Blogs from Lansing, Michigan, United States, North America

Sleepy Hollow State Park, Lainesburg, Michigan We left Ohio yesterday. We spent more than two weeks there in two different locations. We explored four National Parks - Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument, Dayton Aviation Heritage and Hopewell Culture National Historical Parks, and, of course, Cuyahoga Valley National Park. So that’s four bucket list items to cross off. And Joan adequately staged her rebellion with an exploration of the city of Dayton’s Art Institute and a bicycle ride down the Simon Kenton Trail. I suspect we are done now with Ohio, although we might pass through it someday to or from another section of the country. Our next Great Lakes state is Michigan. We spent part of a day here earlier when we drove up the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan, but this time we will ... read more

Biking on Michigan's Lansing River Trail This trail is a bit of a mish mash. From excellent surface to not so excellent. From completely rural to completely urban. The official length is 12.6 miles (20.5 km) Along the way you will pass Potter ·Park Zoo, River Walk Theatre, R.E. Olds Transportation Museum; Lansing Market, Old Town with Burchard Dam and an interesting Fish Ladder and finally the historic Turner Dodge House. In general, directions are good and there are frequent signs. When the trail sort of ended, I continued on and soon came to Michigan State Campus. It is easy to get lost (I did) The university has done a great job of marking the trails on the pavement, but obviously they were not thinking about visitors. A good portion of the trail is on constructed ... read more

Woke up one more time in confusion I listened for a room full of people snoring but heard nothing. I looked around and oriented myself again in Kelsey's apartment. Kelsey woke up not long after I did and I opted to skip breakfast because I wanted to get a few hours on the road before eating. We headed out together and after a hug goodbye our paths diverged again but I told her I have a spare mattress in my studio apartment that she is more than welcome to crash on if she is ever in Toronto. I want to take a moment to thank Kelsey. She is one of the nicest people I met traveling and I am so grateful for being able to sleep in apartment. I hope I didn't cause you too much ... read more

Update: THIS IS BLOG #100. WHOOHOO!! =) I just can't believe how fast time seems to be going by. I only have about a week and a half before classes start here and then two weeks until AFS in Seattle where I'm presenting some research. I'm really looking forward to seeing my family since I haven't seen them since Christmas. Things have been kind of exciting around here though. I moved into my very first apartment. It's a small studio, but just the right size for me. They even re-did the outside with all new paneling and the inside is a bright white with nice new appliances and carpet. The same day I got back from the field, I rented and drove my first UHAUL and moved ALL of my stuff in about 2 hours. I ... read more

This is going to be a very brief and short entry. I finally made it "home" today, back to Lansing and tomorrow it's back to the grind with lab work, experiment prepping, meetings, presentations, ordering stuff for the field, a car appointment, classes, and so much more. I left Juneau at a time to see the most gorgeous sunset and a beautiful goodbye from a dear friend. n Juneau, I made some great memories and some bad, made some great friends and lost some, shared late-night secrets and tears, but mostly lots of laughs. It's always going to be my happy place and when the day is long, I will always dream of sitting at the Shrine with the waves crashing against the rocks and the wind chilling me as it flattens my curly hair. And ... read more

Happy Darwin Day World! Yes it is February 13th and a day celebrating Darwin here in Spartyville. Actually, Darwin's 202nd birthday was yesterday and the 152nd anniversary of the Origin of Species, but the MSU Museum was celebrating today. So I dragged my friend along after bribing him with some breakfast and we took to the museum halls. After checking out some stuff on the 1st level, we headed upstairs and ran into the Graduate Women in Science where they had a stand where you could color a scientist and hang it up. A friend of mine and I are in this little group and she drew a funny picture of her staring a computer while I passed since someone already did an awesome fish one. Next we headed into the hall and ran into the ... read more