Fernwood Botanical/Railway Garden

Fernwood Botanical Garden and Nature Preserve is such a treat! Located in Niles, there are at least 10 different trails featuring ponds, a river, ecology, grasses, wildflowers, butterflies and more. There are perennial, annual, Japanese, boxwood, herb/sensory and fern gardens. This year a Railroad Garden was added by the renowned architect and naturalist, Paul Busse. The elaborate 3-D Railroad garden has over 510 feet of railroad track, a seven foot waterfall, a covered bridge, mountain tunnels, a train depot, a local mill replica, and 12 fairy tales homes to delight visitors of all ages. The structures are made of all natural materials, including moss, twigs, leaves, bark, vines and seeds. www.fernwoodbotanical.org

Andrews University

In our exploring the Southwest corner of Michigan, we came accross Andrews University which was founded in 1874 in Battle Creek and moved to Berrien Springs in 1901. The 1600 acre campus is only 12 miles from Lake Michigan and serves about 3400 students (1800 undergraduate). About a third of the student population is international representing 98 different countries. This Adventist Christian University is named after John Nevins Andrews (1829-1883), the biggest thinker in the Adventist church. The university motto is "Seek Knowledge, Affirm Faith, Change the World".

Morton House

The Historic Morton House in Benton Harbor is open to the public. This beautiful home was built in 1849 by Eleazar Morton and his son Henry, who were among the first white settlers in the area, coming from Plymouth, MA. The Mortons continued to live in the house for the next 87 years. It was the first home built on the Benton Harbor side of the the St. Joseph River and was nicknamed the "Indian Hotel" because Henry allowed Potawatomi Indians to sleep on the porch on their way to St. Joseph to sell their baskets made from woven willows that grew near the Paw Paw River.

Swing Bridge over St Joseph River

On the St. Joseph River we found a Swing Railroad Bridge connecting tracks over the St. Joseph River from the towns of St. Joseph to Benton Harbor. This swing bridge was built in 1904 to allow boats to travel down the St. Joseph River and railroad trains to cross over the river. There are about a dozen swing bridges still in use in Michigan crossing such rivers as the Manistee, Rouge and Saginaw.

St Joseph's Maids of the Mist

This elegant fountain of two pensive, wise women overlooking St Joseph River dates back to 1872. We saw a sign that was pulled from the Delta Airlines Sky Magazine citing the top 5 great escapes. St Joseph's is listed as #2! Nice, France edged it out as #1. With Lois Ashbrook of Taylor Rentals as our personal tour guide Doreen and Suzie are having fun hitting every nook and cranny of southwest Michigan. Stay tuned for more.

Capuchin Soup Kitchen

The Capuchins have two soup kitchens in Detroit, one near the Father Solanus Casey Center at 1264 Meldrum and one on Conner near the city airport. Monday Doreen invited Suzie to help work the food line on Meldrum with some wonderful friendly volunteers and together we fed lunch to over 300 people. The two hours went by very quickly and those who came to eat were most grateful.

The annual SOCK dinner (Support Our Soup Kitchen) is Friday, October 9th at the Detroit Marriott Hotel in the Rencen. This is one of Detroit's top grossing fundraisers--because everyone knows how much the Capuchins do for our local community.

Feather Bowling

One of the most unique spots in Detroit is the Cadieux Café where you can not only dine on some of the finest mussels, but also partake of the unique Belgian sport called feather bowling. It is similar to bocci ball, but as we were told last weekend.....the beer you drink along with it will either make your game better or will make you feel like it doesn't matter what the outcome is! We recommend the Belgian raspberry beer. The object of the game is to get your "ball" as close to the feather as possible.