Winter on Lake Superior: Part ONE

Before we left for Florida on Jan. 14th,

I took a trip to Marquette, Michigan,

which is about 30 miles from where I live.

It is where I graduated from high school and college.

I love the town and always will.

I try and get out to the shores of Lake Superior, on the edge of town

every season

to take some photos.

So, today, I have some for you and since I took so many photos,

I will do two blogposts of them for you.

Here is Set ONE:

We had some very cold temperatures

along with wind,

which makes the waves fly up against the breakwater and freeze:



And,

the waves push up big ice chunks

against the shore:

This one was taken at dusk

of the Coast Guard station.

I loved the dark ominous sky:

I have taken photos of this log cabin on the shore before on this blog

during summer and fall.

But the drama comes in the winter, when the ice is on the cliffs beside it:

My fingers felt about as icy

as this

ice clump along the shore while taking these photos!

But it was so neat, I had to take a photo of it! (Nature doesn't wait for wimps):

More ice along the shore:

There is this spot called "Pictured Rocks" in town.

It is 3 islands right off shore and there is a little park there.

There are signs in the summer warning people NOT to try and swim to them

because there are riptides.

We have had many deaths because college kids don't listen and try to do it anyway and have drowned.

This is one of the islands in winter's grip:

They are gorgeous islands, even in the winter.

Stay tuned, more photos in this Set

coming soon on the blog!

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Snow Snaps

Today,

I have more random pictures of snowy scenes

and

U.P. scenes of winter for you.

I loved how the icicles came out of the moss in this shot:

And this one:

In the last few blogposts,

I have shown you icicles hanging from rock bluffs.

This shot shows you some of the bluffs along the snowy road

where I took some of them:

An early morning shot of the sun just coming out

and a tree full of Starlings:

From a distance,

Starlings look all black.

But in reality,

they are speckled with color:

I spotted this fun mailbox,

full of snow:

(I want one, don't you??)

Snowy bluffs of rocks and pines:

I hope you are enjoying winter....

it really does have its own beauty.

Lake Superior Winter Splendor: Part THREE

This is the final installment of a three part series on photographs I took at the shores of Lake Superior about a week ago.

I love open water and ice formations, especially on Lake Superior.

But, in case you are bored with the last two blogposts before this one and want a short intermission first, well....

here you go:

This little guy was on the tree by my house before we left to go treasure hunting for photos on Lake Superior:

And I caught him in a blurry escape, too:

One more shot of him before we go to look at Lake Superior, then, OK?


He got bored about me and was looking out at our lake when we left.

Well, FINE then.

I will just take your fluffy backside then!:

All righty then.

Back to Lake Superior.

I had to take many shots of the red Coast Guard station because it is just so darn nice:

Back to the lake.

It was quiet out there.

But I did see others pulling up to the parking lot and getting out and snapping photos of this little island that day too:

But no one was really noticing the beauty of the surrounding ice.

Silly people.

You gotta look right under your feet!:

I can see how they got distracted, because that Coast Guard station is right next to where you can park your car and go down a tiny path:





That's okay.

I had a date with these ice lava fingers:




Followed by the snowy shores:


And we had a good time together.

It's okay.

My husband knows all about it.

And he is okay with it.

That's how we roll.....

Lake Superior Winter Splendor: Part TWO

This is the second of a series of photos I took on the shores of Lake Superior...if you missed Part ONE, just drop below this post and you will find it there!

I am always mesmerized by ice formations, especially near open water in the winter.

I wasn't disappointed on this trip out to the big lake.

This is a snow covered little island just off the shore. I loved the "dripping" ice formations on the edge of the island:

Snow fingers with ice! Looks like winter lava:

One of the most photographed places on Marquette's Lake Superior shoreline is this red coast guard station:

But in the winter, even the simple frozen shoreline can be gorgeous:

Close up, the shelves of ice have a character all of their own:

These looked like icy fingers dipping into chocolate pudding:





This is a closeup of the one I showed you yesterday of the frozen "hat" over the large stone in the lake:





Looking through lacy trees out at the frozen island just off shore:

Molten ICE!:

A close up of an ice "cave" on the island:

I have one more blogpost to show you tomorrow

to conclude the photographs of beautiful Lake Superior

in the winter....

(at least for this week!)

Who knows what I might find next week????

Lake Superior Winter Splendor: Part ONE

We have had some subzero weather this week, but on the day that I took these pictures, it warmed to a balmy 19 degrees with sun and there was just a little breeze outside.

I took the opportunity to go to Lake Superior's shores (without my boot cast...yup, the Dr. said I didn't need to wear it anymore for my fractured foot! YAY!).

I was hoping the snow and open water would yield some nice photos and I wanted to treasure hunt for ice formations on the shore there.

I found some!

I just loved this frozen "hat" of ice that formed on the top and over the lake stone:

I was concentrating so hard looking for ice formations on the shoreline, that I almost missed

HIM!:

He was just paddling around silently with his female companion on the big lake.

After getting him on camera, I turned back to looking for more ice formations. If you look by the ice, down in the water, you can see a huge Lake Superior stone under the clear water, too:




Ok. Just one more of this beautiful duck and we will move on...

This is looking out at what is called "Picnic Rocks"...which consists of three of these little rock islands. I loved the icy shore too:

Everywhere I looked there were interesting ice formations on the shore:

Even lacy ones:

Another HAT.....ice that covered the huge stones sticking out from the water:

And bumpy ice!:

And stalagtite ice, reaching right into the frozen beach sand!:

I took so many photos there, I had to divide them into more than one blogpost.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Part 2.