Tag: travel

Sarett Nature Center
Adventures

Sarett Nature Center

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We went to the Sarett Nature Center when we went to the west side of Michigan for Memorial Day. I just haven’t found the time to post about it yet. It was small, but had some really cool trails. There was even a small low ropes course in the woods! Here’s the website and some pictures.

https://sarett.org

We were greeted by the animal tracks from the featured picture, a loud bullfrog, and two buckets of carnivorous plants. (Listen, no matter what the Husband says, I was not attempting to push him into the bucket of carnivorous plants. He just happened to be standing next to it.) These were a type of pitcher plant. I think maybe we need to plant some around our house to eat all the mosquitos.

These were different tree rings from Michigan trees. The one at the bottom showed the age of the tree when historical events happened. It was really big!

These were Indigenous artifacts used by the tribes in the area. They had a nice display about the tribes and land they occupied.

They also had some skulls and other things. These were a moose and a white tailed deer.

There was an owl suspended from the ceiling in the bird and butterfly viewing area, which startled me a little. It kept turning, so it was hard to get a good picture. I enjoyed learning about the native birds and the ecosystem.

There were also some creatures! This is a chameleon and they had some turtles, frogs, and other lizards, as well as bugs.

Look at the long legs on that turtle on the right! Who knew they were so leggy? Kinda freaks me out, if I’m honest.

This iguana was super grumpy and judgy. I think I messed up his nap or something. 🙂 He had a very distinguished name that I now can’t remember, so maybe that’s just his normal resting face.

We even got to play in the woods before walking the trails! They had a cute little ropes course along the side of the trail that we climbed on. I’m super paranoid about poison ivy after getting it last year, so I wasn’t as brave as I could have been, but I kept seeing it along the side. The parts I did go on were really fun though!

We had a really good time. You’ll see some more pictures from the Nature Center in a tree picture post shortly too, but I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing these. It’s definitely motivated me to find some more nature centers and see what they have to offer!

Simple Sundays · Uncategorized

Simple Monday- Adventure

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“As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was about to happen.” -Winnie the Pooh

“Adventure is worthwhile in itself.” – Amelia Earhart

“The world is not in your books and maps, it’s out there.” -J.R.R. Tolkien

“I think it’s my adventure, my trip, my journey, and I guess my attitude is, let the chips fall where they may.” – Leonard Nimoy

“Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.” – Edwin Powell Hubble

“Our obligation is to give meaning to life and in doing so to overcome the passive, indifferent life.” – Elie Wiesel

Thoughtful Thursday- Ice Cream Edition
Wordless Wednesdays

Thoughtful Thursday- Ice Cream Edition

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The featured picture is the good luck ice cream for the wedding, gelato from a local place near the wedding. 🙂 The Husband had Salted Caramel and I had Italian chocolate chip.

So the ice cream shop- Fenton’s, featured in the last scene in “Up” was in Oakland and we, of course, had to go.

Cookie dough for the husband.

Chocolate pb crunch for me.

Enormous banana split for the SIL’s friends. I snuck some of the strawberry ice cream and it was yummy! My inlaws had mint chip and strawberry milkshake. The SIL’s boyfriend had a strawberry banana milkshake. They were all really good. 🙂

Stay tuned tomorrow for a post about tea!

Wedding and Trip Wrap Up
Life Posts

Wedding and Trip Wrap Up

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Well, I’m ready to go back on vacation. I came home to a bigger tire bulge, a note rejecting my professional disclosure for my license, snow flurries, and a car that refused to shift for half a mile or so on my way home tonight.

I handled the snow by defiantly wearing Christmas socks in April.

I know how to fix the paperwork and it will get sent back tomorrow, and my car will get looked at on Friday. I have long days at work to make up for my week off, so that’s the soonest it can get fixed. Send help. Or new cars…

We had a fairly uneventful trip back. We had to wait for what seemed like forever for the plane to take off and then again to get our bags. Fancy was super wiggly and excited to see us. Fancy got a cute new collar and a new chew toy, a red stick. This one crinkled by means of a tube of plastic sandwiched between two soft rubber tubes. There are no pictures because my ever so smart dog ripped off the top and pulled out the inner tube to completely dismantle it. Here’s her collar though. 🙂

We had a lovely time at the wedding. Here are a few pictures from the event. It was at a vineyard and luckily, was just dry enough for the ceremony to be held outside. The vines weren’t ready and I was honestly too short to get a good view without a huge fence in the way.

It was a very joyful and fun wedding. The Husband’s cousin got married to a lovely girl and they had a couple of Jewish traditions that I hadn’t seen done before, including the chair dance and the breaking of the glass. The chair dance was crazy to watch and I was very glad it wasn’t me! The chair holders were strong though, so there were no worries.

Another thing I’ve never seen before was a painter painting the first dance live! I wasn’t sure we were allowed to take pictures of that though, so I didn’t. It was a beautiful sight though! The happy couple will have the picture hanging in their stairwell.

