Back From The Midwest

The rest of the trip was really fast.  By that I mean that Momma and I stayed nowhere very long, but drove very long hours to at least get cursory glances of her cousins, graveyards, my great aunt, my aunt and cousin, and Momma's best friend.  We made it home three days early, and I am ever so grateful because I think Momma and I would have killed each other had we spent too much more time together.  We get along famously, but eight days in a car with anyone would drive you to distraction.

Pun.

So, instead of giving you the blow-by-blow of the trip, I'll instead let you look at pretty pictures.  I've got a true story of a sad crime to tell you in the days to come, but I have more research to do.  This story has fascinated me since my grandfather told me about it years ago, as he remembered the event, and I want to share it with you.  Later.

My grandfather retired from here.

Homage to Eminem.  No, I did not take this picture while driving eighty miles an hour in fairly heavy traffic outside of Detroit.  That's crazy talk!*

Waves breaking on the shore of Lake Huron.  If Alpena, Michigan needs a marketing person, it should really come to me.  I'm making the place look a lot better than it does in person.

Golden sunset on Lake Huron in Alpena.

I climbed out past the walkway onto the rocks to get closer to the water.  This is, of course, more of Lake Huron.  Walking on the rocks gave me a peaceful feeling; one I rarely have because it required all of my concentration not to fall.  Maybe I should climb rocks more often.

My grandmother's maiden name.  Her family owned a farm and apparently got street naming rights.  I've tried to track down more of the family history, but it gets tricky when the Wagners and the Wegners intermarried, and the spelling of Diemond changed.

See what I mean?  This is the original spelling, and if I can track down the story of Urs Joseph Diemand, I will and I will share it with you, because he was one scary motherfucker.  We're talkin' Original Gangsta here.

This lady is my namesake.  Not that I use that name, but she was my mother's grandmother. 

* I totally did that.