Deadman's Hill

Checking out the overlook. . .

What's up, Internet.

So Kris has been gung-ho lately about fall leaves.  That's right, you heard me.  Fall leaves.

She hasn't stopped talking about wanting to drive somewhere Up North to check them out, and after weeks of me not really taking any initiative with this in the slightest, she decided that we would be spending the better part of our Saturday to check out some leaves.  Come Hell or high water.

The place she settled on was Deadman's Hill, outside Gaylord.  About a two-hour drive from Midland, so it was a bit of an undertaking for a simple day trip - over four and a half Goddamn hours in a car.  We had the dogs along with us to boot, as Kris figured it'd be "fun" to take them along:  there were miles and miles of hiking trails to check out, and it's common for folks to bring their dogs along with them.  What could go wrong, right?

So I packed my SLR and a couple lenses (obviously), Kris whipped up a picnic basket for lunches in the car on the ride up, and we set out off around 11am for Deadman's Hill.

Check it out. . .

We arrive around 1:30 or so, having hit some traffic in Gaylord, and we were forced to park about a mile away down a dirt road:  cars were parked along the side of the road for quite a ways in either direction, as this was the peak weekend of the season to do this, and the weather was in the upper 50s (breezy, but with a light jacket totally manageable. . . yet only Alayna and I were smart enough to bring ours.)  After hitting up a disgustingly-smelling outhouse, we walked a short distance up Deadman's Hill, where there's fenced-off cliff that overlooks an expansive valley below. 

The view from Deadman's Hill

You can make out a river at the bottom of the picture, there.

Abby, striking a pose.

(She's pretty good when she knows her dad is wielding a camera. . .)

Not surprisingly, Alayna was more focused on the dogs than the color of the leaves.

An attempt, by Kris, to get both kids in a picture.

The Cannonball and Samson the Pudge.

Obviously Kris wanted a selfie.  C'mon, people.

At one point, Watson decided to check out the edge of the cliff, going underneath the fence without warning.  Despite the danger, pretty hilarious.

Watson, contemplating life.

Kris' aunt, Mickey, and her husband (forget his name) live in Gaylord, and agreed to meet us up here, and brought along his kids as well.  Crystal, Mickey's daughter (and Kris' cousin, who was Maid of Honor at our wedding) also met us up there, and brought along her younger two kids - Scarlett and Kyan - and her pitbull.  Seriously.

Mickey took this pic of our family before we set off on the trails (the pixelation due to the fact that I downloaded this off Facebook, my apologies.

Crystal and Kris

. . . and one with Aunt Mickey.

Trying to let the dogs get used to each other before setting off.  Believe it or not, the pit bull was pretty timid, and Watson - ever the grumpy, old asshole - went into domination mode right from the get-go.  Snipped at her and everything, without realizing that that pit bull could've absolutely destroyed him if it wanted to.

Getting an education, free of charge.

A dead, spooky-ass tree.

Starting off down the trail. . .

Mickey and her husband, off to the right.

Admittedly, the colors were pretty awesome.  Kris was super excited we ended up coming on this particular weekend.

Houghs girls, chilling on a fence along the edge of a cliff.  Grade A Parenting, folks.

Walking away from the edge of the cliff, deeper into the woods. . .

Waiting for dogs to do their business.

Another selfie for Kris.

Daddin' it up with multiple cameras.

A tree-hugger.

Kris, Mickey, and Samson

Abby, making a friend with a monster dog.

After about a half-hour walking through the forest, the girls began to complain that they were hungry (despite eating lunch about an hour or so before), and began begging for us to stop somewhere for lunch.  We grudgingly about-faced and made our way back up the trail towards the overlook (shown here.)

Backtracking up Deadman's Hill.

Nearly-dead leaves.

Kris and a dog, bringing up the rear.

Kris wanted a shot of the girls with the trees - but not the fence - in the background, so she had them climb over the fence and stand next to the cliff (believe it or not, I was not involved with this at all.)  Yes, we're those parents.

We regularly stood the dogs off to the sides to allow other patrons to get pictures in from the overlook spot with the fence.

Mickey snapped this one of Kris and I (again, taken off Facebook.)

After those last few pictures atop Deadman's Hill, we said goodbye to Mickey, Crystal, and their families, and began the mile-long march back through all the parked cars to Kris' van.  Along the way, I spotted this super-awesome boat from what I assume is the late '70s. . .

See?  Look at all the damn cars.  Still, despite all the vehicles along the road, there weren't too many people on the trails - I'm assuming most people bottle-necked atop Deadman's Hill, or were else deeper into the trails that we didn't get a chance to explore.  I think all in all we were there about two hours, tops.

Gaylord's traffic was a complete shit-show (probably on account of all the tourists checking out leaves, who knows), so we told the girls we'd get on the highway first and then stop for food.  Little did our naive children know that there's practically nothing for food between Gaylord and Clare, so we threw in a movie for them - Tim Burton's Corpse Bride - to keep them distracted.  Abby was soon fast asleep, which was awesome (she was besides herself by this point, she gets 'hangry' like a motherf***er.)

We settled on the Greatest Pizza on Earth for dinner, and I called about 40 minutes away to place our order for pick-up.  Kris neglected to pick up plates and napkins for us, so after we were back on the highway I made everyone wait a bit for the pizza to cool a little (it was fresh out of the oven) so that it'd firm up a bit before they could start eating it.  Sloppy-ass pizza without napkins, in a moving vehicle, with two kids and two dogs, probably wasn't the best choice, but Kris and the girls devoured the hell out of it on our way back to Midland.

Once we got back into town, we loaded up my trusty travel cooler and set off for the Collier's house, where they were having a bonfire in the backyard (on account of the abnormally warm weather.)  Here we have the Larsons and the Johnsons.

At the end of a very busy day, enjoying some drinks and a fire with our motley assortment of fellow Midlanders.

- Brian