It’s our first long holiday of the year here in the U.S. Usually by the end of May, this long weekend, typically called “the Gateway to Summer”, is always such a welcome respite from our usually hectic daily lives.
But, as you know, this year is like no other and the chance to be “toes up” and enjoy a little rest and relaxation does not hold the same allure as in the past. In fact, it falls flat after most of us have been cocooning for over two months.
I saw this Snoopy Toes Up flag while walking through the ‘hood and decided it was perfect for this long holiday post. So what will you do?
I plan to stay close to home and try to get things done around the house, allowing for a long daily walk, weather permitting. Most of the larger shoreline parks that I frequent on weekends are flooded. Every Saturday, from May through the end of September, Hines Park shuts down six miles of roadway to vehicles for “Saturday in the Park” and this venue was on my potential Saturday agenda, but now Hines Drive is flooded. I had also planned to visit the extensive grounds of Henry and Clara Ford’s Estate to see the many lilacs in bloom, but it is closed due to the pandemic. Council Point Park also remains closed. Guess it will be a walk in the ‘hood for me. Hmm.
Here in Michigan, a/k/a the Great Lakes State, there are plenty of activities revolving around water. Last Saturday, I strolled along the boardwalks at Bishop Park and BASF Waterfront Park. I walked six miles that day. Here’s what I saw.
Gone fishin’ (‘cuz the Walleye and Silver Bass are runnin’).
As I pulled into the parking lot at Bishop Park, it was already crowded. A glance toward the Detroit River told me the fishermen and boaters had arrived long before me.
Boats jammed the waterway.
The wooden pier which juts into the Detroit River was filled with fishermen, lined shoulder to shoulder.
The boardwalk was humming as anglers cast out, hoping to reel in that evening’s dinner and maybe some fish to spare.
They brought their night crawlers and tackle boxes …
… and their patience.
As I strolled along the boardwalk, I heard snippets of conversation about who caught what and how many. This time of year, when the Walleye and Silver Bass are running, it gets mighty crowded at all the riverfront parks, as those anglers choose their spots carefully, either fishing from their boats, or along the piers/boardwalks.
Everyone was in a happy-go-lucky mood, glad that the colder temps and rain from a few days before were gone and they could enjoy their favorite pastime again. I stopped to chat with one fisherman after I overheard part of his conversation about the Silver Bass he had snagged. So I wandered over and said “I see the big crowd here because the Walleye and Silver Bass are runnin’ – so, you did okay I hear?” He flashed me a big smile and said “c’mon, I’ll show you” and proceeded to pull a cage up out of the River. He set it on the boardwalk so I could see his fish and take a photo.
I asked “so this is dinner tonight?” and he said “yep, but let me show you this guy’s Walleye because it is even bigger!” We stepped away from his catch of the day and walked over to this guy’s Walleye which was still tethered on a line in the River.
It was getting rather crowded at Bishop Park, so I left to walk through downtown Wyandotte to BASF Waterfront Park, which you may recall I recently discovered on March 7th . It is just 0.8 mile from Bishop Park, so an easy walk. The last time I did this same trek was just before the Coronavirus was gathering steam and created a new normal.
So, here we are, 10 weeks later and it’s Springtime …
First, I must draw your attention to the flags which were at half-staff in this City.
Many cities have been honoring the people who have died from COVID-19 by keeping their flags lowered – Wyandotte was no exception. Sadly, the day after I took this walk, the beloved Mayor of Wyandotte, Joe Peterson, passed away suddenly. He was in public service for the City for 31 years, before becoming mayor in 2009. For sure, the flags will remain at half-staff for a long time.
Next was BASF Waterfront Park.
Thankfully this park was less crowded. I headed right to the River. The boats and fishermen were plentiful here too. Multiple families of geese were out and about and I’ll do a separate, short post about them.
At nearby Wyandotte Shores Golf Course the golfers were happy to be perfecting their swing and didn’t seem to mind they had to carry their own golf bags as carts were not allowed.
There was no human activity at the Wyandotte Boat Club as I strolled the grounds, just the Canada geese that mingled around the barren area, while grazing with their goslings.
The shoreline scene was rather desolate looking. This weekend would have been the annual Rowing Club Regatta, cancelled, just like so many other events due to COVID-19.
Just as I was ready to leave BASF Park, the Algoma Innovator, a 650-foot freighter appeared in the distance near the skyline of Detroit. I’ve included a close-up of this bulk cargo hauler.
It was a beautiful morning for a walk along the Detroit River.
Stay safe this weekend and may your picnic be ant-free.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
So much to see in this post, what a tour. That fishing pier looks like a popular place. Lots of people. I do love your photos of the freighters, I don’t see those to often. So impressive in size.
