Gators

When you come to Florida you expect to see alligators, right?  We haven't hardly seen any.  We have seen more things you wouldn't expect to see, like the manatees and we seen a dolphin.  Well on our boat ride we seen a couple gators and here they are:






The locals tell us that gators really start coming out when it starts to cool down, but when it is really hot they tend to stay more in the water. I suppose it's really better that way since I have no interest in being bitten by one!

One last shot before I go, just because it's beautiful!

More from Florida

My version of "footprints" except I think I will call it, "Webprints"



On the beach there are tons of seagulls, and there are many other birds as well, I don't know the names of them, but here is one:


Then there was these cute little fluffy birds, and they just run and pluck from the seaweed and they will fluff up thier feathers and sort of "cuddle".


And if you get out to the beaach really early, or late in the night you will see these little cuties:

They are FAST!

Tonight

This evening I have four photos to share.

 



These were of course taken while at the boat, in Grand Haven. There are these little islands or clumps of grass that are in the middle of the Grand River. There is always some kinds of birds hanging around these areas. Birds are one of my favorite things to take photos of. Maybe because it's such a challenge, I'm not sure. One day, I plan to have an owl in my collection of birds.  Back when I was shooting with film, I seen and photographed a bald eagle right here in Hillsdale!  Someday I'll have to scan that and get it on here!

Okay my bird book says these are, to the best of bird searching abilities, top to bottom.  People around the marina call them wood ducks, but according to Sibley's field guide to birds these look most like a double crested cormorant.  Now I could be wrong, so if you know otherwise, please tell me what they are!  In the second and third shot, I was aiming for the bird standing there in the back.  Now I have always believed it was a white heron , but it seems--according the the field guide--they are rare in these here parts so next best bird with the closest matching description is a great egret.   Again, I could be wrong!  I did have a shot of a blue heron, but it was flying away from me, so it didn't turn out real great. 

There is one more shot to share tonight


Just because!

A Must see.

We were not able to take our trip down to South Haven so we took this opportunity to see some of the stuff we have never taken the time to see. This is where we started our day:

This is actually where we started at the Great Lakes Naval Memorial & Museum - USS Silversides. We didn't do the movies, we just went into the submarine.


Here are some of the sleeping quarters

A fancy gauge.

Some more stuff I don't really know about.

The USS Silversides is HUGE! It seemed as if every little portal kept leading to another room! The stairs to go down are dangerous, the portals will grab your knees if your short and crack your skull if your tall. It was pretty amazing to see. Then you stop and think about the men and women that join the military and live on these submarines for months on end in these crowded areas and you think to your self, thank you.

So when we finally made our way off of the Silversides, we went over to the USCGC McLANE. The McLane wasn't as big, but 125 feet isn't small! This boat was rather fascinating, we could live on it, with some decorating changes and air freshener of course! We may not need the gun on the front, but Jaden and I had fun for a minute.

I know I look like a dork, but that's not what I am here to discuss!
Here is a sitting/eating room. I am not sure what it is called exactly.

Here are the sleeping quarters for this boat:

This is the hatch that drops from the Helm into the Captain's head, and the rest of the boat so you don't have to brave the treacherous stairs outside while the boat is bobbing up and down!

This is my husband, at home at the helm!

www.silversides.org is the website for the museum in Muskegon, Michigan.

So we left here, and went to what the TomTom said was a "Train Museum". It turns out it was and has been turned into a visitor center.

Right across Highway 31 there was another naval ship we toured as well, but it's new there in Muskegon.

This one is standing on top facing the front of the boat--gives you an idea how big it was.

This was a freezer at one point. It is to the best of my knowledge, that the ship was made into a car hauler to take cars across the lakes, As I had said, it was recently received in Muskegon, and they are trying to put it as close as possible back to original.

Here is the engine room of that ship. It was some pretty large stuff in the tiny room.


We did some driving around the Muskegon area, it's a really pretty city with a lot of history. We left from there and went up to the Whitehall/Montague area. Which I will show later!

Day 7

That's right, it is day 7 at the boat. It is starting to get lonely up here. During the week there are very few people here at the marina. My son and I have been all over the Grand Haven doing the stuff that we normally don't do.

So it seems as the uploader isn't working again, so I will have to do this the old fashion way.

This was on the 4th, the river was so calm that night. This one has some photoshopping done, just playing around. The moon should have been out that night!

We should probably get the boat cleaned up today. We're not sure when dad will be here. Either today or tomorrow. The rest of the boaters will be here tonight or tomorrow morning.

This is a wheat field, I think they are so awesome looking. I would love to get out and stand in one for some photos. I think it would be cool to take photos of people in a wheat field too.

Not necessarily a theme but I have been taking a lot of "farm" type shots. I have heard they sell good in the stock photo markets. We will see!