Did You Guess Diane?

I would suspect that you had prior information if you guessed Diane because she hasn't been part of my regular circuit until recently although we knew each other as children. We have so many interests in common that we became instant adult friends.

We packed the day just about as full as possible. It began with a puppy fix for me. The white puppy is Lola and the black lab is Tula.

Their owner is a man I also haven't seen since childhood. His name is Gary. He is younger than I am, but I was quite good friends with his older sister. We are no longer children as you can probably tell. (I think the last time I saw him, I was taller than he was.) He treated us to coffee and homemade lemon cookies. Yum!

Next up was a little hike. Diane has been able to up her mileage quite a lot since last summer. She gave me local choices and we walked to a place I've featured on the blog quite often, but I think the last time I did this particular hike was around 1970.

We walked up the Taughannock gorge. It's hard to get a sense of the perspective, but those rock walls are about 500 feet high.

This trail takes you to the base of Taughannock Falls. This is 215-foot free fall drop, considered the highest free drop east of the Rockies.

The walk in to the falls and back was 1.9 miles.

All the pictures I've shown on the blog until now were taken from an overlook that is along one of the edges of the bluff. I took another of those today, but I won't post it. The one I will share is that if you walk a short way along a different trail from that upper overlook you can get much closer to the falls. I think this shot gives you a better sense of the power of the water. It was really noisy from this vantage point. All the sound of the falling water and ice was rising right up the rock walls!

Then we went up to the museum. Diane is Village Historian. I gave them the quilt made by Frances Leary.

And she wanted to show me this. It's an accordion that was donated. I've never seen one like it at all, so I wasn't very helpful. But it was fun. A few of the buttons still play notes.

The day was not done, but I didn't take more pictures except the selfie. We listened to a web seminar about trails, we got chicken wings for dinner from the local Sportsman's Club (honey mustard), and then we looked at some more of my family's genealogy. She has discovered a few more things that I didn't know. She's amazing!

There is no clue for tomorrow, because it's so obvious it needs no clue except maybe this- who is my best friend in the universe? I'll head out first thing in the morning.

Miles walked in 2026: 51

Taughannock Falls SP, New York, gorge trail and part of north rim trail, 2.3 miles.

See Did You Guess Elaine?

Did You Guess Elaine?

This clue wasn't bad if you've been around a while. The next person on the New York rotation is Elaine, and we always play a lot of games. The game I showed you last night was called Master Labyrinth. We think it would be fun with three or four people, but with the two of us both playing defensively, we decided to give up on it about halfway through. She was ahead at the time, but we were both tired of it. Here's Elaine cogitating her next move.

This morning, we started in again. Upwords is possibly Elaine's favorite. She beat me smartly. (But I beat her last year.) Sorry for the weird angle on the board, but you can see the words.

Elaine had asked me if I had a game I could bring, so I brought one of my very favorites which no one will play with me. Elaine liked it, but the learning curve is steep. We played about five rounds, but in demonstration mode, just for fun. I'll bring it next time so we can compete.

Then we played another that belongs to Elaine that we both like, Carcasonne. The biggest problem was that we didn't have a large enough flat surface, and the paper we tried to cover the slat tables with created too much topography for the map. But we successfully completed one game. I won this one.

This is part of Elaine's rock collection. She loves geology. I love plants.

Here we are, the "Bobsey Twins," so nicknamed by our high school gym teacher, and it has been an apt comparison. We are 364 days apart in age, like many of the same things, etc. (Except that she's six feet tall and I'm not.)

We had grilled cheese sandwiches with smoked cheese for lunch. Yummy!

Now, here's your clue for where I am now. This will be about as much help as the computer memory board was, but tough nuggies. It's all I have. I'll tell you that the ferret's name is Pebbles.

No walking occurred. I had high hopes, but it just didn't happen. Tomorrow should be more active.

See Did You Guess Irene?

Did You Guess Irene?

