Memorial Day Weekend, Summer is Here!

Summer came to Southwest Michigan with gusto the past couple of weeks. The weather was sunny and in the mid to upper 80s much of the time. Woo Hoo! (I love it hot!) I worried that the heat wave would be over by the time the weekend got here but that was not the case.  :-)

Friday
D and I arrived in St Joe at dinner time on Friday and since the weather was soooo beautiful we decided to head over to the Bistro on the Boulevard where we could dine out on the patio overlooking the lake.

It was much cooler in St Joe than I expected (64F) due to a north breeze off Lake Michigan. I was glad I'd thought to bring a light jacket (always a good idea to have a sweater or light jacket handy when you're in a beachtown ;-). I ordered filet mignon and D ordered a spicy tomato-pasta-shrimp dish. Both were excellent, but as usual when I dine at the Bistro, everything was not as expected. This time the Yukon Gold mashed potatoes were cold, not luke warm mind you, but cold. Every time we dine there something is not quite right. But we keep going back for the view, because that is ALWAYS right!

After dinner, we went down to the south pier to watch the sunset. It was lovely, as always. The pier was crowded with people and the lighthouses were looking majestic. It's so calming to the soul to witness nature's quiet beauty.

Saturday
Saturday dawned clear and warm. We did some grocery shopping and then headed for the swimming pool in the afternoon when the weather got hot. Oh what a treat! It was our first time in the pool this year and it was every bit as nice as I remembered from last year. In fact, we enjoyed it so much we stayed in a bit too long and I have the sunburn to prove it! :-(

After dinner we headed to Warren Dunes State Park. We'd been there once before, last November. At that time the trees were barren and the wind blowing off the lake was biting cold! Still, you couldn't help but appreciate the awesome dunes.

This time around the dunes were just as awesome but the beach was much more inviting! Here's a picture of D with K near the top of one of the dunes.

What do you mean you can't see 'em? They are right there near the top. ;-) D is the one in a bright yellow shirt with the big brown dog. And speaking of dogs, yes they are allowed at Warren Dunes State Park. And I believe they are the only place in the area that actually allows dogs on the beach! They aren't allowed on the whole length of the beach though, just the section to the right of the third bathhouse. But that's a plenty long stretch for doggie swimming and sunning.

Yep, that's D in the yellow shirt above trying to coax K into the water. As a rule, Dobermans aren't water dogs in the way that say a Labrador Retriever is. We thought we'd give K a chance to try swimming but he wasn't having any of it, LOL! The water was pretty cold though. I think we'll try again in another month or so and see if we can get him to give it a try.

We left Warren Dunes about an hour before sunset and headed back to St Joseph. When we got to Lake Bluff Park it was obvious that others had the same idea. Here you can see a crowd of people lined up along the bluff watching the Lake Michigan sunset.

And others strolling along along the promenade...

And oh it was a lovely sunset! That evening I chose to photograph the view looking across the new Compass fountain and out to the lake...

The wonderful thing about watching Lake Michigan sunsets is they are different every day depending on the atmospheric conditions. Some days the sky has clouds, some not. Some times the lake has big waves from high winds, sometimes it's placid. Sometimes the sky is more golden and sometimes more pink. Regardless, it's always a good show!

And here is my patriotic Memorial Day weekend photo...

This beautiful sunset brought Saturday to a close. If you'd like to know what we did on Sunday and Monday of the holiday weekend, come back soon for Part 2!