Saugatuck, MI

While Bob competed in the Amateur World Disc Golf Championship in Ohio, I spent time with Carolyn and Paul Jarvis in Saugatuck, MI, where they have been going every summer for over 20 years. They rent a lovely, old yellow cottage right on Lake Michigan. It is wonderful! The life is very informal; people are on their own for breakfast and lunch and we cook simple communal dinners. Saugatuck is a big tourist center and filled up for the Fourth of July weekend. It has all sorts of shops, including a great spice shop and a shop selling many varieties of olive oil and balsamic vinegar (all of which you can taste). Among other things, we all enjoyed Elsa and her antics. She is very close to crawling. We took in the Saugatuck Arts Fair on July 3 and I took here for a walk in the stroller. She certainly gets the attention as a cutie.

One day Paul and Sarah Jarvis, Andrew and I went kayaking down the Kalamazoo River for about 9 miles. We wanted to rent kayaks right in Saugatuck, but due to the holiday they were all reserved. Instead we went up-river (Paul and Andrew knew where Old Alegan Canoes was located due to Paul's bicycling adventures all around Saugatuck). We got there to discover they took only cash and we were $10 shy, but the lady let us rent the kayaks with a promise to drive into the nearest town with an ATM upon our return to get the remaining $10. The Kalamazoo River was running bank full and there was even a little current (3 mph) so we could float along. On the way we saw this Great Blue Heron (I know they are called blue herons, but they always look grey). This one was truly blue.

The river was also filled with turtles. They were on almost every downed tree (of which there were many) in the river. There were at least three different types: Snapping Turtles, Leatherback Turtles, and ordinary turtles. They would usually plop off in the water as we paddled nearby. The above photo shows a leatherback turtle (his shell is not rigid) and another smaller turtle.

Can you count how many turtles there are on this log? We saw a turkey vulture and possibly some Golden Eagles, swallows nesting in a sand cliff and other birds. The river borders a swamp, so there was very little evidence of human habitation. It was very hot and sunny. When we got to the take-out point, we were picked up, returned to the rental place, got our $10 from the ATM and had ice cream on our way home. What a lovely way to spend a day.