The Grand River Art Walk opening was today at Art 634 downtown. I've never been down there, but it's always been on the list of places to visit. The Art Walk is very nice, and will be beautiful once it is completely finished (the same goes for the Armory). I'm glad that someone decided to invest in Jackson, and turn something that had the potential to be an eyesore into something positive!

The space at Art 634 is gorgeous. They can host events and weddings, with a garden of sorts, lobby area, and large gallery/event space. Upstairs is the Jackson School of the Arts, which has 3 dance studios and a classroom space (there's a benefit art show coming up to subsidize class costs for under privileged kids). There are some really great pieces there, not just paintings and kitsch, but great gifts and useful home decor. (the Perch! wall storage things are so cute!)

Hot Air Jubilee

The Hot Air Jubilee was a very interesting this year. Some friends of a friend own a balloon so I was able to go "behind the scenes" and get some great shots. Watching the balloons go up and the glow at night are always very cool. The only downside is that if the weather is bad, and conditions are not ideal, then they don't take off. I saw the other side of things as several balloon teams were trying to inflate their balloons just for the glow and having trouble keeping the balloon on the ground. I actually ended up half in the basket of one helping five other people hold it down. Winds on the ground were only about 5 miles per hours, but 70 feet in the air it was a different story.

Held at Michigan International Speedway, or MIS, the Great Lakes Wine Fest included over 20 Michigan wineries, a few breweries, and other local vendors. The idea was a more accessible, fun, wine event. Wine tasting that isn't exclusive to the country club crowd. I've started to get into wine, and an event like this is a great opportunity to sample product that isn't easily available (although some of the wineries, like Black Star Farms, are carried at larger stores like Meijer). I have noticed though that this state has some great wines, with a very clear and clean taste (note: I don't know very much about wine so excuse my poor terminology). This was the first year of the event, and it was well organized. In my opinion it would have been nicer if the beer tasting tent was not as far away (I almost missed it). It was also nice that they had a retail space set up on the way out so that you were able to buy bottles of the wines that you'd sampled.

Favorites:
Black Star Farms- Late Harvest Riesling
Sleeping Bear Winery- Honeydew, Vignoles

Duck Feeding!

Feeding the ducks and geese at the park is one of my favorite past times. Is it cheesy? Yep. Is it fun? Definitely! Also: It is cheap.
If you go to the Hostess Outlet Store you can get the bread that's on sale, 3 for $2.49. This bread is really doubly on sale because everything in the store is cheap, and the goods on the sale rack are "about to expire" aka half stale. Also, right down the road is Polly's Country Market, which sometimes has great sales on bread items (like hamburger buns for 34 cents a bag).

The combination of those three things makes this a great thing to do for all ages. The fowl at the Northlawn Park at are odd. Some of them look like odd mutant cross breeds (although I've been told this is impossible) and they all know the routine. If you go in the winter, they flock around the car as you drive in. It is difficult to get out and back into your car, but cute that they try so hard. In the warmer months, some of them will ignore you (mainly the Mallard ducks) and some will drive the others away to get more bread. Some will also eat bread from your hand.

In short, duck feeding is a cheap and entertaining.

Maggie Moo's

What is that?... The above picture is me and Maggie Moo, the mascot for Maggie Moo's Ice Cream Treatery. This owner of franchise location claims to be better than Coldstone Creamery (with a similar idea, minus singing). I've never been to a Coldstone, so I don't actually know, but this place has great ice cream! The ice cream and waffle cones are made on-site, hence, no ice-crystals in the ice cream to dilute flavor and smoothness. They offer "mixins" which are various ingredients they will mix into your portion of ice cream. You can create your own combination or pick from a menu. My favorite flavor is Chocolate Better Batter, which has cake mix in it and tastes like chocolate cupcakes, with Kit-Kat pieces and caramel. I was there for a high school fundraiser. They had teachers as "celebrity scoopers".

Not the cheapest place to get ice cream, but it's high quality and open year round. They do have daily specials, such as, Two Scoop Tuesday: two scoops for the price of one.

(re)Discovering Jackson

I grew up in Jackson, MI and was always waiting to get out and go other places. I've been to 31 States and Canada. Once I could drive I went to Lansing or Ann Arbor as often as I could. Now after graduating college, I'm back in Jackson.

There have always been events that I said I'd go to, and they were over before I'd motivated myself to go. There are also plenty of places that I routinely drive by and have never been to. While I still think that I'd like to live in another state for a while, my goal now is to experience my hometown and all that it has to offer.




[I started the blog a little later than intended, and will update with what I have done so far. This serves as the scrapbook I'll never make for the everyday things that I do. It'll be great when I'm 80 and have Alzheimer's]