Leisurely Lattes: Enjoying Marina Beach in Edmonds

After a great Memorial Day picnic in Carkeek Park near Seattle, we decided to "make it a progressive" and drive north to Edmonds and find another park to enjoy our coffee and experience another view. This park is called Marina Beach.

We opened up our 2 camping chairs, poured ourselves some lattes and enjoyed spending time at this this relaxing family beach. The kite boarder was flying in the brisk wind!

This time, the boat traffic was mostly Washington State Ferries. We have plans of taking a ferry on that very route the next weekend to visit a peony farm in Sequim. Stay tuned.

Leelanau Peninsula: Go for a beach walk

Everyone can benefit from some time on their own.  The cottage life can be a noisy life and a 30 minute walk on the beach can reset the calm and energize you for the next bit of fun.

When you are on the shore of Lake Michigan in the Leelanau peninsula, your walk might take you past a few petoskey stones, if you're lucky.  The petoskey stone is a rock composed of fossilized coral and it can only be found in the upper peninsula and certain areas of the northwestern lower peninsula of Michigan.  The stone has tiny circular lines of coral that are most apparent when wet.  There is a even a Petoskey Stone Festival that is now in its eighth year - I bet you could find a lot of jewelry in the artist booths there.

Petoskey stones are beautiful when polished and many local artisans polish and drill them to create jewelry, a bit like a regional flag.  If you recognize this as a petoskey stone (Michigan's State Stone), then you know where I come from.  As a child, we rubbed petoskey stones with Vaseline to make the pattern appear and the sheen would keep the pattern visible for days.

So keep your eyes out on your beach walk.  You never know when you'll find a little piece of Michigan's history.

Northern Michigan Girl

If you are a northern Michigan girl in the summer, this is the scene you long to see after a long winter in the suburbs.  A sandy cut in the landscape that leads to a public beach.  Ahead lies swimming, sunbathing, picnics, beach walks, Petoskey stone searches and ever-changing sunsets.  This is where we northern Michigan girls live in the summertime...on the shores of Lake Michigan.

My favorite sandwich to take on a picnic?
Crusty French bread spread with softened cream cheese.  Press chopped green olives into the cream cheese.  Layer thin sliced turkey, slices of tomato and fresh spinach onto bread.  Wrap in Saran Wrap/cling wrap and take to the beach (or outdoor concert!)

The Beautiful Beach of Gulf Shores

The perfect image of Summer, don't you think?  We spent a week at steamy Gulf Shores, Alabama for a family reunion and this was my view from my rented beach "headquarters."

Can you see how they have written "Reeves" in chalk on my chaise?  Love that!  My dear friends, Melanie and Jon (remember when I visited them in Birmingham, AL?)  arranged their vacation to coincide with ours and we had a great time visiting with them at moments in between reunion festivities.

On this particular day they had found a section of the shoreline (near the Regatta Condos) with beach stations available for rent - wahoo!  It was hot, hot, hot and I needed this umbrella more than you know.  When Dan and I arrived to meet Melanie and Jon, they had already arranged for our station.  Imagine me here with a cold Diet Coke, because I never left this spot all afternoon.  It was perfect.

As for Gulf Shores in July, I cannot tell a lie.  In the summertime, it is TOO hot for this Michigan girl.  If you are determined to visit this area, be sure to book in the shoulder seasons.  

Sisters

I love love love the sunset silhouettes of my nieces on the shore of Lake Michigan.

This is two sets of sisters. What I think is facinating, is that their body language is so similar, you can easily to pair them up!

For me, it is moments like this that make me grateful to be a photographer.

Virtual Yoga

Can you think of a luckier yoga class? 

The next time you need to visualize something, pretend you are part of this class with the ocean spread out before you.

Do you have a group to exercise with? I am including this post to remind you that friendships often come out of a shared experience. A yoga class, water aerobics...even a walking buddy can really make exercise fun and help you to connect with others outside of work & home. 

And since you'll want to look super cute, I'm including a link to a catalog I received. It is full of beautiful exercise clothing for women called Athleta.