9-20-12 Beaver Island, MI

This is the town of St James on Beaver Island, MI. Both the town and the entire island are unlike any place we've ever seen. The island is located at the Northern end of Lake Michigan about 30 miles from the Michigan mainland. The island is 13 miles long and varies between 3 and 6 miles wide. There are about 650 residence most of whom live at the northern end of the island in the area in and around St James harbor. There are 4 restaurants, 2 lighthouses, 1 sheriff (Travis) and no traffic lights. There is also a golf course, 2 airports, several lakes and lots of hiking and biking trails through miles of absolutely beautiful forests.

But I think the most fascinating things about the island can't be revealed in the facts and figures. Its hard to describe what it is exactly. Call it a feeling or a vibe. There is just something about this place, the look and feel of it all. And the people. The residence here definitely add to the unique character of the experience. Everyone is exceedingly nice, but there's more to it than that. They look out for each other. They take care of each other. I suppose it has to do with the isolation and how hard the winters can be. The only way to get by is to rely on the help of others and give others whatever help you can in return. It seems almost tribe-like at times. Its a fascinating thing to experience.

We booked the whole week and been exploring island and its culture in between long stretches of staring at the water and doing absolutely nothing. A vacation success if ever there was one. The weather hasn't been the greatest, lots of rain and overcast skies. But the winds have been strong and we've been able to take advantage of the rare moments of good sunlight to grab a few flights and get some decent shots from a couple of spots.

There are lots more pictures to be had here. We've only scratched the surface of it. But even still, I think its been a successful trip on all counts.

8-18-12 Chicago Lakeshore Shot w/GoPro

8-18-12 Chicago Lakeshore 6, a photo by joe_gremlin on Flickr.

We've lived in the Midwest for over two years now and we've never been to Chicago. So we decided it was time for a daytrip. On the agenda was the Science and Industry Museum and then whatever kite locations we could find.

The museum was terrific. Lots to see and lots of walking. The kite locations not so much. There are tons of fabulous locations to fly kites along the Chicago lake shore. But you need to make sure there isn't some sort of special event (or several of them) going on the day you're there. If not, finding parking for less than $50 is impossible as is finding more than 3 square feet of real estate which doesn't have at least a dozen people in it.

This left us with limited options. So we started heading North along the lake until it seemed like the people were starting to thin out a bit. And that brought us to a place known as Waveland Park. Its a little patch of softball fields right next to a small golf course. Perfect.

Winds were light but steady. We flew the delta and used the GoPro to shoot about 15 minutes of HD video. These pics are captures from that video which explains why they're a little on the rough side as far as resolution goes. Because despite its name, HD video works out to only about 2 megapixels when it comes to still photos. Next flight, we'll likely experiment with having the GoPro shoot stills every 2 seconds or so which should yield better resolution photos.











After we brought the camera down, we decided to test our newest kite. A Rokkaku we bought in North Carolina last year. We've never flown one and they're a bit tricky. But they do extremely well in light wind conditions once you figure out how to rig them properly. We didn't feel confident enough to fly the camera with it this time out but it did really well otherwise. I think it will be a useful addition to our collection. This pic was shot with my droid phone.