Jay Gaulard Blog

Walking at Gay City State Park

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

I am starting to notice that ths area is pretty energetic. We see more people on bicycles and walking than we know what to do with. It kind of reminds me of when I lived in Atlanta…people were always out after work doing something.

Since I am energetic too, I fit right in. I actually went for my first bike ride up the road yesterday. I had to pump up my tires a little bit, but everything went very well. I would like to swap out my mountain bike tires for some street tires though.

Yesterday evening, we decided to head over to Gay City State Park to do a little walking. We have been hearing good things about this park and its large trail network.

Since we really had no idea where to start after we pulled in the park entrance, we decided to pull into the first parking lot and start walking.

This is the entrance. I believe the park closes at sundown. There is a fee if you want to visit on the weekends, but I think during the week is free.

We had a map, but forgot it back at the house. We used this one to see where we were going to walk. I would estimate our walk was about two miles.

The trails are nice and wide (well, most of them). They are rated…easy, medium, difficult. Since many people use them to ride their mountain bikes on, this is helpful.

All the way in the back, there is a lake that youngsters can swim in. It reminded me a lot of Lake Tonetta back when I was a kid.

There are tons of parks around this area, and from what I hear, they are very well kept up. We are planning on going back tonight to do a few more miles. It was nice to get my heart pumping again. Between this and the lawnmower, I should be in good shape.

Walking in the Snow

Monday, January 14th, 2008

Yesterday, we heard that it was going to snow overnight. I think we were supposed to get a few inches while NYC and Boston were supposed to get hit pretty hard with up to a foot of snow.

Laura and I were watching TV when I asked her if it was snowing. I think it was around midnight when she told me it was. I got up and stood outside on the front steps. I think the nicest thing about the snow, especially late at night, is the silence. I love to hear the flakes hit the ground. The neighbors had their driveway light on, so I could see how much was falling.

I walked inside and, half kidding, asked Laura if she wanted to go for a walk. She didn’t say no all too quickly. I think she gave me a weak excuse. I was sort of kidding anyway. While I was sitting on the couch taking my shoes off, she came out and said, “I’ll go with you.” Oh, how neat.

As we were walking down the road, I asked her when the last time we took a nice night time walk in the snow was. We couldn’t remember. I mean, I remember doing this stuff when I was a kid, but those days are long gone. Now, everything is work and thinking about work. It was very nice to be outside while there were no cars on the road and everyone else was asleep. It’s such a different world.

This late night walk came right on the heels of a great daytime walk we took yesterday. That one went for a few miles. On the way back, when we were almost home, I thought to myself how I didn’t want the walk to end. That’s the sign of a good time.

These walks are very therapeutic for me. If you haven’t noticed, I get kind of stuffed up during the Winter and a bit frustrated at things. I think I am going to make an effort from now on to walk more. In addition, Holly likes long walks. After all, she is a snow dog.

A Nice Day For An Autumn Walk

Sunday, November 11th, 2007

We were going to go for a hike this afternoon, but I feared the ground would be swampy when we got to our destination. I wanted to hike down to a pond a few acres away. I think we’ll get to that another day, but for today, we stuck with our usual walk down the road.

I have to say, for all those people who put off hiking in the summer because it’s too hot, today was the day for you. Weather.com tells me it’s 44 degrees outside…perfect for walking or hiking. No sweating and no freezing. Just perfect.

In an unusual move, I thought I would bring the camera along. It’s nice and sunny, so I knew the photos would come out nicely. Wanna see a few?

This is a piece of property down the road that both Laura and I are very jealous of. I am not sure how many acres it is, but they have a pond, a grassy area, a main house and another house out back. They also have a table and chairs set up near the back of the pond. I would like to drink my morning coffee there.

Moving further along, there is a river that flows pretty much along the entire road. When Rob came up to visit a while ago, we looked for salamanders under the rocks in this river.

This is Laura’s favorite house on this road. It’s an old white farm-ish type house. It’s hard to see back there, but what I was trying to get a picture of was the nice driveway and Pacasandra planted off to the right.