Fall Fun Staycation-vacation

What a wonderful week we have had.  I had the last week off from work with no travel plans but lots of ideas on how to spend the week.  While I thought we might combine some work around this house with getting out for some short day hikes and a little geocaching in some new spots, that plan never came to fruition.  Instead, I spent the early part of the week getting things done around the house so that I could take a couple of days away from home in Northern Michigan later in the week.  That plan worked great and I'm ending my vacation feeling relaxed and happy.

Monday started off with a cool day spent at home.  While the girls spent time outside throughout the day, I worked on come of the organization and food storage prep I had started over the weekend.  I still had lots of apples to core and prepare for apple sauce, apple pie filling, and apple butter, tomatoes to make into sauces, tomatillos to freeze, and pesto to make.  Monday I focused on the apples which was the biggest and most time-consuming project I had.  

By late afternoon, I had finished most of my work on the apples and had the crockpot loaded with apples for the final batch of apple sauce, so I decided the girls and I needed a little fun.  Since we have not been as diligent this year as we normally are about getting our miles on the North Country Trail, a trip to Marshall seemed like the perfect idea.  We could make it there for a walk at sunset, and after getting in some miles, we could add a little Halloween fun to our trip too.  

It was a beautiful evening to be outside, and we finished our 2.4 mile walk at the Marshall Riverwalk just after sunset.  Then we got in the car to make the drive to downtown Marshall to visit the Holiday House all decked out for Halloween.  We have made a visit here the last couple of years and I was always really impressed with the decorations, but this year, while the house has lights, all of the fun and scary items that they had had in the yard weren't on display.  While I was glad we had made the stop, I was still a little disappointed. 

Luckily the city of Marshall was decked out for the annual Skeleton Fest, so the girls and I took a walk down Main Street to take in all of the Skeletons in front of the participating business.  Some of the businesses even had water bowls and treats out for the dogs, so the girls enjoyed this part of our adventure even more.  After a fun walk around town, we got back in the car for the ride home.  Vacation day one had been a big success.

Tuesday was a cool and rainy day, so I spent the day working on sauces and veggie prep.  I also made a big pot of veggie stock which is safely stored away in the freezer and have portioned out the cooked veggies to add to the girls' meals over the next several weeks.  It was a busy day of prep and work around the house, but I felt so productive.  I think that it may have been the best day of the whole week.  Below is the chilaquiles sauce I made out of my tomatoes.  My little freezer in the basement was getting pretty full after all of the work I did on Tuesday.  

After a very productive few days, I was looking forward to a short trip North for a couple of days to visit my niece, Sidnee, in the Traverse City area.  The weather for the end of the week looked like we had a lot of chance for rain, but I wasn't going to let that keep me from getting away for a little break. 

Wednesday started with a few sprinkles in Lansing, but things cleared up for most of our drive.  A little rain greeted us when we got to Arbutus Lake, but that didn't stop us from taking a couple of quick walks around the property with Sidnee to stretch our legs.

We settled into the camper before Sidnee had to go to work for the evening, and after she left, we headed out to do a little exploring.  I noticed that the drive to the Mission Point Peninsula Lighthouse wouldn't be too hard or too far, and I haven't really spent any time on that Peninsula, so it seemed like the perfect plan for our evening. 

We drove along Peninsula drive as we headed North, making a few stops along the way.  It was a beautiful early evening for a drive.  We drove through the orchards and vineyards of the peninsula enjoying the views until we reached the tip of the peninsula where we got out of the car to explore more.

We walked around the park and slowly made our way out to the beach for a short walk.  Such a pretty spot to see the lake.

After a few pictures around the lighthouse, we got back in the car to start heading South along a different route than we had taken up so we could check out more beautiful views. 

This scenic overlook at the highest point on the peninsula was a really beautiful spot to stop for views of the peninsula and the lake in the distance.

We also stopped to explore a couple of parks as we continued our drive South, and this park had a small section of beach across the road.  

While we did see a little Fall color along the way, the color in the area is pretty limited and probably won't peak for more than a week.  But this tree was pretty.

We made it back to the camper just before sunset and took a quick walk around the property and down by the lake before settling in to the camper for the night.  I made dinner and fed the girls their dinner and then sat down to enjoy a quiet evening.  I was so glad that the rain had held off and we had been able to get out to enjoy the area.  Once Sidnee returned from work, we stayed up late talking and catching up.  It was a great end to the night.

Since we had been up late on Wednesday, we slept in a bit on Thursday.  Once we were all up and ready to go, we made the short drive to the Brown Bridge Quiet area for a hike.  I had never been here and Sidnee was excited to share this spot with us.  

We had a really nice hike and I picked up a couple of geocaches along the way.  This is a really pretty area and has so many trails to explore.  I will definitely go back some time and check out more of the trails.  

After our 4 mile walk, we drove back to the camper to clean up before driving into town for lunch.  

After lunch we had time for one more adventure before Sidnee had to leave for work, and after a little searching, I discovered that there was a North Country Trail trailhead less than 4 miles from us.  You know I couldn't resist getting some miles on the NCT when we were that close.  We took a quick 2 mile hike before we had to get back for Sidnee to leave for work.  

With 6 miles of hiking under our belts for the day, I thought a quiet afternoon break would be perfect.  Mina enjoyed watching the world go by out the camper window for a bit and then settled down for a nap.  Peaches had put herself to bed right away.

