Thursday, January 6, 2011

ROAD TRIP!

 January 3, 2011
The snow has melted so the roads are clear and not slippery,  today we will go for a road trip!  Marie did the research and found some old bridges to check out and two Michigan Audubon sanctuaries.
Sounds like fun!
            On the road we go, heading east of Martin, Michigan.


                    Portal View of the 2nd Street Bridge (North)
This bridge is camelback style built in 1926 over the Gun River in Allegan County, Michigan.  For information on historic bridges in the US and Canada visit this interesting website. http://www.historicbridges.org/index.htm
    Some sun and blue skies, temperature around 24 degrees.
The first sanctuary we visited, Ronald Warner, had a well marked trail that took us through forests and wetlands.  Below is Glass Creek with a footbridge and boardwalks in the marshy places.  Very nice, maybe we will come here in the spring.




Just down the road a mile or so is the Robert and Mildred Otis Sanctuary.  The Michigan Audubon has a nice website with lots of information.  This should take you to the page to find sanctuaries to visit.  http://www.michiganaudubon.org/conservation/sanctuaries
If you are member of Michigan Audubon Society you may launch a canoe or kayak here on the Glass Creek, a wild tributary of the Thornapple-Grand River Watershed.  You need not be a member to stroll about the sanctuaries.
That's the Otis farmhouse, barn, and tile silo, looking back from Glass Creek.

We wandered at bit on our way home, through Dorr, and North Dorr, along here we stopped at the Dorr Township library, a friendly place.  Then right on across a tri-county confluence, the counties of Allegan, Kent, and Ottawa. 

So this day we really had an adventure and road trip, it was the first time we had been to these sanctuaries.  Unfortunately the snow started when we were south of Grand Haven and Marie had to drive back on slippery roads to Montague.  Thanks Marie for your excellent driving skills(You drove ~ 222 miles)!
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2011 at 5:38 PM

    Sounds like a fun day. I really enjoyed the photo of the sky. It is now my desktop background. Did you see any animals in or around the barn?

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  2. Plants Amaze MeJanuary 6, 2011 at 6:05 PM

    It was a fun day. I'm glad you are enjoying the sky picture as your background.
    :)
    No animals in or around the barn. There was an office but no one was inside.

    Thanks for visiting the blog.

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2011 at 6:09 PM

    It was fun! Back roads, old bridges, trees, nice walks, footbridges, yeah.
    Recognized a Tulip Tree by the pods way up in the top of its branches.
    Thornapple-Grand River Watershed? Who knew?
    West Michigan has some awesome mountains! Okay, high hills. So many fascinating places to go.
    Just go see! M

    ReplyDelete
  4. Plants Amaze MeJanuary 7, 2011 at 9:36 AM

    Fun, and yes "mountains" we got to the high of 975 feet above sea level (what level is sea level?)
    Where might we go next week?? :>0

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  5. AnonymousJanuary 8, 2011 at 5:14 PM

    Lake Michigan is at 577 feet above sea level so does that mean we were 398 feet above the lake?
    A dune at Hoffmaster State Park is 718 feet above sea level so that means it's only 140 feet that we climb?
    Someone out there must know this stuff!
    Next week? Wherever you'd like to go! M :)

    ReplyDelete