Sterling State Park/ Monroe

Sterling is the only Michigan state park on Lake Erie. I remember when I was a little kid and my older sister took us to the park. There were dead fish all over the beach and it was a disgusting place to be. It was a shame but with industrialization came pollution. The lake looks a lot better now but the truth is there is still heavy metal sediment on the bottom of the lake.

The park is beautiful though especially on a clear blue sky day like today. It's strange because you can look in one direction and it looks like you're out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of nature. Then you look over your shoulder and there are the gigantic stacks at the power plant with the power lines marching out through the park. Look in the other direction and you have a clear view of the Fermi nuclear power plant. Strange.

There are lots of hiking/biking paths through the park
plus there is a connector that goes off toward town. I walked the exactly 3 mile path around the lagoon today. There were lots of noisy birds including cardinals, gulls and ducks. I think I saw a beaver right under one of the power towers. I couldn't swear to it
in a court of law but I think it was.

I've been thinking that all of Michigan could probably get enough heat for a winter with all the dead wood laying around. I'm assuming a lot of it is from the ash trees that have died recently. And we've had some pretty bad windstorms that knocked a lot of trees down. This is a pretty cool looking hollow tree that was along the trail. It reminded me of one of my granddaughter's books about Nicholas, a bunny that lives in a hollow tree.

All in all it was a great day and Sterling State Park is a beautiful place to be on a spring day!

Chief Baw Beese and Hillsdale

Today I decided that even though it was kind of cold, I needed to get another county done. So Wes and I headed out to Hillsdale after having lunch in Adrian.

I had never heard of a Chief Baw Beese. He was a Huron-Potawatomie and he and his band of about 100 are credited with helping pioneer families in the Hillsdale area through the harsh winters by providing meat and medicinal care. He appears to have been loved and respected by the settlers but eventually he and his people were relocated to a reservation at Council Bluffs, Iowa.

This afternoon, I walked along a beautiful lake south of Hillsdale that bears his name. Wes hung out in downtown Hillsdale at the local coffee shop, Jilly Beans Coffee Shop, while I walked on the paved Baw Beese trail which turned into a part of the North Country Trail which is a dirt path. It was very beautiful and natural. I covered five miles and then I called Wes and told him to come and get me. It sure makes it easier when I have a driver.

Here's another interesting fact about Hillsdale County. Four rivers have their headwaters there: Kalamazoo, Raisin, St. Joseph river that goes to Lake Michigan and another St. Joseph river which ends up flowing into the Maumee River. Pretty cool. Kind of like a state continental divide.

So tonight I'm tired but happy that I now have Hillsdale County checked off on my list!

PS:  In case you're interested here is a neat link to find hiking paths in Michigan.
http://www.michigan.org/Things-to-Do/Outdoors/Hiking/Default.aspx

Cold but Sunny Jackson

I don't know why I've never been to downtown Jackson. I'm speculating that since it's a ways off the expressway I've just never felt the need to explore. Before today the only thing I really knew about it was "Jackson State Penitentiary". I also remember my mom talking about going to see the Cascades in Jackson. And thanks to the wonders of the internet I just looked that up and yup a guy named William Sparks converted a boggy swamp area into a huge structure with fountains water cascading down and backlit with different colors. It fell into disrepair but has since been restored. People came from all over the world to see it back in the day.

Today I went to downtown Jackson which is pretty empty on a Saturday. There is a very nice coffee shop, The Jackson Coffee Company, and they roast their own beans and have a pretty good mocha. I got my reward before I walked and figured a banana nut muffin would be healthy since bananas have potassium (ha!). I then walked 1.5 miles down to Falling Waters Trail which is a rails to trail. Then walked 1 mile down the trail and back to my car. My walk took me through a nice neighborhood with huge old houses and a really old graveyard. The downtown looks like a lot of buildings have been torn down and turned into parking lots. There are some really cool old commercial properties left and many interesting churches.

It was cold and I was pretty miserable but I can say that Jackson is done. Yay!!!

Stuck to Ann Arbor again

Here is a map of Michigan and what a job I have ahead of me. 83 counties!!!

I made myself weigh in at Weight Watchers today. Let's just say that walking a lot doesn't = weight loss if I don't keep track of what I eat. That's a duh! So then Wes and I ate at the Panera's on Ann Arbor-Saline Road and then I walked over to Bally's (1.1 miles) plus walked 3 miles on the treadmill. I almost despaired since I hadn't charged my Ipod up but it made it through. It helps a lot to walk to music. I'm sure the people behind me think I'm losing my mind. My favorites are David Gray's "Greatest Hits" and Brandi Carlile "Give up the Ghost".

