Imagine yourself taking middle-of-the-night photos with your iPhone balancing on a dragged-over beach chair. Carefully press the button, then jump out in front of the lens, standing still for the remaining 25 seconds.

Michigan does summers really, really well. But nighttimes here can be extraordinary.

We took a trip to the left coast, the extreme edge of the state and spent a week luxuriating in the light and dark. Armed only with an iPhone, a photographer’s paradise presented itself.

Visitors all the way up from Texas, walk up the beach toward the Little Point Sable Lighthouse in Mears, Michigan at sunset.

With apologies to Grease (the movie) for twisting and contorting their lyrics to suit my needs,

Summer love, had me a blast…

Marci walks a bit further up the beach to find one of her favorite reflection photos.

Summer days drifting away, but oh, those summer nights…

You can’t see Chicago or Milwaukee from here, but you can DEFINITELY see Cleveland, the cat.

We stayed up ’til ten o′clock…

Beach grass appears to be bowing to the Lake Michigan sunset.

Tell me more, tell me more…

Much later at night — actually into the next day already — that same patch of fickle beach grass appears to also salute the moonless glow.

Wella wella wella huh …

It was a good night for meteors (or satelittes or planes) to show up and show out. And whatever the heck that thing at the top left was.

Whoa, whoa, whoa …

From up close, the roof of our rented A-frame cottage appears monolithic or like something out of a space-faring adventure.

Like a celestial beacon, the cool “blue” glow of our bathroom nightlight transforms into warm and wonderful illumination when it bounces all around the knotty pine walls of our rented A-frame cottage.

Thank you for wandering through the night with me.

Shoo bop bop, shoo bop bop …