This park visit actually came about thanks to a rummage sale in Kalamazoo!
My mom was back in Michigan, for a quick visit, and I found a rummage sale at a church, in Kalamazoo. While the drive is not terrible, it is a long way to go for just a rummage sale. So, we packed our lunch and headed down for the 'clearance.'
They had so much left that they were doing fill a bag, and extended the shopping time by an hour to get people to take more!
We left with a bag each, plus a few items that wouldn't fit.
On our way to park, we passed the playground, which of course was of great interest to the children. Emily made a friend, and the twins played together for over an hour. I spent the time eating my lunch, chatting with my mom, then chatting with a stranger (the grandmother of Emily's friend.)
Our next stop was to be the library, for their book sale! So Avia started walking that way while I chatted with 'my stranger.' ; )
The next task, finding a spot to park near the library, was tricky. And to make things worse, Downtown Kalamazoo is filled with one way streets. There was a wedding going on at a nearby church, so much of the parking was already claimed. We did finally find a place to park, but it was 30 minute only parking, so we waited a few minutes for Avia to check out**, then started making our way to our final destination of the day.
Fort Custer Recreation Area is right up against Fort Custer, which is a massive area of land! The recreation Area is on the north side, so you have to go all the way around the base to get to it from the interstate.
We were going to stop here on our way back from Jellystone last year, but the entrance was very ambiguous on google maps, so we skipped it with a car full of tired people, half of whom would not even want to get out of the car.
Ther were signs everywhere telling you what was not allowed, as well as directing you to various destinations. One of the signs said no metal detecting. But, when we arrived at the beach, the only other person there was metal detecting! Emily remarked "the first time I've ever seen someone using a metal detector in person, and the sign says it's not allowed!" lol.
It was cold and windy, but that didn't stop my crew from wanting to play on the beach.
The bathrooms were closed, but from the beach we saw an outhouse like we'd had during our rustic camping experience, so we drove around the lake for a potty break.
By then it was starting to sprinkle a bit, but Emily and Grace wanted more time on the beach, so we drove back to the first beach and gave them ten extra minutes (but Juliet, Avia and I stayed in the car.)
The climbed back in the car windblown, but happy. On our way out we saw some horses on some of the horse trails!
At the rummage sale, Avia bought some girl scout cookies. We had some of the Aldi brand at home, so I thought it'd be interesting to compare them.
Left is Aldi, right is the Girl Scout brand. The Aldi is wider and taller. I personally like it better. The Girl Scout version tastes saltier in my opinion; which I know is why you're here or you wouldn't have read this far, right? lol.
It felt really nice to visit another park, during an 'off season' month! Hopefully we'll find time to visit a few more this summer!
later days
If you want to see all the ones we've visited so far, here are the links to the posts:
Tahquamenon Falls #15
Keith J Charters #33
*this post marks the start of the project, and as such, has information about what I hope to accomplish!
**despite Avia getting quite a head start on us, the walk took up the majority of her time. And without parking, we were not going to go in for just a few minutes and make it back to the car. So, poor Avia, she did not get long to book shop this go round.
edited 3-27-24: backdated for continuity.