What I don't like about the treadmill is all the skinny minnies jogging 10 miles an hour in front of me. What I do like is that there are no geese or dogs. I walk into the locker room with trepidation since you never know what you're gonna see. I'm easily shocked since I went to an all girls Catholic high school and there were no locker rooms. We all became adept at changing into our gym clothes with no skin showing.

So I did 4 miles today and tomorrow is my grandbaby watching day and on Saturday I will do 5 miles one way or another. Please God, let it warm up soon!!!

Walk around the block/Monroe

I started out today thinking I was going to go walk in Jackson County. There is a really nice looking rail to trail that goes right through the city. Then I thought, too far, I was going to go to Sterling State Park and walk that trail to Elm Street and then to the coffee shop. Then we went out to start in to Monroe and it was raining and I thought "Nah, not feeling it". So I was going to blow it off today. But I was sitting on the couch feeling really guilty so decided to walk around my block which worked out to 3.75 miles.

Part of the walk was down Day Road. It's the part that gets flooded by the Saline River and where that tragedy happened about 10 years ago when a carload of young people decided to risk driving through when water was over the road and they all lost their life. Really sad. Well, today the road was closed when I got over there and the river was really high but not over the road.

Then when I finally got almost back to my stretch of road this crazy dog was barking at me and I had to keep telling him to "Git", he didn't really seem that scared of me. I had a chunk of asphalt to scare him with if he seriously tried to take a chunk out of my butt. I swear if it's not geese it's dogs. Sheesh.

I got home and Wes had a cup of tea ready for me and a towel to dry off with. Sweet. He takes our dog for a walk in the woods every day so usually doesn't walk with me. I have my Ipod for company and that works for me.

Springtime at Gallup Park

One of my all time favorite places in the world is Gallup Park in Ann Arbor. It has many things going for it. The walkways wind along the Huron River and it's a little bit wild and unruly but so so beautiful. It is easily accessible from the expressway and is only a mile and a half from the corner of Washtenaw and Huron Parkway which means it's close to the Starbucks in Barnes and Noble. And we all know that coffee shops are my favorite after walk place (if you've been paying attention). So I did a loop around Gallup Park and then walked down Huron Parkway to have a coffee and my day was complete.

I think the main reason I love Gallup so much is because I have memories of it going WAY back. I mean ancient times in the late 60's early 70's when I was young oh so many years ago I went to free concerts there. That was when all the old hippies with scraggly gray pony tails that you sometimes see walking around Ann Arbor or attending a concert at the Ark were young and cute and very stoned. Those were great times despite everyone being a little bit confused.

Then they moved the dirt around Gallup Park and made all the pathways and little islands that are there now. You can rent paddle boats and there are lots of ducks, geese and the dreaded swans to watch. There is also a trail that goes east all the way to Dixboro Road and one that goes west to the Arb and beyond. They parallel the Amtrak train tracks. So you can really get a good walk in or just a nice short one.

So back to today: The geese were hissing at me which to be honest I really hate. I'm scared of geese in a big way. That makes going to parks in this area very problematic at times (springtime) when they are warning us to stay away from their nests. Geese also leave green poop laying around all over the place. I have a traumatic memory of trying to get out of a mean goose's way and landing in that green poop. That was in Oregon so I can't blame it on the Gallup Park geese but there you are. I'm prejudiced against geese.

It's supposed to be colder tomorrow so I don't know if I'm going to broaden my horizons and maybe go over to Jackson and Branch county or if I'll go to Bally's and walk on the boring treadmill. I could tell interesting stories about Bally's too but at least there's no goose poop.

March 19/Oakland County

I decided that now that spring is here it's time for me to get moving on doing at least 5 miles walking in all the counties in Michigan before August 12.






I figured I'd get Oakland County taken care of and headed up to Kensington Metropark which is one of the Huron-Clinton Metroparks. There is a paved bicycle/hiking path that goes around the park and I was prepared to go all the way around Kent Lake which would have been 8 miles. But I couldn't figure it out so ended up doing 6 miles instead.

It was beautiful with clear blue skies and birds tweeting like crazy. There are lots of swans on the lake but I read recently that they threaten the native species and although they are beautiful they are not a good thing. There were lots of people out there enjoying the great day. Everyone was so friendly almost everyone says "hi".

