Our last hike in the UP ~ Amazing.

Sunday  [September 13th] was the last day of our Grand Tour, Emily took this 'selfie' of us while we were still at the Miner's Castle Rock lookout which you can see behind us.

Jer was beside himself when we parked.

"Mom, close your eyes and don't look!" He grabbed my hand and we walked out on a board walk [I think] and I had to keep looking down at my feet as I didn't want any surprises to trip on.

When I opened them...

I

saw

this....

and gasped. 
I did take about 20 photos of the scene in front of me with different exposures so I could eventually pick a favorite.

Very long exposure so the water and waves blended.

Yes, I used a tripod.

This is what you see if you Google Miners Rock Castle on the internet.
100's of images taken from the same exact place.

OH, I was so pleased to see this iconic place.

As we walked to another viewing area, I stopped. This was the one shot I wanted. It is framed by the trees, ...

It doesn't look like all the other photos on the internet...

It shows water blasting through the cave...

and waves blasting against the rock.

To me, this is the one I'd pick to keep forever.

We walked around to another observation point and I took this with the cell phone. These are such beautiful and unique rock formations!

Back into the car we went and headed down some back roads. 

Miner's Beach was one of those places and I found it fascinating. The beach was beautiful and the trail above the beach had some amazing Lichen!!!! AND wild blueberry plants!!!!

Miner's Beach, surfs up!
This was a fantastic spot too. But I won't bore you with more photos right now. I'll pop some in at another time.

Lichen!!!!

Wild Blueberry plants!

The forest floor above the beach was covered in them. And yes, I tasted a couple of ripe ones.

DEEE-licous.

I'm going to skip some stuff and go right to our last hike which was to Mosquito Falls and Chapel Beach. 

What no one realized was that to make the whole loop, it was 10.5 miles. Well, we read it, but I guess it didn't click in our brains. [Ever try this with a 5 yr old????]

😮😯😲

Mosquito Falls and Chapel Falls via the Chapel Loop is a popular 10.5-mile loop trail in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore near Munising, Michigan

The trail was rather demanding in some spots and in other places, the Park Service was rebuilding some board walks over wet areas to prevent erosion.

It was drizzling and a quite overcast. However, that did not dampen our spirits or attitudes. We marched on past wet lands, over marshy areas, and over roots and rocks. 

We found Mosquito Falls and I was entranced. While Jer walked off to check out the falls in one direction and Mari and Emily went in another, I climbed around  and then knew I'd found the place. 

I told Jer that I was going to climb a small bluff and release some of Rich's ashes from my necklace.

He knew this was going to be an enormous cathartic moment for me. So he crossed the river and took this GIF of me. For a long time, I couldn't move or speak. My heart felt heavy and surprisingly a bit free. It doesn't make sense to me but I knew I felt that strong connection.

And he would have approved of the spot.

The view when I turned, was this.

This image, the sound of the falls and the soft rainfall will forever be embedded in my brain. The feeling of grief, relief, and the whispers in my head of our love for each other was so strong, it could not be denied.

Jer and Emily gave me the time I needed and didn't come up the trail until I stood up and wiped my eyes.

"Are you okay?"

Me.

"Oh yes. This place. I felt it. It was right."

I got a hug from them and we continued the trail through the forest.

I felt heavier and lighter at the same time.

 

Mudder Day...

Becoming a mom was one of the coolest things that ever happened to me. 

I was a mom to little humans....that grew up....

Mom to mules....

Mom to dogs....

[many dogs!]

The mom responsibilities have now been passed on to the moms of my grandkids and I hope they all have a wonderful and beautiful day.

We will enjoy some company today from Jason and his dogs along with some time outdoors.

Quiet and uneventful is a good thing.

To all you Mudders out there, have a good Mother's Day.

 

Hair Attitude.

 Hah! Fooled yah!

 

I like wash and wear stuff.

My Selfie while waiting for a to go order at Culvers. 

