A Look Through Our Lens – Week of July 18, 2013
- At July 18, 2013
- By Kim
- In Kim's posts, Local Happenings
2
Photo descriptions (L to R):
1) Crystal clear waters – East Bay, Traverse City 2) Sunset – Old Mission 3) Spanglish: your source for TACOS – The Village at GT Commons 4) Dock – Clinch Park, Traverse City 5) Sunrise – West Bay, Traverse City 6) Gull – North Bar, Empire 7) Esch Beach – Benzie County 8) Barred Owl – Burdickville 9) Ghost forest – Sleeping Bear Point Trail, Glen Arbor
This week’s Instagram photos by Nick Nerbonne, Nick Perez, and Kim Schwaiger. Remember you can follow us here: instagram.com/northernmiswag
Arcadia Dunes – Old Baldy
- At July 18, 2013
- By Kim
- In Kim's posts, Places
- 4
I have a summer bucket list (a list of things to do before summer kicks the bucket). Arcadia Dunes had made the list because of rave reviews and my desire to show some love to the other counties while exploring some new areas. Arcadia is a bit of a drive (close to an hour from Traverse City), but it is gorgeous and relatively quiet compared to the other dunes that have gotten a bit a lot of national attention lately. The entire C.S. Mott preserve, that this particular hike is part of, is 3,600 acres, which combined with the adjoining preserved farmland, makes it one of the largest conservation projects completed in the Midwest.
We headed off on the Old Baldy Trail, a hike that is about a mile one-way through wooded areas and grassy duneland, and leads to a breathtaking view of Lake Michigan from the top of the perched dune known as Old Baldy. For a “county girl”, used to always seeing our friendly Manitous out in Lake Michigan from similar lookouts, it was unique to look out at Big Blue and only see water for miles. To the north you can see the lighthouse in Frankfort, south are the actual towns of Arcadia and Manistee. Looking down from the top, there is an inviting beach that of course made me want to descend. A few hints about these types of descents down perched sand dunes:
1. Always remember; this is the opposite of rear-view mirrors: “Water at the bottom of this dune is WAY FARTHER than it appears”.
2. If you convince a reluctant participant to do the descent with you, AVOID eye contact at all costs on the climb back up. It will only open an avenue of release for the anger they may be feeling from calves of fire and lack of air in their lungs.
3. Don’t look up. It’s still (my mom reads this, so insert expletive word of choice) FAR, trust me. Keep crawling.
4. When it’s over, don’t say you will never do it again…because that blue water and sandy beach will always beckon you into a descent and climb of pain.
5. When you get home, don’t feel bad about cracking open a cold beverage of your choice and kicking your sandy, tired feet up. You have earned it.
With these tips in mind, you’d be amiss to not add Arcadia to your summer list. Make a day of it and visit some of the other areas of the preserve. Bring your mountain bike and try out the Dry Hill Trails on the East side of M-22 or your binoculars and bird nerd it up in the grassland area (parking along Keillor Road).
Footnote: Thanks to Matt Forschner for agreeing to the descent, for not killing me on the way back up, and for some of the photos below.
A Look Back – Year In Review
- At July 17, 2013
- By Brian
- In Brian's posts, Kim's posts
- 4
So yeah, wow. It’s been a year already. Our 1-year anniversary approaching wasn’t even on our radar (time flies when you are old). But once we realized we were approaching the anniversary of events we had already blogged about, we started getting all nostalgic and weepy (Brian especially). So here are some outtakes from our recent bio photo shoot at Hickory Meadows, a little recap of how we got started, how we define “Northern Swag”, and what our first year means to us (& hopefully you).
The skills of new contributor Nick Nerbonne on display
Photo bomb by resident redneck reporter Melissa “Mo” Riehl
What we decided we wanted to do when we started Northern Swag was simple: share what we love about Northern Michigan with our readers; its people, places, eateries, and local happenings. And we share everything here purely out of being in love with this area. You see, we all do this in our spare time, a hobby of sorts for us. We all have real jobs, families, lives, responsibilities. But we have a passion for checking out everything this amazing area has to offer and we enjoy sharing that with all of you. And hopefully that’s rubbed off on you.
