Some teaching scenes from the Institute, Family Home Evening, Institute Classes, etc. What a joy it is to be called to serve and have an opportunity to help influence the lives of the young folks. We are truly having a great time in this service. It is a wonderful thing to see young lives influenced as they learn more about the teachings of the Savior. It is quite humbling to know that we were afforded this opportunity, and we are not only enjoying every minute of it, but also finding our own knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ enhanced each day.
Roy and Jennie...just two of the many great friends we've made while on our Mission. I can't begin to describe how wonderful all these young folks are and what a great privilege it is to serve among them. They are a tremendous example of the the teachings of the Savior in the way they serve each other and the Lord.
On the 4th of July weekend we noted that even though most went home for the weekend, there were still a few of us here, so we all got together for a barbeque followed by going to the local fireworks shows....
We moved in June to an apartment down the hall that we liked better because it had a deck. Note the bird feeders...we have lot's of company!
A few weeks ago we had a slight lull in our teaching schedule between the two MSU summer teaching blocks, so we finally had some time to take advantage of the admonition of President Jones, our mission president, to "see more of northern Michigan". I've mentioned before that Michigan has two land masses...the Lower Peninsula (shaped like a "mitten"), and the Upper Peninsula (above the Mackinac Straits, between the north end of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. Michiganders(!) refer to people living in the upper peninsula as "Yoopers", as in UP or Upper Peninsula, and "Trolls", as in living "below the bridge".
Sooooo, we headed north...
Two lighthouses in Cheboygan, on the north east corner of the lower Michigan peninsula facing Lake Huron.
We spent a couple days on Mackinac Island (pronounced MackinAW), a tourist destination since the early 19th century! Ferry ride to get there, no cars allowed, just horses and bicycles. Beautiful place with tons of old world charm and great "Mackinac Island Fudge"....
We stayed in the Mission Point hotel.
We rode bikes around the island...about 8 miles.
The famous Grand Hotel. That front veranda is over 600 feet long!
Old Fort Mackinac
Some more Mackinac Island scenes....
The Mackinac Island Light
The Round Island Light on Round Island across from the harbor at Mackinac Island.
The Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, on the Mackinaw City side.
The incredible Mackinac (say MackinAW) Bridge which crosses the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan meets Lake Huron on the north end. Completed in 1957, it is the worlds second longest suspension bridge at 4 miles length...not to mention beautiful to look at!
Factoids for the next time you run out of things to talk about at a party:
20% of the world's fresh water is in the Great Lakes!
30% of the Great Lake's water is in Lake Superior, the largest lake!
If ALL the water in the Great Lakes was spread evenly across the US, it would cover the US with 9.6 ft depth of water!
Huge ore freighter traversing the "Soo Locks" on the American side at Sault St. Marie. These locks - the first ones initially and incredibly built in 1855(!) - lower ships the 21 ft height differential between Lake Superior down to Lake Huron. Prior to the locks, folks with large canoes, boats, etc had to portage over land down this part of the St. Mary river.
Leaving the Soo Locks eastbound on the St. Mary's river with a load of iron ore pellets.
The Whitefish Point Lighthouse and Foghorn. Beautifully restored, it also features a well known Shipwreck Museum with lot's of information on the many Lake Superior shipwrecks.
Looking north across Lake Superior from Whitefish Point. 17 miles offshore in 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald, a 730 ft long ore ship outbound from the Minnesota iron mines went down in 570 ft of water with all hands in a fierce winter storm featuring 30 plus foot waves and a lot of wind and ice. That inspired the "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" ballad that was a hit for Gordon Lightfoot. It was just one of literally thousands of shipwrecks recorded in the history of Lake Superior!
This is Tahquamenon Falls on the upper peninsula. Beautifully brown, the water gets it's color from the tannin in all the leaves in the river.
On our preparation day a couple Saturday's ago we went to the Annual Air Show in Battle Creek. One of those nice muggy "91 degrees but feels like 105 degrees" days with the humidity. I do believe Karen is not really fond of this beautiful summer weather! Her words "...I felt like I was going to die." And she wasn't even in an airplane!
Here's a couple of the aerobatic planes...they were really fantastic and some of these guys seemed to be flaunting all the laws of aeronautics while flying VERY close to the ground. Virtually no margin for error!
An amazing wing walker...on this pass she is standing on her head!
The Blue Angels were incredible!
Battle Creek MI always comes to mind as the HQ for the Big 3 of the cereal world - Post, Kelloggs, and Ralston. You may remember that a few weeks ago we went to the "Cereal Festival", of all things!
Here's the "mother ship" for Post Cereals
...and here's the Kellogg headquarter's
