Marshlands

Here's a boardwalk that cuts through a 1000 acre marshland on the way to protected sand dunes bordering the Northcoast. The Marsh grass is easily over 10 feet high and there is an abundance of wildlife in the area.





You can see the creek leading into pond, breaking through the tall grass, in the upper middle. Surrounding the pond is a bog that that has some firmness but mushes in like foam if you step on it. You can push a stick several feet into the bog because it remains damp throughout. Here is a tree stump in the bog, which contains very black soil.




Its been dry, so this creek feeding the marsh has dried out. It normally runs about a foot deep between the boardwalk (not visible) and the tall grass. Here a bird made his nest in a tree on the edge of the marsh.

Surf's up on the North Coast

Oh we've all heard about the East and West Coasts, but we have a North Coast too. And this weekend the surf was up. So the surfers flocked to the Great Lakes largest beach to ply their trade. All wearing partial wetsuits for the cold water. It's one of our nicest beaches, fine sand, going out for some distance to help bringing your equipment ashore.



Wind surfing is popular to get some more speed going and because the waves on this gentle sloping beach are not very high. Great place to learn though. Now a board is one thing to drag in, but with a sail on it, its even more work.






Here's a fully decked out wind surfer dude taking a stroll in the water. Maybe he's trying to test the water temp to see if he's going back out. The windsufers wearing extra gear, backbraces, gloves, water shoes, etc.







Now for the purist's with board only, they have to wait a little to catch a good wave. But then surfer dude's always draw a crowd of girls when they come in.

Travels

Traveling and photography are two things I enjoy. The two go together. I haven't done as much traveling recently; post 9/11 certainly put a damper on things. Here are some of the places I've been.

My two biggest trips were to Europe for one month each time. The first trip was with my brother on a bus tour that included Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands. The second trip was with my wife on our fifth wedding anniversary that included Ireland, England, France, Italy. For the second trip it was on our own, rented cars in England and Ireland, Eurrail pass France and Italy. We stayed in B&Bs a lot of the time.

My brother and I went to the Bahamas several times, including for my bachelor party (he was my best man). It was tame by some standards, no strippers, instead we spent time at the casinos, beaches.

My brother is such a fan of the Caribbean that he got married in the US Virgin Islands (USVI). I went down for the wedding with my wife to act as his best man, although I joked that he was taking a vacation with his girlfriend and going to come back pretending to be married. Some joke, his marriage is solid, mine's over. He honeymooned on St. John and my wife and I were on St. Thomas. We went out to dinner and had a few activities together. I came back and put a nice wedding album together and met him at the airport with it.

My wife and I honeymooned in Cancun, Mexico. The resort is beautiful, but the surrounding area is so very poverty stricken.

Travel in the US was often times by myself, sometimes with my brother or sometimes with my wife to the following cities Boston, NYC, Baltimore, Washington DC, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Chicago, Niagara Falls, New Orleans, Virgina Beach, Phoenix, LA, San Francisco. I've been to these cities multiple times, sometimes for more than 2 weeks at a time.

This post is just a summary of places I've been, I'll be posting more details with photos in the future.

Life Story

I have a younger brother and enjoy photography and travel.

I have grown up in the Midwest area but done extensive traveling, my career is in large scale computer center support. After high school, I obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Information Science with a strong concentration on Mathematics, strong enough to almost qualify me for a second 4 year degree, but I entered the work force in the University's IT department. It was an interesting a challenging time.

For 14 years or so I worked very hard, multiple jobs, fast track promotions, and built a nice financial safety net. During this time I also developed and taught computer classes.

In my mid 30s I married my wife. After nearly 20 years at the University it went through a "transformation", read chaos, and an opportunity presented itself. I joined a startup firm who's objective was to obtain certification to sell and service IBM mainframes.

This was great exposure for four years. Seeing every facet of the company from birth, to heavy traveling, to marketing, to strength, to death. Something no business school could teach in a classroom.

Then the tech bubble burst... and so did the startup. After a period of time I got a new job but it started on third shift with a 100 mile/day commute. I wrecked two cars and was diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea so lived away from home, near work for 2 months.

Well after I pulled myself back up, physical recovery and then financial recovery, my wife announced she had made an irrevocable decision to end the marriage. I suggested mediation but that didn't satisfy her so she took our son and started a very messy divorce case.

So now 15 years later, after 2 years of a bitter divorce case, at age 50, my premarital financial safety net is gone, the final decree issued and I'm starting over. Struggling to stay in my 7 (almost 8) year olds life.

A blogger buddy I've traded stories with observed that there is a fun-loving guy inside trying to get out. I like that. A lot. And I'm gonna let him out.

Welcome....

... to my new personal Blog.

Well finally, here it is, my Blog, a place where I can talk about a variety of topics other than my first Blog about the dysfunctional divorce system. That Blog will continue to discuss issues related to divorce.

Welcome! Let me know what you'd like to see.

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