Monday, August 19, 2013

Endless Shrimp stress relief: Tigers on the Radio and Kalamazoo Nature Center hikes


Waiting tables during Endless shrimp is means more business and more much needed money this time of the year, even more so because my car needed new tires today. But it also can take a bit of a toll on the body carrying tray after tray of shrimp to your guests. To loosen up my aching shoulders today I listened to the Tigers on the radio and switched up my workout to in an effort little piece of mind hiking at the Kalamazoo Nature Center.

Jim Price and Dan Dickerson yelled  how great it was that the Tigers averted being swept by the Chicago White Sox today as I drove North of Kalamazoo in the Camry. Cabrera hit another home run in the third inning on a bum leg today and Benoit had five out save end the game. If they are going to win the World Series I feel that this is year.

After the game was over I got out of the car and headed out on the trails. The Kalamazoo Nature Center charges $7 to help with the upkeep of the trails so I don’t mind paying; still I wanted to get my money worth. I packed up a book and an extra shirt and took off.

To get to the trails on the west side, it’s best to pass by the main building. Outside they keep a Great Horned Owl and two Red Tailed Hawks in captivity. This isn’t a zoo however; the animals were rescued and have too many injuries to be released into the wild. All birds of prey have very intense mannerisms and I enjoy walking by them.

My goal was to walk to a pond located on the farthest western point of the trails. To get there you have to take three other trails throughout the Nature Center. I didn’t take a map because I’ve been to the spot before and I wanted to try to find the way by myself. After I had passed the Hawk and Owl and looked at a turtle and snake sunning themselves on rocks in a pond it occurred to me that maybe I should have at least brought my cell phone in case I got lost.
After about a half mile I was close to the road I scrabbled up a hill and heard the sound of rustling to my left. 

The noise was louder than a squirrel and then out of the corner of my eye I saw two white tails jumping farther south of the trail. They stopped for a moment and looked at me before disappearing into the thick. I smiled and kept going; it was ironic to me because I was just thinking about how I hoped to see a deer 30 seconds earlier.

At the road a tunnel lets a hiker get through without having to deal with traffic. Inside there are paintings on the walls of wetlands. When I came out on the other side I looked at a big map of the trails on that side. The pictures identifying the trails were a crane, a trout and a turtle. I planned out the route and walked for a while over mostly open ground.   

Without a cell phone, and not having something to watch or read I really tried to let my mind wander. It’s been a long since I’ve really given my mind a chance to do that. Normally I’m reading something or working on something at home. At work you have five plans you’ve set up for when someone gets their food, and that’s if it’s slow. When I wake up in the morning I go straight to my cell phone and check my emails, cnn.com and other things. Sometimes I worry that ADD might set in if I’m not careful.

I found myself thinking a lot about my relationship with my great girlfriend. Books I’ve read in the past and how everything around me looked like Lord of The Rings. Sometimes my mind wandered to unpleasant thoughts of people in the past, but I pushed those out pretty easy.

The bugs started bothering me as I walked by trout stream. A sign posted said that they had demolished a damn that had been there to allow fish to go upstream and mate. Later on during the walk I passed small ponds that were covered in Algae. The ground around here was wet and I swatted the back of my neck more often as I got to my destination.

The pond was very peaceful and as I sat and listened I realized I had seen no other people in more than 45 minutes. It was a nice change of pace from daily life. I walked back to the road through more bug infested land quickly and thought for a moment what would happen if I sprained an ankle. Luckily I’ve never had one in the past even after 10 years of football, hockey, boxing…

Back at the center of the Nature Center I planned to take the Blue Bird trail, a two and half mile loop through fields and valleys, with a tough climb in middle. The walk started with sore legs but I was determined to work though it. What ended it for me is that the trail was overgrown. I walked about 400 yards before stopping and heading back. It wasn’t that I was worried about my ankles or shoes, but instead my fear of ticks. Really ticks are the only thing I’m afraid of in the woods I was 6 –years-old and had one lodge into the back of my skull that summer. On the way back to my car I said hello to a father and his kids who were racing up a hill. I thought to myself that someday I hope to impact enjoyment of nature and exercise in my kids the same way.


I went home and Rhelia was already cooking dinner. I sat and read for bit, finishing George Washington: A Life finally and was much more relaxed than how I had started the day. I keep hoping to find a newspaper job, but in the meantime I need to work at finding healthy ways like that day to put behind difficult days at work.  

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