Now it's June!

Tue. June 1, 2010: After a simple breakfast and lots of good coffee we went for a hike. There are many trails in this area but none in the vicinity allow bikes, so it was just as well that we had decided not to bring them. The sky was still cloudy and just starting to break up. We walked around the campground and found that there were only four occupied sites by then. We went partway down the road, and then walked down the Pinckney-Waterloo Trail that connects the two areas. It must be very long because we passed Mile Marker 22. The trail was mostly woodlands, but we walked through a meadow that must have been a farm field at some point in the past. After we passed over a long boardwalk across a swampy area the trail became narrower and the foliage on each side was crowding the path and was still very wet from the rain. So we decided to return to the road and take it the rest of the mile or so to Highway 52. Along the way we saw lots of grape leaves so on the way back we picked lots of nice big ones. Back at the campsite, I washed them, boiled them in salt water, rolled them in 10 packs of 12 leaves and popped them in the freezer. They will be very welcome for making stuffed grape leaves back home!

After a lunch of leftover chicken we got out the inflatable two-person kayak we bought for our anniversary present and took it on its maiden voyage. We blew it up with the truck powered pump and walked it down the path right at our campsite to the lake. We both managed to get into it from a log sticking into the lake without getting our feet wet. We found it to be a lovely way to really see the lake. The sun was fully shining by now, fish were jumping and there were both snapping and box turtles to be seen. We even saw two sleek little creatures that we think were otters. The seats are quite comfortable and afford a lot of back support. We have to get used to coordinating our paddling but we only bumped each other a couple of times. The double kayak doesn’t glide as easily as our very shallow singles ones do, but it’s going to be great to take-along on long trips when we don’t want to hassle with the Loons. It all fits into a large duffle bag that weighs about 30 pounds and can be tossed in the back of the truck. Terrific!

The rest of the afternoon we spent sitting by the lake, enjoying the breeze and reading. I washed off the suntan lotion with our outdoor shower. When I finished my magazine I worked on this Blog and relaxed while Marv played with his ITouch. For dinner tonight we grilled hamburgers on our little gas grill and had potato salad and veggies. Afterwards we drove to the McDonald’s in Stockbridge to have an ice cream sundae while we checked the forecast on weather.com. However we were disappointed to find that they don’t have WiFi there! Instead we listened to the forecast on Michigan Radio and were relieved to find out that the predicted rain showers were supposed to hold off until afternoon. Back at the campsite Marv built a nice fire and we enjoyed s’mores for dessert and then went to bed.