Snakes in the Grass

[August 2018]

Most of my time in grad school is spent in one of five locations: my apartment, my office, church, band, and Kroger. That’s why many of my posts, especially in summer, are about my travels outside of Ann Arbor. Unless you tell me that you want more descriptions of what it’s like to sit at a desk for eight hours a day. Who am I to deny my adoring public?

However, I do occasionally do things in Ann Arbor that can conceivably be blogged about without making people fall asleep, and this was one of those times. A friend who had completed a Master’s program was leaving Michigan to pursue a job opportunity. Yay, employment. We had talked about doing something together months before, and with days before she was leaving the city, we made it happen. I had spent the day in the office (surprise), so my vote was for something outdoors. We decided to go to the botanical gardens.

Flowers

The Matthaei Botanical Gardens are located in the north-east quadrant of Ann Arbor and belong to the University of Michigan, but, similarly to Nichols Arboretum, are open to the public. At the botanical gardens, there are botanical gardens (surprise), a conservatory, a farm, and hiking trails. We started with the outdoor garden, saw some flowers, went into the greenhouse, saw more plants and cacti.

Assorted cacti

After the plants/flowers, we strolled off into the sunset walked around a trail as the sun set. The trail was unpaved, and partially wooded, with some parts along a grassy field-like area. There was minimal to no traffic noise, and we only saw one or two other people until we got back closer to the visitors’ center. Even in the humidity, it was nice. It was the most peace and quiet I’d gotten in a while. While I appreciate being able to live in Ann Arbor without a car¹, it also means you’re rarely more than ~50 fifty feet from a road, and even if you are, you can still hear traffic.

We walked and talked, then drove back to my friend’s apartment to finish the night with ice cream and fudge sauce. A sweet finish to a sticky evening.

But wait, you may be thinking, where are the snakes? Turns out there’s one venomous snake that lives in Michigan, the eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Cistrurus catenatus). Yes, a rattlesnake. In Michigan. However, massasauga sightings are rare at the botanical gardens (or so they claim), and we didn’t see any during our visit. You can see snake pictures here.

¹With a little help from my friends. Thanks are due to all who have given me rides all across/around/out of Ann Arbor.