78 Michigan Parks: Maybury State Park #67

It wasn't even a week past William's tooth extraction surgery, when he (and Grace and Juliet) had a scheduled cleaning, back in Ann Arbor.  Well, the stress of it being a Tuesday, the final school day before Thanksgiving break, another trip to the dentist, and it being 6am, had William "hootin' and hollerin' "* about how much he disliked State Parks and didn't want to go to anymore, ever again!

Thankfully, once the appointment had concluded, special drinks were acquired, and fluoride ban had run it's duration, William seemed like a happy, willing participant in our State Park visit.

This round was Maybury state park, which is in metro Detroit, but had previously been closed for updates, so we had skipped over it.   This cover picture was actually at the end, but I'll come back to that.

This state park used to be in a very isolated area, but the amount of new construction and volume of traffic indicates that it is currently in an area rife with growing pains.  We did manage to turn into the park, and got our pictures.

This park is number 67 (six-seven) on our map, so the kids are all making the 6-7 hand sign.

This park was very equestrian centric, but the kids found fun things none-the-less. Stairs to nowhere!

It was wet and dreary, but close to 50F, which is not miserable when you are wearing winter garb.

Youngest at the top, oldest at the bottom.  William is an entire step taller than Grace!

Um, I cannot wait to recreate this when they are adults!

William was the 'horse,' and was an excellent sport about it!

Juliet the conductor.

William helping Juliet get onto the swings.

Once we'd had our fill of the tiny play area, we loaded back up into the car for a quick visit to the thrift shop.  As we were leaving the area, we found another, main, entrance.  We didn't have the time** to further explore, but we did stop to take the 'official' picture, thanks to Avia's encouragement.

I was glad the day ended better for William than it began.  We had a bit of success at the Salvation Army, with two pair of pants for Emily and a jacket for Leon, despite the 15-minute timer I set!

There are still two more Metro Detroit parks on our list, but those will have to wait until spring.

later days

A list of our previous visits:

Tahquamenon Falls #15
Keith J Charters #33
Sleeper State Park #46
Port Crescent State Park #47
Silver Lake State Park #49
Muskegon State Park #50*
Newaygo State Park #51
PJ Hoffmaster State Park #52
Grand Haven State Park #53
Ionia State Park #54
Sleepy Hollow State Park #55
Metamora-Hadley Recreation Area #56
Lake Port State Park #57
Seven Lakes State Park #58
Holly Recreation Area #59
Algonac #60
Holland State Park #61
Island Park State Recreation Area #63b
Highland Recreation Area #64b
Pontiac Lake Recreation Area #65
Dodge #4 State Park #66a
Bald Moutain State Recreation Area #66b

Saugatuck Dunes State Park #68
Fort Custer Recreation Area #69
Waterloo Recreation Area #70a
Pickney State Recreation Area #70b
WJ Hays State Park #71
Belle Isle Park #72
Van Buren State Park #73
Grand Mere State Park #74

Warren Dunes State Park #75a
Warren Woods State Park #75b
Lake Hudson Recreation Area #77
Sterling State Park #78
Port Austin State Harbor #Bonus 1
Kal-Haven State Park #Bonus 2

Yankee Springs #Fail

*Everyone asked what was wrong as they trickled out of their bedrooms, and "What was all the hootin and hollerin'" was a direct Alice quote!

**Enisi and Edudi were due to arrive at 5pm, so we were trying to fit in a little fun post-dentist and pre-grandparents!

Emily's All Girl Robotics Meet!

Early in William's season, his coach told me that they were recruiting high school girls for an all-girl's invitational meet.  Even though Emily initially said she was not interested in doing robotics this year, she agreed to try it out, by being the human player, who fed the robots during the match.  

Our day was supposed to start at 5:30, but I forgot to set my alarm, and woke up about as late as was possible, in order for us to still be on time (6:42!)  It was a stressful, 'frantic' drive for me.  Emily was able to go back to sleep, since she had been up late at a football game the night before.  We were still five minutes late, but close enough that Emily was still able to participate.

After dropping Emily off, I loaded up my brand-new folding wagon, to find our group, drop off our supplies, and reunite with Emily.

I found the robot before I found Emily!

Our spot had a personalized sign!

