Wednesday, December 1, 2010

A Lighthearted Day!

2010 11 29  Last week's adventure, dreary (except for the sister visit), this week's adventure, lighthearted.  I say lighthearted because I wanted the opposite of dreary.  Lighthearted =  free from care, anxiety, or seriousness.  Don't get me wrong, last week was still fun but we weren't outside as much. 
This week we played and explored in Little Black Creek (above), we found crayfish(below), some other unidentified squiggly creatures, a sort of quicksand, ice, and things to float down the creek.  All carefree FUN!

We went to P.J. Hoffmaster State Park (6585 Lake Harbor Road Muskegon, Michigan)Approximate size 1200 acres, three miles of pristine beaches on Lake Michigan,  more than 10 miles of trails,  sheltered valleys between the wooded dunes and dense stands of hemlocks, 293 campsites each equipped with electrical service, Gillette Visitor Center, and Little Black Creek.  

Foot bridge on trail at Hoffmaster State Park
Goldenrod still Blooming!
Along the trail at P.J. Hoffmaster
Little Black Creek where it comes out of the woods to meet Lake Michigan.
               
              Beautiful Lake Michigan
After having fun at the beach we wandered into the woods and hills. We were up high on the wooded dunes.


Cool ravine we walked through.
We also added to our park/places list with a quick stop to Water Tower/Tank Park in Spring Lake Township.

We went back to my house, had a cup of lemon tea then went on a walk through our woods.  We saw three Great Horned Owls!  And what different calls they made!  The usual hoot - hoo-hoo hoooooo hoo-hoo we didn't hear, more whistles and a whaaa whaaaaaa-a-a-aarrk sound, Wow.
 I think the weather is going to change this week. It has still been 50 degrees here, that's warm for the end of November in Michigan.  We did enjoy this day!


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, the weather sure did change! 28 Degrees currently! Brrrrrrr. Love the photo of Lake Michigan... what is that crayfish?

Plants Amaze Me said...

Yes just two days after this adventure we have a blanket of snow on the ground, but it is December 1st.

So is the question, "What is a crayfish?" or "what is that crayfish?".

Crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related.

There were several of these crayfish in Little Black Creek.

Anonymous said...

Old familiar places revisited. The crayfish was cool, after all, it was swimming in icy water. And yet, we found a Goldenrod still blooming! Ah, it was fun and certainly, lighthearted. M

Anonymous said...

Was the crayfish alive. What I can't understand is, why didn't the owls eat the crayfish/crawfish/crawdads. Do crawdads have dads?

DSL said...

"Lighthearted,"...I like that! Love your pictures!

Plants Amaze Me said...

Thanks Diane! Thanks Marie! It's nice to get positive comments.

To Anonymous, the crayfish were alive in the icy water. Several of them. I'm not sure I have ever seen a crayfish before? Oh, and crawdads do have dads, of course.

The owls were at our house not at Hoffmaster so the owls would have had to fly about 10 miles north to eat the crayfish. ;)