Storm Photos: A Dock, Some Red Wine & a Washed-Out Road

A storm blew through northern Michigan last night, and while much of the high winds and damage took place south of us, we still had a few spots on the Old Mission Peninsula that were affected.

I talked with my brother, Dean Johnson, this morning, and he said the cherry crop was A-Ok. Which is great, because they just started shaking cherries two days ago, and let’s at least get a week or two into the season before we have to deal with a major disaster.

However, one spot that did see some storm damage was the dock over at Neahtawanta Inn (where I have done yoga with innkeeper Sally Van Vleck for the past 15 years – check out her summer schedule here). When Sally got up this morning, she discovered that her beautiful wooden dock had washed ashore in pieces.

Fortunately, her lovely and colorful dock chairs appeared to be unscathed.

But if you know Sally, you know that she is the epitome of resilience, as shown in the photo by Dan Plasman below, where she is making the best of things.

“When high winds of an early morning storm dismantled the Neahtawanta dock, our intrepid leader, Sally Van Vleck, encouraged us to embrace the moment with our favorite glass of red,” wrote Dan on his Facebook page. Dan and his partner, Jody Betten, help Sally run the Inn (and are the very best people in the world).

A little behind the scenes info on the photo. As mentioned, the photographer is Dan Plasman, on the right in the photo. Sally said he set up his tripod and timer and sloshed through the water in time to hop on the dock! Check out his photography website here.

A little farther up the road, some water had washed up across Neahtawanta Road near Shipman Road. By the time Tim and I got over there, it had receded a bit, but the water has been precariously close to the road since spring. You could see this situation coming down the stormy tracks.

Did you see any storm damage in your area of the Old Mission Peninsula? Tell us in the comments below.