Riding Under a Canopy of Color

This past Friday my dad and I took our two Yamaha Raptor Quads up to Rose City to ride. My dad loaded up the four-wheelers in the morning and checked everything to make sure they would run correctly. We put them on the trailer behind his truck and were on the rode by 11am. We had an hour drive, which consisted of me doing homework and country music playing through the speakers. Finally, we arrived to the location where we would unload the quads and go riding from the dirt parking lot. My dad put on his four-wheeling clothes, and I slipped on my brother’s riding clothes. Since this hobby started out as my dad and brother’s thing, I use all of my brother’s things- including his quad, helmet, and riding gear. He doesn’t mind though, I’m sure he’s glad it being used while he’s at college. Plus, he’s coming back in two weeks to ride himself anyway.

Our first stop after getting all geared up was lunch at Dairy Queen. We rode our quads through some trails and side streets to get to our destination. We both ate chicken wraps, fries, and of course ice cream. After lunch was finished we headed back out to the parking lot where our quads were sitting. We hopped on and away we went riding for the next four hours. Together we escaped into another world of sand hills, woods, and blue skies. The vibrant fall colors were beautiful and I was felt like I was riding under a canopy of color all day.

As I was riding along and the humming sound of the quad was all I could hear I found my mind wandering into random places. My world has been so crazy for the past couple weeks that I haven’t had time to just sit and think about my life. It was refreshing to be able to process things that have happened, or are still going on, without someone interrupting me.

After riding four hours, we both decided that we were sore and it was time to head back. My right thumb that was pressing the gas was so stiff that every once in a while I would have to give it break and move it in a different directions that wasn’t pressing forward. My dad was in front and I was following him the whole time, I learned later that this resulted in me having a face full of dirt.

After we were done riding and all loaded up, we were driving in his truck down a rode and decided to turn into a bakery. We ended up buying an apple fritter doughnut. We both agreed it was the best one we have ever had, moist in the middle and crunchy on the edge.

I am so thankful for the adventure that my dad and I had this past weekend. I keep reminding myself to cherish these moments with him. I am lucky to have the dad that I do in my life.

A new hobby, it's called hammocking

This summer I discovered a new hobby. Thanks to my older brother and his best friend, who is basically another brother, I was convinced to buy a hammock. Not the kind of hammock that you put in your backyard and leave it there for years because it is too heavy to move. This kind of hammock that I recently purchased is made out of parachute fabric and fits into a small bag about the size of a super gulp from speedway. This makes it light and convenient to carry around on any kind of adventure. All you need are two trees or branches the right distance apart to hang up the hammock.

My friends and I love to go hammock at what we call “The Nest”. It is a tree that is about a ¼ mile hike from the Tridge in downtown Midland. The Nest is not a normal tree. This tree has big and little branches that wine and twist directly above the Chippewa River. I have been there with 12 people and nice hammocks, and I have also been there with just one other person. It takes a little while to get set up, as we have to climb out onto the braches to rope the hammocks and get them secured. But once we are all set up we like to chill, listen to music, talk, and just enjoy each other’s company while being in nature. This location is our favorite because there is something thrilling about hanging over water, instead of grass. People are always surprised to walk by and see a dozen teenagers hanging out in a tree. We look like caterpillars in cocoons.

There are different varieties of hammocks. There are doubles, which hold up to two people, and single which obviously only holds one person. I have been told that there is also a size bigger than a double. It may not seem like they would be comfortable, but the way that they form and stretch around your body makes them so comfortable. Some of my friends have actually slept overnight in their hammocks.

With my new hobby of hammocking, I am reminded that it is always good to try something new. If I weren’t open to branching out (no pun intended) I would have missed out on some of my favorite memories from this past summer. Because of hammocking I have had so many fun times and adventures that I would not have had normally.

Accomplishing my Goal

I have been traveling to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park in northern Michigan ever since I was born. I will probably be talking a lot about being in northern Michigan throughout these blog posts. Out of all the places I have visited, Sleeping Bear Dunes is one of my favorites. My Grandparents own two airstream trailers and a campsite about fifteen minutes outside of Traverse City. My family uses it as much as we can in the summer, which usually ends up being around six different times. Most of the time we will just go up for a weekend, but once a year we will stay in the trailer for a whole week. We never run out of things to do and always leave wanting to come back again.

It has always been a goal of mine to go down and back up a steep dune climb called Pierce Stocking. The bluff is about 450 feet above the lake level, and the angel to the lake is so steep that when you are standing on the edge you cannot see the shoreline. I have watched my dad go down to the lake and back up with our dog ever since I can remember. Tyler, my older brother, has been doing it also for about ten years now. It is a rigorous hike and many people have a very hard time climbing up the bluff. My mom and I have always been the ones in the family to stay back and enjoy the view.

