Monday, June 1, 2009

A Scenic Drive

What kind of everyday adventurer would I be if I didn't take you on a nice scenic drive now and then? I like hiking more so I can see and discover new things than just exercise. Sometimes driving can serve the purpose of discovery just as well or even better. After all, I wouldn't be able to get to my hiking spots without driving there.

Today I decided to see if I could drive through one of my favorite driving spots, Hines Park, and see if I could drive from end to end. I'll do a park profile of this place some time in the future, but for now I'll tell you that this place goes on for many miles. To drive from one end to the other, you'll pass through several cities. I did that today.

This park is a road with smaller park areas on the sides through the whole thing. The purpose of the place is to have a scenic drive. I know exactly where one end of this place is, but I'm not really sure about the other. I think I reached it today, but I'll have to actually look at it on a map to find out for sure. It has many false endings along the way.

This place has nature scenery on both sides the whole way through. There are also several types of wild animals throughout the park. Normally you won't see most of these animals because there are so many people here. I happened to see a few though.

While I was driving through here, there was a deer running along the right side of the road. The poor thing was terrified of all of the human activity and was a little panicked. There was nothing I could do for it except to drive by and leave it alone.

I did my best to get a few pictures of it before it came to its senses and ran into the forest, but it's not easy when you're in a moving vehicle trying to maintain the speed limit. I hoped to get a few close shots, but in the end I got the one you see here. At least I got it at all. It was just when the deer slowed down and began moving towards the trees to safety.

I traveled many miles and saw many more animals. At least there were no skunks. This place is full of skunks, and the smells can get really bad if somebody runs one of them over because they're not paying attention. The lakes and rivers here were absolutely full of geese and other water birds. I didn't stop to get any pictures this time though.

If you look closely, you can see some motion blur from my moving vehicle in the trees in this last picture. I drove past parks. I drove past lakes and rivers. And I drove through forests. This was like a fun hike, but on wheels. The trail was much bigger than usual for me, but I got less exercise doing it.

I wouldn't want to do this every day because I like to get out and move around while I explore. But this was fun for a Sunday afternoon. Many of you can do the same thing and have a great time doing it. And some of you can imagine this wonderful journey through my pictures. You're all welcome to come along.

14 comments:

  1. I love driving.... fast :)
    It somehow relaxing.

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  2. I love drives like that. It is so much fun and there is always something to see.

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  3. That is a beautiful scenic drive you had, and it would be perfect for me if there is some place to pull over to park and explore! Glad you have a fun time!

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  4. When I was a little girl, we took Sunday afternoon drives in the country every week. My father had a big Buick convertible and if the weather was nice he would put the top down and let us ride up high on the back and sides. ( We went quite slowly, of course.) Every kid in town loved these rides so we always had a car full of extras as well as our large family. Beautiful memories.

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  5. I must say that I too like a nice scenic drive every once in awhile. That actually sounds good right about now. I'm so glad I found your site, I'm really loving it!

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  6. As much as I love hiking, I also love to just get in the car and drive back roads. My mom and I used to do it and call it "trying to get lost." Once we almost did!

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  7. My greatest discovery from your drive is the blue sky in the first picture.It is so beautiful in contrast to the greenery,

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  8. Our vacation is always road trips :) we combine scenic drives and hiking, and we love it, better to do it now when we still can drive and hike :)

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  9. Thanks for the ride Ratty. I miss them.

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  10. There is nothing as relaxing as a Sunday drive through beautiful forests.

    SQ

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  11. Thanks for visiting my blog, squirrels are often featured in my blog, usually The Road to Here. We have a species of squirrel that is only seen on the West Coast, the Douglas squirrel. You can see them at http://squirrelqueen2.blogspot.com/2009/05/just-few-friends-for-fun.html

    they are in other post but this one is just photos. Thought you might find them interesting.

    SQ

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  12. We do a combination...we ride on some really rural woods roads, and if I see something interesting, we stop and get out and hike a bit and take photos and then come back to the car and continue doing the same thing. That's how I found the turtles and waterfalls to photograph for my blog. It is fun to go on an unknown adventure that way!

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  13. Vanilla - I like driving fast too but I'm too close to a big city, so I usually have to drive slower because of the other traffic.
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    Kallen - It can be as fun as a walk in the forest, and sometimes you see even more on a drive.
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    Icy BC - There are plenty of places to pull over and explore here. The road, Hines Drive, starts in Dearborn, just west of Detroit. Some of my pictures from other posts were taken from places along this road.
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    Mother Goose - You obviously had a big car and a small town. It sounds like a wonderful combination for a drive like this.
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    Lauren - Drives like this are fun aren't they? You should go on a nice drive as soon as you can. It's sometimes as good as taking a hike.
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    Sharkbytes - Me too. My family always did the same thing. My mom loves this kind of thing too. Being lost is sometimes one of the best parts.
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    Rainfield - That blue sky is the reason I used that picture first. I love it too. I'm glad you noticed it.
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    Betchai - That's how I do it too. This time was mostly a discovery drive. I'll go back and probably stop at every place along the way.
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    Ginnymo - I thought of you when I wrote the post. I'm glad you liked the ride.
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    SquirrelQueen - Exactly, seeing all that nature going past is one of the greatest feelings.

    I've been curious about Douglas Squirrels. I'll definitely take a look at them.
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    The Retired One - I usually do it that way too. This time was late Sunday afternoon so the park was very crowded. I'll make more stops when the place is a little emptier than it was.

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  14. It is lovely to take a scenic route. I am lucky on the island of Cyprus, there is always one for me to enjoy.

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