Lake Superior Magic, Part 1

I have been visiting the Lake Superior area (north and south shore) for many years now but this recent trip near Grand Marais (Minnesota) was the most magical and amazing so far. Many people feel Lake Superior is a place of healing and I was graced with this experience on a whole new level. 
I went with a friend and we stayed at the Outpost Motel right along Hwy 61, an affordable place with personal touch and very friendly owners (and chipmunks!!).
We always forget something on these trips but never would I have imagined I would forget my battery charger for the camera! I knew I brought a spare battery so I wasn't too worried until I found out that this spare only had 1/3 charge on it!! Then I started to get seriously concerned and contacted 2 photographers in the area who I knew were using the same camera as me, hoping we could meet in town and I could borrow their charger for an hour. Unfortunately that plan didn't work out. We had planned a night shoot which means long exposures and more drain on the battery. I was very careful in the use of my camera and hoping for the best.
By the time of the night shoot I had about 20% charge left and all went well. I must say, Nikon makes some really good batteries!! 
The following photos were all taken at the same location - a small island (also called a "Tombolo") along the Lake Superior Hiking trail. As it was very close to our motel we went there four times during our short stay. And every time was different - sunsets and sunrise and finally the night shoot. I have been waiting for 8-9 years now to shoot the Milky Way at Lake Superior and finally it all lined up perfectly. The night sky was incredible and impossible to describe. And Jupiter was so bright that the light reflected off the lake. As we were taking photos a small, red light appeared on the horizon and at first we thought it was a ship but as it turned out it was planet Mars!! 

As always, thanks for viewing and 
Enjoy! Susanne

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Tombolo with pebble beach at sunset

Sunset at first evening 

Sunset colors at first evening 

Sunrise mood

Sunrise

Sunrise with lit up rocks

Sunrise with beach

Sunset colors on second evening 1

Sunset colors on second evening 2

The Milky Way, Jupiter and Mars to the far left. We did a little light painting on the Tombolo.

The Milky Way and Jupiter