Thank you so much for the input...after putting in the names of all the tree in the image search I think I have narrowed it down to the Crape Myrtle and the Chinese Pistachio...any thoughts?!?! Does anyone know if the Crape Myrtle flowers attract tons of bees? (I have an allergic son) We plan on living at this house for many years and I'm really hoping to avoid a lifetime of tree frustration!!!! Thank you everyone for taking the time to help!!!

Hey Shastensis. The best T. occidentalis stands are in the eastern parts of WI, adjoining or near to Lake Michigan, and corresponding parts of Upper Michigan. Some WI counties to begin with are: Manitowoc, Kewaunee, Door, and Oconto (Where my land is). The MI. counties of Delta, Menominee, and Alger are also well endowed with this species, as are others further to the east. A couple spots you would enjoy are: Cave Point Cty. Park in Door County, Maribel Caves County Park in Manitowc Cty. and for some magnificent white and red pine and hemlock, Cathedral of the Pines a few miles north of Lakewood WI. Any drive on back roads through the counties listed will reveal extensive stands of T. occidentalis. The largest of this species that I've ever seen are at the Maribel Caves park. Our state champ is near that park. There are some large ones....lots of them actually.....in my woods and especially the parcel just next to us. You could conceivably hook up with me to visit this stuff....all just depends on scheduling, etc. There is an island in Lake Superior, north of Munising MI. that is known to have had a severe forest fire about 400 years ago. This island is now heavily forested with much T. occ. So right there, we have 400 year old trees. Some of the specimens growing right out of limestone cliffs in Door Cty. are much older. In this case, these trees are not large, due to the trying conditions under which they live, but they are very old. Let me know what's up. I'd love to help out. +oM

We've been out there twice in the summer and it's not been crowded. The first time we were there we were doing a trip along the coast eventually leading to a wedding in the wine country outside San Francisco. We flew into Seattle and stayed at the Inn at the Market which is a really nice boutique hotel up the street from Pike Place Market. They have a rooftop deck where you can bring your drinks and watch the ferries come in and out. I highly recommend that hotel. It's within walking distance to restaurants too. We only did an overnight at Friday Harbor and stayed in a Bed and Breakfast which I didn't care for because it was in a private home and the owners were on hand. We went on a whale watch and saw orcas which was fun. I love the ferry system in Washington and we were able to take our rental car everywhere. I think on that trip we just went to Friday Harbor before turning around and going back along the coast to CA. A couple of years ago we were out there again for a wedding near Bellingham, WA. This time we flew into Seattle again and since we arrived late and were skipping Seattle this time, we stayed at a hotel across from the airport. The hotel had a van that picked us up at the airport and the next morning took us to the rental car place down the road. It's cheaper if you pick up your car outside the airport so we did that this time. I think from there we went to Port Townsend so my husband could see the Wooden Boat School. We stayed in a cottage belonging to a B&B and that was nice and private. I remember spending a couple of days hopping on ferries and I think they're was another town we stayed in overnight to catch a ferry the next morning. I forget the name of it though. We had reservations for the ferries because we wanted to be sure there was room for our car. We also went to Victoria and stayed in a beautiful Inn ( Prior House Inn )outside of town. We stayed in the room with the king bed in the Hobbit Garden Studios with our own entrance which was really nice. Their garden was absolutely beautiful. The breakfasts were nice and we really loved staying there. From there we went to Vancouver and stayed downtown at the Wedgewood Hotel. The hotel and the restaurant attached were very nice, but I've learned since that the beautiful part of Vancouver with spectacular scenery is at the northern end. Next time. We did have a long wait getting through the checkpoint back into the states from there.

well i took a closer look at the plant out the window.. meaning i put my nose on the window.. lol .. god forbid i walk out there ... lol ... it took me an hour to figure out what it is.. i was stuck on the plant that is a vine and a shrub .. whats that all about ... its the weedy honeysuckle shrub ... thank you mister bird .. or your feathery woman ... i mention these MI things because parker lives within 5 miles of me.. as the crow flies. .and he actually walks around and looks at plants.. so if i see it blooming ... he might look for it ... i also noted dames rocket is blooming at the edges of tree lines ... now go get some pix parker .. ken