Tag: trails

Mushrooms at Niquette Bay

Hiking

Just how many pictures do I take of mushrooms? Last month my husband and I went hiking at Niquette Bay State Park, in Colchester, VT. Niquette Bay hiking trails are full of mushrooms, mushrooms, and more mushrooms! Our hike would likely have been about an hour shorter if I hadn’t continually stopped and stooped to take mushroom photos.

Pretty, frilly mushrooms on a log at Niquette Bay

I admit I am not familiar with the names of the mushrooms I encounter on my hikes. At first glance, these are very pretty, frilly mushrooms. They stood out for their delicate frilliness.

Mushrooms along trail at Niquette Bay State Park
Very cute, bloopy mushrooms along trail

These mushrooms immediately caught our attention. As is obvious in the photo, some of the trail can get quite wet – almost boggy – hence the raised boardwalk.

A close up of the above “bloopy” mushrooms

I’m not sure I had ever seen mushrooms like these before!

Bright red-orange mushroom

This guy was towards the end of our hike, and by then I started to feel like I was really holding us up (no worries – there were no complaints). But, I couldn’t resist pausing for it… It’s such a striking mushroom.

A view through the trees

Niquette Bay also has views…

Lest you think Niquette Bay is only for mushroom lovers, there are great little spots to stop on the trail, sit on a nicely placed bench, and enjoy sweet views like this. The trails there are pretty short and relatively easy – they are not tricky, they are well-groomed, and there is not much elevation gain to speak of. The trails also lead to the bay, which includes a swimming cove just for dogs (which is pretty cool, seriously).

After an incredibly difficult summer, a few hours spent hiking (and enjoying the cuteness of mushrooms) at Niquette Bay made for a really lovely time.

If you still haven’t seen enough mushrooms, you can click over to these Orange Mushrooms from Niquette Bay, taken last year.

Thanks for reading,

~ Nellie

Picking Up Where I Left Off?

Hiking, Personal

No, there is really no picking up where I left off… it would be a reasonable assumption, but in this case, too much has happened. Life changes so quickly – we all know this of course – but sometimes that change and the rapidity with which it occurs, is shocking.

Time off for a real vacation

In May my husband and I went on a much-needed vacation. We had decided to use some serious vacation time, which we rarely do, and decided to make it a road trip. It was fantastic, truly, entailing some stunning hiking in Shenandoah National Park where we stayed up in the mountains in a fabulous lodge; a few nights at Virginia Beach, enjoying time on the shore and the ease and relaxation that beach visits tend to bring; and seeing our daughter and her partner, which of course is always a highlight. At the end of our trip we stopped to see my mother-in-law for a few days.

Unexpected tragedy

I’m not going to go into details of what happened, other than to say that while we were there we needed to take my mother-in-law to the ED, where she received a terrible diagnosis, and after only a mere few weeks, passed away from her illness. Since then we have of course had a funeral, and have dealt with the responsibilities of clearing out her apartment, settling her affairs, etc.

It has been an unexpectedly very difficult summer. And of course, more grieving. The grieving process has really only just begun because the past two months have been overwhelming with busyness – too many things to take care of, too many people’s feelings to assuage, as well as family tensions, and many trips out of state to take care of things.

Home again (and not exactly picking up where I left off!)

I am home now, and rather than picking up where I left off, I am looking at the future with yet again new eyes. And yet again a sense of bewilderment and uncertainty. It seems the older I get, the less certain things become, rather than the more certain.

As always, thank you for visiting, and please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or comments, or just to say hello.

~ Nellie

p.s. the hike in the photo above was just an easy but beautiful trail right off Skyline Drive, called Stony Man Trail. If you ever are fortunate to visit Skyline, I would highly recommend it!