March 2012

Mar

31

Hocking Hills, Day 2. Ash Cave and Old Man’s Cave

Blog Posts / Personal / she loves to travel / 1 comments

After the long car ride and hikes the day before, we slept in and had a relaxing morning at the cabin. The cabin had a full kitchen, so we cooked up bacon and eggs for breakfast. After heading down to the ranger’s station to officially check in, we set out to hike #1, Ash Cave.

Mom, don’t look at this next photo.

La familia.

Next stop: Ash Cave Lookout Tower.

Excited brother #1.

Excited brother #2!

The view from up top.

Dad made it up….a few flights… then high-tailed it to solid ground at the bottom;)

After we got our feet back on solid ground (and my mom’s heart back in her chest), we drove to Cedar Falls.

After looking at the falls from down below, we climbed up to the mouth (?) of the falls.

Amazing. I was laying on my stomach holding my camera over the edge (it was on it’s last fraction of battery juice, I had forgotten the spare in the car, and I barely got these shots!)– you can’t tell the depth in the photos very well but we were up there!

The view from up top. The shots of the falls from the lower level were taken from down there.

We hiked back to the parking lot, then loaded into the van and drove to Old Man’s Cave. There is a loop you can take that covers multiple sites, check out the State Park website, but we still had to get over to Conkell’s Hollow.

Old Man’s caved in named for an old trapper who used to live in this area, and is said to be buried under a rock ledge here. You can read the whole story here.Check out that staircase! It lead to a long tunnel that was bored through the cliff. It was spectacular, and it seemed like around every corner there was something new and amazing to see.

The Upper Falls on the Old Man’s Cave trail loop.

Below are the Lower Falls on the Old Man’s Cave trail. Probably my favorite. But the Upper Falls were soooo pretty too.

I already have so much in this post, (39 pictures, eep!) I’m going to write a whole new one up on Conkle’s Hollow. You can check out information on the sites in this post in the links below….

Old Man’s Cave
Ash Cave
Map of the Area with tower! (listed as Ash Cave Lookout Tower along 374)

Mar

31

Day 1: Hocking Hills, Ohio

Blog Posts / Personal / she loves to travel / 8 comments

I’m laying in our hotel room sipping hot coffee, just changed into dry clothes after a soaking wet morning/afternoon on Cumberland Island. It was so beautiful, but rained the whooollllle time and I came back a bit chilled. It’s been so nice to be away from Michigan. I’m afraid school homework (why oh why are papers assigned over spring break?)+summer job worries have trailed along with me, but they are not going to ruin my trip. Backing up a little, this is what’s been happening.

Day 1

Woke up at 4:45 and left around 5, we make it to Ohio in time to fit a few hikes in.

Our first treck was to a hard to find (Southern signage is lacking!) but super pretty hike to a place called Rockbridge. It’s one of the largest natural bridge formations in Ohio and is over 100 feet long.

Entrance to the hiking trail. It was an easy hike in.

First one of these signs we saw…. The first of MANY!

Found it! One thing I loved about the parks in Ohio is that they are very “hands on”" (or feet-on, I guess!) Not a lot of guard rails and boardwalks. Hopefully people will respect the areas and they won’t have to protect them further.

I was surprised to see trilliums, one of our Michigan flowers, here.

Dogwood blossom.

Eep, no makeup!

Next, we drove to Cantwell Cliffs. Wow. Just Wow. I had no idea there were such amazing (and HUGE!) rock formations in Ohio.

Instead of concrete steps there were stone steps throughout the area. The blended right in  with the natural formations and just enhanced the other-worldly feel.
There’s my little brother, Mark. He’s 17 and his head is full of dirt bikes. When it’s not filled with dirt bikes it’s filled with snowmobiles. He’s also 6’2, and even with him in the photo you really can’t tell the scale of these ginormous rocks. 

We hiked further in, and around the corner was this:

Amazing. Note 6’2 brother on the middle-left side of the photo. I wanted a fish eye lens sooooo bad so I could have captured this magnificent sight! This first day I only used my crummy little kit lens, because we did some more intense hiking and I didn’t want to haul the wide-angle zoom and my 50mm just wasn’t gonna cut it. Time for some new lenses for sure. ;)We hiked around the rim of the canyon (photo above), this is me on the edge, looking down about fifty plus feet. Like I said, Ohio is awesome. No guardrails, nada. They give you a big “CAUTION CLIFF AREA” sign and assume you are a responsible human being and let you go.

Looking down into the canyon.
After those two hikes, we drove to our cottage at the Hocking Hills State Park. Nothing fancy, but simple and clean.
*woops, update! We did three hikes! Last but not least we went to “Rock House”, a cave formation in Hocking Hills.
Red Bud Trees. I didn’t name them. I know they are purple.
 
After a short hike, we reached the cave.
It was fascinating to look at the names and dates carved in the walls! This was one of the oldest I saw, 1888. I like to think about what it would have been like back then, to be some of the first (european-descent) people to find these formations and explore them. THe boys and I agreed that this area would be rather precarious for a rowdy game of capture the flag…. You would never guess from the view driving, or even a few yards off, that the forests contain such huge cliffs and caverns!
As you exit “Rock House”, you see another huge cliff in front of you! It was like around every corner was something new and bigger.
On the hike back we saw this beautifully constructed rock bridge. They have built a wooden pedestrian bridge over top to preserve it, you can see how thin it is.
Now that really is the end of day 1.
Cantwell Cliffs Information (Includes hiking trail map)
I’ll be posting Day 2 soon!

