Crooked Creek Farms Produce Stand

Wasn't the weather simply gorgeous across Michigan over the weekend? I certainly enjoyed working on a few late summer projects and spending part of the day on Saturday attending a local harvest festival. One of our favorite farm market vendors, Crooked Creek Farms, wasn't at the harvest festival so we drove on over to their produce stand and picked up some wonderful heirloom tomatoes, green peppers, and potatoes. They have delicious locally-grown produce at excellent prices. I don't think we paid more than we would at a local chain grocery store that was trucking in the produce from across the country. In addition to the great prices and tasty food we're supporting a local business and I believe that is important.

Who knows how many more weekends we'll have that were as beautiful as this past one? I hope everyone enjoyed some time outside :).

The final Tomahawk Game

Or is it? Saturday October 13 at 7 p.m. Constantine and White Pigeon will meet up for the 86th and perhaps final time on the gridiron. Constantine is leaving the St. Joseph Valley Conference for the Kalamazoo Valley Conference and will not have room in its schedule to accommodate a non-conference game with White Pigeon starting next season.

The series dates back to 1929 between the two rival schools separated only by a few corn fields and three miles. The winner of the annual contest gets possession of the Tomahawk. The Tomahawk was made from a large indian arrowhead stone found in a field between the two schools.

The two schools agreed to play each other with the winner receiving the Tomahawk until next year's game. Constantine won the first game 14-6 and has recently won 15 Tomahawk games in a row.

Even though the game has been rather lopsided in recent years you can just about guarantee that there will be a record crowd at Saturday's game. More buildup than normal is going on at each school this week as players and fans prepare for what could be the final contest in the storied battle.

From the Kalamazoo Gazette -

Research by school officials on both sides verifies that the Constantine-White Pigeon contest is Michigan's longest-running high school football series for which a token artifact is awarded to the winner.

For those not familiar, White Pigeon's mascot is the Chiefs. The town is named for Chief White Pigeon who saved the area's earliest settlers from an imminent indian attack by running all the way from the Detroit area to warn the residents. I thought I should throw that out to help people realize why a Tomahawk would be the trophy.

Read this article in the Kalamazoo Gazette for more information on the History of the Game

Part 2 of U.S. 12 places of interest in Michigan

This is the continuation of some of the many places of interest along U.S. 12 in Michigan. Enjoy! See part one, here. White Pigeon Bup's Drive-In - The drive-in restaurant is still alive and well along U.S. 12. Bup's has excellent home made root beer. You can have a frosty mug of it while you are there and/or buy it by the gallon for $3. Yum!

Coldwater The Capri Drive-In - One of America's Top 10 drive-in theaters. Great prices and specials all summer long.

Northwoods Coffee Co. - In addition to their excellent coffee, Northwoods Coffee Co. has excellent food and lodge decor. Their website leaves a lot to be desired though.

Clinton The Clinton Inn - Officially opened for business on Thanksgiving Day in 1901. They are open for lunch and dinner as well as Sunday Brunch.

Saline An abundant number of Antique stores, Art Galleries, and Coffee Shops proliferate this little town. I like to refer to it as "Little Ann Arbor" due to its proximity to Ann Arbor and the fact that with all of the development between Saline and Ann Arbor you can not really tell when you leave one town and enter the other.

Well, that is as far as I am going with this review of places of interest along U.S. 12 in Michigan. Once you leave Saline, the quaintness of the "old Chicago Road" disappears into strip malls and fields of concrete. There are numerous other stops to make along U.S. 12 and I would like to list them sometime in the future.