There were candles everywhere and everything was gold, pink, white, copper, and shimmery.

I found a Pixar playset at Disney and I put it in my office today. Some of my kids have already enjoyed it.

I also went to the Renegade Craft fair in San Francisco with my MIL, SIL, and cousin in law and her mom. There were so many cute things there. I got a cat toy shaped like a wine bottle for our dog sitter who’s cat also had to put up with Fancy for the week. 🙂 I came home with some vintage earrings and these adorable popsicles that I thought might make my summer much more fun.

I kind of wanted this entire booth. She had these enamel jewelry pieces that included stars, hot air balloons, “happy pills,” and adorable lightbulbs that you plugged in to close them. They were the cutest thing! Here’s her website. Try not to buy everything!  I should get to bed though. Have a good night!

http://virginiemillefiori.com/

Travel Food
Life Posts · Recipe Roundup

Travel Food

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I am a newer social media convert and still think it’s still silly to take pictures of restaurant food, but the desserts I’ve had have been so delicious and adorable, that I tried to get over it. 🙂

On our Disneyland day, we were lucky enough to attend the California Adventure Food and Wine Festival and it was so much fun.

We fell on the food like starving beasts though, so I didn’t get pictures. We also had some friends of my sister-in-law with us too and I didn’t want to be weird. I should probably work on that…

We tried to have something from every booth, but missed a couple. My inlaws had wine, but I was too thirsty for that.

Here’s a list:

– Korean BBQ beef short rib tacos from LA Style, which were delicious! I think they had pickled cabbage on top.  The meat was so tender!

– White Cheddar Lager Soup in a Sourdough Boule from California Craft Brews. I didn’t eat this, but apparently it was good. The Husband didn’t enjoy it, too much beer flavor.

–  Jalapeño Popper Mac and Cheese, Sustainable Salmon Peruvian Poke with Cucumbers and Salsa, Lime Margarita with Jalapeño Garnish from Peppers Cali-Ente.

The drink was not the greatest and not worth the price. 🙁 The poke was delicious, according to the inlaws, and the mac and cheese was lovely and creamy. It had bacon!

– Sparkling Wine Tropical float from California Uncorked. This was interesting, but also kind of weird. My sister in law thought it was too sugary. My MIL got the wine flight too.

– Strawberry Pineapple Float with Strawberry Popping Pearls from Strawberry Patch. This was very refreshing drink. It didn’t taste heavy at all. I was surprised that I liked the pearls, but they had a little extra strawberry juice in them. My SIL and the Husband also liked it too.

– Crispy Orange Chicken & Rice with a Garlic Cracker and the world’s biggest Meyer Lemon Macaron from Citrus Grove. Seriously, this cookie was about 4-5 inches across and had raspberry jam in the middle as an extra surprise!

– Grilled and Chilled Artichoke Hearts with Romesco, and Fried Artichoke Carbonara from I ❤️Artichokes.  These were both good. The carbonara gave me heartburn. I think it might be time to admit that bacon and I are not friends… I had it tonight again and it gave me some trouble.

– Salt and Beer Vinegar Parmesan Chicken Wings from Cluck-a-doodle-moo. I didn’t eat these, but was told they were very good.

– Shrimp Boil Tacos with Andouille and Caramel Corn Crispy Treat from Off the Cob. The crispy treat was not satisfying. It was a little too bland for me. I didn’t think and ate the tacos, so the andouille may have contributed to the heartburn. They were good though.

– Creamy Mac and Cheese with Garlic Bread Crumble and a Black Garlic Soy Braised Pork Belly Banh Mi. I liked the jalapeño popper mac and cheese better. This one wasn’t as creamy. I looked on sadly while other people got to devour the banh mi. It smelled amazing and was delicious according to everyone else.

I also got these cute macarons from Kayla’s Cakes. 

I picked six flavors to try. The unicorn was vanilla, the grey starry one was salted caramel.

I also got an oreo cheesecake one, raspberry, peach Bellini, and of course, Belgian chocolate. So far they have all been delicious. I’ve been eating them for breakfast. 🙂 We also had ice cream, but I don’t have that picture yet. 🙂

Today it was raining and gross while we explored San Francisco, so we stopped for an ice cream break at Ghirardelli Square.

I had the small one in front- Muir Woods Black Cherry sundae, the Husband and MIL had the Ocean Salted Caramel sundaes, and my FIL had a Salted Caramel Shake.

My goal is to eat ice cream as often as possible. We have a gelato place picked out tomorrow already. 🙂

Our dogsitter told us Fancy is being very good and is a fantastic snuggler, so although we are missing her, she is well taken care of. We also have a dog place picked out and will probably being home treats. 🙂

Tomorrow is a big day, so I should probably head to bed. Have a great weekend!