Heading North!

Hopefully tomorrow we will be off to the lake for a few days. Since I may not be able to post from there -- at least, not with photos, unless I can figure something else out -- I thought I'd share with you a few things I'll be seeing.

Gaylord, Michigan, has this thing going on with an Alpine theme. Even the Big Boy wears an Alpine hat. We'll miss the big festival that starts the following week. Beer tents, contests like the knobbiest knees, lots of leiderhosen and a relatively crappy art fair. (Or "crapht" fair, as Rick likes to say.

Back in the '60s, the town adopted a Swiss sister city (Say that fast three times!) called Pontresina and turned the architecture faux Swiss, too. Some is actually not bad (this block isn't too tacky). Others look like the builder took a couple of two-by-fours and nailed them into an A-frame peak, painted it some wild color and called it good!

Still, it's a nice little town -- not overly touristy (which is sort of too bad for them; town factories have closed recently and they can use the tourism dollars). The shops aren't fabulously trendy, but are just fine.

I prefer the farmer's market.

It should be getting a little bit better now that more produce is coming out.

I'm not sure what these bears are all about. Probably like the Chicago street bulls and other charity creations (someday I'll post the mermaids I photographed last year in Norfolk). But they are fun and a break in the action.

This is what I enjoy every evening.

We have a fairly large beach with not many neighbors. I plan to read lots, visit a fiber farm, knit a bit, maybe do some paper (I have a swap due!) and just relax.

So, I may or may not be posting for a few days. I'll do my best to check blogs, but might be out of commission for a few days.

Or maybe I'll surprise you. And me!