About

What are we?
Blue Water Living & Travel is the premiere online magazine for people living, working, playing and visiting in the Blue Water Area of Michigan (that’s in the Thumb, for those of you who like to use your hands to show locales in Michigan!).

Dale Hemmila & Patti Samar

Our stories and features are written and designed to show off all of the fun and interesting people, places and “things to do” that can be found along Michigan’s Thumb Coast!

Who are we?
Blue Water Living & Travel is owned and operated by the Dynamic Duo husband and wife team AKA Patti Samar and Dale Hemmila of Port Huron.

Both displaced Yoopers, the Samar-Hemmilas are both long-time professional communicators.

The Ms…
Samar is an award-winning writer and graphic designer who also publishes the quarterly print publication Blue Water Woman magazine. She also owns and operates a writing, graphic design and marketing consultation firm in Port Huron known as The Write Company. Though she grew up in Marquette and identifies as a Yooper at heart, she has resided in Port Huron for more than 25 years.

The Mister…
Hemmila is an award-winning broadcast journalist and a recent transplant to the lower peninsula. Upon his 2015 retirement from Cliffs Natural Resources, where he served as director of public affairs for North America (and we hear that is a very, very big place!), he joined his wife in the Blue Water Area. Prior to his 35-plus years as a Cliffs’ employee, Hemmila worked in broadcast news at various radio and television stations in the Upper Peninsula.

Yooper education rocks!
Both are graduates of Northern Michigan University in Marquette, where Hemmila received a bachelor of science degree in speech communication, and Samar received both a bachelor of science in English, and a master of arts degree in English/magazine writing.

What do we like to write about?
Together, the Dynamic Duo wants to share the stories of the cool people, places and things to do that can be found in Michigan’s Thumb. They especially like to seek and find the unusual, the unheard of and the show-stoppable stories, people, places and things to do that can be found in any community.

How and where do we do all of this cool writing ‘n stuff?
But most of all, Samar and Hemmila LIVE the Blue Water Lifestyle. They live on the shores of Lake Huron, where Samar sails, kayaks, uses her paddleboard, and drinks wine. She is creative, liberal, and sometimes, most notably, grumpy.

Hemmila prefers to sit on the beach, drink beer, and stare off into space. He is also creative, won’t call himself liberal but he is coming around from the Dark Side, and makes it his life’s mission to keep his wife happy. It’s amazing he has time to get any work done, as that is a full time job. 😉