hey Tarabull!!!!

“I saw you were from SE michigan . Whereabouts? Joy and I are in Livonia.Lots of michiganders here.”

“Spent the first 7 years of my life in Detroit. Then my parents moved us to West Bloomfield! I've been living here for 20 years. I really love living in Michigan. Wouldn't mind moving a little more north, but the job keeps me here for now!”

“P.S. I assume you've done a lot of Michigan backpacking... What are your favorite hikes? I need some good long weekends this summer!”

“Hi Tarabull! I think there are enough of us in the area for some group hikes. Would you be interested?

In fact, is anyone free for a nice long dayhike this weekend? I'd like to check out some of the trails in the northern metro area.

Good place for a long weekend: Bruce Peninsula NP in Canada. It's about 250 miles from Detroit and is a really good 3 day weekend.”

“I don't know of many hikes in the northern metro area. In fact, I've only done two backpacks in Michigan - North Manitou Island and Porcupine Mountains. Was considering the Jordon River, but I don't know much about it.
What part of northern metro are you thinking?
I will be spending this weekend (and part of next week) in Colorado.
What part of metro detroit do you call home?”

“There are a lot of really good dayhikes in Metro Detroit - surprisingly. I was thinking of Brighton Rec. Area (at least 15 miles), Bald Mountain (15 miles), Highland (15+ miles), Holly (40+ miles). Some of these, I think could make for some overnights. Of course, it's not wilderness.

I live about 30 minutes SW of Ann Arbor in the Irish Hills. I almost live in the Waterloo-Pinckney Rec. Areas.

I've met Birch and Joy before and I could pull my sister out on a group hike.”

“I guess I never thought to backpack close to home. I'm only 15 minutes to 30 minutes from the parks you mentioned. Probably would be a good idea to explore the areas closest to home!

I've been to Waterloo-Pickney. Did a dayhike there w/ my boyfriend and dog. Nice. However, we camped in "modern" campground cause the 'rustic" ones weren't open for the season. There were tons of kids and noise. Next time, we'll wait until the rustic sites are open for the season.

Thanks for the earlier tip on Bruce Peninsula. I'll check out some websites about it.”

“Reformed, If I dont have to woek on saturday, joy and I would be up for a hike. Abby would join us too. Where are you thinking? Can we bring our dogs?

Tarabull, its good to have another neighbor here. Jordan River is great we are headed up over memorial day. Also the Manistee River footpath...do a search on the www for "michiganbenchmark" tons of good trail info. Hope to meet you soon. hyperpacker/birch”

“Hyper,

You mentioned wanting to hike at Island Lake. I hiked the east loop in January. Maybe the west loop? BTW, they have a canoe only campground. I'd like to see if I could find a way to walk to it - possible backpack spot.

I also had my eye on Highland Rec. Area. It's supposed to be pretty hilly.

Or, if you want to bring a stroller, we could hike the marshes at Pointe Mouillee. Nice views of freighters.

Dogs are not a problem and Saturday sounds good. I'll look at my books tomorrow to get some more concrete ideas. How long of a hike would you like?”

“No stollers Reformed! We've got a dandy backpack with a kidcarrier attached for Abby. The only drawback would be an occasional (every two-three hours) pit stop for a bottle and a change. Sounds like Hyper's gonna be working though and we're busy in the evening. :^( We'll know for sure tomorrow.”

“Hyper - I've gone x-country skiing and horseback riding at Highland, but never actually hiked it. It is very nice though. There's a couple lakes and nice scenery.

Hyper - I checked out the Michigan Benchmarks website you mentioned. Its great.

Looking forward to meeting/hiking w/ all of you!”

“Well I am working. So I wont be there, I think Joy may though. Have fun, I will make itb next time.”

“Joy, I'll e-mail you off site to see if you still want to go without Hyper or Tarabull.

And if any SE Michigan lurkers are out there, it is time to reform.”

“Tarabull, We're working on setting up a dayhike, (not this weekend). Email me at joenjoyharvey@msn.com if you'd be interested in joining us. We're thinking maybe the 2nd of June. We'd like to meet another MI hiker and Reformed knows all the good spots to dayhike down here. If we all gang up on him he might share his secrets :o).”

“Joy - I just sent you an email. Look forward to hearing from you.

P.S. I forgot to mention this in the email: I am going to Colorado tonight for 5 days so I won't be checking emails/TT until the 24th.”

“Lizs posted this on the "Get Up" thread:

"Have you been out traveling through Michigan all week? Nonconformist and I drove through a campground last Monday. We drove by a woman camping alone and I commented to him that I thought she sorta looked like your pictures. I wonder if it was you...? Did you happen to camp on the Lake Michigan shore last Sunday or Monday?”
tarabull
9:12:07 PM
8/13/06”

...I somehow missed your post when I was in Michigan...it was a pretty traumatic trip in parts...anyway, The answer to is "yes"...I camped at the Lake Michigan recreation area, near Lake Brevort, on both Sunday and Monday night...Aug 6 and 7...

