In the spirit of trying new things and having different adventures, our plan for day number 3 up north was to explore two completely new to us places. First up, the Botanical Gardens at Barnes Park.
I picked this place because it seemed to have a lot of different areas for us to check out – stuff for Wyatt, and stuff for us too. We arrived bright and early, and I was happy we went in the morning as the day was already heating up. We pulled in, grabbed a map of the grounds, and started off. This caught our eye first..
This must have been some cow! Good for you Traverse Colantha Walker.
Our next stop was the big community garden! It was gorgeous and gave me some inspiration for next year as well! Then, despite having a map, we wandered around trying to find our next trail, the Fairy Trail! We had a strangely hard time finding it; were we deliberately led astray by the fairies?
This was a neat little stop and if you have kids and visit the area, this is a must do!
Once we found our way out of Faerie, we wandered into the next garden over, the pollinator garden.
By this point, we were getting weary of the sun and heat, and headed back to the car and our water, took a quick little break, and left for our next stop, an old growth cedar forest.
Now, this trail was truly magical. Just the feeling when you entered into the trees was something bordering a reverence. My loud boy, Wyatt Riot, even could tell, and whispered “Wow” as we stood the three of us, within this shelter of trees. It was our first time in such a forest and it was beautiful. We took our time making our way through, at time just standing still on the trail and listening to the Blue Jays shriek, catch them flying from tree to tree. Absorbing the stillness at other times, breathing in the cedar fragrance that just wafted with each of our footsteps. This was a short hike, but one of the best ones I have ever been on.
All too soon we were back in the hot, dusty parking lot, and decided it was time to head back to the cabin. We still had some swimming left to do, but not until we took a nap.. which we did after lunch. Then the guys headed down and into the lake. I did not get a swimsuit in time so I watched from the shore, but I was able to take in the sheer joy and excitement that Wyatt was radiating. His laughter echoed over the water as he played in the lake. My whole goal of this trip was to get Wyatt in the water, to be in a lake, to sit on a beach. And it was a resounding success.
We were all exhausted by the time evening rolled around. We had a quick dinner of hot dogs and macaroni, then just vegged until bed. The next day we had to leave so we took this last opportunity to really just relax.
And that my friends, was the end of our trip. Until next year, northern Michigan. We had a blast!
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 