Joy in Fish Town

Michigan is full of surprising and delightful places hidden in the crevices of its hand prints. Our favorite activity is to travel back roads in this beautiful state - and through this have created places we feel at home in time and time again when we visit. We have many such "home" places: Ann Arbor, Saugatuck, Traverse City, Elberta, Howell, Marquette, Garden City, Milford, Plymouth are among some of these gems.

Adding treasures to our car brings such a peace and hope - many in the form of photographs. We leave no trash behind and make the place sweeter and more pristine for future visits.

I recently began my passion with photography and am delighted to witness events occur at the moment they do - with a click of the shutter, a memory has been captured.

On a recent trip to the Leelanau Peninsula's Leland, or Fish Town, we were met with blue skies, freezing winds, crisp smells, and few tourists during our late April stroll through the streets and down to the wharf. A bookstore with the friendly owner, many wonderful and fresh books, and coffee in our cold hands, made us feel at home on this frequent destination place. Our stomachs led us to a small, grating building in front of the dock..."Cheese" is where you could order a huge sandwich on substantial, not fluffy, bread, including pretzel bread; even ordering a sack lunch to go. This is exactly what we asked for - a picnic lunch, the Logjam on pretzel bread, huge pickle, cookie and a drink.

Charter boats for fishing were unmanned and sitting along the dock waiting for the busy season after Memorial Day weekend. As I was taking pictures of some unique boats in the marina, an 80-something-year-old man came up to my husband and I, shared pointers on how to capture the uniqueness of two boats stern to stern. As we chatted and he directed, he shared that he use to teach photography "in my younger days" and was there with his son to take a short boat ride in their little motor boat. A very open and pleasant man - I could have spent a couple hours urging his story out of him, but the serious son slipped the boat into the water and told his father that it was time to go! I clicked pictures of the two men as they slowly meandered through the larger vessels to the open water. The old man turned and kept up a good long wave as they disappeared past the rocks.

My husband, who is very patient with my new "hobby" and who has an artistic eye, called me over and showed me a framing picture that, for me, says it all. When I look at this picture, I remember the people we met, the shots taken, my husband's encouragement, and the JOY we had. Fish Town is another great destination in Michigan.