Signs of the Season

For a few days in August (Or was it just earlier this month? I don’t remember.) the temperatures dropped into the 60’s, and I thought: Oh, it’s time for fall. I thought it was premature, but then I always feel that way, and I welcomed the seasonal change anyway. And then highs in the 90’s returned, and we’ve since been enjoying an extended summer.

Thankfully, the humidity has dropped back down within acceptable (Yep, I’m the judge of that, thankyouverymuch!) northern Michigan norms, and the mosquito population has died back some so outdoor exploration is less frustrating than it is early in the summer. Without much of a plan, Tony and I headed south yesterday afternoon to check out a state park in Interlochen that we’ve driven near dozens of times, yet never stopped to visit.

About half of the campground was closed, which we took as a mere suggestion since it seemed that only cars were blocked. We ducked under the yellow tape and wandered aimlessly under the oaks, hoping the breezes wouldn’t dislodge acorns onto our noggins.

Thanks to the summery weather, our trees are still mostly green, though a few are starting to display their autumnal plumage. Since Interlochen is a touch inland compared to on-the-bay Traverse City, we had hoped for a slightly advanced color season. We weren’t entirely disappointed.

After our meandering, we grabbed some dinner and then went in search of potential super moon eclipse viewing sites. I took a few pictures from the park in Greilickville, but by then the sky was getting too dark for the photos I had in mind, so I threw in the towel on that venture. Considering the lunar eclipse is officially underway, and the sky is completely clouded over, I’m glad I didn’t spend too much time discovering the perfect location. Here’s hoping your view is better 🙂

Walking the Weekend Away

I didn’t get the memo about Walktober, but a few of the bloggers whose words I enjoy reading did. I’m not sure I count as a participant, since I work over 1,000 miles from my employer, and I don’t think they do this “event,” but I’m playing anyway – we spent practically the entire weekend out walking.

We had originally planned to go kayaking with a friend on Saturday, but he has a shoulder injury and we had high enough winds to cause trouble in that regard, so we hiked at Pyramid Point instead.

The trail is really gorgeous right now – all the aspens are glowing with golden leaves. The overlook is always impressive, though this shot is from September. This trip you could see red in the trees, but I didn’t take a picture for some reason.

The hike down to the bowls – big windswept areas of sand dunes – was even lovelier than a month ago, thanks to the fall splendor. Plus, we had another gorgeous sunny day, so we were all happy simply being outside.

Sebastian and I got caught up with our cameras once the trail returned to the woods, playing around with photos of interesting trees. He got a really cool shot looking up through some aspens. I got this shot that reminds me of…something. I’ll let you guess. (Vertical image is the one I’m talking about.)

Sebastian left us after the hike to go do Sebastian things, but Tony and I kept traveling around the area, looking for small hikes and photo ops. We found enough of each, which made us happy 🙂

Sunday we met up with the Cliftons, who led the way to another well-known view up here – the High Rollaways in Buckley.

I’ve wanted to stop by here for over a year, but just never got around to it. Most of the trees have tossed their leaves away, and the sunlight was scorched-Earth bright, so not the greatest photos.

But the hike along the North Country Trail could hardly have been more seasonal and pleasant. The pungent odor of mouldering leaves perfumed the air, and their constant crackling answered every footstep.

I’m so glad we spent so much time among nature this weekend. Today we squeezed Petey’s walks in between some nasty rains, and the rest of the week looks ugly, too. I suppose there’s always a a good book when the weather doesn’t cooperate. What do you do as October turns November-y?

Glacial Hills Hiking

Thursday after work Tony and I talked about taking Petey hiking over at the Glacial Hills trails near Bellaire. However, we are simply unused to the earlier sunset, and by the time we had finished dinner, it was too late. Thus, we planned to go right after work yesterday. The sun didn’t make an appearance the whole day, but a hike through golden woods was just what we all needed. And we made it back to the car just as the sun (presumably) went down.

iPhone shots from our outing

An Ohio Whirlwind

Tony and I returned from a whirlwind of a trip to Ohio just a couple days ago. We left Michigan on Thursday afternoon, and arrived in eastern Ohio some twelve hours later – more than 90 minutes longer than expected. Not an easy journey thanks to never-ending construction on I-75.

I was the photographer for my cousin’s wedding – something I had committed to last year, and then immediately began second-guessing myself. Tony stepped in as my second shooter and assistant, and while I have barely peeked at his shots, I cannot thank him enough for his help. He claims to be antisocial, but he was so gracious and thoughtful the whole evening. It really helped with my stress and made things go more smoothly for me 🙂

We left the Wheeling area Saturday around lunch, and headed to visit our more immediate family in southwestern Ohio. Though they are 500 miles south of us, their fall is further along than ours, I suspect thanks to a dry season and some serious wind.

I had looked forward to kind of an extended fall, but instead I got a preview of what November will soon bring us. Regardless of the bare trees, the leaves on the ground provided ample beauty – enough to make it so that Mom and I didn’t regret our now-traditional hike back to the “falls” at Fallsville.

We didn’t get to see much of Tony’s siblings, but I managed a fun dinner with my sister’s family, and lunch at school with one of my nephews. And since my brother lives in between our parents’ houses, we squeezed in a visit to catch up with him.

My roots, where my dad and brother go to work each day

The whole trip, I looked and looked for farm country photo opportunities – something to memorialize the area in which I was raised. I took and trashed a few photos, but got lucky our last night in Ohio with a surprise storm. This isn’t my parents’ farm, but it’s one I see every time I’m in the area, so it still says “home” to me.

It’s been fun catching back up with all of you! I’ll be checking in on your blogs and such over the coming days…in between the hundreds of photos from Monica and Chad’s wedding 🙂

Oh! And there’s a chance that we’ll be getting a contingency offer on our house – I’ll keep you posted!

Rainy Day Beauty

The weather in the UP (and ostensibly the rest of the state) took a nose dive the day we headed home. Since it was a week ago, and I wasn’t there, I don’t remember how bad it was – just that it wasn’t – and isn’t – summery anymore.

The story this week has been rain, rain, and more rain. And it’s been pretty cold. A tough transition to go from shorts to coats, hats, and gloves virtually overnight.

But the fall color is gorgeous, even under the rain. And since cold rainy weather calls for comfort food, we took a short road trip to Petoskey to track down some Polish Kitchen.

We stopped at the Deadman’s Hill Overlook, which looks out on the Jordan River Valley.

Petey drew a large crowd, and we met some nice folks before moving on for lunch. It was an odd gathering – well over half of the adults had carried beer or wine on the short hike. Hoping they weren’t driving. They seemed like a big family bunch arriving together, so we’ll assume the best.

A surprising number of trees still hold all their green leaves.

Such an odd fall. Our leaves began changing in the summer, and have kind of stalled out in all this rain.

We have temps in the 30’s coming up though, so perhaps the overnight chill will spur the leaves to get back to their beautification project.

Regardless, we’ll enjoy whatever Mother Nature brings. You get what you get, and you don’t get upset, right? On that note, have a great week!