Amanda dives underwater in Lake Michigan.

Amanda and I were at my parent’s house in Northern Michigan for the past week and a half. We spent a two of the days hiking around on the dunes that are the area’s most impressive feature. My dad was a park ranger at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, so I have been visiting this place for years and years.

These kids rode up while we were looking at the train station. They wanted to know if we thought it was haunted.

At the end of a tour of Detroit given to us by my friend Amy and her fiancee Scott, we stopped by the famous Michigan Central Station. Although we decided not to try to break in and explore, this trumpet player was apparently less inhibited.

My good friend Sam Schick and his charming partner Meredith were kind enough to host Amanda and me for two days in Seattle. Sam even took time off from work to show us the city and the countryside north along the Sound, where this photo was taken.

Gasworks Park, Seattle, WA

We are out in Oregon this week to visit the University of Oregon, one of the grad schools that Amanda is considering. As long as we were flying across the country, we decided to do a bit of travelling, as well. Right now we are in Manzanita, on the coast directly west of Portland.

Taken this afternoon on a hike at the to Bobbitt’s Hole on the Eno River with Mark Schueler.