Touring Michigan - Manistee's Victorian Sleighbell Parade and Old Christmas Weekend.

If you are enamored by the Victorian era, this is a must-do event!

We began our adventure with tea at the Buckley, a privately owned fantastic Victorian home. Afternoon tea was served in the third floor ballroom, complete with dainty sandwiches, flaky scones and delicious dainty sweets.

A tour of the home followed and it was stunningly beautiful - the ornate woodwork, the leaded glass, the plasterwork ceilings and original lighting fixtures. It made me very nostalgic for my former 1908 home!

Following tea, we toured the Manistee County Historical Museum, located right downtown in Manistee and the building remains as it existed in 1905.

For Christmas, a huge number of Victorian era trees and decorations are displayed in settings depicting a variety of traditions.

One of my favorite displays/presentations was the Magic Lantern show of the "Night Before Christmas". Magic lantern shows are always fascinating, but this one was made even better by having the narration supplied by an Edison player with a wax cylinder.

The Magic Lantern is the forerunner of the modern slide projector. It has a long and complicated history and, like lots of fascinating inventions, many people were involved in its development. No one can say for sure who invented the Magic Lantern. The Magic Lantern has been used to educate and entertain audiences for hundreds of years.

Another highlight is the working display of vintage toy trains - it's just amazing!

After the museum, we walked the downtown area, enjoying the sights and sounds, including a trombone band:

and hot roasted chestnuts: DELICIOUS!!!

Everyone joins in the fun:

Then it was parade time!

No motor vehicles, everything is horse-drawn or foot powered:

The most amazing sight is the 30+ foot tree, on a sledge, being drawn by a team of four draft horses right down the middle of the street!

They had to work hard this year, with no snow to help it slide.

Upon reaching the end of the parade, the tree is lit and the sky fills with fireworks.

Even with no snow, the town was filled with happy, enthusiastic people, truly full of the spirit of the season - we'll be back!

There's Still Time!!!! ArtPrize 2012

ArtPrize!!!!!

If it's at all a possibility for you, drop everything and make your way to Grand Rapids, Michigan in the next few days and experience ArtPrize.

What's Artprize?

It's 1571 pieces of art, in 161 venues, covering 3 square miles.

ArtPrize was conceived as an experiment - anyone could enter, any space could be a venue and the public would vote for the winner - it turns most conventional art exhibits upside down, with no experts making the choices.

The venues range from restaurants, book stores, and beauty salons to traditional museums and galleries.

The materials used by the artists are equally to diverse, ranging from traditional paints to more unusual such as wire:

Or thread and buttons:

 There are monumental works, immense yet detailed:

And that often have a surprising element!

Some are such a perfect fit for their venue, that it's hard to imagine that they'll be gone in just a few more days.

The response has been overwhelming, people of every age, every income bracket, every social niche out and about enjoying art - it sounds cliche, but you really can feel the energy as you move about the city.

The prize money is overwhelming too, a total of $560,000 in awards!

ArtPrize ends on October 7th, so there's still time - view the art, pick your favorite and vote for winner.

Touring Michigan - Munising

Water - it's the centerpiece of the landscape in Northern Michigan and was the focus of our recent visit to Munising, located on the southern shore of Lake Superior and a gateway to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

There are seventeen waterfalls in the Munising area, one of our favorites is Laughing Whitefish Falls. The falls drop a hundred feet down a limestone slide; in the spring, the flow is much stronger than now, but it's still beautiful. It's a tough place to photograph well, the ravine is so deep that only at midday does sunlight reach the bottom.
 

There's beauty in the little details too - the color of the rock, the play or light and water.

 With a forty foot drop, Miner's Falls is the reward for a twenty minute walk through the woods.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is a place unlike any other, towering above Lake Superior are the most prominent of the park's  features, the multicolored sandstone cliffs for which the lakeshore is named. These cliffs reach to a height of 200 feet above the lake; the name "Pictured Rocks" comes from the streaks of minerals that stain and decorate the face of the wind and water sculpted cliffs. Sandstone cliffs of ochre, tan, and brown - sandwiched with layers of white, green, orange, and black - glisten against the cloud-streaked sky and clear waters of Lake Superior.

There are a few ways to see the Pictured Rocks, we choose a boat cruise this time. About 12 years ago, we hiked the length of the park - from Grand Marais to Munising, a total of 42 miles. Maybe we'll do it again some day!

The cliffs start out small:

But big on color! The colors and patterns are caused by water carrying minerals such as copper, iron and manganese through the soft sandstone.

If you're comfortable in a kayak on Lake Superior, you can get truly up close and personal!

 Arches and caves are formed by the forces of wind and water:

Many of the formations have been named, this is Indian Head:

This is Chapel Rock, topped with a magnificent pine - even more amazing when you notice the root system bridging the gap to the cliff!

Spray Falls marks the turn around point, the falls also marks the the resting place of an 1856 shipwreck;  "Superior" lies at the base of the falls in 20 feet of water.

As is common on Superior, a quick moving storm moved in on our return trip:

But it stopped just before we passed the East Chanel Light on Grand Island - we had spent the previous day on Grand Island, biking nearly 20 miles.

The Munising area is beautiful all year, but the best time to visit is quickly approaching: FALL! The colors are already starting to show just a bit - plan your visit soon.