Hey, I think hair is overrated by the beauty industry. I think men are made to believe that women, all women should have glorious locks of flowing hair. Well, some do! And some don't. Personally, I wear a baseball cap most of the time when doing anything outside.

Over the many many years of life, I've had many do's.

The colors have changed, from dark lustrous hair to some brownish stuff with lots of glistening silvers that really shine when I am in the sunlight.

But in the end, there I am, that person that wanders through the woods with a baseball cap or a winter hat.

My hair is there, it can be a bother, a hinderance, or a royal pain in the tush.

The girl that does my hair knows that I'll go home and put on an old baseball cap and wander out into the woods. 

What was hubby's reaction? I brought him a Mushroom Swiss Burger with fries and a soda. He grabbed the food with delight and then stopped and casually said...

"It looks nice."

Hair? It really doesn't matter to me that much because in the end...I'm the one who always ...

Prefers Hats!

Ponies and little girls

 Last week one of the ladies who is a coach and a friend from our CrossFit gym invited me out to visit with her and have lunch. She said the girls were excited for me to come out and see their pony.

The pony is supposedly only 20ish. The people that gave them the pony years ago gave him an estimated age back then. In my opinion, the pony is more closer to 30 than 20. However, he is a much loved animal by all the girls.

The oldest girl has dreams of becoming a barrel racer with a beautiful flaxen maned horse that would fly like the wind and carry her to victories. We all need our dreams.

We didn't have horses when I was a kid, but my Uncle and cousins did. Sometimes my sister and I spent overnights with my cousins and of course we played and rode the horses. 

We rode quite a bit at my Uncle's place. He raised and trained horses. During WWII he was in charge of mules and horses that transported equipment. His love and patience with all equine was amazing.

I'm on the left on Thunder, the cantankerous pony that was probably very misunderstood and very loved at the same time. My sister is on Charlie Brown, one of my Uncle's last horses that he raised before he died.

I think Thunder was a Shetland. We called him a "Sh-tland" pony because he always had tricks to play on his unsuspecting riders. The only rule we had was to stay on top. 

Of course this made me dream of having an incredibly beautiful horse with a long flowing mane and tail. Oh snap!

I ended up with mules, but what can I say? Riding them still makes me feel free and dreamy.

It really eases my mind and soul.

I want to be like these little girls and their pony...playing and dreaming without a worry in their heads.

Fun in ice

 My wayward son and his girlfriend came to visit on Friday. Of course Emily's little girl Amari was the highlight. I'm just a sucker for little ones...no matter what!

They call her Mari. And pronounce it Mar-eee. For whatever reason, Mari decided I was okay and made her intentions always clear with her hands with the universal 'kid' sign of UP! UP!

Come on, who cannot have their heart melted by a little one like this!

To be sure, she was also fascinated by my Skunk Hat. 

The trail was beaten down into pure ice and we all wore ice cleats except the little one. We took turns carrying her or steering her by her hood. It involved a lot of 2 year old gibberish and sometimes yelling by Mari. I told mom and son to let her holler all she wanted, we were in the 'wild' woods and it didn't bother me at all. 

After all, she has immense energy. Cold fresh air and a hike would be great for her after a 4 hour car ride.

To get into the ice caves/shelters is not easy on a good day. This day it was all ice from the recent rains. Mari has no fear at all. Here is a pre slide check. Emily is down the icy path ready for catching her daughter. Mari loved it.

Here Mari decides to run to me across the slippery ice.

Group shot. I set my little pocket camera on a mini tripod and set the delay for 30 seconds. I slid down the ice formation to the others and scrambled to get in the shot. My son was like: BE Careful Mom! And we all laughed when I slid past them to the dirt.

We ended out trek at Weister Creek's ice formations and headed back to the car.

My youngest, Mari, and I:

and Weister Creek:

I have to admit I had fun. It was a difficult hike with a little one and we did it. 

Next time I told them we'd take an easy trail that we could take a stroller on. Yeah...maybe!