8/22/10 (Sunday):  Yesterday was rainy (and very cool), so we didn't go to the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival as planned, but we're going today, so this will be a quick blog just to catch you up.  We're enjoying the weather as well as lots of visiting with family.  We try to have a small adventure every day and then some quiet time reading, looking at the lake and taking walks around the campground.  We haven't met any of the folks here yet.  There don't seem to be a lot of them who stay longer than a few days.

We also enjoy riding around in the countryside.  There are lots of back roads with pretty farms and historic towns.  Ann Arbor, home of University of Michigan, is also nearby, with lots of museums and culture.  We've enjoyed shopping at Trader Joe's (which we remembered from California--wish there were some in Florida!).  And a couple of days ago, we went raspberry picking at Rowe's Produce Farm just a couple of miles from here.

Last week, we rode out into the countryside to visit a crane sanctuary, hoping to see whooping cranes, or at least sandhill cranes.  Haehnle's Sanctuary is about 450 acres owned by the Audubon Society.  They have sandhill cranes there, and for a couple of years have had a whooping crane or two.  We've seen lots of sandhill cranes in Florida, but whooping cranes are very rare.  We've only ever seen one.  Anyhow, long story short, there were no cranes there that day at all.

However, we took the scenic route home, and discovered a neat little town called Chelsea.  The first thing we noticed was this clock tower, which dominates the cute, historic downtown.  The warehouses/factories surrounding the tower have been turned into a small block of shops with an atrium in the middle.  We had lunch at a very good Mexican restaurant there.

The next thing we noticed was the Jiffy plant.  It was very clean and neat looking.  We hoped to get a tour, but discovered that they'd closed the plant to tours the day before while they re-did the tour facilities.  I later read about it online and found out that they mill their own grain, manufacture the mixes and even make their own packaging right here in Chelsea.  I especially love Jiffy cornbread mix, so I think we'll be going back for a tour if we're in the area long enough.

That's another week of Joyce and Wiley's Great (and small) Adventures.  Check us out again soon and maybe we'll have some information about Ypsilanti Heritage Day.