This is a continuation of our trip to Branch and Calhoun county from the last post:
We got up the next morning and ate breakfast and checked out. By the way, Best Western Executive Inn in Battle Creek is a really nice motel. Then we headed over to Kalamazoo. I had planned on walking the other end of the Kal Haven Trail that I walked in South Haven. There was a city trail that was connected to it called the Kalamazoo River Pathway that we were going to do instead but one mile into it the trail changed to a bike path which wasn't gonna work. This pathway was in a very old neighborhood which I can't remember the name of but it had very old very restorable houses that hadn't been touched and most of them were falling apart. It must have been a very desirable neighborhood back in the day. I think that it will start to be gentrified since it looks like they are starting to gussy up some of the houses and there is a coffee shop in the neighborhood.
We walked a total of 2 miles on that pathway and then drove out to the Kal Haven Trail and walked 3 more. That trail is so beautiful, it was like walking through a tunnel of green. I was dragging my butt by the end of that five miles though and was wishing the day was over but we still had to go to St. Joseph County.
The plan was to drive down 131 to Three Rivers and I had heard that there are a lot of Amish communities in that area so we were hoping for some pie. We drove down and went to a downtown cafe but they were pieless. I asked if there were any walking trails in the area and the waitress suggested Meyer Broadway Park. We drove out there and there was one paved trail about a block long and then there were mowed paths all around the park. It had a huge Frisbee course. I was tired and grouchy again and only walked about 2 miles.
My husband's Aunt Louise fought and lost a battle with breast cancer. She is probably the person I knew the best who had the disease. She was a wonderful person and it's a darn shame what she went through. She is buried at the Mendon Cemetery and we stopped there to pay our respects. It is a small town and when I asked the woman at the cemetery if she could look in her records and tell me where she's buried, she said that she could take me right over. RIP Aunt Louise and Uncle Bob.
We ended up walking another .5 miles in little pieces. Angie, my sister, tried to get me to finish up St. Joseph but I wimped out. I still have 2.5 miles to go which is really dumb. But as my favorite saying goes: It is what it is.