I was planning to attend the White River Fall Endurance ride about two hours away from here in Michigan. I have my Arabian horse up here with me in Northern Michigan.
Two of my kids came up to the house this weekend (Tanner and Jeff) and I decided to stay here and do things with my kids and Karen, Jeff's girlfriend, who came here from Buffalo New York.
You know, there are always more endurance rides that I can go to but the chance to spend a Labor Day weekend doing fun things with my family is what I would rather do.
We played cards, hiked, visited some local wineries, visited with neighbors, cooked some really good meals, ate ice cream and made a fire every night in the fireplace.
We took a hike up Pyramid Point trail on Friday.
The view toward Lake Michigan is beautiful.
We visited a few wineries: Good Harbor Winery, Chateau Fontaine and Forty Five North. Very fun. Bought a few bottles of wine.
Wine bottle "tree" at Chateau Fontaine Winery.
Karen and Jeff at Chateau Fontaine.
The lake has been rough lately with waves 6 to 10 feet high. The Coast Guard rescued two kayakers who were struggling in Lake Michigan after being pushed off their kayaks. The helicopters flew to each person in the water and dropped one of their divers down to help the person get in to a basket. Then the rescued person was taken ashore while the diver waited in Lake Michigan. They did the same rescue for the other kayaker about two miles farther north.
It was not safe for any boater or swimmer to be out on the lake. Thankfully, both kayakers were rescued safely. We are fortunate that we have a very well trained Coast Guard that has state of the art equipment like helicopters.
Full story here at http://coastguardnews.com/coast-guard-helicopter-crew-saves-kayakers-from-drowning-in-6-10-foot-waves/2010/09/03/
Eli does not seem to mind at all that we didn't go to the endurance ride. He is just hanging out in his paddock enjoying his hay and grain. There will be other rides to go to.
Happy Labor Day!
