Sight Seeing Today
Today was a day off for us. We drove down to Ionia, looked around, and then wandered back up to Spring Hill via Big Rapids.
Ionia was interesting. I was surprised at the hills. There are streets that are as steep as those in San Francisco. Kathy wondered how in the world people negotiated slippery streets during the winter. One of the highlights was the John C. Blanchard house. Unfortunately it is only open for tours on Sunday. We would have loved to have been able to tour the inside. Mr. Blanchard (1822-1905) left Cayuga County New York when he was 14. He worked as a laborer in Detroit, Livingston and Shiawassee counties; and saved his money. He walked 60 miles to the U.S. Land Office at Ionia and paid $50, of his $53 savings, for 40 acres of land. Two years later he began "reading the law" as a student in a local law office. In 1850 he was appointed as Ionia County prosecuting attorney.
His home is brick with a sandstone veneer. He selected the sandstone from the Ionia Sandstone Quarry, which he co-owned. The home was completed in 1881. The sandstone veneer is beautiful.
I apologize for the pitiful quality of my photos.
Ionia was interesting. I was surprised at the hills. There are streets that are as steep as those in San Francisco. Kathy wondered how in the world people negotiated slippery streets during the winter. One of the highlights was the John C. Blanchard house. Unfortunately it is only open for tours on Sunday. We would have loved to have been able to tour the inside. Mr. Blanchard (1822-1905) left Cayuga County New York when he was 14. He worked as a laborer in Detroit, Livingston and Shiawassee counties; and saved his money. He walked 60 miles to the U.S. Land Office at Ionia and paid $50, of his $53 savings, for 40 acres of land. Two years later he began "reading the law" as a student in a local law office. In 1850 he was appointed as Ionia County prosecuting attorney.
His home is brick with a sandstone veneer. He selected the sandstone from the Ionia Sandstone Quarry, which he co-owned. The home was completed in 1881. The sandstone veneer is beautiful.
I apologize for the pitiful quality of my photos.
On the other side of town we found this house. It is a private residence. We don't know anything about its history. Standing on the yard of the home behind this one, also a beautiful old home, I could look down on this homes porch roof. I have not doubt that the floor of the bottom level of this house is well above the roof of the house downhill across the street.
On the way back we went through Belding. I think it was in Belding that we saw an abandoned, huge, old, multi-story factory type building. There was no name anywhere on it so we have no idea what it might have been. It was almost right in the downtown area. Out west of Belding we stopped at H&W Farms. We bought some cherries and other snack type things. The corn and flax crackers are AWESOME.
As we drove around in other small towns along Hwy 91 we saw many more interesting old building.
When we drove though Ferris State University I remembered hearing about it when we lived in Michigan but I no idea that it was so large. The highlight of Big Rapids was the Coney Dog place we ate supper.
We learned that we have "visitors" in the RV, a mouse or maybe mice. I now have traps set in the pantry, poison in the basement, and poison in a "pet proof" box under the RV. It will be interesting to see if one or both of the traps in the pantry go off tonight.
It was nice last night and this morning. The overnight low was in the mid 50's. Weatherbug says that today's high was 86. It wasn't to uncomfortable until after we arrived back at the RV around 6:00 PM. I broke down and turned on the AC in the RV. Tonight's low is supposed to be 67 with a high of 89 tomorrow.
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