"A Walk in the Woods"

In the book “A Walk in the Woods,” by Bill Bryson, the author himself talks about his experiences while walking the Appellation trail. It is a wonderful read, filled with brilliant insight about society and nature. But my favorite part of the book was the stories that he came off of the trail with. In my opinion you can only read about someone describing how something looks and feels for so long before wanting to fall asleep. It is completely necessary to have good stories to keep every reader interested. And that is exactly what he did. I’m not a descriptive person when it comes to writing or speaking about something; which is why I would much rather take a picture. I don’t like to hear about people describing something’s beauty, I’d rather see it. A good story on the other hand I could read or listen to for hours on end. And his stories made you want to keep reading. It almost made me want to experience hiking the appellation trail for myself (almost).

              

 The things you would get to see and experience while doing something like hiking the appellation would be amazing. I would be most excited about the pictures I would get to take and the stories I would get to tell afterwards though. The using the woods as your toilet and the possibility of a being within 10 feet of a bear that isn’t in a cage also deterred me from the idea that hiking the AT would be a fun experience. That and the fact that my back hurts after walking the 15 minutes home from class while carrying my backpack full of books. If there were toilets, safer shelters and I didn’t have to carry a heavy pack I would probably walk part of the AT (probably).

           

 After experiencing the AT through the eyes of Bryson our professor decided that we should also go for a walk in the woods. We however drove 15 minutes to a nature center where we could leave our back packs in the car, and there were plenty of buildings with plumbing within a ten minute distance no matter how far you walked. This was much more my kind of “a walk through the woods.” Not to mention that we were only there for a little over an hour and had donuts and cider waiting for us after our short stroll.

           

 I will admit that getting away from the classroom was a great experience. Going to the Nature Center was not something I would have done on my own. Taking a break from technology for even an hour (well except my camera of course), is something I should do more often. There is a calmness about the trees that is really indescribable. The trees completely engulf part of these paths and only let the slightest bit of sun poke through. This allows you to escape from the hustle and bustle of a typical college students busy life and just enjoy being alive for a few minutes. It is something that each and every one of us should do more often. Whether it’s in the woods or by a lake or just in your own back yard, take a minute to disappear from the world around you. 

LAKE MICHIGAN UNDER THE MOONLIGHT

             Whether it’s summer, fall, winter, or spring, Lake Michigan is one of my favorite places to be. Some of my fondest summer memories are the ones that include being on or near the water. How lucky are we Michiganders to have so many fresh water beaches? Trust me, I've been to a beach on the ocean and I really think our great lakes give the ocean a run for their money. I love to lay on the beach and let the sun cook my skin until I’m so hot that I can’t take it anymore. I grab a boogie board that my dad so conveniently always brings along, and slowly wade into the ice cold water that is Lake Michigan. I let myself float out until I hit the buoy, and lay my stomach on the boogie board and allow the waves to carry me in to shore. I do this on repeat until I get bored, or cold and then I go back to bathe in the sun and start the process all over again.  Swimming in “The Lake” (as it is known to my family) is one of my favorite things to do when the water isn't cold enough to freeze my blood. But there is one thing that might even beat swimming under the sun, and that is swimming under the moon.

                Just this last summer a large group of us (around 12 people) decided we wanted to swim in Lake Michigan after dark. Some of our group had done this before and knew the path through the woods in order to get there.  Some ground rules were set before we took off. Pretty much if the DNR showed up it was “all for one and one for all,” meaning you better run and hide and hope they don’t shine a spotlight on you. We also had to stay very quiet. When we made it to the woods we formed a human train by holding the persons’ hand both in front and behind us. We walked through the somewhat hidden path behind stranger’s private property, only to have someone’s dog start howling in our direction. Luckily dogs do that sort of thing all the time and therefore it didn't draw too much attention to us. After about a ten minute not so quiet walk, we reached the shore of Lake Michigan. The reflection of the moon onto the water would have made for a beautiful picture. Unfortunately we decided technology was not allowed on this little adventure. Which was a good thing, because we didn't need anything creating any unnecessary light or noise to draw attention to ourselves.

                The water at night time is magical. The temperature of the air falls when the sun goes down, but the temperature of the lake remains the same. Therefore there is nothing to get used to. The water almost feels like a swimming pool. A lot of us didn't actually plan on going swimming. But once we were there and felt the water we all decided that we had to enjoy every aspect of Lake Michigan after dark. So most of us jumped into the water fully clothed and enjoyed what our wonderful Pure Michigan had in store for us that night.

