Hawk Island

I went to Hawk Island the other day, to take advantage of the temporary warm weather before winter hits. Hawk Island is a man-made park featuring: a pond with paddle boats, a 1.5 mile walking path, a playground, a "splash" area for kids, a new winter park with a tubing hill (!), and some pretty nature. There is also a dog park connected to it. 

 Jogging. 

 Water and trees. You should see it in Autumn. 

 The path ahead of us. 

Lovers. 

Be forewarned - it costs $3 to park here, but it's a small price to pay to support a great park and recreational area. On December 9th the winter terrain park will open (weather permitting) which will offer fun places to snowboard, ski, sled, or tube. Great place to check out some hot ski bunnies, amiright?? I am. 

Golden Harvest - Lansing, MI

Do you like food? If yes, go to Golden Harvest. If no, I'm sad for you my friend. If it's possible for a restaurant to have a cult following, GH does. Their symbol is a skull and crossbones, with the crossbones made out of dining utensils. I see people with this sticker on their car all over the Lansing area.

This restaurant is located in Lansing's Old Town district. It is small and crowded. So when you first get there, you must wait outside, and be prepared to wait, because there is always a line.

Loud music, lots of art and quirky decor, people watching...All good things to help you pass the time as your stomach rumbles while you smell the good food.

  LOL.

Parker looking snazzy in a bow-tie as we discuss our growling stomachs. 

 The inside is fun. More visual stimulus as you wait for your food. Also LOUD MUSIC. I remember hearing Missy Elliott, B52s, electronica...

That dude totally wishes he was eating right now.

Choosing what to eat is hard. Specials every day...In addition to their regular menu which features items such as the S & M Scramble, the Meatmen omelette (described as "meat, meat, meat, meat, cheese, cheese, cheese, gravy"), and the King Waffle (peanut butter, banana, and chocolate)...I am still thinking about the King Waffle. Next time.

Instead I got about 12 cups of coffee, a bowl of cheesy grits for our table to share as an appetizer (ridiculous amounts of cheese and butter), and one of the specials - a French Toast Yard Sale - 3 types of french toast (pumpkin, cinnamon, and blueberry-granola) with hash browns and scrambled eggs. I spent about $20 with tip and took home half the food for leftovers. It's cash only.

I don't even like grits that much but these cheesy grits are DELICIOUS.

 Sunshine and her beautiful daughter, experiencing the Golden Harvest for the first time.

 French toast.

 Eggs and hash browns.

Parker's breakfast burrito. 

Golden Harvest is an experience. We were there for between 1 1/2 hours and 2 hours including wait time for seating and food. Despite the diner ambiance, this is GOOD FOOD which takes time and is well worth it. Go eat food!

Granger Meadows Park

Granger picks up mid-Michigan's trash and puts it in a giant landfill on Wood St. near the Eastwood Towne Center. If you've ever been around there, you've smelled what I'm talking about. But Granger does not only have trash, they also have a lovely little park called Granger Meadows Park. Here is a picture from Google Earth:

The park has places to do sports (walking/jogging trails, basketball court, softball field, inline skaing rink, disc golf course) and places to have fun (playground equipment, picnic pavilion, sledding hill) 

(SLEDDING HILL RULES!!)

The sledding hill is also cool when there's no snow because of the view. I made this panorama:

(Click to make it larger)

(Sarah and I went for a walk.)

(I'm nauseous...)

(Fake disc golf shot)

Leaves & Skies

 I love when trees with different shades of leaves are lined up like an Autumn rainbow.

 Vivid orange leaves are also a favorite.

 The sky just kills me. All the time. I love it.

Random. House near my neighborhood which has a vintage gas station set-up outside.

New Beer, New Coffee. Drink Up Lansing!

Yesterday I decided to spice up my life ad take a slightly different route to work. And I'm glad I did; I saw a small business called EagleMonk about 2 blocks from my work. I like beer. I like breweries. I did a little research; it opened less than a month ago! I eagerly stopped by after work to check it out.

