Leelanau Peninsula

I had a hard time getting a walk in today.  I was up and out by 6:30, but it was a beautiful morning and I decided to go off and try to photograph a historic property instead.  It's a farm, with a view of Sleeping Bear Dunes behind it, on which are located three magnificent barns -- a huge barn with two cupolas and two towers, and two replica barns, one somewhat smaller and one very tiny.  They are sturdily built and just charming, and looked lovely in the early morning mist.  The property itself is locked and marked with "No Trespassing" signs, but you can wander out into the adjacent field.  (In fact, I could see a man with a tripod far on the other side.)  The grass is nearly to my waist and I got soaked by the dew.  I was so intent on my barn photographs that I wasn't paying any attention to either how damp the walk was or how astounding the field itself was -- it was covered in spiderwebs!  Literally, a huge spiderweb every few feet, all glistening in the dew and mist; they finally caught my attention when I stood upright to figure out how to get back to the car.

This evening I went for a little drive to see if I could find some places where I had spent time with my family three years ago.  Amazingly, I was successful -- a long stretch of beach reached by several back roads about 10 miles from here, where we had enjoyed a sunset picnic, and a small lake which is entrancing because it is just behind the dunes from Lake Michigan.  In fact, the dunes separate at one point and you can see the big lake literally 100 feet behind the tiny lake.  We had spent a sunny afternoon there; it's crammed with swimmers and giant floats during the day, but was almost empty tonight.

I did see Jimmy Carter's and the Clintons' speeches last night, and I'm off now (10:00) to see what the Convention has to offer this evening.

Walked: 2 miles.