Soggy Doggy

Several weeks ago (I’ve fallen behind with my posts) we had the fun opportunity to visit two Michigan State Parks one located on Lake Huron, the other on Lake Michigan, in the same week. We finally made it to Tawas Point State Park, the hike we had to postpone earlier in the summer when Teddy became ill. This was a favorite camping destination when we regularly camped in the late 90’s. Visiting this park provides two distinctive experiences. The park is located at the end of a sand split that forms Tawas Bay. It is a short walk between the bay and the shore of Lake Huron. The Lake Huron beach doesn’t disappoint. The view across the water is expansive, the shore is sandy allowing for easy access to the water for swimming. Wind and waves are typical, giving me the chance to pretend I’d made it to the ocean. We found a shaded area after our hike and simply relaxed in the late summer breeze for a bit while reading and daydreaming.

The bay side is shallow and protected from the wind and when camping this was our regular choice for a comfortable place to allow the kids to swim without much worry. And a bonus is that the water is warmer than on the Huron side of the sand split since it is protected from being churned up.

The park is home to 183 acres providing a great location for lakeside recreation, camping and it is a popular bird watchers destination as it attracts hundreds of migrating birds in the spring and fall months. Our goal was to hike the Tawas Point Sandy Hook Nature Trail. We have enjoyed this trail many times before. A special highlight is that it passes the Tawas Point Lighthouse. It’s a unique hike as it winds through the woods on the sand split with views of both Lake Huron and Tawas Bay. The lake water level fluctuates quite a bit and on the visits that the water was low we have hiked beyond the point and waded to sandbars.

What makes the trail so nice, the protected nature area, created a complication hiking with Teddy. No Dogs Allowed. I couldn’t keep from humming the song “No Dogs Allowed” from the animated film, “Snoopy, Come Home” for the rest of the day. Teddy couldn’t go on the Lake Huron beach or the trail so that was a huge disappointment. But, we discovered that on the bay side there is a dog beach, so we hiked over to it. There were a few other dogs enjoying the water, but without a fence we didn’t want to remove his leash so we got to experience dog zoomies with Teddy while attached to a 6 feet leash in knee deep water.

I ventured off to the swimming beach while G & Teddy enjoyed some rest after our hike. I spotted lots of Sea Gulls apparently taking a break from being obnoxious and a lone little Sanderling. The view across the water goes and goes. It was a beautiful day.

On September 5 we had the Northern Lights treat us to a show and this time we caught them. That’s always a treat. It’s been quite the summer for Northern Lights.

On our return trip to Indiana we needed to alter our normal route home so that we could make a stop in Plymouth, IN… “Home of the Blueberry Festival.” Once I realized how close we were to Lake Michigan at lunch time we found a farmers market and picked up sandwiches and spontaneously enjoyed a picnic at Van Buren State Park located in South Haven, Michigan. Once again Teddy was able to splash about in a Great Lake. We appreciated that there were no signs prohibiting dogs on the beach.

Van Buren State Park has 1 mile of public beach, sand dune formations and a campground. It was odd thinking as I stood there scanning the horizon, to realize that straight across from where we stood is the north suburbs of Chicago. Lake Michigan stretches to the horizon unobscured. We did not explore trails since we needed to keep to a schedule, we simply walking down to the beach to take in the sights and stretch our legs, that was a nice diversion from the long drive home.

While in Indiana our days have been broken up with appointments here and there so it’s been difficult to fit in unique excursions. Simple walks at nearby parks are the best we’ve been able to schedule this month. One of those walks took me back to Cox Hall Park in Carmel. It’s interesting to see the park’s landscaping change as the seasons flow from one to the next. On this particular visit I noticed that the greens of the leaves are becoming more muted and already some leaves have changed and fallen.

Now that fall has officially arrived with the fall equinox I am reminded of a poignant verse. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time lose; a time keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

I will conclude here and will share the highlights of this past week’s hikes in my next blog.