Coldwater to Coldwater

Do you have a road in your town that is the name of another town? Do you wonder if that road leads to the other town? Here in the Fort we have Coldwater Road and decided to drive north on it, to Coldwater, MI.

For the record, Coldwater Road does not lead to Coldwater, MI, and the name of the road disappears at some point, where it becomes known as 327. We left town around 9:00 AM yesterday, so needed to stop for breakfast on the way.

Garrett seemed to be as good a place an any.

In the spirit of Roadfood, we stopped at this local diner.

I confessed to our waitress Cindy that this was our first visit to Mino. She recommended the Garbage Plate, which has everything but the kitchen sink. She says she usually orders one, eats half and takes the rest home for later. We decided to split one between us, and that was perfect.

Another item on the menu was Spaghetti Ice Cream, so we had to ask. It is ice cream that is put through a sieve so it looks like spaghetti, served on top of a mound of whipped cream, topped with raspberry sauce. They also have a Breakfast Pizza with homemade dough. Maybe next time.

At some point, we lost 327 but just kept heading north. In the Midwest, most roads run east-west or north-south, so it is hard to get lost. We found ourselves on Cemetery Road which we abandoned after a mile or so because it was sandy gravel. It does not lead to Cemetery Lake but to Bronson, MI.

Cemetery Lake was not our destination, but the cemetery next to Cemetery Lake was. My SO specializes in cemetery photographs. I don't, but in many cities, cemeteries are the only green space around (although not so in Coldwater). I occupied myself with observing the local gnarly trees.

And squirrels. My SO has an affinity for crows - almost everywhere we go, several show up. I'm beginning to think my animal spirit is this bushy tailed rodent.

Michigan is known as a state of outdoorsmen, and some of the grave stones reflected that. The largest was not only a tree trunk carved in stone, but was surrounded by smaller grave stones that resembled firewood.

Several other grave stones were of the same tree trunk motif.

And then someone wondered why carve anything at all.

In some ways, Coldwater resembles most Midwest towns. These towns used to offer a variety of stores - department stores, shoe stores, candy shoppes, locally owned restaurants, pharmacies, etc. Most of these business have given way to Third World shops, gift stores, and crystal palaces.

Coldwater does have an opera house, though, that is undergoing a face lift. Tucked under the stairway is this spot to set a spell.

My first impression of this tableau was that someone stores their garden detritus here, but now I'm wondering if this isn't the garden itself.

One person's lawn waste is another person's hell strip art.

We wandered a bit on the way home, stopped at the outlet mall near Pokagon State Park, then headed south on 69, still full from breakfast, to home and a nap. If this day was an example of what retirement is like, I'm ready.