A Covid Summer Trip

 Garry and I had been dating almost six months when I found out he had never been "up north"!  Born and raised in Detroit, he has done a bit of traveling, but never to the top of the mitten.  Of course, this set me off on planning a trip to the north woods that would let me revisit some of my favorite places while adding in some new one for both of us.  

We took off on a Wednesday afternoon and made Gaylord our first stop to meet up with my friend Shelley and her husband Dan. Before Covid hit, we had picked up a chandelier for them (purchased online) that they had planned to get from me...and then couldn't because of this delightful pandemic.  But since we were going to be sort of in their neighborhood, we arranged to meet up with them. Which of course, required the obligatory photo!

Next stop - destination Mackinaw City!  We arrived around dinner time so after getting checked into the hotel, we walked into town for dinner and then through the marina where we found "our" boat.

A nice little beauty, aye?  We had fun texting pics to friends to show them what we had just "bought"!

We had booked a hotel on the beach hoping for a relaxing view of the water.  Well, the hotel room didn't have much of a view but this little slice of beach was good for our beach chairs, a beer, and a glass of wine before sunset.

Tomorrow - destination Mackinac Island!  Via ferry, not the bridge, but I didn't take a pic of the ferry! 

Nature's Surprises

 

I love "taking time to smell the flowers" with my camera lens when I'm out hiking.  Every few weeks there is a new array of flowers in the woods and fields with different colors and shapes.

I have no idea what most of them are called.

And then I get a big surprise as I'm rounding a corner where I had my eye on a doe and wanted to get a better view from the other side of a clump of trees. It wasn't a doe at all but a young buck!  I have never seen a buck this close - and honestly, rarely see them at all!

And then it was back to flowers!!

Paddle Boarding

 

One of the things I had been dying to do all summer was paddle boarding but with covid...finally Kensington opened their rentals up so Garry and I hit the water on one hot afternoon. 

We had such a nice time paddling around the lake, taking a break in the middle to just kick back and relax on the boards for a bit.

After, we went to one of the areas near where I often park when walking and had ourselves a little snack picnic with just a small glimpse of the water through the trees far below.

It was a rather perfect day!

Miscellaneous Days of Covid Summer

 

A few years ago I made it a mission that I was growing to get sweet peas to grow at this house.  And I have succeeded with not just one, but two patches! This patch is growing up my deck and I'm hoping it will spread along the whole thing with a little help each year.  This was from early August - it's so big now!

This patch is behind the shed and where I first started them.  I just love these flowers!

So in these days of Covid and not being able to travel, I got this huge box from Amazon (of course something quite small was inside which makes me crazy) which gave me an idea...

This box was big enough to ship me somewhere!  LOL!

And last but not least, Madison's lease was up at her apartment in Ann Arbor and she moved into a new one with her friend Olivia. It was a rather rainy day and we had to make MANY trips from one apartment to the other with just my little Escape but we did it!

All moved in and ready to start their adventures for this school year - mostly online - but in Ann Arbor!

Boom! It's 4th of July!

Apparently, I didn't take many pics between Memorial Day and Independence Day!  But I have a few.  First up, more modeling of my sister's hats by me, Madison and her friend, Olivia who joined us for 4th of July at Carrie' house.

Carrie ended up giving each of us a hat!  They are so cute!!

My sweet peas are in full bloom and growing great this year after a slow start.  This patch was started summer before last.

This patch is less of a tangle but has been growing good for 3 years now.  There are two different types here although you can only see one in this picture.

When I got a HUGE box from an Amazon order I realized it was big enough to ship myself somewhere - could it be safer than flying, Leslie??

Memorial Day Weekend

We made it to summer!!  Spring under Covid lockdown was sloooooooow and while we still are far from being out of the woods, small gatherings were being allowed with the preference for being outside.  So Carrie had us all over for a traditional Memorial Day BBQ!

Garry and I were there ready to enjoy the sunshine and hot weather.

My sister has started making hats and brought out one for my mom to try to keep the sun out of her eyes.  She loved modeling it!

She didn't have another home made one but this straw hat for me worked pretty good!

Later, Garry and I went hiking an spotted this HUGE woodpecker!  It's hard to tell from the photo but this breed is the size of a very large crow.

And we spotted a turkey.

An amazing sunset.

Tracks that led to the lake.

And some sandhill cranes that had to walk around us because we didn't move!

The daisies were starting to bloom.

As well as this other white flower - although I'm not sure what it is.  Overall - a pretty perfect long weekend!

Spring turned to summer

I found a new trail and was amused that it crossed a train track. I was even more amused with the train actually came by while I was head up to the tracks!

The woods smelled divine as the wild roses came to bloom everywhere!!

It was greening up so fast!

I love finding familiar flowers growing in the wild like these Lilly of the Valley.

And the sight of trillium in the woods always makes me smile. It's not so rare now as it used to be.

And boom! Everything was green and beautiful!  Pure Michigan!

Garry and I did our first 5 mile hike together at Brighton Rec - and he said it was easy!  And here I thought it was going to take all summer to get him up to 5 miles!

I even got Austin out walking around the neighborhood with me a couple of times where we had some wonderful conversations.  

In the meantime, Madison and Olivia were out hammocking in Ann Arbor.  Those two have been getting closer this summer and it's awesome.