Michigan...the Last Day

I'm FINALLY getting back to posting about the trip to Michigan and the visit to Michigan State where DD is almost done with her PhD in Chemistry! Wahoo! FYI - Michigan State is where Cisplatin, a fabulous anti-tumor drug, was discovered - as a result, many lives have been saved!

We visited both the Garden and the Children's Garden. My favorite was the Children's Garden as it had some interesting and educational exhibits mixed in with the plants. Of course, no post would be complete without something about knitting or sheep, so let me take care of that right away. The first thing I spotted upon entering the garden was the sheep statue - then, I "knew" I would be right at home. There's just something comforting about sheep....don't you agree?

There were benches scattered throughout the gardens where you could rest and look around This one is one of my favorites, although it's a bit nestled into the plants, so it wouldn't be very comfortable to sit on! I just love the saying on the bench, "We must do something to make the world more beautiful.".

I also found a very interesting sun dial. It was quite different from any sun dial I'd ever seen before. There were no instructions, but it was quite simple to use. Across the top of the path was a semi-circle with numerals representing the hours. The center boasted the usual "happy sun face". The walkway leading up to the face had the names of all the months on it. DD graciously volunteered to stand on "July" for me as we were there in July. The shadow cast will lie across the numerals at the top to indicate the time. Our watches indicated that it was 4:40 pm. As you can see, when you stand at the appropriate month, the time displayed is fairly accurate - I was quite impressed!

After leaving the Children's Garden, we strolled through the adult garden. It was somewhat limited as there was a wedding in progress and another being setup. DD and her boyfriend did pose for me in front of the fountain. (The wind later caught the water from the fountain and soaked me a bit as we passed by it on the right - LOL!)



The most interesting thing I found in the garden, in addition to the gorgeous flowers, was the Plant Biology building. The building was TOTALLY covered with ivy vines - the only visible portion of the building was the door. All I could think of was, "How appropriate for the Plant Biology building!"



Our final stop was the Michigan State Dairy store - mmmmm! (DD and her boyfriend graciously posed for me again.) They had ice cream and cheese made right there on the premises! I also picked up a couple of yummy cheeses to take home: pepper jack and smoked cheddar. Mmmmm! Of course, we all had to get some ice cream while we were there.

This squirrel had it's little face pressed up against the door....longing to go inside for some ice cream himself! I tried to take a quick photo, but the action of getting out my camera spooked him a bit. He scurried over to the other side of the path. My little friend did find a napkin with remnants of ice cream on it that he quickly "gobbled up".


Oh...I almost forgot. Here's a photo of the HUGE bunch of radishes I picked up at the City Market. I could not get over the size of the bunch nor the size of the individual radishes. There were 20 radishes in the bunch - amazing! And it was only 99 cents! Compare that to the small bunch of 6 or 7 that you can get at the grocery store for $1.49!