We are so lucky to have so many fantastic parks in Michigan. I'm proud to live in such a beautiful state! It was a great day.

Here is the link for Kensington:
http://www.metroparks.com/parks/index_all.aspx?ID=6&r=0

Spring like day!!!!

The place I used to work in Ann Arbor is in a beautiful business park. I decided that since it was a nice springy day today and almost all of the snow piles are gone that I would go walk around there. I hadn't really mapped out how many miles before I got there so ended up short and had to make it up at home. My gravel road is finally drying out thank God!!!

So I was doing my very best procrastinating when I got home and ended up taking about a two hour nap in front of the NCAA playoffs. Wes and I filled out brackets for fun. He was picking many underdogs and I told him with a superior attitude that it's safer to go with the high seeds in the early going. Hah!!! Famous last words. So there I was sleeping away instead of getting outside and getting my walk done and maybe enjoying this nice day. I finally got my butt up and finished the 3 miles I had to do today. Our road crosses the Saline River and it's starting to look pretty but we're not quite there yet. We need a little green to come out.

I am supposed to do cross training on Wednesdays and Fridays but I decided that following my one year old granddaughter around and picking her up and hauling her around counts for cross training. She has been walking for a couple of months and is now working on running backwards for some reason. She is very nimble and quick so I think that should count. To be honest, there is no energy left when I'm done with her.

So I don't walk tomorrow and then Saturday I have to walk 5 miles. Oh boy!!!

Milan (Michigan that is)

I like Milan. It's not too fancy but it does have a pretty cool coffee shop, Lighthouse Coffee Shop, in one of the old buildings downtown. There is even a brew pub whose name I can never remember. (I looked it up, it's Original Gravity Brewing Company). There are nice older houses and they believe in sidewalks.

It is also kind of a twofer deal since the county line cuts right through it. So I walked 3 miles in Washtenaw and Monroe County today. I was high tailing it around the block from downtown to Platt Road to Redman to Wabash and back to downtown and the aforementioned coffee shop. It helps if I work it so that there is a reward at the end of the walk. Coffee shops work.

I'm still spending a lot of time reading about the UP and places that I've never been so I can decide where to walk later in warmer spring and then summer. 83 counties is a little mind boggling but exciting. There is so much to see in Michigan!

Beautiful Saturday/Monroe County

Today is a beautiful sunny day. I have decided that I'm going to stay close to home today and walk in Monroe.

Monroe is where my heart is. I know it sounds corny but when I drive in past the corn and soybean fields along the river I usually get a lump in my throat. It's not magnificent in a showy way like being in the mountains but I think it's beautiful. I have to say though that I don't feel that affection for Michigan roads right now. There is actually one road near here that is being allowed to go back to gravel and there are humongous potholes in it right now. And I won't even tell you about the gravel road I live on. Anyone who has been on it in March knows how much it sucks!!!

I have discovered on Map My Walk (which is an awesome site for figuring out routes and mileage) that from the coffee shop on Front and N.Monroe out to the end of the river walk on North Custer and back is exactly 4 miles. That's what I'm going to do today. This will be 7 miles in Monroe County and I've done 6 miles in Washtenaw County this week.

Today I'm going to do my walk in honor of Wes' Aunt Louise who died of breast cancer. She was a great lady and we loved her and miss her a lot.

The premise

In the middle of winter I decided that I am going to walk in the Susan B Komen 3 day walk in August. Not only do I have to raise $2300 dollars by the day of the walk but I also have a pretty daunting 24 week training schedule to stick to. I decided to find a fun and interesting challenge to inspire me and to learn more about my state...I would walk 5 miles in each of the 83 counties in Michigan.

I love Michigan. I love the cities and I love the quiet beauty of the countryside. I've done a fair amount of exploring all around the state. But there are many counties I know nothing about and it will be fun researching a little about their history. I want to walk in the cities/towns wherever I can. I've been trying to research where to walk and the many "rails to trails" look promising. As a last resort I might do hiking trails in state parks.

It's not that I don't like the state parks its just that we have black bears. We have moose and wolves way up north. I like the great outdoors and I like little critters. Big critters scare me.

So I'm researching where I can walk and waiting for the weather to break. Today it's only going to get up to 30 degrees in southern Michigan and the sidewalks are icy. So it will be the treadmill for me. My daughter, Emily, and I are still working on the layout for this blog. I'll keep praying for spring.