Quick Local Leaf Peeping Trip

For a brief but pretty drive-by leaf-peeping trip, consider an excursion by way of south campus and east to Meridian Road. There are farms, open fields flanked with maples, pumpkins, teaching cows and teaching sheep, and a whole lot of bull.

From Forest, the first street south of Mount Hope, take College south past Jolly to Willoughby. (At Jolly there is a wetland that often has geese.) Turn left (east) on Willoughby—the closed bridge has been repaired—through a nice tunnel of trees. At Okemos, you need to briefly turn right then left to stay on Willoughby. At Dobie, it is left then right.

Turn left on Meridian then take the next left on Stillman for the return. Stillman bends and eventually you end up briefly going south on Dobie. Turn right (west) on Sandhill. Along the way, there are roadside pumpkin stands, but we always do our pumpkin and gourd shopping at Tannenbaum Farms, on Sandhill, just west of Okemos Rd. Cash-only, small (unmarked) bills. Tannenbaum Farms is also a great place for buying tannenbaum in December.

Loaded down with pumpkins, turn right on Hagadorn then left on Bennett to return through south campus. There are beef teaching cattle and teaching sheep, with a resident donkey to keep away the coyotes. We saw two sandhill cranes nearby. Turn right on Beaumont past the bulls, a good photo op with the trees as a backdrop. Left on Forest, then right on Farm Lane, past the pavilion, where there is often something going on.

This is a good opportunity to drop off cardboard at MSU Recycling, off Farm Lane between Mount Hope and Service. A stop at the Horticulture Gardens (today was Teddy Bear Picnic) is always in order. And the Chapeleure lure, when in the vicinity, especially after the exertion from a fifteen mile round trip drive and carrying pumpkins to the car, is irresistible.

Photo: Yesterday's view of the trees along the Red Cedar from the bridge behind the MSU Administration Building.