Pure Michigan

To me, summer in the midwest is uniquely it's own entity. It is often characterized by the smell of bonfire in your hair for days, largely anticipated social festivities and special small moments with someone you missed through the cold winter and distant spring. I took a lot of photos when I recently went back to Michigan for my Mother's 49th and a half birthday party, but I think the photo booth told the story best.

car camping

Heading up to Pine Mountain after work on a Friday is a beautiful mini adventure.  Pack up the car with Thermarests, sleeping bags, books, journals, blankets, pillows and a cooler. Make a quick stop to Trader Joe's for wine, cheese, oatmeal, some instant coffee and head up the mountain deep into the Sespe wilderness. At around 6,000 feet in elevation, old growth Pines make wandering trails and sweep down the mountainside, scattered boulders lord over great camp spots, perfect for climbing and hiking around.

On this particular mission, we were a day ahead of a nasty spring storm heading over the ridgeline. This wind and cold was surprising, but tolerable in full jackets and puff pants. We slept so cozy in the car, watching millions of stars through the moonroof and listening to howling winds whip around the trees and the car. The original plan was to find a trail to run before heading back to town but since it was so cold, we decided to leave Pine Mountain and see if Rose Valley was more runnable. Here are photos of the sights at our campsite and down the mountainside that day.

Spring winds whip dust around the valley floor

playing with light

Here's what happens when you show up to a campsite after dark and turns out your headlamp doesn't work and all you have is a pen light and a camera.
Too much fun, thats what happens.

Ghost of Steph..!

wandering into sound forests

Sitting alone quietly simply listening to music is healing. It had been a while since connecting with music that connects with me until the other night when I got sidetracked on the computer and followed the rabbit hole. Here's what stirred up..

Bon Iver uncovers his hauntingly romantic homage to Bonnie Raitt's I Can't Make You Love Me on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. This is the first time I've seen Justin Vernon sing live, and its like the sound floats out of his mouth and melts all over. I'm also so excited for his new self titled album that releases at the end of June, he snuck out a preview track which really grew on me.

© Andrew Whitton

I never heard of Elbow before hearing the song Lippy Kids on Morning Becomes Eclectic, a morning NPR music show that's pretty great. There was dead air for a few seconds after the host played this song, introducing it as the preview track off the new album 'Build a Rocket Boys'. It was kind of a nice moment in radio. While this is a great video, I prefer to just listen and not watch. Which is tough, because it's such a nice studio session video. Here's what you do, listen to it once without watching, and then again watching. You'll say thank you.

While I'm rounding up sultry male voices, I can't forget James Blake, with his intoxicating rendition of Joni Mitchell's A Case of You it's like hearing it for the first time again.

Thanks for zoning out with me, its a favorite thing to do.