One Perfect Day

Most of our married life I have been the decision maker for the family. Nobody else wants the pressure of deciding on something and then it being the wrong decision. I have grown very weary of that role. So for most of our recent vacation to the Leelanau Peninsula, I let Glen make the decisions about where we were going to go for the day. Either that or we would mutually decide on something.

But there was one day where I knew exactly what I wanted us to do. I had been planning it since we were last up here in June. The plans were derived from things we had talked about doing in June but never got the chance to do. I knew we would enjoy doing them together.

The day needed to be nice, overcast or partly cloudy would be ideal. Not full on sun since a lot of the day involved photography outside, and I knew we wouldn't get going in time to catch the morning golden hour.

Wednesday presented the perfect conditions, starting out overcast and becoming partly sunny in the afternoon. The temperatures were lovely in the low 60's. Wednesday also preceded three days of forecasted rain, not very nice when you are on vacation in one of the most beautiful places in the United States and the Autumn colors are starting to emerge.

We began the morning exploring the historic farms on the southern side of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We have explored the northern historic farms a fair amount because they are closer to the condo that we rent. We had Susan Tuttle's new book Art of Everyday Photography along as our field guide. Glen tends to believe things more if I read them to him out of a book versus me telling him what he should do. He has come so far in his photography from a year ago and I saw huge improvement this trip. He always had a good eye, he just needed to work on the technical stuff.

First stop was the Tweedle School...built in 1895 and served the little farming community until the schools consolidated and the building was converted to a residence.

This school is a bit too close to M-22 to get a nice full view shot, so instead we concentrated on the details.

But what really caught my eye as we wandered around the old schoolhouse was the barn next door. So of course I had to go explore...

I do love barns with all my photographing heart...

Two different views of a similar object... first mine...

Then Glen's...

This is my favorite shot of his from the whole day, not because he didn't have other good ones, but this one speaks to me. I love close up, detail shots. I love the angle and I love the mystery of this piece when taken out of context.

I went back to this barn on Monday by myself, Glen had to go back to work, and captured it in beautiful golden morning light.

After exploring another close-by historic farm and driving by one other one we decided to see where the road would take us and we landed here...

Esch Road Beach, the site of the ghost town of Aral, and where Otter Creek flows into Lake Michigan.

This was my favorite place of the whole day. It was a magical place; water, sand and the guy I love.

There were a few magical moments as well...

As I was standing about here a beautiful orange Monarch butterfly floated by, the orange set against the gray blue water was so striking. Something fluttered deep inside me as I watched that butterfly drift by, buoyed by the light breeze. I knew that this was a special day, a special moment and a very special place.

Then to make it even more magical I found a heart shaped stone, which shhh, I did put in my pocket and take home. It now sits on my writing desk, I see it right away every morning, reminding me of the One Perfect Day with the one I love.