After a nice break, I knew we had to get out for another short adventure before sunset and I couldn't resist making the drive back to the NCT trailhead to explore in the opposite direction than we had taken earlier in the day.  I grabbed a few geocaches along the way and got in another two miles on a little more challenging section of the trail.  

The woods and hills in the section were very pretty and I really was glad we had gone back out for more hiking. 

Peaches begrudgingly sat by the trail marker for a picture when we were done.  We had hiked a total of 8 miles for the day, 4.1 of them on the NCT.  It had been a good day.

 

We headed back to the camper for dinner and another relaxing evening, all three of us very happy girls.  The weather had been beautiful all day and I couldn't believe I had gotten so lucky.  It was a another great day in Northern Michigan.
 

The weather forecast for Friday showed rain showers moving into the area for the afternoon, which gave us time to get out for another adventure with Sidnee in the morning.  We drove into town for a walk around Boardman Lake on the TART trail.  The views of the lake were pretty and this was a great walk.  Sidnee made sure to get some pictures, which I kept forgetting to do!  I am glad she insisted that I should be in the picture with the girls.  I wish I had gotten a picture of the two of us together though.

After our 4 mile walk around the lake, we headed to lunch at Rare Bird, which was delicious.  Then it was back to the camper.  The girls ate their lunch and we took another walk around the property as the rain moved into the area.  Before I knew it, it was time to pack up and leave so Sid could get to work and prepare for her parents and siblings to come for a weekend visit.  While we were only there for just a quick 48 hours, we definitely made the most of our time.  It was so great to get to spend some one on one time with Sidnee and explore some new areas.  

Despite the fact that it was raining, I wanted to try to get in a few more miles on the NCT before leaving the area.  I found a trailhead that wasn't much out of our way and headed for the trail there.  

The trail here was gorgeous and I was so glad we had made the stop.  The trail runs along Dollar Lake for a short bit and there is some pretty sandy ground here.  

The woods protected us a bit from the rain, but I was thankful that it wasn't raining too hard.  While I had hoped to get in another 3 miles, as we got closer to the car the rain started to pick up, so we ended our hike at 2.75 miles. 

With a total of just over 7 miles of hiking/walking for us for the day, I knew we'd have a quiet drive home.  I was right.  We arrived home just before sunset, ate dinner, and unpacked before settling in for the rainy night at home.  While it seemed like a whirlwind trip in some ways, in others it seemed like we had been gone a lot longer.  It really was just a perfect trip.  I'm so glad we went.

Saturday morning we were up early with big plans for the day.  I had more apples to prepare for making apple butter and a half bushel of corn to blanch and freeze, plus I needed to do laundry and some other cleaning.  The forecast for the day showed rain all day, but I knew if I wanted a quiet day to be able to get done everything I wanted to do, I would have to get the girls out for some exercise.  I decided to head out to the farm to pick up some doughnuts and was excited to see that had some 1 pound bags of navy beans, so I had to buy a bag of those too.  Then we drove over the the Dewitt Dog Park so Mina could get in a good run to get out some of her energy.  We spent a rainy 25 minutes there and left when Peaches made it clear she was ready to go.

I drove out to the Holt Farmer's Market to take a quick walk around and see what I might find.  I came home with a half dozen Guinea fowl eggs, a dozen duck eggs, and a couple of types of lettuce.   Sad to see the fresh fruit and vegetable season is really coming to an end, but there are still a few things growing out there.  Some of that lettuce is going to go great with the BLTs I'm planning for dinner tomorrow.

Before heading home for lunch, I ran a couple more errands, and then I spent the rest of the rainy day inside.  I finished freezing 9 more freezer bags of corn and 6 pints of apple butter.  I can't believe I still have apples left, but the last of the apples are now in the fridge and I'll be eating them fresh for as long as they last.  I'm looking forward to that.  

After such a productive week, I had decided that we were going to spend the day Sunday at home doing nothing all day, but Nicol called to see if I was available to spend some time with them, and you know I wasn't going to say no to seeing my girls!

First, Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona stopped at the house for a little visit so that Fiona could see Mina and Peaches.  Then we headed out for lunch and a trip to the Potter Park Zoo for the annual Boo at the Zoo event.  This was Fiona's first trip to the zoo and she loved it.  Before we left Potter Park, we spent a little time on the playground too so that Fiona could go down the slides.  She loves slides!  We had so much fun and it was great to spend some time out with her on our first adventure on the town.  I can't wait until she gets a little older and we can do even more!

After spending the early part of the day with my human girls, I got home to my furry girls and knew we had to get out for a walk.  Since they had been so good on our quiet rainy Saturday, I figured a trip to Fenner was in order.  We had a lovely late afternoon walk.  Near the end, I had to stop and take a picture of this pretty maple tree.  We don't have much Fall color yet, but this tree was a glorious shade of orange and I thought it was beautiful.  After a really nice walk, we made it home in time to watch the Lions game, which I happily watched in my pajamas with Mina snuggled up on my lap.  It had been another great day.

While the weather was cooler and more rainy than I would have liked this week, I think my week of vacation was a great success.  I got so much done, was able to get in a few adventures, had time to relax, and spent some quality time with family.  I'm definitely not ready to go back to work tomorrow, but our evenings this week should be a lot of fun.  I have several spooky adventures planned during the week and for next weekend, and the weather actually looks nice through mid-week, so we'll make the most of it.  

Now I'm off to bed to get a good night's rest before work tomorrow.  Hope you all have a great week!