Scott Fountain - Belle Isle

Ok, my friends.  I won't deny it.  After such a brutal winter and then a loved one's health scare, I spent the weekend outside sightseeing, barbecuing, and geocaching.  It was the perfect holiday weekend!

As some of you may know, I've written tons of posts about Belle Isle over the last few years.  It's a true gem in the Detroit River, and now it's Michigan's 102nd State Park.  I have probably visited monthly for the last decade - all seasons - and have read books and articles voraciously.  One of the joys of "state parkhood" is the time and money being invested to clean up and repair many of famous structures on Belle Isle.

A few weeks ago I shared some pictures of the fabulous Scott Fountain on this blog.  James Scott was a famous, lazy, womanizing scoundrel (Detroit loves its bad boys!) who cheated men, used woman, and had an all-around good time while alive.  When he died, he left his estate to the City of Detroit to build a fountain on Belle Isle.  The catch?  They had to erect a life-size statue of him overlooking the fountain and facing the Detroit skyline!

James Scott seated on the left side

This I knew.  BEAUTIFUL fountain!  And with the DNR running the Isle, many of my generation (and older) are seeing the fountain - all three levels - running for the first time.

Level One

Level Two

Level Three

Here's a picture my sister took when she and my Dad visited the fountain.  My father had never seen the entire fountain running! And he grew up within a few miles of Belle Isle!

Source: Lorna Hadley

Imagine my surprise when I read an article that the fountain lights up at night!  No!  Really?!?!? Never, ever, ever knew that.  So, the moment Steve felt well enough to travel, we went down to see for ourselves.  Here's our photos from Thursday:
 

 

If you get a chance, it's worth a visit.  The Fountain will run 24/7 all summer, and the lights kick on around 9pm!  

This was a great way to kickoff a red, white and blue weekend!

Belle Isle Sunsets

I had the most amazing time on Belle Isle with Steve tonight. It really felt like Spring so we walked around both ends of the Isle and enjoyed the sunset near the old water slides.

Picture Perfect on Belle Isle

Belle Isle Adventure!

Today was the annual koi wrangling at the Belle Isle Aquarium. Lorna and I made the trip down, but they had an abundance of volunteers. So, instead, we spent a little time wandering around the Belle Isle Aquarium and the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory. Beautiful day!

Moving of the Koi - Spring Edition

Today was the annual "moving of the Koi" on Belle Isle. The Belle Isle Aquarium, designed by Albert Kahn and opened in 1904, was the oldest continually-operated public aquarium in North America (until Detroit budget cuts forced it to close its doors in 2005).

Pond outside the Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory

Since then, the aquarium has been maintained by a group of extremely loyal volunteers. One of their responsibilities are the large koi ("Mo", the oldest, is reported to be near 80-years old). These amazing creatures reside in the outdoor pond in summer (attached to the Scripps Whitcomb conservatory) and in the basement in winter (the basement doubled as a speakeasy during Prohibition). Twice a year, dozens of volunteers move the koi from one location to another.

Members of my family volunteer yearly

My family has volunteered for each move over the last few years. This year, I met my sister (Lorna), brother-in-law (Corey), brother (Jeremy), sister-in-law (Robyn), and nephew (Andrew) on the Isle for the move. We were joined by Andrew's Cub Scout pack, Robyn's church, and my geocaching friends to help out!

Geocachers for the cause!

In essence, it's a large bucket brigade scooping up the fishies and sloshing their way to the pond.

Objects in the bucket are bigger than they appear!

My first catch of the day!

Getting acclimated

In the next weeks, volunteers will bring out the water plants.

Settling in fine!

Afterwards, we celebrated our hard labors with hot dogs, chips and Town Club Root Beer & red pop - yummy! Then we wondered into the flower room of the attached Conservatory.

Everything was in full bloom and gorgeous!

I had a hard time picking out only a few pictures for this post.

Happy Spring!

Elisa

What does...

....koi, root beer and flowers have in common?

Belle Isle Event

Saturday was the big geocaching event on Belle Isle! What a gorgeous day! Sunny, blue (59-degrees) and surrounded by several hundred of my closest friends!

Had an amazing time with my family (Team Free Range Lobsters) plus some honorary Lobsters (Mibbs, Dave and Diego - hi!)

In the end, I found 32 Geocaches (including a webcam cache), surpassed my 2500th find, ate 2 hot dogs, and wore out a pair of feet!

Can't wait for next year!

I will try to post more Belle Isle pics later.

Take care!

Three Days....

Until the Belle Isle Geocaching Event! I've been looking forward to it all year!

Geocaching... One Year Later...

GEOCACHING (according to the Urban Dictionary) is using multi billion dollar military defense satellites to find tupperware in the woods.  Really, it's kind of a scavenger hunt for containers called "caches".  You use a GPS, sometimes you solve a puzzle.  Learn a little local history or science or math.  Many times you are taken to an interesting site or nature trail.  Find the cache, sign the log, and sometimes swap out swag.

Yep, that is the simple definition.  A year ago today, my brother and his family (3inaTree) introduced me to  the joy of geocaching, and today I found my 585th cache!  Woot! 

Geocaching has taken me outdoors, increased my Vitamin D, battled my depression over the closing of Borders, introduced me to new friends, increased my familial bond, and led me to beautiful places in Southeastern Michigan, Ontario and Maine. 

In celebration, I thought I'd share some of my favorite moments or experiences over the last year.

My first cache. We started with a hard one!



Veterans Day Flash Mob!  First "event" for myself and Wikid Kriket



Mama Tree is smart!

Can you spot the cache container in this picture?  Nope - it's not the birdhouse!

Wikid Kriket getting serious in Franklin!

PopLob found his first cache!

Caching brought me to lovely Harsen's Island

Hockeyman40 with his first cache!

A bear could sneak up on them and they'd never know it!

Poplob and Little Tree spending quality time....

Michigan Metroparks are stunning!

Tristan39 with the find!  That is a "cache" in his hand.

3inaTree after a successful day at Indian Springs Metropark

Typical contents of a cache... log to sign and swag to trade

First time - and definitely not the last - enjoying a Huron Metropark!

Wikid Kriket and Tristan39 enjoying the hunt

Wikid Kriket NOT enjoying the hunt!  But being a good sport!

The cache was called "Are the Deer Watching?"  Yes, they were.

Caching in Woodland Hills park in Farmington

Very inventive.  Found this cache in a PILE of stumps!

Cache containers come in all shapes and sizes!

Did you find it?

Mama Bear can often be found in a tree

CITO - Cache In Trash Out
Cachers give as much as they take

How many cachers does it take to find a piece of tupperware?
More arrived before we located it!

I LOVE geocaching on Belle Isle!

Team Free Range Lobsters on Belle Isle
We were missing a few....

3inaTree after a successful find!

Yep.  3inaTree in a tree again....

Even the dogs get into the act! 
Indy was finding them as fast as Tristan39!

Making new friends on the Dexter Geotrail.
Really... started out as strangers, but it never takes long with cachers....

Caching in Maine is cool!  Er, cold!

These are geocoins.  People will place them in a cache and ask others to move them along.
I've held coins that were 6 years old and travelled over 20K miles!

BikerChick and the Buffinator make the find!

Geocaching will include Challenges.  Me playing to the camera.
There was a cache just a few feet away!

Even a cache on the stately manor grounds.

CampFamily6 with their first find!

Thank you for sharing my memories!  Everyone, I hope you have a safe & healthy Memorial Day!

scrapcat