At the end of this summer I finally gained up the courage to take the climb. My mom and I took three of my friends and traveled up north for a couple days. When we got to Pierce Stocking Dune Climb the two guys in the group decided to go down right away. My other friend and I were about to back out, but with the encouragement of the guys and our own determination we decided to make the run down. The way down the bluff is the fun part and we jumped, ran, and laughed the whole time. The climb up, however, is the difficult part. We would take a few steep steps up and our cave muscles would instantly start burning. Because it is sand, every step we took our feet would slide back down. After about 30 minutes, all four of us made it back to the top. It was just as hard as I expected it to be, but the reward of finishing my goal with three of my best friends, was well worth it. Later I told my brother and dad how I climbed the sand dune after years of them trying to convince me. They both were jealous that I did it without them. So, I have a feeling I will be doing it again next summer.

Through the Pierce Stocking Dune Climb I have realized how it is good to set goals in life. Not only set a goal, but also eventually work yourself up to accomplishing it. A goal in life helps keep us focused and gives us something to aim at. If you set a goal outside of your comfort zone you will grow as a person. A great reminder that Thomas Jefferson once said states, “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”

Why a Travel Blog?

Why did I choose a travel and adventure blog, you might ask? Well honestly, I don’t have one single reason why. Ever since I was little my parents have taken my older brother and I all over America and also into Canada some. Overall, we have traveled to more than half of the United States. When I say we have traveled somewhere that does not mean we just drove a car through it. We explore around the state to experience it fully. Our travels usually consist of everything outdoors and never staying in a hotel for more than one night. We like to go, see, and do everything we can in a couple states for one to two weeks. We have road tripped more times than I can count and have flown whenever we have saved enough frequent flier miles. Starting at a young age I caught the bug for adventure. I love to experience new things and places. I love to explore off the beaten path and ask the locals where their favorite places are. However, there was a time when I used to hate the hiking part of our adventures. The first time my parents took my brother and I to Manitou Island off of Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes Shoreline in Northern Michigan I was five. This island is not another Mackinac Island; it’s the exact opposite actually. Manitou is rural island with nothing on it. It has no grocery stores, no buildings except for a ranger house, and only one flush toilet near the boat dock. The first thing we had to do was take a little ferry from mainland to the island. Once we were on the island we each had to carry a big backpack to our campsite. Everything we were going to need for the next few days had to be in the backpacks. One of the three days we were spending there my parents told me we were going to hike around the whole island for the day. After hearing this news, being the strong-willed little girl I was, I refused to go. However, my parents remembered how I had begged for them to buy me a hat at a store on mainland the day before. This was not an ordinary hat; it was a straw-hat with little colorful embroidered flowers all along the edge. So being the wonderful parents that they are, they bribed me into hiking by promising me that they would buy the hat for me. As a little girl, that hat was a big deal, and I couldn’t give up the opportunity of my parents buying it. So, reluctantly I went along on the hike. This hike ended up being thirteen miles full of trails through the woods, steep sand dunes, and beach shoreline.  That is a long way for a little five year olds legs to carry her. Yet surprisingly, I enjoyed it more than I expected. Maybe that is because my Dad ended up giving me a piggyback ride for a majority of the hike and I didn’t actually have to walk the whole way. Or, it could be that I figured out that I actually enjoy spending the day hiking through nature with my family. Now I know what you are thinking, did my parents stick through with their promise and buy me the hat? The answer is yes. As my parents promised, they took me to the store with the straw-hat on the day we arrived back to mainland. I remember marching into the store very proud of what I had accomplished. I went straight to the back where I remembered the colorful flower hat hanging on a hook. My parents bought the hat for me and I had never been happier. The funny thing about this story is the fact that I never wore the hat after buying it. At least not out in public. It still baffles me why I never wore the hat. My mom suspects that it was because whenever someone would see me with it on I was so cute that I would get lots of attention. And because I have never been the kind of girl to want to draw attention to myself, I never wore it. I still have it up in my closet though, because I can’t bring myself to get rid of it. We have gone back to Manitou Island three more times since then. Every time we make the thirteen-mile hike around the island and laugh about the time I had to be bribed. I wouldn’t be who I am without my family’s love for adventure. Traveling together we have made some of my favorite memories. I would not love being outside as much as I do today if it wasn’t for them constantly encouraging me to do so. Maybe through this blog I can help you see how much not only our country, but also the state of Michigan there is to explore. I hope I can help you see how thrilling it is to get outside and go on adventures.