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Sandra – the Bishop Park pier is usually jam packed this time of year when the Walleye and Silver Bass are running. In fact, Wyandotte has their annual Fishing Derby the first Saturday every June. Lots of people and you can’t get near Bishop Park. This year it’s been cancelled until June 2021. I always hope to catch sight of a freighter when going to the riverfront parks and am usually lucky enough to see one … this one I’ve not seen before. I usually try to zoom in on their name to mention the size and their cargo from hopping onto http://www.Boatnerd.com. My boss has a few freighter clients and he has a book called “Know Your Ships” to easily identify the freighter lines by their smokestacks. Tomorrow’s post you’ll see all the geese families I saw there. I stood on an overlook at BASF Park and saw many beneath me. I decided, just like last week, to let the geese have their own post, but just a short post this time.
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Are you sure you don’t work for the tourist industry in your town? I like seeing your photos. I think we’ll be toes up this long weekend. It doesn’t feel like summer here yet, both because it is cool outside and because no parades or picnic this weekend. Still there are worse things than having a low-key Memorial Day.
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Thank you Ally – glad you liked the photos and that would be a gig I would like. Promoting Wyandotte would be easy as it is such a pretty riverfront city and it will be a quiet year for downtown Wyandotte, which usually features big events from Memorial Day to Labor Day, as well as the rest of the year. The biggest loss will be the annual Street Fair with the local artisans, but they always have fireworks, parades and next week would have been the annual Fishing Derby at Bishop Park pier that has happened for over three decades. I generally stick close to home on a three-day weekend, maybe venturing out on the Sunday when everyone is at their destination. Most folks leave today for cottages up north and the rest leave Saturday morning. We’re going to salvage one nice weather day of the long weekend and that is tomorrow. Too wet to work in the yard trimming things so they look manageable, parks are soggy, just more R&R which is fine with me too.
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Nice post. I’ll have to visit Wyandotte! I don’t think I’ve ever been there although I’ve certainly driven through it. I plan to visit Eastern Market early in the morning, and then we’ll probably hang out on my front porch and enjoy all the spring flowers and neighbors walking and bicycling. 🙂
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Thank you Theresa. Wyandotte is such a beautiful city – I would love to live there. I like walking the Riverfront and right now most of the other parks where I go on weekends are flooded right now. I have never been to Eastern Market on a weekend. I’ve been during the week. What a shame that Flower Day was cancelled this year. Now that is somewhere I would like to go to one day. Hope you get everything done and the pesky rain and fog does not wreak havoc with your plans.
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It will be a weekend of ups and downs here. Rain this p.m. and tomorrow but Sun-Mon should be nice. Trout is what everyone around here goes for and I often see fisherfolks along the creeks I pass.
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We have had an all-day rain today and now they say we’ll heavy fog in the morning. My walking is taking a hit, especially this weekend as it will rain/storm Sunday and Monday, so you are are lucky you’re having nice weather. Memorial Day may hit 90 degrees! I like warm weather, but that is rushing things. Tomorrow is not the perfect day they had called for. I don’t think we have trout around here. I’ve never heard the fishermen talking about it as I walk along the boardwalk and they love showing off their respective catch(es) of the day.
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We have steady rain today but it’s warm. Tomorrow is “supposed” to be nice. We’ll see. They have been very off with the forecasts lately.
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That’s what we had yesterday and now tomorrow and Monday plus thunderstorms. We may tie a record for 90 degrees on Monday. Too hot too soon … we may have bypassed Spring!
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We will pass spring for sure. We’ve been in the low of mid 60s and this coming week it’s predicted for the low 80s. What happened to the 70s? Very few.
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It is 78 in the house right now and supposed to get to 88-90 tomorrow out tomorrow. I will have to put the A/C on tomorrow. Too hot too fast … this is the third year that’s happened for us. I went to the grocery store today and had a double mask on (dust filter and a bandana over top) and I thought I’d die before I got home – it got very hot and humid while I was in the store and I did a big shopping soI don’t have to go back until July. They called for morning storms so I did not set my alarm …no storms at all!
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That is really warm! They are not predicting temps like that in the next 10 days but it will be in the low 80s.
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I put the A/C on and it did not turn on completely. The condensor made no noise and the blades weren’t spinning. I put in a service call and asked “the tech was here on 12/31 and put in a new motor inducer and mother board … maybe he forgot to hook something up?” My regular A/C checkup is usually later in June. So he got here and a live wire had not been attached when he put the new parts in. Fixed in a few minutes – it got to 87 I believe here … I was his 22nd service call today and he had more to go!
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Wow. We hit 72 yesterday. Send it east!