                Thousands of people from all over crowd the beaches of Lake Michigan during the hot summer days, but few actually get to experience the beauty of the lake at night. This swim in the lake was unlike any other. It could have been because if we got caught we would most likely be fined. But I think it had a lot to do with the calmness of the lake under the moon and the stars. It’s unlike anything I have ever seen. If you ever have the chance to swim in one of the Great Lakes under the moonlight I would highly recommend it. 

Growing up in "Small Town USA"

               I was born and raised in a small town. To the people in surrounding cities we were all labeled as farmers; because we do have a lot of farm land where I am from. But only a hand full of families actually farm. One of those families happens to be my boyfriend’s family, so within the last two years or so I have spent a lot more time out in the country than ever before in my life. My mother however is not an “outdoorsy” person, so I have always lived in a neighborhood full of other families; and I am so grateful for that because I had so many friends to play with.  I would not change my childhood for anything. Living in a small town allowed me, my friends and my siblings the ability to roam freely through the neighborhoods, and play outside at our hearts content. We spent all of our free time playing outside. When we heard our dad whistle we knew it was time to go inside for supper. My fondest memories of growing up are all based around things us neighborhood kids would do together outside.

                Our summer times were spent outside on bikes, roller blades, and on our feet. I cannot count the number of walks we went on. Nor can I count the numerous times we would all hop on our bikes and ride a little over a mile away to our local ice cream parlor for a cold treat. When fall would approach the colder temperatures would not deter us from doing exactly what we did in the summertime. Only in the fall we would wear more layers. We enjoyed raking each neighbor’s yard and jumping in all of the leaves. The bitter cold winters had the ability to keep us glued to the television at times. But the day’s I remember best are the ones when the snow plow would come down our street and push all of the snow from our cul de sac onto the two sides of the “dead end street” (as we liked to call it). After the plow did the heavy lifting for us we would create the most epic snow forts. Even though I did not live near the woods or out in the middle of nowhere, I had plenty of Mother Nature to enjoy while growing up.

             

                  To this day there is nothing like being outside to me. If I am having a bad day I would much rather be outside rather than inside because everything just seems better when you are standing out in the fresh air. It has a way of making me feel like I’m at peace and not alone. A few years back I was at a bible study and we were discussing the verse Psalm 46:10, which reads “Be still and know that I am God.” And traditionally in a lot of churches people take that verse to mean go sit in a dark place alone with you and God. But we decided that the act of “being still” could look different for each person. One woman said it was when she was out in her garden. And as the years went on I have come to realize that “being still” for me is to be outdoors, in nature. I don’t have to be in the middle of the woods, but just the act of walking outdoors has that affect for me. Nature is peaceful and it really is a gift from God. 

Why am I writing this? And why are you reading it?

If you are reading this blog it is probably because you are also in the class it is for. This means you know exactly why I have created it, out of obligation. But just in case for some odd reason someone out there comes across it and wants to know what it is about, it is for a class that I am taking at the university I attend. I am a junior; but this is my first semester at GVSU. I am not an English major, so please forgive me if my writing reflects that (I hope it will not). 

The class is an environmental literature class. I am taking the course because it falls into two different categories of classes I need before GVSU will give me a diploma, thus killing two birds with one stone. There were however a couple of courses that fit in that same category, but this one sounded the most interesting.

As far as the writing thing goes, it's honestly not my favorite. I'm more of an "A picture is worth a thousand words" kind of girl. However I don't think just posting pictures is going to fly if my professor tells us to write a thousand words on a topic. It also won't fly when I have to write something in my chosen profession one day. So I will admit that the writing aspect of this class is important. (Side note: if anyone out there tried/ ever does try turning in a picture instead of a paper I would be very interested to know how that turned out, and as my prof always says "it would make a great blog topic.")

                        (Pictured is my boyfriend's parent's back yard) 

 I do however love nature. I wouldn't identify myself as a "tree hugger" or anything of that nature, but I am a lover of the outdoors. There is just something about being outdoors that makes me feel like I am not alone even if I am (more on that in a later blog post).

If you have read this and are still interested in following my blog, let me tell you a little bit about some of the topics I plan on writing about. Some of the topics will be assigned to us by our Professor, so at this time I am unable to divulge into what those will be. But for the posts where I have to come up with something on my own you will probably learn about some of my favorite places in nature to visit, or places that I would like to visit. You may also learn something about me and how I usually tie most things back to my faith. Or you might just learn about one of the books we are reading in class, because if I am being forced to read it I might as well make it useful and use it as a blog topic. Those are just a few of the things I might dive into while participating in our blog project throughout the semester. So if you are interested you will just have to check back later for the next post.