And home again

This morning we had a nice breakfast at the Carroll House Cafe, then went back and packed our stuff and checked out of the inn.

We got to the Sanctuary at The Ridges about the time they opened up at 9:00 a.m. and spent some time in the morning cool and damp walking on the trails. As advertised, the ecosystem is quite diverse. We walked through a normal mix of deciduous trees into a section of quite dense cedar growth which eventually opened up into tall pines. Because the area is maintained in as natural a state as possible, when trees fall, they are left to decay and furnish nutrients to soil, other plants and beasties. So there is quite a bit of tangle. There was a lot of swamp and wetlands, too. This was all in the small section we traversed, a tiny part of the whole preserve. I took photos of trees (naturally) and of reeds and paths. I was most intrigued by the wide variety of lichens, mosses and fungi. So I include a bunch of fungus shots as well.

 Tom leads the way into the sanctuary

Trees and tangle

After crossing the plank walk through the reeds, Tom observes the wetland.

 What Tom observed

 Michael posing and trying not to squint into the sun ... unsuccessfully.

 Fun fungi

 And then the trail heads into the tall pines.

After forty-five minutes of nature, we headed further down the peninsula, passing a wayside marking the 45th parallel -- halfway between the equator and the North Pole. The wayside itself was closed -- one of the many we saw that have been shut down by our governor's cuts to the state budget -- but this is a photo of the marker that I found online.

Click on picture to enlarge.

More driving along the Lake Michigan and Green Bay and then we headed south back toward the Dells. More trees had begun to turn colors in the two days we were in Door County and there were some lovely trees along the way back.

Our final stop before home was at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh. I had been there with Steve Payne back in 1990 (I think), but this was Tom's first visit. It meant more to him because of his experience as a Green Beret paratrooper during the Vietnam War. There was a large airplane out front when we pulled up, and he said, "I jumped out of one of those." [Yes, this is the same man who did not want to climb a 75-foot tower on Tuesday.] I did have the opportunity to use a flight simulator and fly a small plane into a barn and into the top of some trees. This is why Tom does the driving when we travel.

We are now safely back home, feeding and petting the cats, who were well tended by Peg in our absence. It was a most enjoyable break and I look forward to more!