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I’ll pack it up tonight. 🙂 We have this heat all week and it is 10 degrees above normal and this weekend will be 20 degrees below normal. Crazy!
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We got it! We did a 20 degree jump yesterday. yikes. My body is wondering what on earth happened.
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I know- this is August weather. I went out this morning with shorts and a sleeveless top and was very hot. The dust filter mask didn’t help – now my glasses are fogging up from the heat and humidity! I’m tempted to not wear it as I’m just in the neighborhood since the Park remains closed. You have to have two wardrobes handy!
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I don’t wear a mask when I walk because I rarely see more than 5 people and they are never close. It is harder to breath and I worry my skin will breakout. I do wear them where I am supposed to though.
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I’m a bit of a germaphobe to begin with, so I always have one on, but, I really think until the Park opens again, I could forego it when walking in the neighborhood. That mask is not real comfortable in the heat either!
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I enjoyed your chat with the fisherman. It amused me how eager he was to share a view of his catch and his neighbors big fish.
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Thanks Anne. Most of the fishermen are chatty once they have fish in their buckets or tethered on a wire in the water. I’d never seen one of those wire baskets in the water like this fisherman had. Last year I had photos of two guys holding their fish up at Elizabeth Park on a holiday weekend. These guys didn’t know each other either … he said “I brought her over to see your fish okay?” 🙂
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I suspect fishermen have an unwritten code of friendliness.
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I think you are right. They are always willing to pose or chat.
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So many local and large events cancelled this year here too.
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Yes, it’s really sad Andy. The annual fishing derby at Bishop Park is a big event, would have been the 34th year for it. We have a lot of street fairs and festivals around here in almost every city, ours included and slowly each of them are falling like dominoes. A big attraction here is the Freedom Fireworks. It is held jointly to celebrate Canada’s Canada Day and the U.S. Fourth of July and held in between the two dates. They have many barges full of fireworks in the middle of the Detroit River which separates the two countries. It draws a massive crowd on either side of the Detroit River and is televised. So this year, they will have the event, but the end of August and videotape it but no crowd. I don’t know why they don’t do it at the proper time then, but that’s what they are doing and calling it a virtual fireworks show.
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We hope to have hands and knees in the dirt this weekend planting the rest of the garden. (Praying for NO rain) My husband also mentioned that Monday’s forecast is for 87 degrees so it may call for a dip in the pond. Have a great weekend Linda!
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You will have a working holiday Ruth. Best pray harder as I am hearing rain for Saturday morning, plus Sunday and Monday. Fog tomorrow morning. What in the world? Saturday was the best day they said. I think you’ll enjoy the dip in the pond – P.S. … I heard a record-setting 90 degrees Monday and maybe Tuesday. You have a great weekend too Ruth!
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Hopefully we can get things in Saturday. I just saw our forecast is for rain over night Saturday into Sunday. Not that I trust the forecast too much.
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Hopefully you can get it all done too Ruth and I don’t trust the weather folks either. Guess we have to wait and be surprised.
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Miss Linda…………………………I enjoyed all of the fishermen and the boaters…………………….It made me feel a little jealous that I can’t be out there “shoulder to shoulder” with them!!…………………I love the Ants Rock!
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It was a busy place for sure Ann Marie – I know that you and Steven love going fishing. I saved that Ants Rock from the collection the other day just for the holiday weekend. 🙂
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It’s so nice to see signs of normal life again along the waterfront. PS. I did see the flooding in Michigan on the news Linda, where the dam broke and everything was under water. Fort McMurray had that problem a few weeks ago, when water overflowed the river and 15,000 people had to be evacuated. It seems like a strange year again. Today was a writeoff – humid and cloudy, tomorrow we may have a bit of sun, but the rest of the weekend and all next week is rain and humid every single day…..reminds me of last year.
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Yes Joni, the riverfront was bustling with all the boaters there for fishing. I didn’t stay long at the first park as it was packed there, so moved on where there was no crowd. Oh my – 15,000 is a lot of people. I don’t know how many here have been displaced but I don’t think that many. Originally they were put in local schools, or went to family members’ homes if they were local due to fears of COVID-19, but after FEMA came in, they attempted to move people to hotels instead. Some people spent the night in their cars to avoid interacting with others due to the Coronavirus. The other day they mentioned the chemical issues as Dow Chemical’s HQ is there.
We have fog this morning, so I’m holding off a little before going out for a walk and not driving to any parks as most are flooded. The week ahead does not look too promising either – I will likely walk after work as opposed to before work if it stays as rainy in the mornings as predicted. This is the third year in a row for rainy Spring weather.
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your write such a great story Linda. You make the ordinary extraordinary.