The clue obviously took you to the Rochester area, and since you knew I was going east that wouldn't be Minnesota. Who do I know in that location? Several people, actually.

But my long-time Rochester buddy is Irene. We visited and went out to lunch.

She ordered the Cow and Pig Burger. Holy cow! (She took half of it home)

But her living situation has changed, so I needeed a different place to stay. Remember Sarah who hiked a little with me on the big hike, and helped Bill and me last year in the Adirondacks? She also lives there and took me in.

My only walk today was around a large block with Kia the dog. I had hoped for another walk in the afternoon, but there wasn't time.

It was her husband's birthday today! But instead of him being treated, he made us dinner last night- yummy beef stroganoff

So what did Sarah and I talk about? What do you think? She is a total bundle of energy, and I'm in denial that I'm getting older, so maps and hikes it is! If you can't read it, don't worry. If something real comes out of our crazy talk, I'll let you know.

So what's your clue for where I am tonight? Here you go.

See Did You Guess Bill?

Did You Guess Bill?

I spent last night with Bill and Anne in Ann Arbor.

This morning, Bill and I took a short walk on a nature trail that wasn't yet built when I lived in Ann Arbor. It's near Barton Dam.

The trail wanders near the Huron River.

But what a surprise at the other end! I had no idea where we were going to end up. This now connects with Bandemer Park, and they have built a pedestrian tunnel under the railroad so you can safely get into Bandemer.

The inside has backlighted laser-cut artwork on the walls.

The reason this was such a fun surprise is that when I lived here, I could walk from my place to the Argo Dam on the river, and then up along it for a couple miles to get to Bandemer Park. But there was no way then to walk on to Barton Dam- at least not a trail. I just love connections like this!

Here's the picture you probably expected. Hiking buds.

Last night's clue? I know it wasn't much of a clue. It's part of a computer memory system. Bill has a board that is about 16x18 inches covered with wrapped wire like in that picture, and the whole thing provided 16K memory! That was a "few" years ago.

Tonight's clue is a little more helpful, but I don't think you'll guess where I am anyway.

Miles walked in 2026: 47.9

Barton Nature Trail, Ann Arbor, MI. 2.4 miles.

See Home Via Ann Arbor

Gun Lake Winterfest

The entire day was devoted to travel and the Gun Lake Winterfest vendor event. This is the Gun Lake in Allegan County between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo.

Here is the tent where there were vendors, exhibitors and the raffle items. Big. There were two propane heaters, and it truly was warmer than outside, but I was about frozen by the end of the day despite snow pants and many layers. Standing still that long in the cold is not great.

I know I showed you my camper doll setup at Christmas, but here's what I do at vendor events where there is enough room. It gets people's attention. Notice the blue blaze on the tree.

I was right next to the table for the Chief Noonday Chapter of the NCTA, which was how I found out about this event in the first place. One of the volunteers was Jo Oostveen. We've known each other a while, but never got a picture together. Jo has hiked all of the NCT in Michigan. That's close to 1200 miles, so a significant accomplishment.

The event was quite well attended. They had a lot of things for kids to do including a set of stalls in a trailer with sheeep, goats and a pony for kids to pet. The sheep is giving me the evil eye, but she was actually very friendly.

The event is a big fundraiser for the township to keep up the park (which is mostly across the road on the lake). This was a kind of fun thing. There was a "sheriff" and "deputies." For a dollar, you could get them to sign out an arrest warrant for someone else who was at that event. Then that person was taken to jail and they had to pay $5 to get out of jail. Then they got a button that said they didn't have to go to jail again.

Jane Norton (on the right) is a past president of the CND Chapter and a great voluteer and hiker. She got sent to jail.

There were a few vendors, but it wasn't really a big sales venue. I didn't think I'd sell much, but I did sell six books. And since it's on the way of my trip, there wasn't much expense.

As soon as I left, you can bet I turned the heat in the car on full blast until I warmed up!

And where am I tonight? Here's your clue. Smirk.

First day successful!

See Leaving the Puzzle Behind