Robotics competitions are the best!  Everyone is looking out for one another, and sharing the whole weekend!  This little basket was in the bathroom, and included tooth flossers, which were an awesome compliment to the celery we had at our table.

I finally found Emily!

They had screens in the arena area, and right outside of the arena, and on day 2, they had them in the cafeteria!

Another awesome aspect of robotics are the badges from all the teams!  Billy's badges were a big hit, I saw many people put them in a place of honor!

On day 1, they had companies offering freebies and displays.  This humanoid computer was really neat!

Because I didn't already love my freebie wagon enough, the tray table was really useful at our single table!

And my empty cups could go back up in the netted carrying area!

Emily all set up to "feed" the robot!

A very supportive fan base!!!

Because we were sooooooo late that first day, I didn't have time to scout out gas stations, and our drive in seem devoid of all commerce!  (We weren't far away; it was just in the other direction.) Since the matches were going to last until after dark, I let Emily know my plan, and left to fill up during the daylight hours.  I also stopped by the only convenient fast-food restaurant on the way back: Burger King.  Emily was not sad about my choice.  

The sunset was all kinds of beautiful once I got back to the school!

I made some cute little grape hearts (thanks to a fb video that I watched.)  Sadly, the grapes were not very good, so they were not eaten.

I cut up two days' worth of veggies on the first night, so when we got home, after 10, I dumped out the day one leftovers, hand washed the container, and then refilled it for day 2!

For day 2, I actually remembered to set my alarm, so we were out the door by 6:20, had time to go through Starbucks and get Emily the pink drink she'd been asking for days, and had a leisurely drive, arriving ten minutes early.

Some of the teams have some impressive set ups in the pit!

I finally got a picture of Emily with the robot!!

The robot in action!

They were chosen for an alliance after all of the qualifying rounds, but sadly did not make it past the first elimination round. 

Since we were so close to Lake Erie, I told Emily that if we were finished with the robotics during daylight, we could go down to the Sterling State Park.  This park is the one that had the most amazing moonrise!  The day was warm enough that I was really glad I had worn a skirt and layered a hoodie, because it was really uncomfortable in too many layers!

Despite the fall date, Emily and I collected a tiny flower bouquet!

Emily only had pants, so I dug in my 'emergency' clothes bag, and pulled out a dress that she could wear.  Sadly, it was windy and very chilly at the lake!  I kept my hoodie on the entire time, and kind of missed the jeans.

Someone left a love note!

There were two parasurfers out on the water!

Emily's tolerance for the water was much higher than mine, though I did stick my toes in!

The wind was so harsh that my uncovered ears started to hurt, so we left the shoreline and headed for the playground.  We were one of several groups there, because the day was quite pretty!

Emily's puffy look!

My puffy look!

A muskrat dinner is exactly what it sounds like, and apparently people would come from far away to experience this event!

What is a trip to the beach without a stop at the ice cream shop?  Well, we didn't get to find out here, because google lied, and they were indeed closed for the season.  

Undeterred, we headed further into Monroe to a second ice cream shop, after another gas station stop, and found that it was also closed for the season!

We remained optimistic and tried one final stop, where we were met with success!  Milkshakes to go, because we still had a two-hour drive ahead of us, and this town had construction everywhere, not wanting to let us leave!

As we drove passed the Ikea, I realized that Emily probably had no memory of our trips in Houston, and since we were now only about an hour away from home, in the suburbs of Detroit, without school on Monday, we turned around and went on a third adventure!

Emily loved that it was "just like a real-life sims!"

These were Emily's favorite decor items!

She liked the push to open style of cabinet.

How we envision William's future room.

Emily pulled out this drawer, and wanted to touch the items, even though they had plexiglass secured over the items.  She tried to take it off in a blonde moment. 

One tired girl, after football and robotics and the beach and now Ikea!

Look, she found some drawers without plexiglass! lol.

We were there when they made the "we're closing in fifteen minutes" announcement, so it was proper dark by the time we left, but Emily really enjoyed exploring the thrill that is Ikea.  She can't wait to go back!

It was a good experience for Emily, though she has decided against participating in the regular season this year.  And I am happy that the weekend is over.

later days

edit 10-26-25: backdated for continuity.