This blog went live on June 27, 2012, with two random posts (one on dune jumping, cause what’s more fun than dune jumping?! And one on pitting cherries with a stick, cause what’s more random than that?). There was a lot of work leading up to those two bits of arbitrary Northern Michigan life being shared out on the interwebs. And the large majority of that work was done by individuals that had no idea how to create a blog or website.
I’ll paraphrase an early conversation that took place in the halls of Northern Swag:
“I’m thinking of starting a blog.”
“Do you have a twitter handle?”
“No.”
“Well, you need one.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, to tweet?”
See? Clueless.
Fortunately, the end of that conversation was an offer to help from one clueless individual to another, and the excitement grew and spread. One of those people it spread to, lucky for us, was Nick, who shortly thereafter helped build out the site (you rock, Nick!), and to tell us when we broke it thereafter (IT school 101: It is always user error).
Our IT team – Nick Perez
And over the course of that year we’ve had a lot of successes and some disappointments, but ultimately we’re very proud of what we’ve accomplished here. We published 134 posts on the blog. We’ve gained almost 1,300 “likes” on Facebook and over 600 followers on Instagram, where we’ve posted over 250 photos in the past year.
Some of our favorite post series to share with you have been Twigs and Swigs (suggested combos of hikes and places to grab a drink after) and our Swag spottings (where the subject is you all in your unique Northern Michigan style). Each and every one of us has explored a new spot in Northern Michigan spurred on by this blog. We hope you have too and would love to hear your favorite parts of Northern Swag this past year!
No caption required, just start ROFL.
We have reveled while seeing Swag’s following grow over the last year and literally get giddy when we hear people checked out a new hike or restaurant after reading one of our posts. We are pretty darn lucky to live here and the excitement we all have for this area is contagious. So as long as you continue to hang out and read our posts and check out our photos, we’ll continue to push it out there onto the interwebs.
Izzy is the only sane one really.
We want to give a shoutout to all our readers (especially those that provide feedback (Thanks Mom and Dad); it’s what keeps us chugging along) and to our team of contributors (Nick 1, Nick 2, Mo, Bridge, and our child labor force; Izzy and Cora). You guys all rock.
Cheers to another year!
Kim & Brian
In-house stylist and co-founder: Brian Beckwith
Resident Animal Whisperer and other co-founder: Kim Schwaiger
A Look Through Our Lens – Week of July 11, 2013
- At July 11, 2013
- By Kim
- In Kim's posts, Local Happenings
- 0
Photo descriptions (L to R):
1) Sunset over the harbor – Frankfort 2) View of the Cannery from the Heritage Trail – Glen Haven 3) Hummingbird in the trees – Burdickville 4) North Bar reflections –
Empire 5) Holiday weekend sunset – Empire beach 6) Sandhill cranes – Little Glen Lake 7) Road sign – Leelanau County 8) Evening sky – Good Harbor 9) Wildflower – Pyramid Point
This week’s photos courtesy of our Instagram contributors Nick Nerbonne, Nick Perez, and Kimberly Schwaiger.
You can find us on Instagram here: http://instagram.com/northernmiswag
A Look Through Our Lens – Week of July 4, 2013
- At July 04, 2013
- By Kim
- In Kim's posts, Local Happenings
- 0
Photo descriptions (L to R):
1) Evening sky – Leelanau County 2) Cherry Fest Midway Rides – Downtown Traverse City 3) Narada Lake – Port Oneida 4) View from the kayak – Port Onedia 5) Make a Wish – Burdickville 6) Gulls on Pier Remnants – Glen Haven 7) Avett Brothers – Interlochen 8) Gull in the Evening Sky – Glen Haven 9) Blue of Lake Michigan – Good Harbor