Sounds like a close encounter of the third kind, doesn't it...LOL..”

“Very close---I think we drove right past you TWICE! Do you recall a stunning minivan with a blue kayak on top? Tarabull said, "hmm, that looked like mataharihiker?"”

“Hey this reminds me Tbull and Noncom. I don't think I'm going to be able to stop by when I fly through the UP on my way to the Boundary Waters. I was looking at my map and I'm coming through on rout 2 which puts me all the way down by Escanaba (ya know, like, by da moon light?).”

“Let us know the dates anyway....my dad lives in Gladstone (right near Esky) and that's where we've been spending a lot of time.


(only if you can, of course.....I know how trips like that can be. BTW, hope you have a great trip!)”

“Yes, as a matter of fact I do believe I remember seeing a mini-van with a kayak on top that went by twice...I remember wondering where they were going kayaking...you shoulda stopped and asked if I were me...I'm always doing that although none so far have been me...LOL...still, it's a good way to meet people!

Should anyone ever see a white Saturn 4 door with a spoiler, an off-white Sears rooftop carrier and a bike rack coming off the rear hitch, that's Mata's
rolling Smithsonion of Camping...I think that's what The Lorax calls it...sometimes I'm also towing a kayak with a green cover although the kayak is yellow and black...you can never have too many toys!

I wish you hadda stopped...bad Tara!”

“Hey Tara and Nonc, hows living the good life going?

I have a UP / NCT trip posted here for Sept.15-17, if your interested?

Peggy may be joining, but I / We might have to change the dates to accommodate her?

Hope you find success and happiness in the UP?”

“i love my tarabull!!

(and you're ok, too, noncon! heehee)”

“"So far away....
Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?
It would be so fine to see your blah blah blah blah...
And it doesn't help to know
You're just blah blah blah...blah-ha-ha-ha blah blah blah...blahblahblah

Travelin' round shore gets me down and lonely.
Nothin' else to do but close my mind.
I shore hope the road don't come to blah blah

Blah blah blah...



Sentimental moments seem to slip by me very quickly these days. Blah blah blah.”

“Mata - Ya know... I really did think about it but then figgered it prolly wasn't you. A few more minutes down the road, I wished I had stopped... just in case!

NCT - Life is good, albeit hectic and all that. Thanks for asking! I'll watch the NCT hike on the trip page. Doesn't look likely but ya just never know.

Yam - I love you, too!

Wolfeyes... Awwwwww :-) Say, got any nights off this weekend??”

“Unfortunately, no nights off until next Thurs. and Fri. And I am still battling this cold that I have now had for 9 days as of today. I talk funny, too.”

“*chuckle* at wolfie. :-)

blah blah blah...

Sure would like to drink a beer or two with you.”

“Tara, how's the job search going????”

“(and you're ok, too, noncon! heehee)”
yam
10:25:01 PM
8/17/06



Okay? Just okay?

I suppose you're not too bad yourself---for a dork.”

“Still searching, smiley. I'm hoping to interview for a third grade position next week...”

“Are you still around??

Thinkbubelz' band, "Ask Alice" is working on the possibility of playing on Mackinac Island this spring... At the moment, the word is that they may be playing on May 23 & 24, which may be Memorial Weekend.... If that's the case, it might be fun to see if we could meet up that weekend.... :-)

It may be too hectic for us to do any type of hiking that weekend, but we'd love to see you on Mackinac Island if you're around!

I've been in and out of TT lately, so if you are still around, please send me a note!!! :-)

Here's the site for his band:

http://www.myspace.com/askaliceband”

“Hi sweets!
Thought of you today when I read:

Great people talk about ideas
  
Medium people talk about things
  
Small people talk about other people.”

“You talkin' about me?

I am grande, I wish I had ideas.”

“MarkO, you have plenty of ideas!!

Tara and I had just seen that saying when we were in Ireland. I think it's a classic.”

“Tarabull talks about yam all the time.”

“I hope she hasn't said how horrible I've been about keeping in touch lately!!”

“She says you're her favorite small person besides me.”

“such a small world”

“that tarabull, she's so small.”

“hey MarkO, I wish your strawberry jam was closer to Maine!!”

“Hey Mainer.”

“oh, and hey Tara!!!”

“Hi Yam.

Remember when we met Orlando Bloom and his brother, Dr. Bloom?

Smithwicks and Small People... Ahhh.... Ireland rocked!”

“Oh, hey Y2.”

“Hey fellow Mainer Y2. Will that be changing soon??”

“T-bull, maybe one day, in the near future, we can meet another Dr and Orlando Bloom, on a different continent. An icy one. : )”

“you know i'm in. should we be ambitious and aim for 2009?”

“hon, I'm all for it...and I already have week 2 planned, we just need to set up week 1! (unless we just wanna go ahead and do one week).”

“hmmmm... let's move this discussion to email. you know how tt gets all freaked out when folks start planning trips and don't invite the other 400 posters... lol”

“huh? That seems odd. Why would they do that? ; )”

“weak...........1 ?”