Gratiot and Clinton County

This is the next day after the previous post.

I woke up Saturday morning very early due to the idiot with the big truck in the room next to me deciding to rev his engine for 15 minutes at 6AM. But that's ok, had to get going. After getting my legs working again after my 10 miles the day before I ate my breakfast and headed out. I had decided to go to Alma and walk on the Fred Meijer Heartland Trail. Now I have to say something here about how much I appreciate the Meijers. First of all, I am a mostly loyal customer and can't even imagine how much money I've spent there over the last at least 35 years. On top of that, we are so lucky that the Meijer family is so generous and have given so much to Michigan. In this case, Fred Meijer purchased the abandoned CSX railbed and thanks to him and additional donations and grants we have this beautiful railway to walk (or ride or whatever other non motorized way you'd want to move down it). His name is on several other rail trails in Michigan.

I digressed again. What I discovered when I got to Alma with all my well laid plans was that it was Highland Festival day. And the main streets were closed because there was a 10k being run. And I didn't have a map of the town so wasn't sure where the trail was. So I parked and did what I think is a very logical move: I headed to the bakery/coffee shop. I found out where to go and consumed my lovely scone and sat on the sidewalk thinking about how the United States is made up of thousands of small communities like Alma. This was their most exciting day of the year and everyone was pitching in to make it wonderful. People were already setting up their chairs on the sides of the street to watch the parade that was going to happen after the run. It was pretty heartwarming.


The start of the 10K run.


They had train rides.

And men in kilts making lots of noise.



The sky was trying to clear while I was on the trail. Finally there was some blue in the sky!


This stretch of trail was all oak trees. It was so beautiful it hurt. It made me think of that Louis Armstrong song, "What a Wonderful World". As you have probably figured out by now, I love trees.


I finally made it back to my car and looked up and saw this cool church. On my way out of town I went out State Street and there were beautiful houses and public buildings. It was a really nice town with wonderful, friendly people.
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I needed to get down to Sleepy Hollow State Park to get Clinton County done. I headed down US 27 and got off an exit before I needed to and ended up going down Shepherdsville Road which was really hilly and scenic. There were Amish buggy caution signs but I didn't see any (buggies). Sleepy Hollow had grassy, waterlogged trails so I decided to walk the paved service roads and just wanted to get my 5 miles done so I could go home. Lake Ovid was nice and I could imagine how crowded this place must be in the middle of summer. It's only 20 miles north of Lansing.


I have 35% of the states done. It seems like it should be more. An old friend of mine from high school heard about what I'm doing and has offered to have me at her cottage up north for a weekend so I can get some counties done on the west side of state. My niece has a house up in the northeast part of the state and I "think" my sister and I are going up for a few days and get some of that area done. And then my wonderful hubby is taking his sailboat up in July and is going to dock it somewhere in the UP. We're hoping he can make it to Escanaba. And he will walk with me up there since I'm afraid of bears and now I've added feral pigs to my scare list and I'm not too fond of running into a beaver either. I read a sign the other day at the trail in Corunna that said that beavers can get as big as medium sized dogs. Holy cow!!!! I don't like squirrels much either especially the ones that look like little devil squirrels. And of course geese.

Shiawassee and Saginaw Counties

I decided that even though we're low on cash, I was still going to get a few counties done this weekend. (I figure that's why someone who deserves a place in hell invented credit cards.) Wes is working all weekend and yesterday was very boring at home by myself. I think I'm getting addicted to these little mini walking vacations.

So this morning I dragged myself out of bed and got my stuff together and headed up the xway to Corunna in Shiawassee County. I think maybe I was there once before for a wedding but not sure. The trail I walked on was the James S. Miner River Walkway that runs between Corunna and Owosso. I had to find McCurdy Park which is where the trail starts.

In the park they have a whole little street of old buildings, kind of their own little Greenfield Village. Pretty cool. Above is an old schoolhouse. I looked at the buildings and then headed off to the trail.


The trail was pretty muddy and the river was very high because of the excessive rain we've been getting in Michigan.

The wildflowers were beautiful and the smell was heavenly. I was thinking that it's too bad we can't smell through the internet. Then I was thinking that I should invent a smell machine that you could hook up to your computer so you could smell the honeysuckle or whatever was making the perfume in the air.

Here you can see a bench submerged in water.

When I got done with the trail I still had a little over a mile to go so walked the neighborhoods. There are lots of very pretty houses with lots of "curb appeal" and an impressive county building.

