A quick trip home

I've returned from my trip to Petoskey to visit my folks. I often travel there towards the end of November to help celebrate my dad's birthday (he'll be 95 on November 27). This year, both of my sons start their college winter break Thanksgiving week - then each of them head out again on new adventures: Devon to Japan a couple of days after Thanksgiving and Paul to New Orleans for volunteer work a week after Thanksgiving. With all the hustle and bustle, I decided an early solo trip to Petoskey was in order.

All in all, it was a good trip - both for visiting and for running. My running plan was to get out early before my parents were up and about and feeling lucky if I got a second run in each day. Many of my runs were variations on an old standard loop that goes from my parents' house in the southeast part of town (uphill from the bay), along Bear River down towards the bay, along the waterfront, then back through town and up the hill to their house. A longer variation included touring through the seasonal community of Bay View where music rings out many a summer's night but now lays quiet for the winter.
After a day of snow followed by a day of fog then a day of clouds, the sun peeked out and I looked at my folks and told them I was going to the beach....in tights, jacket, and running shoes. 50 minutes of running later I was cruising through sand, up and down dunes, dancing with the waves of Lake Michigan - and hooked up with a high school buddy who was walking/running her dog. Deeelightful. (The picture shows the beginning of the sunset we were treated to.) Going back to my folks' I wound my way through the Bay View Woods which were so leaf-packed I could barely make out the trails. 'Twas the longest - and zingiest - run of my visit.
Hill repeats were also on the menu - easy to find in a glacier-carved town. Hills, hills, everywhere hills.
And a couple of afternoons, when I just had to get outside, I put on a show for the folks, doing running drills back and forth on the street outside their living room window: high knees, butt kicks, skipping, bounding, criss-crosses, strides....further fueling the speculation about the sanity (or lack thereof) of their daughter.

Miles logged while in Michigan: 79....many along the lakeshore. Ahhhh......