Man oh man, today was today a loonnnng (but fun!) day. We were all over The Great White (and then not so white) North today and I am not able to make a coherent story about all of it. We began the day with the loverly s-word drive shown in the photoooo below. We were following the Uncly Uncle (in the red jeep) out of his fancy subdivision to a parking spot in Gaylord (long story involving a trip over to Green Bay tomorrow…).

I took the photooo from the back seat of the Frog Hopper. Riding President? Is that what we used to call it? I ensconced myself back there with all the aminals (Froooggy, Turnstile, Softy Beanbag, Stowaway and Tagalong and I dunno who else) so that the UU could ride up front with the GG after he dropped off his vee-hickle. We had snow driving all the way up to the damn bridge (you know the one) and I was sitting back there trying to ignore the road conditions. They were certainly not the worst I’ve ever seen, lots of slushy stuff, but still.

That Weather almost made us late for today’s North Country Trail group hike. Usually there’s a lot of cat-herding involved in spotting vee-hickles for an always unknowable number of participants so being a little late is okay. Today we got there just when Bob M was giving his safety speech! (That was pretty okay with me actually, I hate standing around and I hate cat herding [grin]). Anyway, our hike today was not the longest we’ve ever taken (2.75 miles plus the UU and Tom and I did a little extra half hour or so while waiting for the drivers to come back for us) Beautiful. Highlights? Hearing a Red-tailed Hawk calling right next to the trail (and a fun facebook exchange about that involving Our Northern Correspondent). Also, hiking through long stretches of the kind of moss and lichens, etc., that blanket the bank above the Moominbeach. Here’s the Brevoort River:

There was no snow north of the bridge and the temperatures warmed into the 40s so any precipitation that we encountered was in liquid form. We were lucky that nothing much came out of the sky until the hike was basically finished and the UU, Tom and I were walking out of the woods after our extra little boondoggle. Lunch at the Whitetail Resort in Brevort with a whole passel of NCT folks. Bison pasties and so much fun and laughter! With some trepidation (on my part) we left the UU in a motel room there and headed back down to troll-land. Man was it cold and rainy! This is what Lake Michigan looked like this afternoon:

Cold and rain and wind (but no damn snow, thank you god or whoever) all the way down here to the Houghton Lake Group Home. Quick stop at the Gaylord Glen’s Family Fare. Another quick stop at the UU’s to pick up the polartech vest I left behind and drop off some of his stuff. Dark, rainy drive from there to the Group Home but glad to be here. It might be more fun here if some other C-Fam folks were here but whether anyone else is here or not, it still feels like home sweet home. Thanks to y’all for that.

Raking what remains of the leaves tomorrow. Much thanks to those who have already raked.

Love y’all,
Kayak Woman

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