Then I went on to Saginaw County to go to the Shiawassee National Wildlife Reserve. I was really excited about this one since I have been reading about it and there are a huge number of birds that stop here during migration. This area is the confluence of 4 rivers: Shiawassee, Flint, Cass and Tittabawassee. The refuge was established in 1953. By the way, I haven't doctored any of these pictures. It really was this green!

This is one of those places that is so magical it takes my breath away. The trail I walked on was the Ferguson Bayou Trail and it was amazing. There was water everywhere with the trees submerged in it and the reflections of the trees in the water. And then the birdsong everywhere and it all sounded beautiful, even those noisy geese.

I was half expecting the animals to start talking to me. I felt like a crazy old Alice in Wonderland. The deer just stood and looked at me until I got pretty close to them. A fawn was on the side of the trail and when she saw me she went to her mama who just stood there and gazed into my eyes. There was a whole gang of them in one of the drainage ditches. As I was getting close to the end and it was all getting a little humdrum, all of a sudden there was a huge whoosh and an eagle went flying up and away. It was pretty awesome.

By the time I got done I was the only car in the parking lot which kind of freaked me out. There were park rangers driving around and checking on things and my cell phone worked there so it was ok. I limped to my car and drove up to this little mom and pop motel in Saginaw where I am ensconced on the bed blogging and watching the hockey game. All is well with the world!

Lapeer County

Yesterday was a lovely day and perfect for a walk in Lapeer County.

My wonderful daughter had agreed to go with me and we finally made it up to that area after getting stuck in a traffic jam on 23. We were headed for the Southern Trails Railway in Columbiaville. I had walked the other end of that rail-trail for my miles in Tuscola County and figured it was pretty nice so went back.

This time the trail was busy with lots of bicyclists and a few walkers. The beginning of the trail is really pleasant with water on both sides and lots of songbirds flitting around. The trail is well marked, down to the quarter mile which is great and we seemed to get done quickly. Whew!!

We headed back out of town and on the way home visited a couple of quilt stores at my daughter's request. I love looking at all the different material but am not someone who is patient enough to quilt. Quilting is very popular in my family.

It was a great day. I always have a good time when I spend the day with my daughter!

I'm making progress and had a good time the other day stopping at the Michigan Welcome Center and got a bunch of brochures for the counties I haven't walked in yet. It is a great resource and I'm learning so many things I never knew about this state. Another great new opportunity is to get the Michigan Passport which is only $10 when you renew your tags and what they do is give you a tag with a "P" on it and you get in to any state park for free. It's instead of the state park sticker. Very cool!!!

Muskegon and Barry Counties

This is a continuation of the last post and is day three of that trip. I had already completed Eaton, Kent and Ottawa Counties. The story continues:

Up early and off to Muskegon County. I had read about yet another rail to trail that goes from Montague in Muskegon County to Hart in Oceana County. So we hit the trail up 31 to Montague, totally bypassing Muskegon since I just didn't have the time to sightsee. The plan was to finish 5 miles on the Hart-Montague trail and then pick up Barry County on the way home.

Montague is a pretty little town in a watery setting on the shores of White Lake. The downtown is a couple of streets with antique stores and galleries. The people seem really friendly!!! Here is the antique store we went to:You would think that the rails to trails I walk along would be kind of boring since it's basically a walk through the woods or along fields. But that is so not true. In this case I was getting up into the part of the state where the hardwood forest of the southern part of the lower peninsula is getting mixed a little with pines as you can see in the picture above. This walk also had some fields along it with the farmers getting their tractors going. Very pretty and I made it back to Montague with my 5 miles done in Muskegon County. We visited an antique store and then headed out of town towards home.

After finishing up there we hit the road and stopped in Grand Rapids again for lunch before my next 5 miles in Barry County. We ended up at a Grand Traverse Pie Company restaurant and I had a delectable banana nut muffin. The sugar had caramelized and it was all crunchy and yummy. Then I ate lunch. I love dessert first.

I had never been to Barry County. It is very beautiful with many recreational opportunities and lakes and rivers. I was going to go to Yankee Springs Recreation area since I was intrigued reading about a trail where you could see a "glacially carved kettle formation". It was also the former hunting grounds of the Algonquin Indians and Chief Noonday. I like to walk and imagine how it would be back in the days of the Indians. But I opted for another trail instead since they are quick and easy.