Btw,thats defiantly not a boat hauler. It looks more like a mobile pipe? It might be for pumping water from a flooded place into the river?
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Thanks Wayne – I appreciate you saying that. It was a great walk last Saturday – today’s post is about the goslings I saw from the overlook near the boat club. Due to the high waves the family with the tiniest goslings had a difficult time as the chicks were rockin’ and rollin’ with each wave. Since I was standing at the overlook, I could look down on them and had a good vantage point. I will edit this post, as I assumed it was to haul the shells (boats) from the area where they are stored at the large Wyandotte Boat Club which is right where I was. They were to have a big regatta there today, but all that is cancelled due to the pandemic. I’ll omit “boat hauler” but leave the pictures which I thought helped to create the desolate scene with their rusty wheels.
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call the boat club and ask somebody what it is?
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I just sent the Wyandotte Rowing Club a message on Facebook with a picture. They store the shells at the Boat Club where I was.
They are hosting a charity drive on Memorial Day and their Facebook page was active, so hopefully they’ll see it – otherwise I’ll call, but I wanted to show the picture to them. I did a Google image search when I wrote the post, but it came back “Willow Tree” but I have an idea, my friend Ann Marie used to be on a rowing team. I’ll send her an e-mail, perhaps she knows.
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the mystery unfolds!
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Yes – I’ll let you know Wayne. I just looked on FB; the message is opened/read, but likely because they send back an automatic message (we’ll get back with you). There was no one there to ask personally.
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my bet is on some sort of mobile pipe used for water?
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I hope they answer – I just looked on FB as I’m ready to shut down … no response. They have a website for the boat club but you can’t attach anything to your request, it’s like a “contact me” page.
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you’ll figure it out I’m sure.
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I hope so – I did not hear back from the Rowing Club message – I’ll wait til Tuesday and try the Boat Club … I wanted to send a picture and their Contact Me page does not have that, so either send the post or call them.
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How nice they are flying the flags at half staff! It is so nice seeing people and boats but darn you for posting a picture of the ant rock, now that song is stuck in my head!
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Yes, Wyandotte is very supportive of causes Diane and I thought it was nice they did this too. As to supporting first responders, you could not pass many big or small trees without seeing a white ribbon around them either. Lots of signs too. I thought of your son last weekend with all the fishermen on the pier, boardwalk and in boats … I know your son is an avid fisherman. Lake Erie is flooded on the shoreline as are many other parks and we have almost an entire weekend and week ahead of rain coming up (if they are correct) … it will be a big mess for sure.
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So far, it’s a cool, rainy weekend here in PA. No lazing about in the sun with our toes up. My son is supposed to play golf tomorrow and he is trying to talk his father into going along with him and one of his buddies. I hope Bill goes. I would be good for him to get out with the guys. Golfing is allowed here as long as there is only 1 person per cart. We just found out our most severe restrictions will end in 2 weeks, then people may gather in groups of 10 or less. I am anxious to see some of my friends again! Hope your weekend is good, Linda.
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We had that rain yesterday Laurie – an ugly day and Sunday and Monday will be the same only stormy. I did get out today and I was overdressed. I have to get my lighter clothes out – in fact, Summer clothes – 88 to 90 degrees on Monday and two weeks ago we had snow flurries. I hope Bill goes too – maybe he’ll start going golfing again. I think you said he played before.
We are allowed to gather in groups of 10 now, as of yesterday … so in two weeks you will no longer have Zoom calls on Saturday night then! Our Governor extended the stay-at-home to June 12th so no gyms, hair/nail salons and you can now have dentist and doctor appointments, but no indoor dining. The northern part of the state has indoor dining/bars so there is some controversy with that now, i.e. – the haves and have nots. I’m glad I got out today Laurie, but just in the neighborhood because most of the bigger parks are soggy.
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just so much wow to see there!
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Yes there is Michael. Today it would be nice to be there and get the breeze from the River. We are having a record heat wave!
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With no race in Indianapolis for the first time since 1945 it has not really seemed like Memorial Day weekend. It is good to see something approaching normal up your way.
We started cleaning out the basement. Headway is being made.
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You know what JP? I heard nothing about the Indy 500 not being run and I think that was because people were watching or talking about the charity golf game with Tiger Woods et al. I can imagine that losing all the pizzazz of that race had an effect on your city. We have the Grand Prix here in Detroit for three days; that’s the free time trials Friday, lesser races/qualifiers for the pole on Saturday and the big race Sunday. All that was scratched. Cleaning the basement is my first item when I retire – clutter, clutter and more clutter. I got rid of lots of stuff after whole house insulation in 2017 as they made such a mess of everything … but it needs more attention. The basement was a cool place to be during this heat wave that you no doubt had too.
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