In Which: BlueInGreen and the 94 Ranger go find a historic site. Spoiler, it used to be a summer vacation spot for, as the character Garcia Flynn from the NBC show Timeless eloquently said, "some of history's biggest dicks."
Today was my day off. I woke up, cooked three eggs and ate them with cheese, and then sat around for a number of hours playing Forza, browsing CL for Saturns, and posting here. As time passed I started feeling two things. I was A: hungry and B: annoyed with myself because I hadn't done anything interesting with my day.
So... I cooked and ate some hotdogs. Then I decided to go on an adventure.
Some would have you believe that if you try to drive a 2wd truck in the snow it will immediately spin out, flip over, and catch fire. Fortunately that seems to be an exaggeration. The Ranger is a capable little beast.
My destination was the Highland State Recreation Area. Somewhere on the state land are the remains of a summer vacation home built by Edsel Ford back in the times when Oakland County was the place rich folks went to get out of big city Detroit during the summer. Later the estate became a state park.
Fun fact, the GM proving ground is in the southwest corner of the map. You can see the big circular speed loop.
Got to the park and the parking lot was empty. So... donuts happened.
Yes, I hooned my E36 M3ty Ranger with a loud broken exhaust in a nature preserve 
The road to the site is closed to vehicle traffic so I had to hike in through a bit of snow, one of my favorite things to do. I love being "in the woods" when there is snow on the ground. Winter is beautiful.
Couldn't help but think that this road up the hill would make a great little rally stage.
The building in the background is the "Carriage House." I wish I had a garage that big.
This building still stands as it was. The main building burned down some time ago after the place had been donated to the state. The big fireplace is still there and remains of most of the walls so you can see where the rooms used to be. Apparently Henry Ford himself used to hang out here with his buddies Thomas Edison and Charles Lindbergh. Visitors also included various foreign dignitaries, actors, authors, and other celebrity types.
There used to be a swimming pool too. Somewhere in the woods there was also a tennis court but I couldn't find it. Edsel sure knew how to built a nice summer getaway place.
This also happens to be the highest geographical point in the county, which is cool.
As the sun started to go down the temperature was dropping (you know, as it does at night) and the wind was picking up so I made my way back to the truck. I was having fun but frostbite isn't something I wanted to experience.
Hey look, wildlife! We shoot those and eat them here. Bambi is less cute when he's over-populating, causing car accidents, and tearing up peoples' gardens.
My parents' house is on the way home from the park so I stopped to say hi, warm up, and visit what I call Project Car Central. Sadly we haven't made much progress on the 924 lately. It looks lonely. Most of the time we've spent in the garage, which isn't much, has been getting the grey Saturn (my brother's SW2) roadworthy.
Then I went home, had beer, watched old TopGear episodes, and started this post. This was a fun day. I'll have to think of more random places to go.