Mar

24

Spaghetti Jim’s Grand Traverse Pasta Works

Blog Posts / Personal / she cooks she bakes / 1 comments

This weekend I headed to Traverse City with my dad. He had a church board retreat, and I had to take my car to the Honda dealer for a recall repair. It was nice to get away (even though the homework came with me) for the weekend and spend some time with my daddy :). On Friday night, after my appointments and a little shopping we headed to Spaghetti Jim’s Grand Traverse Pasta Works for dinner. It’s a fairly new restaurant, tucked away in a corner plaza. My mom had read about it in Edible Grand Traverse Magazine and recommended it to us, since we were going to be right nearby.
Dad got their classic spaghetti and meatballs. I tried the meatballs, they were delicious. And huge. The pasta is made fresh at the restaurant! The entrees came with a side salad and garlic toast, and were $8-9.
An impatient father waits for me to finishing my picture taking… I think I embarrassed him taking pictures of our food ;)
And then he gave up on me and dug in. I hard a hard time picking, but finally decided on the Paparadelle pasta with sauteed sweet peppers and fresh Italian sausage in a white sauce. So. Good. The pasta was a little too underdone for my tastes, but the sauces and sausage were absolutely delicious. 

He wouldn’t stay out of my food either!
If you are ever in Traverse City be sure to stop here! It is a little tiny place, they only have 4 tables, and one you can reserve for larger parties. The back tables are pretty much in the kitchen, and you can see them preparing the food in the kitchen. We were lucky to snag a table before it filled up, but they do sell take out as well.

Spaghetti Jim’s
1133B South Airport Rd.
Traverse City, MI 49686

Phone: 231-922-5935

Monday –Saturday, 10:30 AM to 7 PM

Mar

23

Poached Egg on Toast with Avocado and Sprouts

Blog Posts / Personal / she cooks she bakes / 2 comments

After reading about my Egg Poaching with Julia you probably weren’t wondering what I did with the poached egg. (Well eggs. Because the one I made before looking back at the directions was a disgraceful flop. It was hidden in my brother’s scrambled eggs and consumed unknowingly.) But if you were wondering, here’s what. Pay attention. You will want to replicate this ASAP because it is amazing.

The not-recipe:

I had this for breakfast, but it would make a great lunch or dinner as well.

Take a slice of hearty, whole wheat bread that yo’ mamma made, toast it, and butter it liberally.

Slice a significant amount of avocado thinly, arrange it on your toast, and sprinkle with coarse ground salt.

Add some sliced tomato, and salt it as well. I eat a lot of salt.

Top it off with some crunchy sprouts. Mine were alfalfa, broccoli annnnd…. I draw a blank. (Mom? What were they?) My mom reads my blog. I’m still surprised to see that anyone besides her and my gramma Jane (Hi gramma! I miss you!) read this.

Then, nestle a warm, poached egg in the sprouts. Sprinkle with bacon bits, and grind a little more salt and then some pepper on top.

See how long you can last taking pictures before your senses kick in and your belly starts to growl.

Mar

23

Poaching Eggs with Julia

Blog Posts / Personal / she cooks she bakes / 6 comments

I poached an egg with Julia this morning. And it turned out perfect. As far as my poaching skills go that is, I’m sure my poaching doesn’t compare to Julia’s, but with her help I made myself the (best?) poached egg I have ever made.
I ordered a copy of “Master the Art of French Cooking” by, for those of you poor souls who have not hear, Julia Child. I have to admit that the movie Julie & Julia is what first piqued my interest in Julia Child. I love that movie. It is so good. If haven’t seen it, do. My book finally came in the other day, and I voraciously read about bechamel sauces, aspics, and how to properly dice a Shallot while my algebra homework sat next to me, untouched. Oops.

I also read about Julia’s perfectly poached eggs. I have made them many times before, but wanted to try this technique.

It’s not a beauty, but it tasted perfect. Creamy and smooth, with the golden drippy yolk. I’m using too many adjectives, I think. This is what good food does to me.

How to Poach Eggs

from Mastering the art of French Cooking by Julia Child

  • Fresh Eggs
  • Vinegar (it helps the eggs hold their shape)
  • A wooden spatula or spoon
  • A skimmer or slotted spoon

Pour 2 inches of water into a pan or skillet and add 1 tablespoon of vinegar per quart of water. Bring to the a simmer.

Break an egg into a small dish, and holding in as close to the water as possible, let it fall in. Immediately and gently push the while over the yolk with a wooden spoon for 2 to 3 seconds. Maintain the water at the barest simmer and proceed with more eggs, if you wish to poach more than one.

After 4 minutes* remove the first egg with the skimmer and test with your finger. The white should be set, the yolk still soft to the touch.

*Mine didn’t take this long.

*  *  *

Those are the bare bones of the instructions. In the book there are two pages explaining things in detail and emphasizing the need to use fresh eggs, which are essential to a good poached egg. Now go poach yourself an egg!

Next up:

  • Poached Eggs on Toast with Bacon and Sprouts
  • Review of Spaghetti Jim’s Grand Traverse Pasta Works in Traverse City
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