Another Outdoorsy Day

Last Saturday was one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. As dramatic as that sounds, I mean it.

What could be better than spending over seven hours in one of your favorite cities with one of your favorite humans? Not much. And on top of that, my friend and I even brought our fur babies along.

Cass and I met at Gallup Park in Ann Arbor a little after 12:00pm, and took Meadow and Linley on a long walk. They were as happy as can be when they reunited (it’s been a couple months since the four of us spent time together) and continued to act excited on the trails. While Linley and Meadow sniffed around and took some potty breaks, Cass and I caught up on all things work and goal-related, and shared some profound words of encouragement.

After spending some time at Gallup Park, we ventured over to Zingerman’s Roadhouse for an outdoor lunch. Aside from some excitement from the pups, they were on their best behavior and the four of us enjoyed sitting outside as we chowed down on some delicious food! Once the wind made it too cold to tolerate, we returned to the car for some more hiking at the Nichols Arboretum.

During quarantine, I discovered the arboretum as a plan B birthday destination. I’ve been there several times now – with and without Linley – but there’s something special about this place that makes it feel brand new every time I’m there. We were hiking in and out of the deep woods for another couple of hours at minimum.

Cass and I both LOVE being on the water and wrapped up our day kayaking on the Huron River. Meadow had never been kayaking before, but she did a great job and I never would’ve guessed it was new for her (Linley, of course, was acting like he owned the river)! We barely made it back to the park for kayak rentals in time, but we loved how our spur of the moment decision paid off. After another two hours well-spent, we returned to shore, returned our kayaks and returned to our cars.

I was tearing up on the way home (as was Cass). We’re both going through a wide variety of changes and turbulence right now, and being able to support each other unconditionally and spend the day bs-ing was something we desperately needed. We always pick right back up where we left off, and we’re already looking forward to our next adventure 🙂