The silence of the alvar

Just breezed in from a quick trip to an exotic island paradise. Okay, that's an exaggeration; it's not terribly exotic and it's by no means a paradise. It is, however, an island. Kelley's Island, to be specific, a smallish spot of land in Lake Erie, where we spent a lot of time sitting in the shade soaking in the breeze off the lake. Soaking in the sun was not an option as there was no escape from the eyeball-melting heat. But we had fun sitting and reading and looking at the lake.

And hiking. At one point we hiked through a swampy muddy mosquito-infested wood to gaze rapturously at an alvar. Hawaii may have cornered the market on lava, but Kelley's Island offers the finest alvar I've ever seen. An alvar, as I learned, is an endangered ecosystem characterized by "sparsely vegetated rock barrens." If I had to describe it succinctly, I would call it limestone with stuff growing on it. Small stuff, mostly. The brilliant orange lichens glowing underfoot were especially impressive.

And glacial grooves! Does Hawaii have glacial grooves? I think not! The glacial grooves on Kelley's Island are about the grooviest glacial grooves I've ever seen. If glacial grooves are your thing, Kelley's Island is the place to be.

Right now the place to be is back in my office, where urgent phone messages and e-mails are buzzing around my ears like mosquitoes. Now I need a vacation to recover from my vacation. Ah, for the silence of the alvar!