Let me catch you up on a few things:

Wildlife sightings:  several small black squirrels running fast across the road, several chipmunks running even faster, several sightings of deer in the fields, 2 wild turkeys, and 2 large cranes out in a field (don't know if the are sand hill cranes or not), still seeing red-winged blackbirds, gulls and the more common little critters and birds.  I've tried numerous times to get photos but they just didn't pose when spotted.  

Plants along the way:  We are still traveling through mostly hardwood forests with wild pink and white phlox along the shoulder of the road.  Wild roses and honeysuckle perfume the air as we travel along.  As we travel through small towns, iris, bridal wreath spirea and beautiful varieties of lilac are in bloom, rhododendron and azaleas, tall masses of fern plantings - just beautiful.

Yesterday we traveled 113 miles from Saugatuck, MI to Silver Lake, MI, along Lake Macatawa to Muskegon. 

 The drive was pleasant and the roads good but we ran into fog for a good part of the morning so we unable to see the Holland Harbor Lighthouse built in the 1870's and rebuilt in 1907.  Further along, we were to see the Grand have Lighthouse, first built in 1839.  Again, fog interfered.  

In Muskegon, we stopped to view an historic district called Hackley and Hume Historical Site. 

   
Hackley House, Queen Ann extravaganza built in the late 1800's by lumber tycoon Charles Hackley.

Only one of many stained glass windows throughout Hackley House.

Great wrought iron Victorian gate and fence at Hackley House.

One of the smaller houses in the Historic District around the corner from the Hackley House.  A house doesn't have to be big to be beautiful.  This one reminds me of some of the houses in the Historic Districts of Galveston Island, TX.

I thought the "sputnik" mailbox was great, but this one has got to be the best I have ever seen!  The mailbox is the cigarette and there is a ring with a sparkly stone on the 2nd finger.  According to a neighbor, it is listed in a register of the top unusual mailboxes in the country.  I can understand how it made to register.

Finally the fog lifted and we were able to see a lighthouse.  This one is Au Sable lighthouse near Silver Lake, MI.  It is a 107 foot tower built of brick in 1874.

Joe walking along the beach of Silver Lake, MI near Au Sable Lighthouse.  The beach sand was soft and light beige in color, no shells, few rocks, but lots of grass washed up along the shore.

  
Joe and I took a dune buggy ride into the Sand Dunes near Silver Lake and it was an amazing, roller coaster of a ride with a driver that was slighty nuts and liked to give us maximum thrills as we careened around corners, slipping and sliding, and up sand hills and zooming down the other side.  She pointed out this dune full of small holes which she said were the nesting places for little birds called sand swifts.  Clever little animals!

Hopefully will post more later today.  We got in late last evening and went out to dinner with friends.  When I say went out, I mean it.  We walked about a mile and a half to dinner and a mile and a half back.  Back in the hotel room about 9:45.