Hiking Around in the Woods

It was a hot and sunny day as we headed down an old trail towards the Boardman River. We came upon a familiar old bridge.  I remember a long time ago, standing on that bridge and looking down into the river and seeing a big beaver swim right under me.  The rest of the city seems to have changed and grown, but this corner of Traverse City has stayed the same.  What a difference in temperature when we got to the tree line and entered the woods.  It was like some kind of cool, mysterious fairy land in there.  I couldn't stop taking pictures, everywhere I looked was some fantastic, magical view.

We found ourselves pondering how long it would take the river water we stood in to reach the Bay.  So many different greens, browns, and shimmering blues in this river.  The water was very cold, but it was so hot outside that Josh decided to take a dip.  I waded in and so did Gilbert, which is a statement about how hot it was.  Gilbert does not like swimming and only enters the water when he absolutely has to.  He toddled around with us and didn't seem to mind the icy and swift current of the river.

I hadn't been to this area since I was young and had fun showing Josh where my sister and step-sisters and I had posed for our pictures here as young girls.  The trees and steps were still there after all this time.  Which was comforting.   

I crunched on one of these wonderful apples growing wild, which my grandpa said are called "greenies."  And Josh tasted the wild grapes, which were not sweet yet.  I daydream about revisiting this place and spending the day frolicking, reading in the sun, and taking more pictures.  I can't wait for the leaves to change.

This photo of me in the woods was taken by my dad sometime in the early 90s.

The trip to Grand Rivers

My partner Josh and I recently had the pleasure of visiting beautiful Western Kentucky.  I thought I would share some of the pictures/adventures of the trip.  It's a very different landscape than Central Kentucky's rolling horse pastures and Eastern Kentucky's mountainous peaks.  The land is dotted with lakes, rivers and lush woods that were loud with frogs and cicadas, as well as hungry mosquitoes... and poison ivy, which we both managed to get.  I'm pretty sure it was at the golf course where my husband and his dad had to venture into the woods for quite a few stray golf balls.

I'm not a golfer, but I did enjoy tagging along and driving the cart while others played.  It is the kind of game that makes me immensely frustrated to play, but relaxed to watch.  Spending a chilly afternoon at Mineral Mounds Golf Course was like driving around in the garden of Eden. Deer, bunnies, cranes, cicadas, and Canadian geese were tame enough to linger for these photos I took.

We stayed in a very sweet cabin over looking a woodsy lake.  Every morning we woke up to the view off the back deck, sunrise on the water and the mysterious sound of a train in the distance, roaring down the tracks.

I had an adventure on Sunday, when I was invited to go out on the lake in a pontoon boat rented by some of my husband's family. Being a redhead, I dutifully packed along my long-sleeved cover-up shirt, a hat, and a full bottle of SPF 50 sunblock. I was determined not to get sunburned.  I had a refreshing dip in the water off the side of the boat (by refreshing, I mean ice-cold, muscle-numbing) and even got some reading done in my Amy Tan book.  Then it was time to return to shore.  I was offered a ride back on a Jet-ski and I nervously accepted.  In case there are readers who do not know my top three phobias... here they are: stinging insects, going under water when I'm not fully ready, and riding very fast things that don't have seat-belts where falling off might include death (amusement park rides, etc.). So I faced a couple of those fears and hopped on the Jet-ski as a passenger.  The water out on the large lake was so choppy we could see white-caps, so the ride home was something like riding a bucking bronco in the middle of the ocean.  But we finally made it to calmer waters and I trudged back to the cabin, proud that I had made it to dry land without freaking out on the driver.

*on an entertaining side note: the first phobia was also challenged as a gigantic cicada-eating wasp flew into the cabin.  This insect was almost big enough to rise out of the "insect" category and into the "avian" category.  It was easily as big as a hummingbird.  Although later we looked up some facts about it and it turned out to be almost harmless.  Thanks Josh, for getting it out of the cabin.

We had wonderful food and fun times with Josh's Dad's family.  Can't wait to do it again next year.