I got an India Pale Ale (IPA) which tends to be my beer style of choice. It was pretty good. I'll talk about the beer more on my other blog. EagleMonk is not a super pretty place yet. The main room has 8 tables, several of which were taken up by patrons, and a small bar. They have about 6 beers on tap (pretty standard styles), a few wines on tap, and even some sodas on tap. They also have a food menu with some basic pizza, sandwiches, and salads. Pints are $4.

The ambience left something to be desired. The main room was bright (O! the light hurts me eyes) but there was a cool room off to the side with foosball and shuffleboard! Add some couches, dim the lights, play good music, and you've got yourself a great location. There was also a lot of monk and beer-based art.

Then yesterday my colleague shared with me a newspaper article about a new coffee shop in Old Town. A family member of hers happens to be the owner, so after a meeting this morning downtown, I stopped by. Artie's Filling Station serves high quality coffee with all local, organic, and fair-trade ingredients. It's a cute business with some outdoor seating but otherwise customers drive-through/walk-up-to.

A helpful sign to show you the way.

They serve a variety of coffee drinks as well as very delicious-sounding gelato. The owner was super nice and said business has been steadily picking up. The cappuccino I was served was beautiful and delicious. And I was happy that no cows or farmers were harmed in its production.



Drink up Lansing!

Michigan skies

One of my favorite parts of Michigan is the skies.

Nerdy fun at MSU

Michigan State University Library (open 24 hours during the semester) has thousands of books and tons of fantastic resources. They also have fountains of blue water because, duh, water is blue. 

Sometimes students put dish soap in the fountains to make bubbles. YAY!!!

You can use MSU library resources if you are not a student. I'll show you how!! (The students don't use them anyway because they are too busy getting loaded.)

Step 1: Parking is difficult during the day, but after 6pm, you can park in the employee spots. 

Step 2: Finding a resource. You can ask a friendly librarian at the reference desk, or you can look it up yourself! These "Selected Resources/Catalog" computers don't require an MSU ID to log in. 

Once you find the call number, you look for the floor and location of your book on the East or West wing. Then follow the colored lines.

Hope you're not color blind!

If you're lucky, your book will be on a floor that has sliding shelves. These are fun and save space!

You can check out your book with a community borrowers card. I forgot how I got this great little card, so you'll have to figure that out yourself. 

When you're done with the library, you can check out the MSU gardens. 

They're beautiful and peaceful. Each plant has a little placard that explains what the plant is. Interesting.

Have nerdy fun at MSU and let us know what you like to do on campus.

LCC's Shigematsu Memorial Garden

At a first glance, Lansing Community College (LCC) may not look super pretty. There are brown brick buildings, the occasional bus, and dude walking with a cell phone.

 

In reality, LCC is a great school. It offers traditional academic programs, short-term trainings, continuing education, fun classes like wine-tasting, theater and concerts, and more. It serves a diverse population and has many ties to the greater Lansing area. And also, it does have some Pretty. Downtown, in the midst of the brown bricks, there is a Japanese garden dedicated to Megumi Shigematsu, a sponsor of LCC programs in Japan.

It is small, but very beautiful and peaceful. There are rock gardens, a pond with Koi, places to sit, and a walking path around it. There is a small water fall and offers relaxing scenery and sounds in the midst of the downtown area.

Go get your Zen on.

MEGA MALL

 Mega Mall is a huge garage sale. Like Ebay, except a store. It has everything. Even a restaurant.

 (Mega Mall eatery!)

No. Like, EVERYTHING. Aisles and aisles of antiques, relics, paraphernalia, garbage, treasures...In other words stuff. Lots of stuff. It is located way on the North side of Lansing. Today's visit was the first time Valerie and Sarah had been there. Why hadn't we gone sooner?

 

 I inadvertently created a fabulous outfit. First, this dress ($140). From.. the 20s? 30s? Who knows about fashion? Not me. 

 

Then, these shoes from 1890? 1946? ($49):

  

And this mink ($28):

 

 And this Nazi holster ($350):

 Containing this outer-space gun ($40):

And the owner of this outfit listens to this record player:

Wanker beer.

Robots!

Sweet 60s-70s furniture, musical instruments, decor.

Sarah found sweet shoes for $15!

Old beer paraphernalia.

The 3rd Sunday of every month is an outdoor flea market at Mega Mall. Must check it out!