While a new dollar coin isn’t all that interesting to me, the running theme of this article is:

Like lemmings rushing into the fjords, Congress cannot seem to resist a leap into the dollar-coin money pit.

Day 3 was colder, but we still hit several local parks.

First up was Muskegon State Park which is right along Lake Michigan. The roads were essentially drifted with sand in places, but still passable. We hiked on the dunes and hiked out to the luge track at the Winter Sports Complex. Farther up US-31 was Duck Lake State Park.

(That’s literally a duck on Duck Lake.) We walked along a paved sidewalk that ran from the parking area to the lake front beach area.
Since the temp was starting to drop, we spent some more time driving around western Michigan, but didn’t do much other than eat lunch and return to the hotel.
Friday night we were looking for someplace to eat within walking distance. We were going to settle for the resturant in the hotel, but we realized the City Cafe was in the Frauenthal Center just across the street. All I can say is wow. The food was great and the service was excellent, I’d recommend it to anyone who is in the Muskegon area, especially if you are staying at the Holiday Inn.
With snow and colder weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday, we decided to come home a day early. After driving through Gary and Chicago, we’re glad to be back in central Illinois.

After our free continental breakfast at Holiday Inn Express and a short drive to Battle Creek, we spent an hour or so at Kelloggs Cereal City.

This really isn’t an attraction for adults, but if we were 10, it would have been really cool. Lots of interactive exhibits, with loud noises and flashing lights. And a free box of Fruit Loops for each person at the end.
Next, after some interesting driving around downtown Battle Creek, we took off towards Muskegon on a nice little 2 lane highway. Driving across western Michigan is kind of nice, but they have some screwed up roads. The next stop was in Grand Haven, at a small state park that really isn’t much more than a pier/lighthouse/breakwater, a strip of beach along Lake Michigan and a camper parking area. We walked out to the end of the pier, ignoring the warning signs about the danger of (non-existant) heavy surf washing us off and out into the lake.

(Other pictures)

Tomorrow, we’re hoping to hit a couple of local state parks, but the forecast isn’t looking good, so we may just be wandering around looking for indoor things to do. And there’s a chance of snow tomorrow night and for the rest of the weekend, good thing we brought the truck.

Day 1 has been quite a bit of driving, but it wasn’t bad. I-57 north to US-24 east to US-31 north to South Bend to some random state roads to I-94 to Kalamazoo. The Holiday Inn Express was easy to find, right off the interstate, and has free wireless (woohoo!). The wife worked last night and still hasn’t slept, so I’m expecting her to fall over pretty soon and not wake up until late tommorrow.

Day 2? Kelloggs Cereal City USA in Battle Creek and then a drive up to Muskegon. Hopefully they have wireless also.

Ever wondered what 18 cups of oatmeal, 3 lbs of peanut butter, a dozen eggs, a pound of butter, 3lbs of sugar and miscellanous other things mixed up look like?

Well, now you know what a batch of monster cookies look like after they are mixed and before they are baked. The yield really is right around 200 cookies.

Interesting New Yorker article, via BoingBoing.

Oh, and this weeks Grand Rounds is up.