Mallard Lake 2021

We spent a lovely day walking around Mallard Lake in Oak Openings Preserve Metropark. It has an observation deck on the west shore that provides views of the ducks that frequent the lake.

 It also has Buehner Center which is a unique, interactive nature center and there are over 70 miles of trails that the dogs and I enjoy hiking. 

We love this preserve with wildlife and stands of isolated pines. 

The preserve is also home to a popular treehouse village.  

“But the great fact in life, the always possible escape from dullness, was the lake. The sun rose out of it, the day began there; it was like an open door that nobody could shut. The land and all its dreariness could never close in on you. You had only to look at the lake, and you knew you would soon be free. it was the first thing one saw in the morning, across the rugged cow pasture studded with shaggy pines, and it ran through the days like the weather, not a thing thought about, but a part of consciousness itself. When the ice chunks came in of a winter morning, crumbly and white, throwing off gold and rose-coloured reflections from a copper-coloured sun behind grey clouds, he didn't observe the detail or know what is was that made him happy; but now, forty years later, he could recall all its aspects perfectly. They had made pictures in him when he was un-willing and unconscious, when his eyes were merely wide open.”― Willa Cather, The Professor's House