July 23 to August 5: Holland, Michigan

We came down to Holland to attended the SWMCCC conference -- that's something like Southwest Michigan Camera Club Conference. About 285 people attended a number of classes and photo opportunities. We both really enjoyed the conference even though we found the classes to be uneven in quality (volunteers provide the programs). Ron had fun at a birds of prey photo shoot and Joyce learned a lot about ProShow Gold software. We enjoyed all the people we met, too. Here's a little bit from the Outdoor Discovery Center from Ron:



Joyce enjoyed a workshop about setting up things to take pictures of:

This is behind glass.

This set-up includes an artfully broken window.

Ron worked on this shiloutte.

After the conference was over, we (wait for it) decided to stay for another week to visit some of the wonderful things we heard about but couldn't see because we were in classes. We visited the Outdoor Discovery Center and Holland State Park with great views of Big Red, the lighthouse in Holland. Now we are experiencing record high temperatures which is limited our interest in making some of the other visits we had planned. But we always have fun (as long as the air conditioning holds out at any rate).

This is Big Red just after sunset.

These people are walking back from a small light at the end of the pier.

July 24: Happy Birthday Ron!

Ron's birthday didn't work out as smoothly as Joyce's. We went out in search of Ron's present at Costco but we didn't really get it until the next day. We wanted to have a late lunch at Outback Steakhouse. It sounded like so much fun. We drove around and finally found the restaurant and then we noticed that the lot was empty because the place didn't open until 4 pm. We did get to go to Red Robin instead and enjoyed it greatly. Joyce mentioned it was Ron's birthday but he begged for no singing. He even turned down the free balloon. He did accept the ice cream sundae, however! Then we went to see Bruce Willis in "Live Free or Die Hard" which Joyce thought was going to be about New Hampshire (state motto: Live Free or Die).

July 15 to July 22 -- More Hanging Around

We couldn't decide where to go this week so we didn't go anywhere. One more week of watching swans, visiting the casino, and taking drives. The special event of the week was visiting the big horse show. It was so much more than we expected. There were four competition rings, each with a practice ring. We visited during the first of three weeks of competition which featured the younger and more beginner riders in general. We enjoyed watching the jumpers and hunters and just soaking up the general atmosphere.

July 7 to July 14 -- National Cherry Festival

Love is in the air

The big festival in Traverse City is the National Cherry Festival. We attended a number of the events including the air show over the bottom of Grand Traverse Bay (in fact we went both days). Ron had never seen an air show but Joyce is an old hand at them. Of course, the attractive sun bathers on the sand added an extra touch.

We also saw some of the volleyball, crafts show, and various booths. We really enjoyed the Pow-Wow on Tuesday with all the dancing and music. We watched the big fireworks show at the end of the festival.

Dana was an official photographer at several events.

This is a rear view of the band warming up for their performance.

Both local television stations were broadcasting live from the "Open Area" of the festival. And we found the dog jumping surprisingly fun.

July 6 -- Happy Birthday Joyce!

Joyce aged as gracefully as she can. We had a fun day of playing miniature golf -- both 18-hole courses at the Pirate Adventure center. Joyce took more strokes than Ron but he carefully explained that birthday girls always get a handicap equal to the difference in our scores plus one. So . . . Joyce won! Of course, she wasn't that aware. Between the two courses we went to Outback Steakhouse for a lovely dinner and we had margaritas! Wow! Joyce had a regular strawberry one and Ron had a double regular. We were loopy. I mean flat-out loopy! Oh, yeah, Joyce colored her hair in the campground bathroom and then couldn't get the broken doorknob to open the door in the morning. What a day!

June 24 to July 5 -- Traverse City

After visiting with Dana and Kathy, we chose not to move from Traverse Bay RV Resort. This, of course, fits our normal pattern. We find a place we like (and we have a very wide range of "like") and then we just stay there! We engaged in a number of fun activities and just normal living. We revisited some of the areas we had toured with Dana, such as Grass River and Seven Bridges. The most fun place that became a regular stop for us is a park where there were two families of swans! What a joy see them so many times and watching the cygnets get so big.

One of the special events was the Celtic Festival in Fife Lake. We spent most of our time with the athletes tossing the caber, tossing the hammer, and other classic events.





We also attended local summer festivals: Alden has an event called the Stroll on Thursday nights. We listened to live music, once we ate ice cream and watched the sun set another time. Elk Rapids celebrates Wednesday nights with live music, street entertainers, and food booths. We stopped there twice as well.

The Turtle Creek Casino, located just two miles from our RV resort, saw a lot of visits from us. We were breaking even on betting (with several impressive wins) and it was the closest place to get a quick meal. Another casino in Petosky, a ways north of Traverse City, drew us to it three times, two of those times on Wednesdays which was Senior Appreciation Days. Who are we to prevent the casino from appreciating us?


We took pleasure rides around the area including out Old Mission Peninsula.

This is the interior of the cabin.

We took a trip back over to Point Betsie Lighthouse and Glen Haven that we had visited during the Elderhostel.

Boy -- Do I Feel Bad!

I'm such a goose!

I just read the comments on the blog (I haven't looked earlier because I didn't want to be reminded of how far behind I was!). I finally looked at the blog because of the emails and phone calls we have been receiving from our fans, checking to see if we are still among the living. I assure you all we are alive and well (and I'm also lazy). I will try to catch us up and then we will add the photos.