Summer Update (Part III): State & Trail #6, Minnesota's Root River Trail

We bid farewell to Petoskey, with a goose escort as Taz and I did our last run of this visit on the our way out of town.

Westward Ho! And on to Minnesota where I would run the Root River Trail and put a check mark next to state #6 on the trail quest. We pulled into the campground at Houston, Minnesota, right alongside the trail, just as a monster storm descended upon us. To say we were nervous is quite the understatement. Storm and flood warnings abounded, and here we were, next to the Root River, down a steep hillside, trees hanging overhead, lightning, thunder, wind, and rain whipping all around us as we huddled in wee Hedwig. But we survived the night in fine form and the next day brought sunshine and a great running day. I just moseyed up from our campsite to the trail, waved goodbye to Kendall and Taz (too long a run for the pup) and set off for a couple of hours of running through woods and farmland, all along the Root River. Wildlife abounded: duck families, deer, bunnies, a bald eagle sighting, lots of mosquitoes and flowers galore. Also signs of the night's wild weather with downed trees and detritus left from the river overflowing the trail. Only one area of downed trees was a challenge to get past, involving climbing over, through and under. I wondered if I'd make it, but since it was less than two miles into the run, I didn't figure I could give up on the run that quickly, so over, through, and under I went. So glad I did. It was a great run, ending in the little Norwegian town of Rushford which happened to have a Lefse Restaurant just a block from the trailhead!

Time to start running!

This one was easy

Photo taken while negotiating my way through the middle of the fallen tree

Wildflowers everywhere

All along the way, views of the winding, rolling Root River

Even left-over river right on the trail

 

 Then it was back to civilization - the town of Rushford - and a reunion with Taz & Kendall

State/Trail #6. Check!

mmmmm Lefse!

Summer Update (Part II) - the Murphey Cottage

Taz thinks this is a mighty fine beach

While growing up in Petoskey, summer almost always included a trip to my Aunt and Uncle's cottage near Sleeping Bear Dunes. Built in the late 40s/early 50s, the cottage is now grandfathered into what is now the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore - and is now owned by my cousins. It was our great luck on this trip back to Petoskey, that my cousin John, his wife Marcie and their daughter Ava happened to be at the cottage - so once again we were treated to a summer trip to The Cottage. A great visit with great folk!

PJV, Marcie & John at The Cottage

Last summer, the cottage was the site of John & Marcie's son Kelly's wedding. As part of the wedding preparations, they built an outdoor pizza oven. It makes some extraordinary pizza - and it's a very fun process getting to the finished product. Another treat for this year's visit!

Step 1: Build your individual pizza with all your personal favorite toppings

 

Step 2: John, master pizza baker, preps the oven for pizza entry

Step 3: Watch those pizzas bake - very fast!!!

The finished product. Yummers!

The grand finale' (clockwise from bottom left: John, Ava, pjv, Kendall, Marcie)

Finally! A summer update! (Part I)

Technology can be a wonderful thing:  it has allowed me to map routes down to the tiniest detail without ever having set foot along the proposed path; it lets me communicate from one unknown place to another, via voice or text, almost no matter where I am; and it provides me with the tools to write stories about my adventures accompanied by photos taken with a phone!

However, my brain, apparently, is having a hard time keeping up. Kendall and I traveled to Michigan early last month and it was just yesterday that I was able to transfer the pictures I took with my antique flip phone during that trip onto my computer (via my tablet) - and the successful transfer was thanks to my son Paul's help and no thanks at all to the fiddling I had done over the past few weeks trying to figure it all out. So! Transfer of photos done and here's the long overdue blog post!

Our June trip had multiple goals:

• enjoy some travel and camping time in Hedwig
• get back to Petoskey and Lake Michigan
• have some fun on Kendall's yet-another-birthday-in-Petoskey
• get the rehab work underway for the house we own back there
• check off a sixth state in my quest to run a trail in every state
• ...did I mention Lake Michigan?

Goals met! And here's Part I of the photo record of how we did it:

Firstly - every road trip includes exploratory runs. On the way to Michigan, we found:

An Oregon Trail marker near York, Nebraska

Campground agility!

 

A Cow! Where else but Wisconsin

 












Then on to Michigan - where the lake was its wild and beautiful self and Petoskey reminded me of why I always feel like I'm going home when I return to the town where I grew up.

This trip, Hedwig and Magnus Park were our home base in Petoskey - which was just fine since Magnus is right on the shore of Little Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan close to many of the delights Petoskey has to offer. We got Hedwig settled in then headed straight for the beach.

Lots and LOTS of Petoskey stones 'round here

Speaking of beach, for a dog who is no fan of water, Taz thought the lake was the best entertainment ever!

Stick!!!!

I'm gonna get that wave!

We're having some fun now mom, eh?!

Just a few blocks from Magnus, we find our house (where, yes, we started the rehab effort: picked out paint, carpet, tile, bathroom fixtures, a handyman and an electrician)! And just another block or two away: a duck family at the waterfront! the river heading toward the lake!

Additional delights of the town:  kite flying at the waterfront, Petoskey stones galore,  fresh blueberry pie, giant canoes, and doggie water bowls thoughout the town! 

Even with all of these activities, we did not forget Kendall's birthday. We started with a lovely walk along the trail along/above the bay, had lunch at one of his favorite restaurants - Legs Inn with both views and Polish food that just can't be beat, and our eldest treated Kendall to a gift certificate to our favorite Petoskey bookstore. A good day!

Part II is up next! Until then, I'll leave you with a sunset picture, because, after all,  a photo essay of Petoskey is not complete, without a sunset picture (or two):