A Failed Attempt?

So after an afternoon of lazing around, reading and carefully avoiding the other work to be done around the house, my mother and I decided to get out of the house. We don't get to spend a lot of time together--harried car rides or rushed dinners are often what our time together amounts to although summer has afforded some more leisurely spent moments--so the idea of getting up to the state park in bay city seemed thoroughly amenable.

Except...no directions traveled with us, and after a good while of driving aimlessly through quaint lake-side communities and trying to find the public end of things, we were dead lost (along with just plain embarrassed to stop anywhere along the way and say that we lived twenty minutes away in Saginaw but had no clue where the darned park was).

So on our way to admit failure, and stop at the Tim Hortons by the highway, we found "State Park Rd." Hallelujah!

Got there with little difficulty, paid our fare, and trooped hopefully up a nice, shady path

to find our lazy dreams of walking along the water dashed--by warning signs for muck? pure delight to be sure.

Praying for some hope of a salvaged trip, we trudged on. One lone woman sat enjoying the dusk air fresh with a very animal-like smell (algae growth=abundant muck=manure smell? who knew?) and rowdy sounds reverberating of the shoreline from two dozen boats anchored in the bay.

Hmm...no?

But we turned around and walked back to some hiking trails we'd seen a while back. They, at the very least, were nice. It was good to talk and catch up with my mother, adorable children on bikes abounded, and the fresh air did us good. I also have a renewed vow to try another attack at walking every day--perhaps even jogging? The latter being something I actually love doing and find a great form of refreshment but usually refrain from if only for the appearance I give while doing--think Phoebe on Friends

Maybe.