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| one of the swings gazebo areas on the beach at The Lake Huron Retreat Center 1 Sept |
After unpacking our suitcases, and settling into our upstairs bedroom and bath, we had a tour of the grounds. Ann showed us each building on the premises: 2 lodges, a cottage, the office, the dining hall, chapel, a maintenance building and of course her house. She showed us the 2 labyrinths on the grounds. The large one is right next to her house. After the tour, we settled into the great room (a combo living room/dining area) and we enjoyed a delicious dinner of baked salmon, roasted sweet potatoes, sweet corn, sliced tomatoes, and we shared a bottle of my fave Riesling we had brought with us for Ann to try. After dinner, we cleaned up and headed down to the beach for a bonfire. It was simply gorgeous listening to the waves breaking on the beach and watching the stars pop out.
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| almost full moon over Lake Huron just beginning to rise |
Saturday morning we all slept in a bit, had a delicious breakfast of avocado on multigrain toast and a cup of fresh berries and peaches. SO good. and of course we brought coffee as Ann only drinks tea. Saturday was another quick walk with her Dugan and then we got in the car and went into the closest town (Lexington) for Thumbfest, the annual folk music festival. That was loads of fun. I talked more about it in my previous post for FFF.
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| Ann's collie, age 12 surprisingly, I wasn't allergic!! |
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| tribute duo to Simon and Garfunkel |
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| tribute trio to Peter, Paul, and Mary the man playing guitar is same as for the pic above the man playing bass is a friend of Ann's. |
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| this guy...Bill Russell...was a solo guitarlist who was playing hymns when we first entered the tent and ended with an Alice Cooper song!! He was excellent! |
We didn't get a pic of the jazz group. After the first group played, we needed lunch so walked to a local pub/grill and bought delicious wraps, salads, etc and then saw the other 3 groups we wanted to see.
When we arrived back at the Center, Ann had some things to do, so I did a late afternoon walk and took some photos while Dave had a nap.
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| the large labyrinth next to Ann's home I walked it and prayed when I got to center |
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| I spent some time here reading on Saturday evening before we had dinner ....there are several of these swings scattered around the property. This one is behind the main lodge |
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| at the end of this grassy area....in the far back.... is the one cottage where clergy or other people can spend a weekend. It was occupied by one woman the entire weekend...we only saw her once! |
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| the Center has 2 of these gardens with a grassy walkway between them We ate fresh tomatoes from this garden. So good! |
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| This is outside the Dining Hall the sign has the saying in 4 different languages. |
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| Saturday evening we had hard cider and taught Ann how to play Argricula |
SUNDAY featured more sleeping in a bit, another delicious, easy breakfast of avocado on toast and fresh fruit and then church. She attends Lexington United Methodist Church. It was gorgeous inside!
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| Lexington, MI UMC Sunday 3 September |
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| Ft Gratiot Lighthouse, oldest in MI We climbed 94 steps to top! |
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| Lake Huron and part of the town beach from top of lighthouse |
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| oldest wooden structure in that part of MI used to be the lighthouse doc and hospital |
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| Ann and I on top of lighthouse |
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| Lighthouse grounds from the top |
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| Memorial to sailors who died in the waters of St Clair/Lake Huron/St Lawrence Seaway |
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| Maiden of the Waters |
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| Maiden of the Blue Water |
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| Sarnia, Canada as seen from Ft Gratiot Walkway |
After a late dinner, (We had a 1 hour wait for a table!) we came home to relax and read and just hang out talking.
Monday morning, Ann had to be over to the Dining Hall for a Community Breakfast the center was putting on (we were invited) but we decided to stay in her house, do some Scripture reading and after showering, etc we headed back to Port Huron to find me a Michigan mug. (I collect mugs from new places I've been). It took 4 attempts (4 different stores all over the place) before we found one. We also bought some items for the local food pantry as we wanted to bless the people from her church/town who use it. After a quick lunch of leftovers, we all wanted to kayak but when we got outside we decided it was way too hot and humid to get all of that ready, so we headed back in to play another board game we like. We also listened to some good music, read our books, talked.....just relaxed! In the late afternoon, we headed out for a snack of frozen custard (similar to our soft serve ice cream here in eastern NY but much thicker and richer....western NY also calls it custard). It was SO good but wow....it was just so humid. We went back home, changed into swimwear and hit the beach. We swam in Lake Huron for about an hour.
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| Where we sat to chat and dry off until the sand flies forced us inside |
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| Lake Huron/Retreat Center Beach. You have to wade out to where the water gets a deeper blue (you can see the "line" in the photo) to where there are no more rocks and to where it's neck high Dave went a bit further to water over his head and then swam back to us......I swam in neck high water only and even then some of those waves about knocked me about! Being in the Great Lakes to swim is similar to swimming in the ocean only the water is warmer and there's no fishy smell! We loved every minute. |
I'm so thankful we were able to get out and visit Ann before she retires in December. AND of course we have plans for her to come here again at some point. (the last time she was here, Claire was just a baby!!).
Have you ever been to Buffalo, NY? What about Ontario, Canada? What about the "thumb" of Michigan??
2 comments:
Hi Faith. You had a really great vacation. What a blessing to be able to visit your friend who you haven't seen for so long. Great pictures too. So glad you were able to go!
Yes, to all above. When we were kids, my family had a cabin in Ludington on Hamilin Lake. It looks like that you had a beautiful time, smiles.
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