The Breakers

J lived in Michigan for about 2 years before we got married and I joined him. Because of that, he has these little knowledge nuggets of fun activities to do piled away. Every so often when I get stir crazy, or the weather is really nice, he'll clue me in on something that only the locals know about. Some little adventure that we can go on to spice up our daily routine and get out of our rut. Last Tuesday, he   told me about "The Breakers". It's the point at which the portage we live by meets Lake Superior. It's called the breakers because there are a pair of rock walls that jut out into Lake Superior, to stop the lake from eroding the coastline, and the water "breaks" or crashes against the rocks. Here are some pictures from our time there. 

A view of the coast from the left and the right. The area toward the left, with all the vegetation, was a protected area for the wildlife. On the right you can see a lighthouse. Unfortunately that was on the second breaker and we were on the first so we didn't have access to it. Perhaps we'll have to visit again on the other side so I can get some better shots of the lighthouse. 

My handsome husband with his feet in the portage. Later he decided to go for a dip and man was it cold. We looked up the water temperature and it was a toasty 52 degrees! Needless to say, he took a quick dip. 

 A view of Lake Superior from between two boulders. 

An up close look of the "sand" on the beach and the end of a piece of driftwood. The sand, stamp sand, is actually ground up rocks and other minerals, one of them being copper, that is a waste product from the mining days of the town we live in. It is being reused as sand for the breaker beaches. The copper in the sand helps reduce algae. 

Below is a picture of the stamp sand, some driftwood and larger rocks and a picture of the algae growing on one of the semi submerged boulders. 

Some stamp sand photos.

And, because we're newlyweds and there was a large amount of driftwood, I spelled out our initials.

I like the contrast of my shoes against the dark sand. Don't worry, I took my shoes and socks off and walked barefoot through the sand. It feels pretty neat at first because it is so different than the sand I'm used to, but after a while it made our feet sore. 

Also because we're newlyweds and I'm mildly obsessed with my rings and taking ring pictures, here are a few of those. Get used to it. 

J walking away, my feet in the freezing Lake Superior and a better photo of the protected land.