Fall festivities and fun adventures

Happy Sunday and Happy Halloween!  October has been a whirlwind.  It's hard for me to believe that we've already reached the end of the month.  The weather has been so wonderful and I loved that I was able to continue to wear shorts well into the month due to our mild temperatures.  The weather is getting cooler now, and with the cooler nights, the Fall colors are finally starting to show, although we still have lots of green around here.  I think that that will change quickly as the weather continues to get even colder over the next week.  But I'm glad we've had a wonderful month that has allowed us to get out and enjoy some fun.

We've spent several of our weekend days enjoying Fall themed fun along with some geocaching.  A couple of weeks ago we headed to Frankenmuth to attend Scarecrow Fest with Vanessa.  It was a dog-friendly event and I love to take advantage of as many of those as I can.  It was a sunny day with a little chill in the air and the perfect day for a walk around Frankenmuth.  We started our visit with beignets followed by a try at the pumpkin catapult before taking a walk around town.

Peaches was pretty excited for a fun adventure and was just a little crazy, but I was happy that I could get her to settle down for a couple pictures.

After walking around town, we stopped for lunch at a food truck and Peaches was pretty happy to share our cheese curds.  And can you even say you've been to Frankenmuth if you don't take your picture with the Zehnder's chicken?  We finished the day picking up some geocaches around town before making the drive home.  It had been a great day of fun.

During the the work week, Peaches enjoyed our mild weather by spending lots of time outside while I was busy working.  Her daily routine had never included so much time staring at the tree waiting for squirrels, but it became a regular occurrence throughout the month.   

She also got to join me for some work travel throughout the month, definitely not a normal occurrence for us either.  But several factors made it necessary for her to travel with me and I have to say that I'm glad that she did.   While I didn't know how it would work out, I should have known that Peaches would just go with the flow and make the best of the travel.  I really think she enjoyed it.  

Having Peaches join me for my travel really helped encourage me to get out and find interesting places near where we were staying.  Nights that would have been spent sitting in a hotel room were instead spent exploring.  We found some fun, interesting, and historical places and got in some really nice walks too.  

One night we stayed just outside of Toledo in Perrysburg, Ohio and I was surprised to find a War of 1812 Fort and lots of other War of 1812 history...and I even learned that the town was named after Commodore Perry.  I've been traveling there for work for years and never knew!  We also found some fun geocaches and a great new Mexican place for dinner.

I'm really glad she got to join me because I think it made the transition back to in-person meetings a little easier.  Every day really is better with a dog.  And Peaches loved the comfy hotel bed!  

On our way home from Toledo, we avoided a traffic back-up on US23 and took a detour down some country roads which ultimately led us to the small town of Stockbridge.  We decided to make a stop in town for our walk so we could enjoy the fun Fall displays around town by all of the light posts. 

There were some really cute, unique, and creative displays.  Peaches was so excited to be checking out a new place and I really enjoyed all of the displays. 

Another fun Fall part of life that we don't experience in Lansing...there were lots of tractors and combines driving through town while were there.  Definitely the sign of a small farm community.

After another busy week of work and work travel, I was happy when we reached the weekend.  We had a big weekend full of adventures planned.  On Saturday, we headed to REO town in Lansing to attend the Halloween dog trick or treating event that they were having.  This was a new event this year, and it was the perfect place to see how Peaches would handle of the excitement and other dogs.  She did great!

She caught on quickly to the fact that random strangers were going to give her treats and was excited to greet everyone.  She made friends with some other dogs along the way, but I think she may have enjoyed the pumpkin pie making station best of all.  We enjoyed a nice walk around REO town, checking out some of the vendors there, and just being outside on a nice Fall day.  It was a great way to spend our Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday we headed out for a geocaching adventure with Vanessa.  Our goal for the day was to pick up geocaches in Allegan and Cass counties so that Vanessa and I could both complete our goal of geocaching in every Michigan county. 

Our first stop of the day was Saugatuck Dunes State Park where we had a nice walk through the woods and along the dunes out to Lake Michigan.  Peaches was crazy and loved being out in the Fall woods, and we made our first geocache find of the day here to complete finding a cache in Allegan county.

We spent a little time walking along the beach and enjoying the Lake air.  There is never a bad day on the Great Lakes and I left there feeling happy and refreshed.

We spent a little time exploring the area around Saugatuck, picked up a few geocaches, and grabbed some lunch before continuing our journey South to South Haven.  We had a nice walk around South Haven and enjoyed a nice walk out to the lighthouse before it began to rain.  Luckily we made it back to the car before the rain really started to fall.

