Visitors to the Lake House

I am spending some time by the lake...
and have had visitors.








I put up a bird feeder that has been frequented by white-breasted nuthatches and rose finches.












My sons came out to walk the lakeshore with me...









as did Maija, my writer friend.











And, of course, there are always the gulls and waves to converse with.

Beginning of Book Tour

Revisiting the Lake Trek: Segment 10!

This segment spanned the final 102 miles between Milwaukee and Chicago. It took me 6 days to hike.


A crowd gathered at the end of Navy Pier to greet me at the end of my Lake Trek of 1,000 miles. I'll always cherish that moment when a cheer went up as I reached the end of this adventure. A huge thanks to friends and family and people who just love Lake Michigan who celebrated the completion of my Lake Trek.

Note: You may want to press the 'play' button, then pause it and let it completely load before resuming play. This will allow it to play smoothly.

You can find all videos from the Lake Trek on YouTube at: www.YouTube.com/lniewenhuis

Segment 9 Day 3 Kohler Andrea State Park->Harrington State Park 14 miles

High of 70 degrees.

August 28

This day started out cloudy and cool, just perfect for walking on the lakeshore. This day's trek was all sandy beach (finally!). We began at the Koher Andrea State Park, a gorgeous park with a 'cord walk' through the rolling dunes.


Stephanie and I had several visitors this day, including two dogs who stayed with us for several miles. We also met two small girls who were serious frog hunters. They had captured a cooler full of leopard frogs (in a summer-long 'catch and release' project) under the watchful eye of their grandparents. We stopped to admire their skill and their grandfather looked at us, smiled and said, "Are you walking to Chicago?" We talked about the Lake Trek and the joy of catching the same frogs over and over to see how they changed from tadpoles to frogs.

Our day ended down by Harrington State Park where we stopped in to visit Milt and Carol Kuyers (in bottom photo). They treated us to cool drinks and a friendly chat. They are also grads of Calvin College and wonderful 'Lake People.'

Dune Research

In May (during Segment 4) as I was hiking through the P.J. Hoffmaster State Park, I came across areas that were roped off. This time, it wasn't the nesting areas of the piping plover, but a research area on the formation and destruction of dunes.
This month, I finally caught up with woman in charge of this research, Dr. Deanna van Dijk, professor of geology at Calvin College. We had lunch together, and I was fascinated with her research on Lake Michigan dunes.

Some of her research is summarized HERE

By setting instruments into the dunes (like sand traps and erosion pins), Dr. van Dijk can measure sand movement and deposition along with changes in dune size. She sent me several of her published research papers on southwest Michigan dunes. Some of her research has even led to the protection of dunes that were being harmed by human activities.