Lighthouse: St Joseph, MI

This semester, just going home from school was enough for Spring Break. However, I went to Michigan with my parents for a night because they love going there for wine trails. We came home with about 12 bottles! And of course, I dragged them to a lighthouse. It was almost 80 degrees (!?) so it was pretty nice. This pier is in St. Joseph and has two structures, one more "house" shaped and one that's more of a tower.

^ what's with my freakish long stick legs in this picture? It was a strange angle...

Cana Island Lighthouse

I've been extremely lazy this winter break (extremely), maybe I'm trying to get it out of my system before 5 months of crazy once school starts again. I'm usually a much better blogger while in school so expect the blog to pick up again in a few weeks. ACTUALLY, I will be doing a 5-day mini-journal kind of thing when my program goes to New York City for all day events on Broadway, museum tours, visiting the New York Times, and all kinds of other fun cultural things. You can expect daily posts for that.

But for now, here are some more winter lighthouse pictures from Door County, WI. This one is Cana Island Lighthouse, which I have been to a long time ago when I was little. The light station is on its own island that you have to walk to on a land bridge. It was about 20 degrees and snowing when I went right after the sun went down. It was really exciting for me because I've never visited a lighthouse at night in the winter. Just stepping on the island and hearing the wind and the waves crashing against the ice and rocks... it just made you feel cold and lonely.

(Listen to this while you look: The Lighthouse by the Hush Sound. They're still one of my favorite bands for obvious reasons.)

Algoma, WI Lighthouse

I saw quite a few lighthouses this weekend in Door County, WI while on a wine trail. I think my lighthouse fixation is kind of like a home-comfort thing. Vacation for me, coming from Northern Illinois, usually means visiting coast towns in Wisconsin or Michigan. Every little coast town has a lighthouse because Lake Michigan is super treacherous and there are sunken ships all over the place. So seeing them along the lake (which is my ocean) is a familiarity thing. Door County alone has 10 of them. And my other favorite thing is snow. Combine the two and this is what you get.

The lighthouse in these pictures is in Algoma right down the street from Von Stiehl Winery. I used it as my new wintery banner :]

Lighthouse Love

Why lighthouses you ask? Well, let me tell you. I think I get it from my mom. Her photo albums are full of pictures of them. Our refrigerator is full of lighthouse magnets. Growing up near Lake Michigan, we went to the states surrounding the Great Lakes a lot. Most quaint little port towns had a lighthouse. There's just something about them...

Anyway, I have a couple of photo sets buried on my laptop involving them, which I'm going to drag out once in a while. This set was taken last summer by my friend Jessica at Gross Point Lighthouse in Evanston, IL. We actually got to take a tour and climb to the top of the tower. Best day ever! (you might recognize this place from my banner)