The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity for us. It is hard for me to believe that it's only been two weeks since Labor Day! Boy have we been trying to make the most of what remains of our Summer. From our walks close to home, to our North Country Trail Hikes and State Park visits, we are discovering new places regularly and we are enjoying all of our adventures to places both new and old.
We have spent a lot of time adventuring with friends lately, and I was excited when my good friend, Kim, and her family came into town with their Bernedoodle puppy, Baxter. The girls hadn't had a chance to meet Baxter before and I was nervous about how Peaches would act, but after the initial introduction, she relaxed and was happy to be out exploring with a new friend. We had a great walk around the MSU campus with them and they all sat nicely for a picture at the end of our walk.
We have also been enjoying working toward our goal of visiting all of Michigan's State Parks. We spent a full day exploring Michigan's Thumb with Vanessa over Labor Day weekend. It was a great weekend to get out and explore this beautiful State. Our first stop that day was at the Sanilac Petroglyphs. It's a tiny park with a short trail and we discovered that most of the people who stop here visit the petroglyphs site and nothing more.
While it isn't a very large State Park and the trail isn't much more than a mile, we enjoyed a nice hike through the woods while we were there. I think this was the perfect place to start our day because the girls settled in nicely for the trip after this stop.
After our visit to the Petroglyphs, we continued on our journey through the Thumb. With snacks provided by Vanessa...because I am horrible about remembering to eat...and a few stops for some geocaches along the way, we made our way to the Point Aux Barques lighthouse for a short hike, a little geocaching, and a great view of Lake Huron.
The lighthouse was hopping that day, so we didn't take a tour to the top, but we enjoyed the views before leaving. We continued our trip around the tip of the Thumb to our next stop, the Port Crescent State Park. Of the State Parks I have visited so far, this is one of my favorites.
There are lots of hiking trails and we decided to take the trail on the dunes along the Lake. Sand, dune grass, and a Great Lakes' view are all things that make me happy! Of course we had to stop on the beach and stick our toes into the Lake and let Maddie get a drink before heading back to the Jeep. I think we all really enjoyed this stop.
Our final State Park stop of the day was the Albert E Sleeper State Park in Caseville. We were all pretty tired when we got here, but we were determined to get my State Park book stamped and to do one more hike...and a little more geocaching. We had a nice walk through the woods, and surprisingly, Maddie got a little second wind while we were here, so we were able to hike longer than I expected. By the end of our hike, we were all tired and hungry, so we loaded the girls into the Jeep and headed into town to find something to eat.
Vanessa doesn't have the best track-record when choosing restaurants, so I was forced to choose...and after looking at the reviews online, we headed to Iggie's Pizza. It's a small pizza place with no indoor seating, but there were picnic tables outside and the food was pretty good. If you're in Caseville, you should check them out...the calzone sandwiches and breadsticks are pretty tasty! Of course, I had to get a picture of the girls in this big green chair. It had been a good day(despite the fact that shortly after this picture was taken, Maddie decided to snack on some poop and had stinky breath most of the drive home-eww!).
After spending way too much time away from the North Country Trail, last weekend we made time to head into Albion to get some miles toward our Hike 100 challenge. It was a cloudy, drizzly, and humid Friday evening, so I wasn't sure how far we'd go, but the girls both did well and we were able to get in 2.5 miles on the trail before heading home for the night. It was nice to be back on the trail.
The next afternoon, I had time scheduled with a potential adopter to do a home visit for ISR, but before that visit I had several errands to run and was hoping to also get in a couple of fun stops along the way. While I had planned to be up and out of the house early, we slept in a bit instead and headed out a little later than I had originally planned. The girls were happy to be out running errands with me, and after taking longer than I expected, we then headed toward our first fun stop of the day, the Meridian-Baseline State Park.
The park was only a short distance out of the way from our home visit, so it worked out perfectly for us to stop here.
This is another rather small State Park with a short hiking trail, about 1 1/2 miles round-trip, and an interesting history. It is the baseline for surveying for all of the townships in the State of Michigan...although I read all of the historical Markers, I'm not sure I can really explain it to you, but it was an interesting place.
We hiked out to both of the survey markers, grabbed a couple of geocaches along the way, and then headed back to the Jeep to continue our journey to Stockbridge for our home visit. I always enjoy those visits because I get to meet people who love GSPs as much as I do. This visit was no different, I met a very nice family and their handsome GSP Winston.
We'd had a great Saturday, but had even more fun planned for Sunday. Sunday morning, Katelyn joined us as we headed out for a day-trip to Chicago to visit Emmalee and attend the ISR Reunion. The girls and I were happy to have company on our drive to Chicago and were excited to see Emmalee. Luckily, Sunday morning traffic into Chicago is pretty light, so we had smooth travels with only a couple of slight delays along the way.
We took part in the poop-flinging contest(it wasn't really poop) and the girls had fun with the bubble chase and the peanut butter licking contest. Peaches even came in fourth place!
