Who would have thought after traveling 1200 miles to paddle with John and Lois, my first river trip would end up with half the group being fellow Texans!
In attendance were my gracious host and hostess, John Heiam and Lois Goldstein, Tracie Lord, Leigh Baker, from northeast Texas, John Walton, from El Paso, Texas along with his lovely and amazing daughter Claire who is currently enrolled in a PhD program in math, at University of California - Santa Cruz.
The locals were in kayaks and the Texans were paddling canoes.
It was a beautiful sunny day in the upper 70’s, quite a relief from Texas where it’s currently in the triple digits. The river was beautiful, with wild irises and various other wildflowers in bloom all along the river. We saw several groups of backpackers hiking the adjacent trail above the river, and a few fishermen along the banks as well as drift boats, one of which was a beautiful wooden model. Wildlife sightings included a groundhog and a beaver.
It was a wonderful trip topped off with a stop for ice cream on the way home, yum! Then off to Interlochen to see the live show of Prairie Home Companion - a great intro to Northern Michigan.
Written by Leigh Baker