It was a weekend where things didn’t conform to plan and yer fav-o-rite blahgger had to use every ounce of strength she possessed to make that be okay. I can go with the flow but I do better at going with the flow when I *expect* ahead of time that I’m gonna have to go with the flow. It helps if I have my own vee-hickle at my disposal just in case going with the flow starts going south in some weird way.

Anyway, if you are one of my five regulars, you already know that I had to shift my expectations for Friday night a bit and that it turned out just fine. (Disclaimer: I KNOW that these are first world problems!)

Saturday? Well, if you are one of my five regulars, you may know that, when we are at our primary residence here on The Planet Ann Arbor, I usually drag the GG out of whatever sleep cycle he’s in at 0-skunk-30 and we walk down to the farmer’s market. This Saturday? Thunderstorms rolled through just about the time I usually get up. I will walk in rain. I will not walk in lightning. We waited them out and eventually got there about a half hour later than usual. All the way downtown, I had to keep telling myself it was okay. And it was. Of course!!! Bonus! Lizard Breath dragged herself off the couch in the back room at 7:30 AM(!) and drove down to meet up with us. We had coffee (from our fave Roos Roast) and a donut and I could buy more stuff than I usually do because Liz had Ruby down there to schlep all of it (and us) home. It wasn’t what we “always” do on Saturday when we’re here on The Planet but it was just fine! Oh plus, I loaded Liz up with a bunch of our windfall apples and she has made an apple crisp with *bourbon* in it and is planning on a leek / apple soup. (I suggested adding bourbon to that too but maybe white wine would be a better choice.)

Today? I read about Haven Hill on the Damn Arbor blahg. I love the Damn Arbor blahg but often the young whippersnappers [wink] who write it talk about events that happen when I am sleeping. Occasionally they post about things I can wrap my brain around though. Like hiking out in the woods.

I have never been to the Highland Rec Area (so close but yet so faaaaar away) and I was geared up for getting up early and heading out. The GG? Not so much. It was a gray, humid morning and *IIIIII* didn’t even get up when I wanted to (I forced myself skyward at 6:30) so I let him sleep a while and make himself a little breakfast and slodge around on the internet and generally drag ass. I figured our hiking trips for the day would be limited to our usual Ann Arbor type hikes. But then he mobilized. Let’s go to Haven Hill. I grumbled like crazy. I’d had to change my expectations several times already and it was late and yada yada.

Can I just say we had the best time? (Even when we weren’t (aka I wasn’t) having fun because, despite the decent signage and all of our technology, we got LOST on the hiking trails a couple times!) Anyway, we did not take 23 and 59 to get to the Haven Hill. We went up (and back) via Pontiac Trail and through Kensington Metropark and other various little roads (yes, the GG frivolously paid for a metropark day pass just to *drive thru* the park and back — a furloughed government employee no less). It rained lightly almost the whole time we hiked. It wasn’t enough for me to need my bumbershoot but the GG put his up. On the way home, we stopped at The Bar in Milford. A stout for the GG and a cab for me and an appetizer order of sweet potato fries to split. It ended up being a perfect outing and I think we’ll be hitting up both Haven Hill and The Bar again.

I loved this little turtle. It wasn’t until I looked at the photoooo (click and click again) I took that I realized how intricate the markings around the edge of his shell are. It kind of reminds me of one of The Commander’s favorite patterns, the Greek Key. I know this turtle’s pattern is not really like the Greek Key but that was the first thing that came to mind. Eternity at any rate.

Next weekend? I will have to go with the flow a lot of the time. But I will have my own damn vee-hickle, thanks to the damn government shutdown.

G’night from your *finally* hiked out and second-showered friend, Kayak Woman.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 6th, 2013 at 5:56 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.