I didn't anticipate how special this walk was going to be. Most of the 2.5 miles out had water on both sides. The Thornapple River, which is a tributary of the Grand River, flowed along one side and there were wetlands on the other side. At one point I could see about 10 pairs of nesting swans, I think I saw a scarlet tanager, a cedar waxwing and I almost forgot about the snake. I jumped about 3 feet off the ground when I saw that!! It wasn't hard to finish up that 5 miles because it was just so lovely and green and there were also lily pads and trillium. Gorgeous!!!




Then we wandered around Barry County for a while and made it back to 96 and headed out of the sunshine and back to rainy southeast Michigan. Tomorrow I get to have a day with my daughter and will probably head up to either Shiawasee and Clinton counties or Lapeer and Genesee. We'll see how it goes. I'm praying for sunshine!!!

Kent and Ottawa Counties 05/16

We decided that we'd get up early, eat breakfast
and then head out to downtown Grand Rapids to the Heritage Hill historical district and do some of the miles there.

Heritage Hill is just a few blocks from downtown and has an amazing array of homes of all different kinds of architectural styles from the mid 1800's Greek Revival to the 1900's Prairie style. Some of the houses are huge and were built by lumber barons and furniture company owners but then there are smaller frame homes. The district was in danger of being decimated by urban renewal and so a preservation group was founded in 1969 and now we have this beautiful area to enjoy and walk in.

It was a beautiful day and there were so many wonderful houses to exclaim at and ooh and aah. We were done with that part of the walk with 3.3 miles done and we headed back to the motel to clean up and check out. I found a nice trail called Plaster Creek Trail that starts at Kenosha Park near where our hotel was on 28th St. It was a pretty, well maintained trail and I finished up with 1.7 miles and voila! Kent County was done!!!!





We then headed up the road to Grand Haven in Ottawa County and checked into the Holiday Inn. From the hotel there is a trail that goes in to Grand Haven to the lakeshore and there is a trail that goes over to Spring Lake. We thought we were heading to Grand Haven but had taken the other one. We weren't too disappointed since the trail was very pleasant and wound past the marina and then paralleled the main street. Lots of people were out walking their dogs enjoying the day and I got to pet a sweet old golden retriever.

Sweaty and exhausted, we made it back to the motel with the whole 5 miles done for Ottawa County and headed out to what seems to be the old standby restaurant: Panera's. Then back to watch the baseball game and take it easy after a very full day!!!

Eaton County 05/15

I had a bunch of counties that needed doing and I wanted to get home by grandbaby sitting day on Wednesday so my sister and I decided to take off Sunday afternoon and get to walking.

I wasn't too optimistic since it was raining when we took off. We were heading up 96 past Lansing to the next county over...Eaton County. I had decided that we would walk in Grand Ledge which is famous for its cliffs on the side of the Grand River. This is from the Grand Ledge Area Historical Society website:

"Some 300 million years ago Grand Ledge was a salt water sea. Sediments (sand, silt and clay) were carried by the water and deposited in layers along river banks and beaches. Time and pressure compacted and cemented the sediments into the ledges we have today. The rocks found in the area contain fossils some of which can only be found here. Veins of coal can still be found along the river path which runs from Island Park to Fitzgerald Park."


Thank goodness by the time we got to Grand Ledge the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to come out. We walked out to the park where a trail starts along the river below the cliffs. The path is very narrow with lots of roots and mud and it might have been a little scary. At one point a squirrel spooked me and for a second I thought I was falling.... It was fun though and we made it to the end of that trail at Island Park. The river was really high from all the rain we've been having. We then finished up our 5 miles by walking through the neighborhood that backs up to the river. I can't show what the houses looked like since I left my camera in the car.

We headed back out to the expressway to go to Grand Rapids where we'd walk in the morning.

Branch and Calhoun Counties

Finally after a long day I'm at my motel getting ready for sleepy time. This morning I got up at 6:30 and went down to Perrysburg, Ohio to pick up my sister so she could go with me out to do 4 more counties. We headed out on the Ohio turnpike and went over to I-69 and up to Coldwater.

I had searched on the internet and found a historical house tour and we set out with high expectations but were having trouble coordinating the walk with checking the map. So we just kind of took off and went up and down the streets going "Oooo" and "Look at that one!" for a while until we'd done 3 miles and we decided we needed to eat. There was this really good place called Jeannie's Diner on W Chicago St. It was scrumptious and had the old style counter with the seats that twirl around and what looked like original booths made out of wood.

After that we tried the map again and finished up the last two miles.

