Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Washington DC in the Fall


At least a few years ago I had promised to take Austin to Washington DC.  We FINALLY did it this fall!  We rented an AirBNB in a neighborhood in the south east section of the city that is being totally revitalized.  We had this awesome little basement apartment.


And immediately after checking in, we headed over to the new Apple store in this awesome old building.  Austin's phone had locked up as we had parked the car in Detroit...not good. But the Apple store people were able to revive it and he didn't even lose anything!


Our first stop the next morning was the capitol and library of congress.  It was pretty overcast and threatening rain.

While we don't have royalty in the USA, the capital sure has some areas that are worthy of that title -just beautiful!



I found the library of congress to be pretty amazing.  I had never been there before and it was quite impressive.  Apparently, not as many people use it now in the internet days but it's still impressive.


We ended up getting soaked as we left the capital and LOC and went to the air and space museum.  Like, really soaked.  But Austin didn't mind and enjoyed it all!



The weather the next day was MUCH nicer!  These were apartment houses across the street from where we were staying that have been restored.  They were so pretty!


Next stop was Arlington Cemetary - the clouds started rolling back in but it was still a nice day.


I enjoyed Arlington more the last time I was there - much of it was under construction this time.  But Austin got a lot out of it.  It really is a moving place.


Later we went to Ford Theater where Lincoln was killed. There is a small museum across the street that had this amazing stack of books - every single one is about Lincoln!!!


Madison and I had done a monuments buy moonlight tour when we went to DC so I wanted to do the same with Austin - and it didn't disappoint other than being FREEZING cold!


Of course, we had to get pictures of ourselves in front of the Washinton Monument which is pretty cool at night.

Do I look cold?  I was wearing almost everything I brought with me and was still freezing!


This was probably the one memorial that Austin was the most excited to see.


Standing at the front of the Lincoln Memorial looking out to the Washington Monument.  Such a cool vantage point.

The monument is also pretty cool on a sunny day. 


On our last day, Austin wanted us to go somewhere that I had never been and wanted to go. So I chose the National Arboretum.   Wow am I glad we went there!  It was super cool.  This pine didn't look like anything special until you got up close to it and saw how long the needles were.  Austin was NOT thrilled that I needed him in the picture for perspective!


Although it was fall, so many trees were blooming and just spectacular all around.


I thought this view of the capitol was pretty cool looking from the arboretum.


We took the stairs way up into the top of the greenhouse. Austin humored me with a picture up there but was hanging on for dear life. He is not thrilled with heights and especially when you can see through the metal grate floor!


I have no such fear and loved being up in the tops of the trees!


From the outside looking at the greenhouse, you can get a better perspective of how high up we were!


And then it was a wrap! We hit the metro to take us back to the airport and home we went after a great little trip to our nation's capitol!



Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Warner Creek Pathway - North Country Trail


This trail was amazing and I almost didn't go.  I was headed home from Petoskey and it was starting to sprinkle rain. And it was only 62 degrees out.  I had planned on hitting this trail between Boyne and Gaylord because it was only about 2 miles out of my way - another one I had no idea even existed.  But I decided I had a rain coat and my pants were water "resistant", so I pulled up the big girl panties and decided to go anyway.

The trail starts out wide on an old rail bed through a deciduous forest.


 While it was raining a bit, I was barely getting wet since most of it was hitting the trees. I think the river was running in that yellow grassy area but I couldn't get close enough to really tell for sure.


The sky was pretty threatening and the radar showed patches of rain moving in.


And then it got fun!  After coming out from the trees and slogging through some long grasses, I found this cool little bridge.  Its just planks stacked on cinderblocks and it runs along side a beaver dam! It was BARELY above the water in some spots so walking on it sunk it about an inch under the water.


It doesn't look like much in this picture but this is the beaver dam.


 And those water "resistant" pants?  Yeah, well they aren't.  At all.  They were glued to my legs. But they did dry fast!


After I followed the main trail out to a road, I turned back and took the other leg that made a loop back to the parking area.  This section was pretty wet as it followed along one side that pond but then it came back out into some beautiful forest with wide trails. Except for some downed trees.


More interesting fungus stuff.


Another view that I bet will be stunning in the fall!


 This little clump of bright red leaves really stuck out against all the green!


Some of this trail along the pond was really overgrown. Again, it was well marked so I never felt lost.


This larch tree was already turning!  Soon it's needles will fall off.


 Another Alice mushroom!


I have no idea what these flower are...I don't think I've ever seen them out in the wild before!  This was the only little patch of them I saw and they were a bit off the trail.  I just happened to spot them.


Many of the ferns were already starting to die back out in the open from the frost.


The trail also crossed some pretty meadow areas. And the sky was starting to lighten up again,




 This old tree was probably hit by lightening - it looks burned.  I think it also looks like an old face.


I spy something moving about dead center of this picture...


Oh hi there, Bambi!  How are you today?


And so concluded another fabulous hike in Northern Michigan!

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Skyline Natural Area - North Country Trail


My only full day in Petoskey led me to the Skyline Natural Area section of the North Country Trail.  Hartwick Pine were pretty but this blew them away.  Just solid tall pine as far as I could see.


If the trail hadn't been marked really well, it would be easy to just wander off because you really couldn't tell based on the ground it was so perfectly covered in pine needles!


As you descended a big hill, you followed the trail along a series of switchbacks to make the journey a little easier on the UP hill climb.


After a mile or two, you follow through a really overgrown stretch of trail that leads you to this outlook!  The day was a bit over-cast so it wasn't stunning but I can only imagine what it looks like in the fall!  Wow!


After that hike, I stopped at a park just up the street from Bay Harbor along Lake Michigan.  One end of it overlooks a small inlet where there are docks that back up to the houses along Lake Michigan.  Most of the big boats and yachts were already gone for the season.


This is a really rocky section of the lakeshore - no sand here!


I was in my element after all the hiking!


Even built me a little rock stack!


And then spotted these black eye Susans growing in the rocks...tough little things!


Another water bottle selfie while expressing my joy of being outdoors up north - just feeling awesome!


Friday, September 20, 2019

Petoskey - the Inn at Bay Harbor


I've been coming to the Inn at Bay Harbor in Petoskey for about 10 years now and it's ALWAYS a treat.  Since I come for work, it doesn't cost me much of anything!  Definitely one of the premier resorts in Northern Michigan.


I usually end up in what they call a Junior Suite but is anything but Junior in my book.  It's a full two rooms.

The sofa is a pull out but the cabinet on the left in this pic is a Murphy bed!  And there's a full kitchen - they even provided a bag of microwave popcorn.


Best. Pillows. Ever.


Super nice bathroom with a jetted tub.


 Balcony off the bedroom.  This year my room overlooked the parking area so not much of a view but I never stay in the room much during the day anyway!


These are their rental cottages  - this is looking back towards the bluff where there are condos.


And beautiful Lake Michigan!


The "back yard" of the resort. Perfectly landscaped. At night they have a bonfire down by the rocks and bring you S'mores fixings!


The view from the sidewalk that runs between some houses down to the lake.


A little wilder section of the lakeshore.  Always so beautiful!