In mid-May I came up with a scheme for my birthday. I randomly texted JoEllen and asked her if she wanted to meet me in Michigan to go birding. And she said YES! Hooray for spontaneous friends! (She later informed me that she's not normally spontaneous...I must've caught her at just the right moment.)
JoEllen and I have been friends since 2001, but we haven't lived in the same state since 2002! We've swapped Christmas cards and would visit with her family once in a while over the years. They live in St. George, so we've gotten closer since my kids have moved out there. But we've never done anything like this. But she's into birding! So I knew we'd have a great time together! I'm so happy it worked out. We had a blast.
(We found it interesting that there was "Au" in front of so many names in Michigan...thus the title of this post.)
JoEllen is the best.
She's like a soul sister.
We can talk and talk and talk.
First stop: yummy Mediterranean bowls
at a restaurant that has now been replaced by Chipotle.
Darn. It was so good!
Then we stopped at a little tourist trap
town called Frankenmuth.
Covered bridge
Cute Bavarian-themed shops
Beautiful murals
It was fun.
This was our home away from home--
Paradise Beach Resort in Tawas City, MI.
I picked our town solely based on birds that we
would be able to see.
It was not the best place.
But the location was good! :)
Here's our little paradise beach right outside our door.
It had a baby fridge.
And the tiniest stove and oven that you
ever did see.
Our first birding stop:
Tawas Point State Park
Super awesome spot with 24 species,
including 5 new lifers.
We were on Lake Huron.
It's SO big!
A tree full of Cedar Waxwings
The water was so shallow at this part!
You could just keep walking out there.
They have a cute lighthouse.
We walked up to the top
Love that spiral staircase.
The view from the top.
Next we went to Corsair hiking/Cross country ski trail
Wright's Lake Trailhead
It was pretty cool to walk around,
but we didn't get any new lifers there.
But we did see a wild turkey!
Walked around the downtown shops
in East Tawas. Creepy ventriloquist
doll at a thrift store.
Sweats were featured at one of the stores. :)
We ended our evening at the Tuttle Marsh
Wildlife Area where JoEllen spotted a
HUGE find:
Least Bittern!
He's hiding in the reeds and super hard to see,
but there were lots of people with the big, long cameras
in the area trying to spot that bird and JoEllen did it!
It was awesome!
Other fun birds we saw:
Bald eagle
Trumpeter Swan
JoEllen was the turtle rescuer this time.
Belted Kingfisher
Also found this creepy-looking juvenile
walking around. Not sure what it is...
More yummy food in Alpena at JJ's Steak and Pizza House.
When we saw the size of these salads, we wished we
would've just shared one!
In Alpena, we took a glass-bottom boat tour.
Got to see some cool wreckage at the bottom of the lake
It was a beautiful day to be out on the lake.
We had fun walking around the maritime museum.
Had to get a pic with Paul Bunyan!
Stopped by a cute farmer's market.
Doesn't this pasta look tasty?
They had a food truck selling perogies!
When I told the lady running it that I'd never tried one,
she said I could have my first one free!
How nice is that?
How nice is that?
We liked them and went back to buy more!
While we were in Alpena,
we stumbled upon
The Alpena Flower Festival!
It was SOOOO cute.
How many times did I make this face on this trip??
Cute little displays all over their downtown.
Live music
And check out some of the
GORGEOUS old homes in Alpena!
Wow.
On Sunday we went to church with a
cute ward. Sacrament meeting was interesting.
They had a young man stand up and
just read a conference talk word for word and then sit down.
I'd never seen that before.
Relief Society was great.
After church...more birding!
Scarlet Tanager
We were speed-walking so that we would
*hopefully* not get any more ticks!
(It worked.)
Next we stopped at Sturgeon Point Lighthouse.
They had a cute little schoolhouse, too.
And for our final stop of the trip:
Lumberman's Monument
They had these interesting hand-cranked displays.
And a cool place where you can hike down to the water.
It was so pretty!
And we got a good view of a common loon
with a baby close by!
Monday morning, we were off to the airport!
They had a Tim Hortons, so I felt like I had to stop by. :)
One last pic.
Bye, Jo!
Getting home wasn't easy to me, but I squoze onto
a flight from Charlotte to GSO and made it home in time
for work the next day. Phew.
2025 is a great birding year for me!
It's June and I've already seen more
species than I did in all of 2024!
Woot! Woot!
Bobolink--a new lifer.
So interesting how its head is half yellow and half black.
Red-headed woodpecker, one of my faves.
What a great trip! I loved it so much. I look forward to doing it again sometime. And I got TWELVE new lifers! Incredible. I love taking int he beauties of God's creations, and it's even better with a great friend.
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