A contributing factor in the selection of “time-to-travel” hinged on the famous Traverse City National Cherry Festival. The region is ideal for growing numerous variates of those lovely little juice bombs. Sweet, sour, black, red, bulbous, tiny and sprightly. Painter’s strokes of deep red and vibrant green. often greet passenger window. Before we even made it to the farm we stopped and grabbed a bucket to enjoy along the picturesque drive.

Memories of huge vats of cherries and fun games from the festival tugged at me. The best day to go; Independence Day. Huge crowds, Blue Angels, epic Lake Michigan and of course Cherries. My main attention was on the airshow and cursing myself for leaving my tripod at the farm and telephoto in Denver. We were to travel south (away from the farm) to a private school for insanely gifted art students for a concert then back to Traverse for fireworks. It was doubtful I would be able to photograph the fireworks on the lake (something I set forth with great excitement on my must do list).

Therefore I didn’t get as much atmospheric exposure to the festival; people, cherries, silliness. I did manage to make time to retrieve the pod however and still came back with at least a small flavor of the party. Fireworks I think you will enjoy.

Blue Angels shot with wrong lens.

Mom excited for the day

Kiya blows a kiss to grandma

Local girls on their way to the festival

Cherries!

Blue Angels coming in for a close pass in Epsilon Formation

Young Michiganders in Love

Shopping list: Cherries, cherries, cherries and uh, oh, cherries

Message of the Day

Young Traverse gal, looking wonderfully like a cherry herself

Walking the halls of Interlochen

Interlochen girls waiting for the show to begin

Fun from above

Kiya and Grandma with bounty greater than gold

Back to Traverse for fireworks

This is why I so desperately longed for my pod (to miss this would haunt me)

Cluster bomb over instance naval firefight

Love the color variation, yes, love it

Hands down the shot of the day

Throughout all of this, the energy of the day, fun, food, music and the like we must acknowledge and honor the ultimate sacrifice of those who have fought, bled and died for our freedom. I aim not to support or celebrate war. But I do mean to say thank you for those that have so graciously come and gone before us so that we can live in this most blessed of vessels, the United States of America. One day may we all through the world know each other as family and come to live in a state of peace.