The houses were huge, impressive and had a good representation from just about every style of architecture in the last 150 years. There are neighborhoods that look really good with lots of renovated houses and some that are pretty shabby. The Tibbits Opera House is being renovated and needs help

Then we headed up to Calhoun County and walked around the neighborhoods in Marshall which had houses as grand and beautiful as those in Coldwater. We shopped a little bit downtown, they have lots of touristy shops. We walked past the Honolulu House which was built by Abner Pratt who was chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and United States Council to Hawaii. So we got 2 miles in there and I walked another 2.5 miles along Battle Creek Linear Park which is a really cool trail that goes along the river. Unfortunately it started raining while I was walking so I cut it short and finished up the 5 miles at the Firekeepers Casino walking around the perimeter of the place. That's one thing to do when you're bored at the casino--power walk!

I am so tired so that's it that's all I can think of to say. Good night!

Lenawee County-Diabetes Walk

Yesterday I went to Tecumseh to do the Diabetes Walk with some of my family members. Since it was a 5K walk which only equals 3.3 miles, I had to get there early to walk the extra 1.7 miles in town.

I am really familiar with Lenawee County and I think Tecumseh is a really nice, classy town. The architecture is fantastic with many houses dating back to the 1800's. When you drive through on the main drag the houses are impressive but I walked one block back and saw really cool houses that I never noticed before. There was one arts and crafts style I really liked. There are lots of thriving local businesses including interesting looking home furnishing stores and a quilt store.

What impresses me is that they have a thriving local arts scene with a Youth Theater Group and Tecumseh Center for the Arts where plays are presented. I saw "The Wizard of Oz" there a few years back and it was pretty great.

I finished my 1.7 miles and then met up with some family members at the Community Center which is in one of the Henry Ford mills. We did the walk and then went out to have breakfast at City Limits Diner which I didn't know was there (it's on the block I never go down).

Van Buren County and Allegan County

I got back from out west in time to watch the hockey game (go Wings!). Here is the story of another long day...

I checked out of my funky hotel and had breakfast with a large number of truckers at Sophia's Pancakes and judging from the huge portion sizes there is a reason why truckers are (usually) large. Then I headed up to South Haven to walk on the Kal-Haven Trail. It's another of the rail to trails and runs between Kalamazoo and South Haven. The first part of the trail runs along the Black River and they've put in a lot of decks and ramps and some of them kind of hang over the river. I like this kind of trail because there is no thinking involved you just have to keep plugging along 2.5 miles and then 2.5 miles back. This trail had nice clean portapotties which is something. I'm not even going to go there about the portapotty I endured at Macomb County. Anyhow, I plodded along and did the whole 5 miles and made it back to my car. I drove in to South Haven and looked around and headed up to Saugatuck.

I really, really like the towns on that side of the state but it's kind of like you've seen one you've seen them all. There is the requisite fudge shop, many bars, the marina, the lighthouse, etc. I'm sure it's different if you live there. The settings obviously are different and Saugatuck has a beautiful one on the Kalamazoo River before it runs into Lake Michigan. Saugatuck isn't right on the lake and Wikipedia says that it has a large number of old pre Civil war houses because it managed to escape the fate of a lot of areas up north that had devastating fires. Also the area contributed a lot of lumber that helped rebuild Chicago after their fire.

So I walked 2 miles in downtown Saugatuck and it IS very beautiful and artsy and I had a really good sandwich at Pumpernickel's Eatery. I was thinking about wimping out and only getting half of the county done but decided to go up to Saugatuck State Park just to see it. HA!

This was the opposite of not having to think. I don't know how I can have a map of the trails and still get lost. There were markers and let's face it, how does a person get lost when she knows that the dunes are next to the lake and the parking lot is in the other direction? Anyhow, I was on my last fumes of my energy and ended up climbing up a towering dune to catch a view of Lake Michigan which at first I thought was the sky it was so blue. It was very cool! I figured out which way to go and got back to the car. I was sweating like a pig and drove all the way back home with bare feet.

Tomorrow I do the Diabetes walk in Tecumseh and next week I go to Branch, Calhoun, Kalamazoo and St. Joseph Counties and then I want to get Genesee and Lapeer done. Whew!!

PS If you want to see a really neat house that I want in Saugatuck check out this link and check out the price!!!! This is on the list of "when we win the lottery".

