Kalamazoo and Saugatuck

Dave and I have been busy the past few days, running around Western Michigan visiting people and places. We saw a friend of mine from the Peace Corps in Ann Arbor, and then drove to Portage, where Dave used to live. We're staying with our friend Kellee.

I really dig this part of Michigan. It seems very clean, spacious and inexpensive. We went to downtown Kalamazoo a a few mornings ago and had breakfast at a granola-y kind of restaurant, and then walked around a bit. I was impressed with all the activities and cool shops downtown. We also went to a concert by some of Dave's musician friends before hopping in the car and speeding off to Battle Creek, for a performance by raucus comedienne Kathy Griffin at a big cheesy casino called FireKeepers. (A gambling casino is my idea of hell. All that noise, those flashing lights, the bad food. Bleah. Kathy made it bearable.)

Yesterday we went to Saugatuck, a resort town on Lake Michigan. We wandered around and popped into some little shops with local wine, antiques and stuff like that. I bought some old Florida postcards and managed to leave them on top of the car when we drove away to lunch. When I realized what I'd done (about an hour later) we went back and the postcards were still there, lying in the road. How lucky can you get?

We visited Oval Beach, a nice sandy stretch along the lake. I didn't get in the chilly water, but some people were swimming. It was enough for me to just see the lake and put my toes in.

(Photo: Downtown Kalamazoo.)