Northern Michigan at its best

There are many beautiful places to build a log home. Northern Michigan was the place for me and Greg. We wanted to experience all 4 seasons and be located out in a woodsy - nature filled area. It seems like we do more up here too then when we are downstate at our home in the burbs. Up here we are going to small town festivals, berry picking, skiing, snow shoeing, going out to photograph nature, watching Eagles splash down in our lake, having a bonfire with neighbors....the list goes on. Also - where else could I be a Loon Ranger?! (Now that's a different story and my friends and family are still making fun of me for this....)

Here are some more fall photos around our log home.......life is good.

Why I love Northern Michigan

I had the most beautiful drive this morning up to our log home. As soon as I reached Northern Michigan, the trees showing off their beautiful colors (Gaylord is at 80% peak), I saw 2 baby deer off in the field and I watched a hawk fly over the interstate. I had escaped the suburbs! But that's not the only reason why I love Northern Michigan.....this view off my deck says it all.

Fall cooking at the cabin!

Can you feel it? The air is cool, the leaves are showing their reds and golds, and it's time for fuzzy fleece blankets and wool socks. And then the food.......apple pie with a flaky crust, homemade soup and chili.....gets you in the mood to do some fall cooking!

I'm ready to whip my log home kitchen into a cooking frenzy this weekend! And some of my favorite blogs I like to read have some delicious ideas.....

1. Penny at Lavender Hill shares her secret ingredient for apple pie....
2. How about some Spiced Lentil & Barley soup from Catherine at Catherine Holman Folk Art?
3. Bobbi at Rightmeyer Recipes is making tomatoe pie!
4. Mom2 has a couple yummy things to choose from....Quick & Easy Minestrone Soup or Popeye Meatloaf.
5. Cooking with Val is sharing a recipe for Maranda's Squash Casserole.

What are some of your favorite things to cook in the fall?

I love my switch plates!

For some odd reason, I just love decorative switch plates for the log home. I'll spend a good hour in a rustic store just looking at all the different log home decor switch plates. Since our log home is called 'The Loon's Nest' I had thought about doing all Loon theme switch plates. But I got a little off track.....



This is in my Loon bathroom.

But then I had to have a Moose theme.

But then I thought these pine switch plates would look good in the hallway....

Yep! I'm hooked on switch plates!

Final Thoughts - Log & Timber Frame Expo / Chicago

Alright kids, last post on the Log & Timber Frame Expo that I exhibited at recently! It was a great show since it provided me with a venue to speak obsessively about log homes with other people!

Some trends I noticed from the show:

• A good majority were looking to have their log home as their retirement or permanent home.
• The older crowd were more interested in single story plans or having their master bedroom on the first floor. This makes sense - as we get older and not knowing what potential health problems we might face- do we really want to be climbing stairs in our golden years?
• Full log homes seemed to be the preference of this particular crowd. Only 25% of the visitors to my booth expressed an interest in half log homes.
• I would say 90% of the visitors to my booth were nature / great outdoor lovers! (This is me and Greg!)
• Roughly 40% already owned the land they planned to build their log home on.
• Quite a few expressed their desire to have that open floor plan - with the kitchen, dining room and living room all blending together. This is the favorite part of my log home too - it encourages togetherness and communication with family and friends.

All this talk about log homes makes me want to watch my Dick Proenekke video - "Alone in the Wilderness" again for the 20th time. If you haven't caught it on PBS, I highly recommend purchasing this video - an amazing story of a self sufficient man who in 1967 built his log cabin by hand in Alaska.

Log & Timber Frame Expo

Saturday was a great day at the expo with more people traffic! It was interesting to hear all the different places people wanted to build their log homes - Arkansas, Kentucky, Wisconsin (Door Country was very popular), Montana, Colorado, Oregon, North Carolina (the overwhelmingly favorite) and northern Michigan (my personal favorite!) One interesting couple my husband met have a 500 acre nature preserve that has been in the family for a long time and they are going to replace the existing cabin on the property. Listening to everyone's plans takes me back to the days when Greg and I were planning our log home dream. It's like planning your wedding - sometimes you want to relive those days! Looking forward to a great Sunday!