Picnic tables at the harbor

Today’s blog may prove confusing.  Simply because I’m reporting two days  of outdoor fun.  All the photos come from yesterday’s harbor stroll down in Marquette. 

We had an assignment.  Pick up Barry’s brother at the airport at 5:51 p.m.  He was arriving from Georgia for a five day north woods (mostly ice fishing) adventure via Minneapolis.  Most of our little puddle-jumper planes come from Minneapolis or Detroit.  Of course his plane was delayed for almost an hour, but that didn’t matter to us.  I told Barry we needed to spend more time outdoors while we were in Marquette and take interesting photos.  He agreeably complied.

We explored some of Marquette’s interesting nooks and crannies, especially the Lower Harbor.  First we walked to Thill’s Market for smelt bait.  You tell me:  why do we have to visit a fish market to buy fish to catch fish?  Hmmm? Does that make sense to you?

Follow that sign to Thill's Fish Market

After we purchased the frozen smelt in a plastic bag, we strolled behind the shop.  I suddenly remembered a fellow wordpress blogger, Kim, at A Winter Journal, posted a blog entitled Thill’s Meditation last month.  She’s a fantastic photographer; mosey on over and look at her beautiful pictures!

A harbor yacht behind Thill's Market

We continued to stroll (OK, we broke up our stroll for an hour at L’attitude Cafe Bistro for beverages and appetizer.  Oh, yum, appetizer!  Hummus, olive tapenade and a couscous-feta-dried tomato dip with flatbread and fresh vegetables.  The country folk love that city eatin’…we sure do.) 

Afterward we viewed the Marquette Yacht Club.  I kid you not.  This is when you can tell you’re in the Upper Peninsula and not in some fancy yachting area down south…

The Marquette Yacht Club

Before driving south to the airport, we stopped to read a plaque near the following photo.  It said the fire bell in the photo warned inhabitants of Marquette of danger since ancient times.  (I wondered:  how ancient?)  Apparently 1882 is considered ancient times, as the bell was cast in Baltimore, MD that year.  It pealed fire warnings until the mid 1950’s when the Telephone began to peal fire warnings.  (You’re wondering how I remembered this, right?  I took a picture of the plaque!)

If your home caught fire in 1928 in Marquette, this bell rang!

We stopped at the food co-op before the airport, picked up Craig (who marveled at the snow drifts and quickly searched for his winter jacket in his suitcase) then returned to the city for a delicious dinner at Vierling’s Restaurant.  I was too full from the appetizers to eat more than a cup of whitefish soup.

Today’s outdoor adventure:  I snoozed under the spruce tree, sitting on a cushion.  It was near 40 degrees and dozens of chickadees and nuthatches dived and chirped and fluttered and scattered sunflower seed shells.  After a half hour, they adopted me as one of their own and almost landed on the silent blob of green and white.  Actually, they may have thought I was a tree.  Such a relaxing way to spend the afternoon.  Remember, I told you I was going to spend days of this outdoor commitment sitting underneath that spruce tree!