake at Bete Gris Bay.

Bete Gris Bay.  I'm pretty sure a great friend of mine would build a house right here if he could talk his bride into moving here.

Be careful where you eat.  Trust me on this one...

Be VERY careful what you eat.  This is a pasty (rhymes with "nasty").  The voice of the B9 robot from Lost in Space saying "Danger! Danger!" should ring in your ears before you put this bad boy and it's (urp!) contents in your mouth.

Beautiful sunset in the U.P.

Lightning in the sky from my back yard.

 Searching for Hobbits in Grand Marais MN.

Grand Marais

Art depicting art in Grand Marais

Two men loaded with cigars pondering the wonder of Gitchi Gami at Lutsen Lodge.

Full moon and a fire on Lake Superior.

Fellow photography enthusiast, Marisa, looking for the perfect shot.

Nighttime Alley Downtown St. Paul

Changing into rain gear (again) in North Carolina during a motorcycle trip. (Probably shows my lovely bride rethinking our mode of travel).

Peg Leg Porker, a BBQ joint in Nashville TN.

Lightning storm as viewed from the rooftop of our hotel in Nashville.

On a motorcycle trip with great friends at The Falls in Sioux Falls

When the hotel doesn't have a lounge, creative and resourceful people create a lounge in the parking lot.

The Balloon Ride I Thought Would Never Happen (After waiting over a year!)

My BIL (Bro In Law) and LSIL (Lil' Sis In Law)

Yana at the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk.  Not just a beautiful survivor, she's also an unstoppable spirit in motion!

A taste of things to come (Taken during winter 2016).

Thanks for looking!