Saturday, June 30, 2018

Sunday Post #252


The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews
It's Monday! What Are You Reading is hosted by Book Date 
  
I'm home from vacation! It was a fun week but it's always good to be home too- especially since I was at a campground and camping is NOT my thing. I mean it's okay, I like a good fire and some downtime, but I'm not like, a natural camper, you know? I need my amenities. I was hardly on this week so I'll catch up over the weekend (or I may just binge stuff - 50/50 chance of either really). I finished some books and took some pics, I thought I'd share a few here as well as over on Instagram. There's a couple of bookstores in Traverse that I always make sure to check in on, and this year was no exception. It was nice to escape the heat and just browse books in the air conditioning for a while. Of course I bought some as well. :) 

This week Movies That Suck looked at The Valley of Gwangi. And this week will be Against All Odds. That was fun. Meanwhile I'm taking suggestions again. Otherwise I'm still watching the 100 and 12 Monkeys.  

Vacation highlights (skip if you wanna but this is the fun part)

Okay- vacation highlights. I spent some time at the Sleeping Bear dunes, which is one of my favorite places to be. It's been a few years since I've been there, and many of the areas have changed. The grand Scenic Overlook, for one, always experiences erosion since some people feel the need to race down the 450 foot bluff and then re-climb it. Which by the way is extremely exhausting, as well as not being good for the dunes. The scenic drive, as always, is amazing and really gives one a chance to experience this national lakeshore. If you ever get a chance to take this drive, you really should. 

I also revisited another favorite spot- Old Mission Peninsula. Specifically the tip of the peninsula where the lighthouse is. This place changes a lot too, with lake levels. The Great Lakes are up and so areas that I hiked to a few years ago are underwater now.  The farthest point you can go (and still be on land) is amazing cause you can sit on a pile of boulders and you're in the middle of the bay- literally- with waves coming in from three different directions. It's like another world. Well, this year- that's all underwater. But it's still a beautiful place to visit, and in a few years I may be out there again, sitting on rocks, with the only sounds being the wind, the waves, and the occasional seagull.       
This is how it looked a few years ago. 





This is the very tip of the land- you could walk to this point. Now the whole approach is underwater. 



This is the sand dune scenic overlook. Lake Michigan is 450 feet down. In spite of the posted warning there are always people trying to climb up. Some have to be rescued. 

These pics are a few years old. For some reason my images wouldn't transfer to my computer from my iPhone, so I put em on Instagram. You can see em here for pics from this week. 



Blackfish CityThe Lies They TellStrange New World (Brave New Girl, #2)Exile (The Extinction Trials #2)Girls' Night Out


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My writing prompt for the week. 

The insects hummed and the water burbled underfoot, with the crash of the falls a backdrop to everything else. Ferns swayed gently in the breeze as the trooper surveyed his surroundings. Find the crash site, they'd been told. Secure a perimeter and keep the pilot alive, if possible. Sure, not a problem. The hostile wildlife and trigger happy oppo forces would be so cooperative, surely. Still, it was beautiful here. Beautiful and deadly. What was the name of that old song...? So Beautiful and So...

A rustling in the trees interrupted his reverie. He brought his weapon at the ready, but whatever it was had gone. He sighed and lowered it again. You could never let your guard down here. There was a high pitched whine from some insect as he crossed the fallen log over the stream. He wanted nothing more than to sit and dip his feet in the stream, stare at the waterfalls for a time, and drift away into this green and deadly paradise.