At the reunion, I was happy that Peaches was on her best behavior and was able to spend time interacting with some of the other dogs, even while she was on leash. This was a huge accomplishment!
Our friends Barb, Tom, and Sherman, also made the drive in from Michigan to attend the reunion and Peaches was excited to see her friend! Overall, a good time was had by everyone, even poor Emmalee who had a horrible allergic reaction to the dogs. It was nice to get to spend some time with our rescue friends and all of those brown-spotty dogs!
This past week, we weren't able to get out for many weekday adventures. With rain and storms in the forecast, and two nights out of town for work, I wasn't able to spend much time with the girls. Friday was a busy day too and we weren't able to spend any real quality time together. But I did my best to make up for it on Saturday and Sunday.
After a long and exhausting week, Saturday started out slowly, but I had promised the girls some fun so we headed out to explore Frances Park. It was a beautiful evening and after a nice walk around the park, we headed over to the rose garden to enjoy some end-of-summer blossoms. I was pleased to see so many beautiful roses still in bloom.
Sunday morning we slept in and enjoyed a slow, peaceful morning. It was much needed after the long week I had had. But eventually we were up and around, finishing up laundry and cleaning and some other odd-and-ends. Thankfully the weather held-off and, after I finished housework, we were able to head out to Marshall for some time on the North Country Trail
We haven't been to the riverwalk in Marshall for a while, so there were all kinds of new smells and interesting things for the girls to sniff. It was a beautiful afternoon and we were able to add another 2.4 miles toward our 100, leaving us with about 28.5 miles to go.
It was a great way to end our week and head into a new week relaxed and refreshed. The girls even let me get a good picture of them at the end of the hike! It's not often that they cooperate and both look at me at the same time.
It has been a busy 16 days and somehow, we're now in mid-September already! Where has the time gone? I am excited to continue to work on our State Park goal and have some plans over the next couple of months that will hopefully allow us to check off some new State Parks while also chipping away at our NCT miles. I'm hoping to have our miles done by Thanksgiving at the latest this year.
While most we have completed almost everything on Peaches original bucket list, we continue to add things to and check things off of that list. What I've actually discovered is that really we're just trying to make the most of every day that we have been given. We have lots of future adventures planned and the next couple of months should be very exciting for all of us.
I will end by sharing something pretty cool...at least I think it's cool. Our friend Emmalee traveled to India this summer for some clinical work as part of her Medical school training (she's a second year med student at Northwestern). She returned from India with a gift for me that I absolutely love...
While her goal was to bring back a full bottle, the store in India made her drink the Mt. Dew before she could leave the store. But I still have this awesome bottle all the way from India. I think it's pretty cool!
Thanks for continuing to follow along on our journey. The girls and I appreciate each and every one of you and can't wait to share more of our fun adventures with you!
We have spent a lot of time adventuring with friends lately, and I was excited when my good friend, Kim, and her family came into town with their Bernedoodle puppy, Baxter. The girls hadn't had a chance to meet Baxter before and I was nervous about how Peaches would act, but after the initial introduction, she relaxed and was happy to be out exploring with a new friend. We had a great walk around the MSU campus with them and they all sat nicely for a picture at the end of our walk.
We have also been enjoying working toward our goal of visiting all of Michigan's State Parks. We spent a full day exploring Michigan's Thumb with Vanessa over Labor Day weekend. It was a great weekend to get out and explore this beautiful State. Our first stop that day was at the Sanilac Petroglyphs. It's a tiny park with a short trail and we discovered that most of the people who stop here visit the petroglyphs site and nothing more.
While it isn't a very large State Park and the trail isn't much more than a mile, we enjoyed a nice hike through the woods while we were there. I think this was the perfect place to start our day because the girls settled in nicely for the trip after this stop.
After our visit to the Petroglyphs, we continued on our journey through the Thumb. With snacks provided by Vanessa...because I am horrible about remembering to eat...and a few stops for some geocaches along the way, we made our way to the Point Aux Barques lighthouse for a short hike, a little geocaching, and a great view of Lake Huron.
The lighthouse was hopping that day, so we didn't take a tour to the top, but we enjoyed the views before leaving. We continued our trip around the tip of the Thumb to our next stop, the Port Crescent State Park. Of the State Parks I have visited so far, this is one of my favorites.
There are lots of hiking trails and we decided to take the trail on the dunes along the Lake. Sand, dune grass, and a Great Lakes' view are all things that make me happy! Of course we had to stop on the beach and stick our toes into the Lake and let Maddie get a drink before heading back to the Jeep. I think we all really enjoyed this stop.
Our final State Park stop of the day was the Albert E Sleeper State Park in Caseville. We were all pretty tired when we got here, but we were determined to get my State Park book stamped and to do one more hike...and a little more geocaching. We had a nice walk through the woods, and surprisingly, Maddie got a little second wind while we were here, so we were able to hike longer than I expected. By the end of our hike, we were all tired and hungry, so we loaded the girls into the Jeep and headed into town to find something to eat.
