Camping take 2

Camping with our friends has become an annual event that both families have come to treasure. It started three years ago when the kids were five with a short, one night in fact, trip to Irish Hills. It was a trial run, the site selected because it was close to home in case of utter failure, but it went well and has spawned what we hope will be lifetime of outings. Last year and this year we set up camp in Wilderness State Park. Different from our July trip to Pictured Rocks, though, this is the kind of campsite you drive right up to, the kind that has electricity and water, and even camp communal flush toilets and showers. I love Wilderness. From just about every site you can see and hear Lake Michigan, there's swimming, there's hiking, and while it doesn't offer the challenge of the backpacking, it offers the kind of calm, relaxing, introspective vacation that I need at least once a year.

This year we spent three nights at camp. We built fires every night and roasted things like hotdogs, chicken, corn, marshmallows, and popcorn, and we make coffee. We ate granola for breakfast and peanut butter for lunch. We hiked the nearby trail around a pond and went in search of a geocache. We constructed in the sand and splashed in the water. We took day trips to Mackinaw City to try the putt putt course there and get a history lesson at Colonial Fort Michilimackinac. And for entertainment at the campsite, in addition to hangman and looking for the thirteen-lined ground squirrel, we watched the young (oh very young) couple who arrived at the neighboring campsite and unpacked everything from brand new, untested boxes, and proceded on their first camping attempt. It made us feel well-seasoned in our art, and gave us something to giggle about quietly.

hot dogs on our first night

waiting for water to boil for coffee

It's the Loch Michigan monster! Shall we call her Michi?

Colonial Michilimackinac

Colonial Michilimackinac

Mackinac Bridge from Colonial Michilimackinac

Love the red accents...those colonials sure knew how to decorate

A little muncher in the grains...

I shall call this: self portrait in an awesome window with red.

watching the ongoing archeaological dig in the center of the fort

talking to the "trader" in his trader's house

Red Coats (who wouldn't have been called red coats then) demonstrate the unreliability of their rifles.

Posing with the enemy

Fun and games!

Watching the blacksmith at work

Frolicking through the waves

Realizing that the little fish really do nibble your toes

Roasting corn

Geocaching

Putt putt

More frolicking

sand fort

new fangled hangman

marshmallows

more new fangled hangman

Ragtime

Greenfield Village has a Ragtime Street Fair every July. Tea parties on the lawn, Gershwin in the theater, and Joplin on the stage. We were drawn to the event last year by the promise of good food and music and weren't at all disappointed. In fact, we were so enthralled we knew right away that it would become an annual event for us. In another fact, Jon was so enthralled by the piano cutting competition that he decided to enter it this year, and he brought home the Ragtime Piano Cutting Contest title. He didn't bring home the Ragtime Piano Cutting Contest winner's pot, however, because they make those in the artisan shop right there at the village, personalized, and results are not instantaneous. It gives us something to look forward to in the mail.

And one more fact. This year Calvin was so enthralled by the piano cutting competition that he thinks he might enter it next year.

Video of the contest winning performance:

The Gershwin Revue

Schmoozing with Teddy Roosevelt on the campaign trail...

{Field trip} Lego Architecture Exhibit at The Henry Ford

We've known about the Lego Architecture exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum for more than three months now, but first the holiday season and then a variety of other things conspired to keep us away. That, and we kept forgetting. But sometimes procrastination can work in our favor, and after putting it off until the very last weekend, we ended up seeing the exhibit on the only day that the designer himself was actually there to lead tours, answer questions, and give autographs. The designer was fascinating, and we learned a lot about his process, and Lego's process as well. Plus he took the time to chat a bit with Calvin, as we were the last people in line for autographs. It wasn't as busy as I thought it might be, and the exhibit was inspiring. Plus, for all of the times that Calvin and I have been there over the past couple of years, Jon had never been to the museumeven once, so this was our chance to show him around.

{field trip} UofM Exhibit Museum of Natural History—Behind the Scenes Day

What was I just saying about having so many great field trip opportunities so close to home?

Rotunda

This one was only fifteen minutes away, which was a good thing when we were leaving the house this afternoon with only about that much to spare. The Exhibit Museum of Natural History at the University of Michigan has already become a favorite stopping point for us, but today they opened their wings and offered a special glimpse of their behind the scenes work as well.

bird specimen collection

There are a few things in this world that fill me with great warmth and joy simply at their mention. I'm sure this is true for most people—our minds tend to link the feeling of comfort with certain experiences, this being the basis behind the pacifier, the trusty blanket, a hug from a loved one, and, of course, comfort food. For me one of these moments was an entire semester, later in my college years, spent studying the object of my desire: evolutionary biology and animal behavior. I spent an obscene number of hours studying that term, and most of them were spent in room 303 in the Natural History Museum: the Museum Teaching Collection and Lab. Mere memory of that lab and its professors is enough to fill me with an inner peace and longing, a pang of nostalgia.

room 303

Calvin and I have been visiting the museum several times annually for a couple of years now. Of course he loves the museum. The countless hours we have spent pouring over books on prehistoric life are made real there, as are a number of rare and/or local species he has never seen alive himself. He loves the rotunda, and the selection of reading materials available in the small library on the main exhibit floor. We both enjoy the dioramas of ancient life, and the murals, which are ancient in their own right. And every time we visit I feel a pull from the authorized personnel only doors off to the side, or turning a corner in the specimen hall will fill me with nostalgia for days of packed lunches eaten on the benches there while pouring over notes on the identification of lagomorphs based on dental orientation, or something of the like.

in the exhibit museum

Today was a chance for me to return to those moments, and to share them with Jon and Calvin. The rooms looked the same and smelled the same and I could not contain the smile that crept onto my face when we entered them. We took four tours, the one in the bird and mammal wing being the most important to me, but we also toured the paleontology, invertebrate, and anthropology wings. Aside from rare views of rooms full of specimens, we were also treated to the exuberance of the true scholars of each field, professors and graduate students, all being thoroughly in love with their fields and more than eager to share their love with the public. Though the event was free, groups were kept to manageable sizes by requiring pre-registration and tickets, which also helped limit attendees to those were actually interested in an hour's worth of lecture on the subjects.

scarlet tanagers

in the mammal teaching specimen room

in the Paleontology wing—mammoth study room

in the basement...the Paleontology collection

in the mollusk wing

viewing a butterfly's wings under a microscope

a pretty private look in the anthropology department

Calvin says his favorite moment was the Paleontology tour, and possibly making a cast of a Clovis point in the anthropology wing. Jon, who had yet to even visit the museum with us, says he enjoyed everything. For me, the greatest moment was just walking into room 303, and getting to see the cabinet of bat specimens, my favorite creature of study from that year so long ago, was just icing on the cake.

Windy City

We're in Chicago for what is becoming an annual birthday visit. We came into town last night and enjoyed true Chicago deep dish pizza for dinner. Then today we had a late breakfast at our favorite local place before spending the rest of the afternoon at the Field Museum, per Calvin's request. Egypt, Tibet, the Pacific Islands, biodiversity, evolution, and Extreme Mammals—we did it all. Afterwards? Pool, football on TV, relaxing, and great dinner.

Tomorrow? Zoo time.