Author Archives: twosheepstothewind

Built: 1855 … Height: 65 feet … Lens: 4th order Fresnel On the way to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, Vicki and I took a scenic route up through the Hiawatha National Forest along the shoreline of Lake Superior, with a stop at the Point Iroquois Lighthouse. The keeper’s quarters now house an Ojibwe tribalContinue reading “09.16.2023 Point Iroquois Lighthouse … an Ojibwe victory”

Sleeping Bear Dune, on the shore of Lake Michigan, is one of those things that looks like fun … from a distance. Right up there on the bluff, since that is what it really is, one quickly gets a sense of what a crazy idea this is, at least for a still-chunky 66-year-old with artificialContinue reading “09.11.2023 Climbing Sleeping Bear Dune … NOT!”

Getting old isn’t for sissies, and neither is playing the traditional tourist. Vicki and I have been travelers, which I insist is different from being a tourist. Full-timing in a small RV lends itself to a moderate degree of travel and adventure. Vacationing takes more stamina and money than we have these days. But forContinue reading “08.15.2023 Playing the tourist on Mackinac Island”

When we arrived at the Platte River Campground, part of the Sleeping Bear Dune National Shoreline on Lake Michigan, we finally felt like we had escaped the Texas Heat Dome, the one that has been chasing us all year. It was cool. It was cloudy. It was downright pleasant. Which meant it was mostly comfortableContinue reading “08.07.2023 A quiet walk to a quiet beach”

Built: 1870 … Height: 36 feet … Lens: 5th order Fresnel (now on display) “I can think of no other edifice constructed by man as altruistic as a lighthouse. They exist only to serve.” — George Bernard Shaw, quoted on the website for this lighthouse These lighthouses are not in the order in which weContinue reading “09.10.2023 Mission Point Lighthouse”

Built: 1927 … Height: 38 feet … Lens: 5th-order Fresnel (original) We took the wrong turn in construction and ended up on the south side of the harbor opening in Manistee. But since the lighthouse does not have tours, and because the lake was so gorgeous that day, we just walked on the south pierheadContinue reading “9.1.2023 Manistee North Pierhead Lighthouse, seen from afar”

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” —Neil Gaiman, author The Marvel and DC Comics universes are the latest version of fairy tales. While I have enjoyed several of these movies, which seem to have taken over cinemaContinue reading “08.18.23 Visiting Elkhart’s Hall of Heroes”

Built: 1904 Height: 49 feet Lamp: 4th-order Fresnel There are 104 lighthouses along the shore of Lake Michigan. I have no mania to see ALL of them, but Vicki and I look forward to a good sampling. We begin our tour in Michigan City, Indiana, with the East Pierhead Light and the nearby museum. ButContinue reading “8.23.23 Michigan City Lighthouse”

Even a disappointing campground run by the Army Corps of Engineers is pretty darn good, and that’s not just the Senior Lifetime Pass talking. Yes, for us old coots, the pass cuts an already reasonable fee in half.  But the parks are always in beautiful places, often are on or near the water, and areContinue reading “South Marcum: The perfect Corps of Engineers park (almost)”

Not-so-high-in-the-sky on Wednesday, the crew of a what looks like an Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter practiced using the cable hoist not far from the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds in Goshen, Indiana, where we are attending the Forest River Owners Group rally. It was definitely noisy, but not as loud as the dining hall withContinue reading “Quick post: Train like it’s the real thing”