Friday, December 31, 2010

A birthday walk

Finch Creek
Queen Anne's Lace
Yesterday was my birthday!  Gary and I had the best guests, and we were able to sneak away for a couple of hours during the day!  We love to just pick a road and drive on it to see what we can find and where we will end up.  Our first lovely stop was on Finch Creek road, not far from the Inn and the Grass River Natural Area.  This creek, actually runs right through the Natural area.  It was just gorgeous.  I took several cool shots.

We continued down the road and ended up in Alden (the cutest little shopping town) and found a wonderful boat launch area that actually lets you see Torch Lake.  Most of the lake is surrounded by homes, and private property so it is quite significant when you find a place that actually looks over this beautiful lake.  Again the camera was ready.
Looking West on Torch Lake
The ice formations on some of the rocks were just awesome, had to get some shots of that as well.  Today we are in the 40's, and almost all of the snow is gone, so I am sure the ice is also long gone.
Torch Lake is well known for it's amazing azure blue waters, and even in the winter time is quite striking!  It may be hard to see in the photos, but even on a gray day, the turquoise blue waters were brilliant. 

Our last stop was the Grass River Natural Area.  This natural preserve is beautiful even in winter!  The trails were all nicely groomed for both snow shoes or cross country skiing!  We just had our winter boots on and we were fine.  It was so calm and quiet, very peaceful! 

Cool Fungi
But we kept running across these scary paw prints, any idea what kind of animal they belong to?  They were everywhere!
Mysterious Paw Print
Wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year!  We look forward to seeing you in 2011.

Gary and Jamie~your Innkeepers

2 comments:

  1. What beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing, and Happy Birthday!

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  2. Hi I'm your newest follower from Relax & Surf Sunday. This reminds me of my childhood home =)

    Follow back?

    http://cupofromance.blogspot.com

    Sandie lee

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