It was now raining quite hard as we continued our drive South to Cass county.  While the rain was coming down pretty steadily, we were lucky to find an easy geocache in Dowagiac and complete our our goal of caching in all 83 Michigan counties.  The radar showed that the rain was going to continue, so we ended our adventure and started the journey home.  We'd been successful in reaching our caching goal and pooping out Peaches.  I call that a good day.

Monday arrived and with it another trip for work.  This trip would take us away from home for two nights.    The first night we stayed in the Livonia area for the night.  It had been a rainy day, but thankfully the rain stopped around 5pm so we were able to get out for a nice walk around town.  The Fall colors were starting to pop out and we found a fun Halloween display made with bales of straw.  Peaches was not happy that I made her stop for a picture.  She was having a great walk and just wanted to keep sniffing.  

After a nice walk, picking up a few geocaches, and picking up dinner, we settled into our room for the night.  Peaches made herself right at home while I did a few more things in preparation for my work meeting the next morning.  She was really get the hang of life on the road!

Tuesday was a long day with a full day meeting, followed by a short happy hour, and then travel to Troy for the night.  We made a smooth drive from Livonia to Troy and settled into our room early enough to get out for a little adventure.  If Peaches hadn't been with me, I probably would have ordered some room service and stayed in for the night, but Peaches had waited patiently for me all day, so I knew I owed her a nice walk.  

We headed out for a brisk, windy walk around our hotel with no exact plan.  We had a great 4 mile walk and returned to the room feeling refreshed and ready to settle in for the night.  I ordered food from the bar in the lobby of the hotel and enjoyed a nice quiet dinner in my room with Peaches snoring away next to me.  It had been a long day, but I was so thankful that she was there with me.  I think she was happy to be there too.

I had another long day on Wednesday and I was exhausted by the end of the day.  Once the meeting ended, I was happy to get on the road and get home after three days away.  We made the long drive home from Troy and we were both happy to be home.  While I would have been happy to take a hot shower, put on some PJs, and settle in for the night, I knew that I had to get Peaches out for a walk.  We had a really nice walk around our neighborhood and went farther than I had planned, but it was so nice to be walking around our own neighborhood again.  After our walk, we had a quiet evening at home and were in bed early.  Work travel is exhausting!

Thursday brought us a beautiful sunny afternoon, so I decided to take Peaches for a walk at Benjamin Davis Park on my lunch.  The trees are really getting pretty there and we haven't taken a walk there in awhile, so there was lots of stuff for Peaches to sniff.  It was just what we both needed.

Friday brought us another rainy day, but I had big plans for Peaches to go to Old Town for the annual Howl-o-ween dog trick or treating event.  This event has been a favorite of mine for years and I have attended every one since the very first event many years ago.  We arrived at the very beginning of the event because I know how busy it gets later in the evening.  I'm glad we showed up when we did because not only did we avoid the larger crowds, but we also were able to finish trick or treating before the rain really started to fall.  Peaches had a great time and was such a good girl.  I'm very proud of how well she did and look forward to taking her to this event for many more years.

Saturday morning we spent some quiet time at home before heading out to pick up our daily geocache and get in a little walk before the big Michigan vs. Michigan State football game.  We enjoyed a nice walk around Holt and found some interesting fungus while out, including the biggest puffball I've ever seen.

After a busy couple of weeks, a quiet day with no pressure to do anything was so nice.  I was able to spend some time getting things done around the house, did some garden clean up, and began to prep for my Sunday plans of doing some meal prep and baking.  Looking ahead at the weather, some soups, stews, and baked goods all sound pretty amazing and I was excited to spend some time on Sunday working on them.

While our Sunday plans do include some meal prep for the week, we are also really going to make the most of a quiet day at home.  Of course, I'll get Peaches out for a walk and we'll have fun with our trick or treaters this evening, but I'm most looking forward to a quiet, restful day at home.  It's something we haven't done in awhile.

It's been four weeks since we said goodbye to our Maddie, and honestly, until this weekend we've been so busy between work and work travel during the week and Fall festivities over the weekends that I'm not sure I've had time to fully process it.  But we are slowly settling into life as a duo and I think that keeping busy has been good for both of us.  But our work travel is done, all of our Fall activities have come to an end, and we are entering that in between holidays timeframe as the Fall season in Michigan slowly begins to shift toward Winter.  The days will be dark earlier, the trees will soon be leafless, and the potential for snow grows by the day.   While we'll continue to get out for our daily walks and some other short, fun adventures close to home, I'm hoping for some peaceful, quiet days at home to rest, recover, and refresh.  November seems like the perfect time to prepare to hibernate and after the crazy whirlwind that life has been this year, I'm ready for it.