Last Sunday we took my brother, Tom, with us on a walk through the new park down the street. Tom lives in Tucson, so he’s accustomed to hiking through the hills and mountains, and in fact, recently hiked the Grand Canyon with his wife and daughter. He and his daughter, Kendra, frequently traipse out to the hills to capture kangaroo rats, which he uses for whatever kidney research he’s currently embroiled in.
So maybe this stuff is hohum for him, but we were pretty excited to share our nature park — a new one that he’d not yet seen. It was a hot (85 degrees) for October, but then since he’s from the land of dry heat, this was nothing. Tom’s a bug guy — an entomologist — so this was right up his alley, so to speak.
Tom and me walking the trail
Despite the fact that he frequents big parks with amazing views, I think Tom enjoyed this. It was kind of like walking with my dad, who could identify all sorts of bugs, plants, etc. for us. He even helped locate a deer track for Fred, who had his mind set on photographing one.
Ike had fun trying to capture the zillions of grasshoppers that were jumping in front of us on the trail, and the butterflies flitting through the air. After about 45 minutes of this, he lost interest. In fact, he lost interest in the entire walk. Laid down in the middle of the trail and refused to budge. He got a ride the rest of the way home.
Deer track at Motter Park
Motter Metro Park, part of the Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Park District, is located on Columbus Grove Road, just inside the Bluffton village limits. If you haven’t yet walked or run it, you should. Just don’t go right after it’s rained unless you’re in old shoes. It’s still a dirt trail and gets muddy pretty quickly.
But hey, when the snow comes? We’re thinking this could be a great place for snowshoes and cc skis — a good reason to finally indulge in them.
Life from a slightly skewed perspective 