Fish 'n Chips...

We stopped at a traditional English fish 'n chips restaurant on the drive back down to southern Indiana. We last visited Payne's restaurant back in 2017, and nothing has changed since then. Still great food and excellent service!

My yummy fish 'n chips.

Garfield outside the restaurant. :)

Shipping Scenes...

We drove along the Lake Erie shore down to Toledo, before heading southwest for Indiana. There was lots of shipping activity in Toledo, with big Great Lakes freighters and cargo vessels docked on the Maumee River.

Lighthouse replica at Point Place.

A ship's navigational bridge peeps out from behind an artificial hill.

American Valor, laid up in Toledo.

Museum ship Col. James M. Schoonmaker at the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

Lake Erie...

On our drive back from Michigan, we visited Lake Erie. This is the second Great Lake that we have seen in person, to go alongside Lake Michigan - which we have visited or passed by on several occasions. We stopped at Sterling State Park and drove to the beach, where we had a picnic snack and explored the lake shore for a little bit. However, we didn't spend too much time here, since we were eager to get back on the road and continue south!

Walking down to the beach.

A large tree trunk, complete with roots.

Selfie by Lake Erie.

The children and Candace enjoy a picnic on the sand.

View looking south along the shore.

Information/safety sign on the beach.

Great egret wading through marshland.

View of the marshland near the lake.

Belle Isle...

After visiting the Eastern Market, we drove across the bridge and onto Belle Isle, a lovely island halfway between the USA and Canada in the Detroit River. There's a maritime museum, a nature centre, an aquarium, sports fields, a US coast guard station, a yacht club, and even a beach! The photo here is the view to downtown Detroit with the bridge going across into Canada.

We browsed outside the maritime museum, looked across the river to Canada, and then walked through the lovely nature centre. The children loved the fantastic playground there! Here's an old cannon mounted outside the museum.

Milliken State Park Lighthouse in downtown Detroit.

Lovely to see large ocean-going vessels again!

Sea gulls! (Or should it be lake gulls?!)

View towards Canada.

The Dossin Great Lakes Museum.

Anchor from the ill-fated Edmund Fitzgerald.

The bridge/pilot house of the William Clay Ford, behind this 1800s anchor.

A couple share a canoe with Canada in the background.

Cute little bay near the maritime museum.

Ship's mast outside the museum.

Eliza and Riaan explore the bay.

Fancy speedboat on the Detroit River.

US Coast Guard sign.

William Livingstone Memorial Lighthouse - made out of marble!

Box turtle in the nature centre.

Albino turtle.

Riaan in the insect display. :)

Riaan and Eliza see the inner workings of a beehive.

Eliza having a blast at the play area.

The Detroit Yacht Club.

Eastern Market...

We visited the Eastern Market on our Saturday in Detroit. This is a massive flower, fruit, and vegetable market, not far from downtown Detroit. There are also art and craft stalls, delicious snacks and coffee vendors, and musicians busking to the crowds. It certainly reminded Candace and I of Cape Town's Waterfront area, with the diversity and multiple cultures on display. And being near the Detroit River, the waterway linking Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie, there were even seagulls circling overhead! :)

Colourful flowers everywhere!

Selfie at the Eastern Market.

We bought lunch - shawarmas - from this stall. Yum!

Weekend in Dearborn...

We took an investigative, relationship-building trip to the Dearborn area of Michigan a couple of weeks ago. Dearborn is a city on the outskirts of Detroit, with a large Middle Eastern population. We enjoyed our time connecting with various people and visiting a couple of churches in the area. We also went to Detroit itself, and on that day we drove past the Islamic Center of America, the largest mosque in the USA, which is sandwiched between two churches in Dearborn.

St. Clement Orthodox Church on the left.

The mosque in the middle.

And the Armenian Church to the right.

Bookworm on the Fence...

Two weeks ago, I was mowing our lawn while Riaan read books and played in the garden. I happened to look up at the end of a row and saw this humorous sight. Riaan was perched on the fence, reading one of his favourite Usborne Puzzle Adventure books. We love that he loves to read so much! If you can't spot him, a closer view is just below. :)

Our little bookworm. :)

I Love Lego...

Riaan built this fantastic "I 🧡 Lego" sign out of Lego bricks, and promptly hung it up on his wall! Amazing!