Normally, if I have a hankering for craving ice cream, it’s on a hot summer day. But, not always. Sometimes, it’s just a craving for a form of comfort food.
Salty chips, cheese curds, or ice cream. Anyone of those on any day will do. Including an early, overcast, fall-ish kind of day, like it was yesterday.
I actually spent the majority of my weekend in the woods.
On Saturday it was for a 5k charity race through the woods and mud. We, me and a friend, survived and ended the trek with a reward of a Bloody Mary, loaded with condiments, and a beer chaser, along with a basket of cheese curds. It’s Wisconsin…it’s what we do after we exercise.
On Sunday, Mr. knew I was feeling the extra 2 #’s I gained and suggested a walk through the park. He’s so wise!!
Our local park isn’t overwhelmed by other people at this time of year, it’s nice and quiet there. We saw a few young families who were on the path too. A perfect place to take a walk and see the beginning of the trees turning colors. The sugar maples are first.
Mr. and I took a leisurely stroll through Irvine Park, over the bridge to Erickson Park. We hadn’t been back there since our trip earlier this spring.
The construction on the site is done now, and the original dam remains intact. It’s a picturesque scene, do you agree?
Mr. told me the story of a classmate in high school who was unfortunately dumb enough to jump from the dam to land in the water below. He broke his neck, somehow swam to safety, but spent his senior year with a halo on his head to help heal from the wounds he’d have for life. Not smart. This dam gets slippery, slimy, and yucky.
Above the dam, in this spot right here…
there used to be an ice house that was fed from Glen Loch Lake.
Can you imagine having to trek through the woods to find ice to keep your food cold on the hot days?
The park is protected and kept alive for visitors due to the generosity of our community members. It’s a nice place to visit. Proper signage is up and so are the ‘security cameras’ – which, by the way, have absolutely no wires anywhere to be seen.
If the warning sign works – hang it.
We worked up an appetite and headed back over the bridge toward our car.
It was still chilly outside, but that darn craving for ice cream (Me: “I gotta have one more cone before winter arrives.”) drew us along the path on our way to lunch…
It was delicious – Olson’s Ice Cream is celebrating 75 years of serving up tasty, melt in your mouth, calories for anyone interested in a scoop of comfort food!
Post Inspiration – September dates with Mr – we’re celebrating 30 years together this month.
PS – What do you crave when the weather turns cold and your body says, you need some more fat on you for the winter? Is that just me? Guess what ice cream flavors we had? What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Have you ever jumped off a dam?
“It’s Wisconsin…it’s what we do after we exercise.” LOL. I’m sure the two pounds were mostly salt given the Bloody Mary and cheese curds. 😂
Fall is the absolute best time to walk in the woods. We are heading to Traverse City and the UP next week and plan to do the same. Cool, crisp and beautiful. Lovely pics, as always! And ice cream. Yeah, it’s never an off season for that.
LOL – I was hoping someone (aka, you) would confirm that it is the salt that added 2#’s!! So far that salt puff is hanging on for dear life.
Yes, I agree, fall walks are the best. The colors are so pretty. You’ve picked a great time to head to TC and UP. Enjoy your trip – hope you find some ice cream too (or a warm hot cider or pumpkin spice latte! – there are no calories when you’re on vacation!). Thank you for your encouragement, I appreciate hearing from you!
Oh, I love the path and the bridge, and the ice cream.
Thank you, Dan – it was a sweet treat for us too!
Feeling a little jealous- I’m in Florida so it’s pretty much summer year round except for the 3 weeks of cold weather we call winter but northerners would call fall. Also envious of the beautiful park and walking trails. Again, Florida. We have swamps. Thanks for sharing the photos- gives me something to daydream about today.
Aw, Lisa, thank you for sharing your thoughts – I’m glad I was able to share some scenes to daydream about. Believe me when I tell you this, in the middle of the winter, when we have 3-6 feet of snow, I’ll be a little jealous of your weather in Florida!
Such pretty woods! I like that dam but would never jump off of it. And happy anniversary guys!
Thanks, John. It is a wonderful park area. The Irvine family donated the land and started the funds for the park and required it to remain free for all for eternity. Thanks for the anniversary wishes too! 🙂
Ice cream is a year round treat as far as I’m concerned. Same with popcorn. Comfort food in the cold weather would be more like mac and cheese or soup. Great photos of your adventures in the woods. That bridge is gorgeous. Such an interesting park to explore!