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/415-Lake-St_Saugatuck_MI_49453_M31396-11952

Cass County and Berrien County

First off I have to say that my stupid camera isn't working so I have no pictures of a wonderful day so I will have to use my best adjectives to tell you about it. Right now I am sitting in a very basic Motel 6 in Benton Harbor (even worse). I am good and exhausted. Here is why:

I took off from the house at 7:30AM to get over to the west side of the state in a timely fashion since I have to do at least 2 counties a day now in order to catch up. I had decided that I was going to Dowagiac (Cass County) first. The only times I had ever been there was on the train to Chicago which has a stop there. The old train station is pretty and thank God it has a public restroom! I walked through the city neighborhoods which have beautiful old houses, many Victorians with interesting color combinations. There was an awesome old stone mansion with stables that were bigger than a regular house. The downtown isn't doing real well, there are some restaurants but mostly just businesses like insurance companies.

So I walked 3 miles there because I wanted to go to Dowagiac Woods Sanctuary which is a few miles southwest of town. It is a tract of woods that has over 50 kinds of trees and the most beautiful spring flowers I have ever seen. It was thick with trillium, blue eyed Mary, and lots of flowers I have no idea what their names were but blew my mind. You know what it reminded me of? The elven kingdom of Rivendell in the Lord of the Rings. I highly recommend it if you're ever in the area. I also think what the Michigan Nature Association is doing is incredibly important. Here is their link if you're interested: www.michigannature.org

So at that point I had Cass County done and I headed down to Niles because I had read about a reportedly great garden last year and never made it over there so I figured I'd use some of my miles to check it out. It's called Fernwood Botanical Gardens and Nature Preserve. Another freaking magnificent place (www.fernwoodbotanical.org) which I also highly recommend. There are many trails, one of which runs along the banks of the St. Joseph River. They have many different theme gardens. Oh heck, if you're interested just look at the website.

I got 2 miles done there because frankly I was getting pooped and knew I was going to St. Joseph and wanted to save my energy for a walk along Lake Michigan. It never ceases to amaze me how rich St. Joseph is and how poor Benton Harbor is and all that separates them is a river. It's kind of like when you're driving up Jefferson in Detroit and it's all depressing and poor then it's as if you've gotten to the promised land when you cross into Grosse Point. Anyhow, I got my funky hotel room, figured out how to hook the laptop up to the internet (with help from Wes and he didn't sigh too loud when I called him for help), then I had a fortifying taco salad at Qdoba (which is yet another place I highly recommend YUM).

It had started raining but I finished with 3 more miles walking a really good trail system along Lake Michigan. St. Joseph is built on a bluff over the lake and to get to the beach there is a humongous stairway that goes down to the beach. The sidewalks go on for a few blocks and then there is a trail that goes down about a mile and then you have to climb a towering series of ramps to get back up to street level. Again there were beautiful, classy historic houses. At the end of the walk I was tempted to get a coffee at a chocolate/coffee bar but I figured nothing good was going to come of that and just came back to the motel. I got to see Jacob kicked off American Idol so all is right with the world!

Tomorrow I'm going to get Allegan and Van Buren counties done! Yes I am...

Update but no new counties

Last week was a watery mess around here and I didn't get any more counties done.

My best friend from high school and I were going to hit Chicago together but she was unable to make it. Since I already had the reservations made Wes offered to go instead (out of the kindness of his heart). So on Saturday morning we trekked down to Toledo and got on the Megabus. Their stop is by where Southwyck Mall used to be but they tore it down and we didn't know where we were going to park our car. We discovered that there was a Kmart right by the stop and I figured that since they are hardly using their parking lot anymore (poor Kmart) we'd leave it there and that turned out okay. It was a good experience and we were soon at the bus stop in Chicago.



We were going to haul butt up to Wacker and Michigan where we had a reservation at Club Quarters I thought. Luckily I looked at the reservation confirmation and realized that we were actually at the Central Loop location which worked out better. After checking in we walked up Mag Mile and just sort of hung out. Sunday we spent most of the day at the Field Museum. Here is a picture of a very scary stuffed critter in one of their ancient cases.

Monday we went on an architecture cruise up and down the Chicago River which was excellent.


Then we went to the Art Museum for a couple of hours. We spent most of that time trying to figure out where we were. Then we went and had lunch and then on to the bus stop and back home. Luckily our car was still there in one piece and today we picked up our dog and life is back to what we think is normal.

My plan for this week is to go and get a bunch of counties done on Thursday and Friday. Then on Saturday I am walking in Lenawee at the Diabetes Walk and my training schedule says I have to do 10 miles total so I guess I'm doing 10 miles in Lenawee. Then next week one of my sisters and I are going out to the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek area and hopefully I'll get 4 more counties done. I got a tee shirt at the Nike store in Chicago that says, "Make your self" which is my new mantra. I have to get real serious really fast and get this going!!!


(This is the front of the Art Museum. I thought the flowers were really pretty. )