Vanessa doesn't have the best track-record when choosing restaurants, so I was forced to choose...and after looking at the reviews online, we headed to Iggie's Pizza. It's a small pizza place with no indoor seating, but there were picnic tables outside and the food was pretty good. If you're in Caseville, you should check them out...the calzone sandwiches and breadsticks are pretty tasty! Of course, I had to get a picture of the girls in this big green chair. It had been a good day(despite the fact that shortly after this picture was taken, Maddie decided to snack on some poop and had stinky breath most of the drive home-eww!).
After spending way too much time away from the North Country Trail, last weekend we made time to head into Albion to get some miles toward our Hike 100 challenge. It was a cloudy, drizzly, and humid Friday evening, so I wasn't sure how far we'd go, but the girls both did well and we were able to get in 2.5 miles on the trail before heading home for the night. It was nice to be back on the trail.
The next afternoon, I had time scheduled with a potential adopter to do a home visit for ISR, but before that visit I had several errands to run and was hoping to also get in a couple of fun stops along the way. While I had planned to be up and out of the house early, we slept in a bit instead and headed out a little later than I had originally planned. The girls were happy to be out running errands with me, and after taking longer than I expected, we then headed toward our first fun stop of the day, the Meridian-Baseline State Park.
The park was only a short distance out of the way from our home visit, so it worked out perfectly for us to stop here.
This is another rather small State Park with a short hiking trail, about 1 1/2 miles round-trip, and an interesting history. It is the baseline for surveying for all of the townships in the State of Michigan...although I read all of the historical Markers, I'm not sure I can really explain it to you, but it was an interesting place.
We hiked out to both of the survey markers, grabbed a couple of geocaches along the way, and then headed back to the Jeep to continue our journey to Stockbridge for our home visit. I always enjoy those visits because I get to meet people who love GSPs as much as I do. This visit was no different, I met a very nice family and their handsome GSP Winston.
We'd had a great Saturday, but had even more fun planned for Sunday. Sunday morning, Katelyn joined us as we headed out for a day-trip to Chicago to visit Emmalee and attend the ISR Reunion. The girls and I were happy to have company on our drive to Chicago and were excited to see Emmalee. Luckily, Sunday morning traffic into Chicago is pretty light, so we had smooth travels with only a couple of slight delays along the way.
We took part in the poop-flinging contest(it wasn't really poop) and the girls had fun with the bubble chase and the peanut butter licking contest. Peaches even came in fourth place!
At the reunion, I was happy that Peaches was on her best behavior and was able to spend time interacting with some of the other dogs, even while she was on leash. This was a huge accomplishment!
Our friends Barb, Tom, and Sherman, also made the drive in from Michigan to attend the reunion and Peaches was excited to see her friend! Overall, a good time was had by everyone, even poor Emmalee who had a horrible allergic reaction to the dogs. It was nice to get to spend some time with our rescue friends and all of those brown-spotty dogs!
This past week, we weren't able to get out for many weekday adventures. With rain and storms in the forecast, and two nights out of town for work, I wasn't able to spend much time with the girls. Friday was a busy day too and we weren't able to spend any real quality time together. But I did my best to make up for it on Saturday and Sunday.
After a long and exhausting week, Saturday started out slowly, but I had promised the girls some fun so we headed out to explore Frances Park. It was a beautiful evening and after a nice walk around the park, we headed over to the rose garden to enjoy some end-of-summer blossoms. I was pleased to see so many beautiful roses still in bloom.
Sunday morning we slept in and enjoyed a slow, peaceful morning. It was much needed after the long week I had had. But eventually we were up and around, finishing up laundry and cleaning and some other odd-and-ends. Thankfully the weather held-off and, after I finished housework, we were able to head out to Marshall for some time on the North Country Trail
We haven't been to the riverwalk in Marshall for a while, so there were all kinds of new smells and interesting things for the girls to sniff. It was a beautiful afternoon and we were able to add another 2.4 miles toward our 100, leaving us with about 28.5 miles to go.
It was a great way to end our week and head into a new week relaxed and refreshed. The girls even let me get a good picture of them at the end of the hike! It's not often that they cooperate and both look at me at the same time.
While most we have completed almost everything on Peaches original bucket list, we continue to add things to and check things off of that list. What I've actually discovered is that really we're just trying to make the most of every day that we have been given. We have lots of future adventures planned and the next couple of months should be very exciting for all of us.
I will end by sharing something pretty cool...at least I think it's cool. Our friend Emmalee traveled to India this summer for some clinical work as part of her Medical school training (she's a second year med student at Northwestern). She returned from India with a gift for me that I absolutely love...
While her goal was to bring back a full bottle, the store in India made her drink the Mt. Dew before she could leave the store. But I still have this awesome bottle all the way from India. I think it's pretty cool!
Thanks for continuing to follow along on our journey. The girls and I appreciate each and every one of you and can't wait to share more of our fun adventures with you!
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