Those ice-cream cones do look delicious!
Moose Tracks is my favourite flavour…but that could just be a BC thing!
Wishing you and Mr. a very happy anniversary!
Thank you, Donna – they were delicious cones. This family owned company makes a variety of flavors depending upon the season. My cone was caramel apple pie and Mr. had the raspberry creamcheese. Moose Tracks sounds like a flavor Mr. would enjoy! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and wishes, it’s always a pleasure to hear from you!
Looks like strawberry swirl and butter pecan ice cream. I like any flavor ice cream, but the one I tend to have the most is plain ol’ vanilla. It goes so well with pie… (And now you know why I have such a weight problem…)
Thank you for guessing John. You’ll like my answer on the cone I had, it was caramel apple pie and Mr.’s cone was raspberry creamcheese. I’m with you on the plain ol’ vanilla, or with vanilla bean specks. I’m normally not a sweet eater, but when I do – ice cream and pie is a nice treat! I’ll be by your blog today to see what you’ve got in store for Tuesday!!
Thank you for sharing photos from your trek, Shelley! I love the view. What a treat! Your ice creams look yummy. My favorite is pistachio.
You’re welcome, Winnie – thank you for sharing your thoughts. Ooo…I haven’t had that flavor for a really long time. I bet our ice cream store will make that later this year. It may mean another trip there before the end of the year. My thighs thank you………..! 😉
My pleasure, Shelley! Oh! It may take awhile for you to buy one.
🙂
What a beautiful park Shelley and I could so get into trekking through it. How sad the young man did the jump at the dam, a move he would regret the rest of his life. I liked those touches of red in the trees – that was what stood out in my trek through Council Point Park the other day when it was still chilly – the vibrant leaves, the subtle glimpses of what is in store for us. The ice cream looked delicious! I’d say butter pecan for you and maybe strawberry or rhubarb for Mr.? I like butter pecan too – not had ice cream in awhile but we have Calder’s Dairy nearby and there ice cream is pure cream, very good – milkshakes thick enough to stand a spoon in them. Congrats to Olson and you and Mr. on your anniversaries!
Yes, you’d love this park! The trees changing is a fun time of year around here. I love all the colors, I hope we get a variety. Some years it is mostly browns. Blah.
The ice cream was great – we went with seasonal flavors (mine was Caramel Apple Pie and Mr.’s was Raspberry Cream Cheese).
Thank you for your thoughts and wishes!!!
I love the color change and I signed up for a two-hour cruise out of Lake Erie Metropark October 19th – it was touted as a chance to see the Fall colors on Lake Erie and near Detroit and this is prime time for raptor migration. I think mid-October would be the best time for color here in the Lower Peninsula – hopefully Mother Nature cooperates and it is not stormy. Last time I took a a cruise on this boat, August of 2018, it was predicted to be stormy late in the day – it was a 2:00 p.m. cruise (two hours) … it was a few weeks after the duck boat incident and drowning. It was a nice cruise, no bad weather at all … the weather makes me fitful so hopefully it is nice. Great choice of ice cream flavors. I was going by the colors. Calders only strayed to Pumpkin Cheesecake for their seasonal flavor. They are well known for their New England-style eggnog – you can stick a spoon in it and it’ll stand up in the eggnog.
Me too – love the changing colors. We’re seeing some of it now, I hope that it stops raining and blowing so much so that we get to see the trees change colors.
Ooh…pumpkin cheesecake sounds yummy. I like eggnog too. For a Tostitos fan, I’m sure showing my sweet tooth as of late (not succumbing to it, just flashing it!)
We have a rainy day today – it was not supposed to rain until later in the day, then storm, but the rain came earlier by 8 hours – how are all the weather folks wrong? I will try for a walk later in the morning but hope is fading fast. I have plenty to do inside and am sorely behind in Reader after yesterday’s lengthy post.
The weather folks can’t predict squat. That’s my take on them! I hope the weather permitted a walk for you and that you got some of your chores done that you wanted to get done.
No, they can’t and they used to do better before they had three or four different models … and when they scr*w up they say “the models were conflicting and I went with the European model as it is usually more accurate.” A poor excuse … if we messed up like that we’d be out the door. It rained here most of the day and I just stayed in and did housework. It stopped raining but looked iffy – of course I’ll regret it if I come up short at year end and say “you should have gone back on 09/15!”
I agree – their job security amazes me! You’ll meet your goal, I’m positive you will!