Great Lakes Speaker

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and Great Lakes speaker. She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile adventures exploring the Great Lakes and has written three books about the Great Lakes [A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach *a Heartland Indie Bestseller*, A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk *winner of the Great Lakes Great Reads Award*, and A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Island Adventure]. To learn more about her work, or to book her as a speaker, go to http://LakeTrek.com

This Friday I traveled to South Haven, Michigan, to visit one of my favorite indie bookstores

Black River Books.

On the rise overlooking the beach at South Haven

Black River Books in South Haven

  This bookstore carries mostly used books (a thoughtfully gathered selection), along with some new books.

Co-owner Pam Haferman helps customers purchase my books

Black River Books had plenty of copies of my three books (they still have a few signed copies in stock!)

  Then, I headed to the senior center to give my Lake Michigan presentation to the group there.

Michelle Davis introduces me to the group of seniors in Van Buren County

The group gets ready for my presentation

 I have traveled to nine states speaking to groups about our amazing Great Lakes. In September I will be a featured speaker at the Kerrytown Bookfest. 

Go HERE to see all my upcoming author events.

Post Viewed Most in 2011

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and Great Lakes speaker. She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile adventures exploring the Great Lakes and has written three books about the Great Lakes [A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach *a Heartland Indie Bestseller*, A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk *winner of the Great Lakes Great Reads Award*, and A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Island Adventure]. To learn more about her work, or to book her as a speaker, go to http://LakeTrek.com

My blog has now surpassed 150,000 page views. Here is the post with the most views in 2011:

The Case Against Mylar Balloons

I have spent the month of October on the shores of Lake Michigan near the lovely town of South Haven, Michigan. It has been a wonderful time to reconnect with my favorite place while preparing for my next 1000-mile hike.

Every day, I have hiked a couple of miles in one direction, then returned to my cottage retracing my steps. And every day as I returned, I picked up trash along the shoreline.

Day after day I have picked up plastic bottles, aluminum cans and collapsed juice pouches.

The big surprise in lakeshore trash is the number of mylar balloons I have found. These festive inflatables take FOREVER to degrade. Some, like the one to the left, has all of the color worn off by wind and waves, but it is still intact. These three (below) were tied together and washed up together.











This photo is ONE DAY'S gathering of trash.


Sure, there is the expected plastic and aluminum...













and there were FIVE mylar balloons just this one day.

Oh no...








Et tu, SpongeBob?









Et tu?

WOW Weekend

Loreen Niewenhuis is an author, adventurer, and Great Lakes speaker. She has completed a trilogy of 1,000-mile adventures exploring the Great Lakes and has written three books about the Great Lakes [A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach *a Heartland Indie Bestseller*, A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk *winner of the Great Lakes Great Reads Award*, and A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Island Adventure]. To learn more about her work, or to book her as a speaker -- like the WOW group in South Haven did -- go to http://LakeTrek.com

I traveled to South Haven this weekend to be part of the Women's Only Weekend (WOW).

Michigan Maritime Museum

 The Michigan Maritime Museum on the edge of the Black River hosted my 

Great Lakes Island talk.

Pam Haferman (far left) of Black River Books brought my books to sell at the event. Here we are with some of the women who came to hear about the islands of the Great Lakes.

Shipwreck display at museum

  

Speaking at the Michigan Maritime Musuem

I then went to Black River Books to visit with author Bonnie Jo Campbell for a bit. She's touring with her new collection of short stories:

Mothers, Tell Your Daughters. 

Bonnie Jo Campbell signs her new book for me at Black River Books!

Black River Books has signed copies of my three books AND Bonnie's three latest books in stock. 

What great holiday gifts! 

Black River Books, South Haven

I always love visiting Black River Books 
in South Haven, Michigan. 

Booker and Dewey, the store dogs, are always glad to see me!

As are Pam & Dick Haferman, owners of this lovely indie bookstore.

They invited me to come and read from my new book about the islands of the Great Lakes.

Thanks to everyone who came out to chat with me and to support their local indie bookstore.

Here I am with the Hafermans, owner of Black River Books.

Happy INDIE Holidays

I visited many indie bookstores today in Southwest Michigan as they were gearing up for Small Business Saturday.

The Nature Connection in Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo's indie, Kazoo Books

Great Lakes books at Kazoo Books

 Kalamazoo has chosen 

The Living Great Lakes 

by Jerry Dennis as their Community Read for 2015. 

Great choice!

Great indie in St. Joseph

AND, I was able to visit Lake Michigan 

on this wintery day.  

Snow dunes...

Lake Michigan!

Lake Michigan in motion

Yep. This is my lake.

South Haven's Black River Books

Reader's World in Holland

Support your local indies on Small Business Saturday AND all year long!
All of these stores will take part in the May 2015
 pre-release of my upcoming book.

The Last Loop on my Book Tour

The South Haven Lighthouse

I had a wonderful time touring this year with my book:

A 1,000-MILE GREAT LAKES WALK

November found me traveling to South Haven for the "Women's Only Weekend" where I gave a presentation at the Michigan Maritime Museum.

Books and Boots at the Michigan Maritime Museum, South Haven

A packed house at the Michigan Maritime Museum

I also gave a talk in Plainfield, Michigan, just NE of Grand Rapids. There were nearly 100 seniors and other citizens from that community who came out to hear about my adventure!

The Senior Center in Plainfield, MI

My last appearance for 2013 was out in Saugatuck, Michigan. I took some time to get to the edge of Lake Michigan and to feel the power of 

the waves and wind!

Wild weather at Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan!

My book tour is taking shape for next year. I will have a limited touring schedule since I will be on my Great Lakes ISLAND Adventure most of the year, but I am currently booking engagements for April and May, 2014.

Sand Landscapes

The waves of Lake Michigan constantly pulse or roll or pound the lakeshore, continually grinding stone to sand.



The reach of each wave on the sandy shore leaves a mark of wet-on-dry.

The waves often leave an edge where grains sorted by the motion of the water are left in a line at the crest of each wave before it retreats back into the lake.


The waves repeatedly flow over the land and these minimalistic landscapes are shaped and reshaped on the sand.


Sometimes they are embellished with a rock or feather.





Sometimes it seems there is fog in the distance.

...and sometimes the hills seem to stretch on forever.

The Case Against Mylar Balloons

I have spent the month of October on the shores of Lake Michigan near the lovely town of South Haven, Michigan. It has been a wonderful time to reconnect with my favorite place while preparing for my next 1000-mile hike.

Every day, I have hiked a couple of miles in one direction, then returned to my cottage retracing my steps. And every day as I returned, I picked up trash along the shoreline.

Day after day I have picked up plastic bottles, aluminum cans and collapsed juice pouches.

The big surprise in lakeshore trash is the number of mylar balloons I have found. These festive inflatables take FOREVER to degrade. Some, like the one to the left, has all of the color worn off by wind and waves, but it is still intact. These three (below) were tied together and washed up together.














This photo is ONE DAY'S gathering of trash.


Sure, there is the expected plastic and aluminum...














and there were FIVE mylar balloons just this one day.

Oh no...









Et tu, SpongeBob?





Et tu?