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Monday, June 22, 2009

A New Discovery

My new GPS that I mentioned in Saturday's post is already paying off. There was a place I saw over a year ago, but I couldn't find where it was anymore. I wanted to visit it, but how could I find out anything about it if I didn't know where it was? The worst thing was that it was only a few miles away from me. I wasn't even sure if it was a public place or not.

But today I was online trying to figure out how to use my little GPS, and I found a few things. I was looking through Geocaching.com, which is a site that organizes the details of a fun scavenger hunting game you can do with a GPS. That's where I found directions and a few details of this place.

My new place is a boardwalk that goes over a little pond. The place is nestled in front of several office buildings and on the same street as one of our local TV stations. It's called the American Commerce Centre Nature Preserve. It's on the north side of 11 Mile Rd. about a mile east of Inkster.

I went there hunting for treasure, and I found it! Just not the treasure I was looking for. What I found was a place that was loaded with birds of all kinds, and a few other unexpected things. The only problem was that I couldn't really find a good place to park. All the parking I saw was private.

The funny thing is that it looks like a sunny afternoon in the pictures, but it was actually about 8:30 PM. The sun was going down but I got some beautiful pictures because it was till at just the right height if I took pictures to the east. All of my pictures that point the other way look like it's nighttime. You can see my shadow in a few of these.

In this shot you can see the beginning of the place where the boardwalk goes over the water. It happens to be the best picture in that section that I got of this structure. There's a good reason for that. It's because I got mugged by three robbers right after this picture was taken! Just kidding!

The real reason is that I saw so many birds that I filled my camera's memory card with pictures of them. I've only done that once before. There were even a few types of birds that I've never seen before! I read that there were a lot of birds here, but I wasn't prepared for what greeted me.

As I begin to wrap this post up, I know that I haven't shown you any of these birds I keep going on and on about. That will come at another time. I had to show you this place first. Discovering something new is the most important thing for an Everyday Adventurer. And this place is a prime example of that.

I have so many things to show you from the past week. Some of them will inevitably be lost to time. I hope to show as much as I can though. It will be a shame for you not to be able to see some of these things. I'll be back tomorrow with something good from one of these recent trips.

17 comments:

  1. That boardwalk looks so inviting, with water all around..

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  2. Hey,

    Welcome to the world of geocaching! You will find many enjoyable and fun places to hike and explore through geocaching. What kind of GPS did you get?

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  3. What a neat place. That's a great find.
    You must have found parking somewhere . . .

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  4. I absolutely LOVE finding new places. How cool, that it is where many people can get to it... I'm thinking people who work near there on their lunch hour. Can't wait for the birds.

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  5. I have my new hiking trail and you have your new discovery. I can measure how excited you are currently.
    The first look at your new discovery shows some peacefulness, mine is kind of adventurous.
    More to come from us, are we?

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  6. Looks like a very neat place to visit!! Love that boardwalk!!! Will be looking forward to your photos!!

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  7. Looks like a beautiful place. I love finding new places to bird, too. Can't wait to see what you found (bird-wise).

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  8. You're right it looks like the middle of the afternoon. What a great spot.

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  9. It is so much fun to find new places, I love that boardwalk. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you found.
    SQ

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  10. Oooooo. You had me at "birds"! :-D
    As you know from reading my blog and seeing my many many bird pictures, they are one of my favorite things..I will await the bird pictures I am sure you captured!

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  11. Isn't that an amazing thing... to discover those beautiful things?

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  12. So when are you going to show yhose precious birds to us? I bet very soon. You have very beautiful and interesting nature related posts here daily! Amazing!

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  13. Neat place to visit! Hope you can find interesting story from that place.

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  14. Icy BC - The water around it is wonderful, and the plants grow high enough to hide the surrounding city.
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    Mike - Thanks, the GPS has already been paying off. I have a Garmin eTrex Summit HC. I'm still mostly confused about using it, but I'm learning as I go.
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    Secondary Roads - The parking I found was no good. It was Sunday so nobody tried to tow away my truck. I'll probably have to park a little farther away.
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    Sharkbytes - I read that it's a prime lunch hour spot for the people who work near it. There are office buildings all around.
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    Joe Todd - It sure was! I took almost three hundred pictures there.
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    Rainfield - I hope plenty more to come from us both. Your new trail looks great. I have an adventurous new trail too, along with this peaceful one.
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    Ginnymo - It's a fun easy walk. I never knew there was a place like it around here.
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    Rene - The birds are the best part. I even saw some I've never seen before.
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    Poetic Shutterbug - I'm just glad the days are long right now. I probably won't show the pictures I took facing the other direction.
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    SquirrelQueen - A place with a boardwalk is one of the most fun. I got a few great pictures.
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    The Retired One - The bird pictures are some of my best ever. It's a great place to get them.
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    ATWorld - Yeah, it was amazing. Ive never seen so many birds in one place before.
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    When I Wander - The first of the bird pictures are here now in the very next post. I hope to have more soon. I also have other things from previous days that are just as good. I hope to get at least some of them posted soon.
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    Vanilla - I already have a few interesting stories from the place. There is one that I'll have to tell in just the right way though.

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  15. When I first got my GPS, I tried to find a couple of Geocaches, but completely failed. I think I'll try again this weekend while I'm camping at Gordale.

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  16. John - The same thing happened to me. I've tried easy ones and I've had no success at all. I guess it just takes practice.

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