Sort of a Foodie Day

 No visit to Marie's would be complete without a trip to the Jolly Cow.

What is the Jolly Cow, you ask? An ice cream place, of course. I generously offered the cow a lick, but she declined.

We spent the morning with each of us doing computer tasks. I got the final approval for the draft of How to Hike the North Country Trail, and I ordered 100 copies. I'll have it at the Celebration!

Then we needed to get groceries if anyone was going to eat for the upcoming days, and there were other errands too. Then Marie had a meeting, so I cooked dinner. We tried a new recipe that I had brought with me. She's eating more normally now, but when she wasn't feeling well a couple of weeks ago this looked like something she could have. It's Zucchini-Corn Chowder. It's really good. I forgot to take a picture when the pan was full. We might tweak it a tiny bit the next time, but we both agree it's something we'd make again.

And we also had fresh salad with homemade herb dressing.

We have some adventures planned, but it was rainy today, so it was a good day to get some of these tasks done. We did find time for a couple of games.

See Chillin?

A Day of Favorites

 A lot of really favorite things today. The weather was absolutely how I like it. Cool air, warm sun. We started with jackets, but ended up in shirtsleeves. The sky was clear blue.

It was the monthly hike for the Spirit of the Woods Chapter. We had 53 people, three dogs, and a ferret! These two pictures got all but three of the hikers. The group quickly split up into small groups or singles, so it didn't feel like a total herd except at the very beginning.

We hiked south from M20 on the North Country Trail. Part of that section is through a pine plantation.

Madeline and Roxy get acquainted.

Most everyone hiked as far as the White River, about 3.25 miles, and back.

That was my intention, but once I got that far, I couldn't stop. There was a group that went on to Echo Drive. This is part of the group.

So, that was 4.25 miles, for a hike total of 8.5. Then I continued on to the south, until I got to Marianne's house in Ohio. I made the trip today because the hike was already an hour south of my house. We visited, we did a little work, then we went to town...

...for ice cream! I tried Nutty BonBon. Mostly peanut butter in a vanilla base. Yum.

Total miles hiked in 2024: 183.8 of which 64.3 is North Country Trail.

Lovely day, perfect weather, a hike on the NCT, a car that runs, a friend, ice cream!

See SPW at Big M

The Lake that I Love

 
Cayuga Lake. My lake. This is home. 40 miles long, two miles wide. The big blocky building is the Miliken Power Plant (named for a former Michigan governor), now decommissioned. You could see this from my home.



We did go swimming. It was so hot that this activity was almost a requirement rather than recreational. Actually, we went back to Sheldrake. Even though it is posted, all the locals still swim there. The sign is mostly because of the bad current off the point. We stayed well inside that. In my opinion all beaches should be small smooth flat stones like the Finger Lakes beaches, not sand. We picked up some pretty rocks, and I found one fossil, a crinoid. If I'd hunted longer there were possibilities of finding horn coral, brachiopods, and even trilobytes.


And, I promised we'd get ice cream which we did. I had Sleeper Awake (coffee and chocolate), and Marie had Boomberry (raspberry ice cream with blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries). Definitely yummy, and it helped with the cooling.


This is the school I attended from kindergarten to 12th grade. It's still in use as an elementary school, although the district is consolidated. It was built in 1924. My kindergarten room was on the first floor on the left. But the use patterns changed when an addition was built, so that was also my high school English room!



And Dick finished the second of my trailer metalwork projects. The propane tank holder is now removed, and the spare tire is mounted on the hitch. Hooray!



Tomorrow more playtime. I promise there will be hiking eventually, but not quite yet.

See Memory Lane

Summer 2019- Batting 1000

 
Summer has had one day so far this year to prove its intentions, and right now it's batting 1000. What a perfect day!

I started by hiking the Litchfield Nature Trail, which didn't even exist when I hiked this section of the NCT. It was all road walk then. Now there are almost 2 trail miles, including a backpacker tent site. How cool is that?



The Ebony Jewelwing Damselflies were out in abundance. The males have the blue bodies.



Wild morning glories in full bloom in some sunny places. Most of the trail was nicely shaded in the woods, however.



Walked that out and back, then ate some lunch and went to do the northern half of the Lost Nation State Game Area.

The northern section isn't nearly as hilly. At least the trail isn't. A lot of the trail follows long-abandoned roads (you can barely tell they were once roads, but nevertheless flatter.)

All of the bridges in Lost Nation are these squared logs. They would be tricky to get across in a full pack.



I met two different painted turtles today, sunning themselves in the trail. Both of them peed on me when I picked them up!



This is a wildlife opening within the SGA. But it allowed me to take a longer shot, so you can see what a beautiful day it was. Hope it was nice where you are too! The one pestilence of the day was deer flies, but I tied my bandana over my head so they didn't keep divebombing my hair.



Speaking of bandanas, you know I love clothes on the line. Passed this (Amish or Mennonite?) home with the clothes out, and I just loved the colorful display of bandanas.



Total miles hiked today, about 9. Celebration, ice cream!



Now I'm back in Ann Arbor, and need to get to sleep soon. Tomorrow is the big book vendor event in Troy. But what a great few days I've had!

North Country Trail, Hillsdale County, Michigan, Litchfield Nature Trail and Lost Nation State Game Area from Way Rd to MI 34, 9 miles out and back.

	See Rain and Mud and Slime
if you like this blog, click

Hikers Haven

 
Sunday, I spent the day with trail friends Connie and Jerry. Jerry has hiked the Appalachian Trail. They are both long-time volunteers for the North Country Trail, and Jerry helped build the Midland to Mackinac Trail. They both also do trail maintenance on some of those miles.



I was welcomed and well-fed. We went to church together. After a hot afternoon, we decided to forego dinner in favor of ice cream. Perfect choice! I think the three flavors we ended up with were raspberry cheesecake, Scout mint chocolate, and turtle cheesecake.



My next hiking plan may be starting to simmer. We'll see.

Then I was off to my next destination, Interlochen, where I am now.

In other news: I don't have my assignment for tomorrow finished... have to get back to work.

if you like this blog, click the +1   or