Discover St. Joseph

Day Four Today's breakfast was at the lake, but not at the beach. I'll treat you to a different view of beautiful Lake Michigan this time. This is the view from Lookout Park along Red Arrow Highway. I really should do a panorama view from this park one of these days. But until then, here's another view. The fish must have been biting in the area because you can see several groups of fishing boats clustered on the lake. And you can see the lighthouses from here too even though this area is about 3 miles from downtown. St Joseph is without a doubt the most patriot town I've ever seen. Most of the houses in town fly the American flag for the holiday. Lake Bluff Park is lined with flags, as are the cemeteries around town. And one of the many activities in town on the Fourth of July Parade featuring the area children. The parade started at 10:30am and went down State Street. Some rode bikes... Pulled wagons... Walked dogs... Were pulled in wagons... Or walked w...

Day Three No breakfast at the lake this morning. Instead we headed to Benton Harbor for breakfast at Sophia's House of Pancakes  (just off I-94 at the Pipestone Rd exit). This place has the best breakfasts around. The portions are generous, the prices are reasonable, and the food is fantastic! After breakfast we headed back to St Joseph for the Antiques on the Bluff . This flea market is held the first Sunday of each month, May-October. This is a wonderful way to while away some time while you stroll the beautiful Lake Bluff Park overlooking Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful, sunny morning and there were crowds on hand to shop from the merchants. This isn't just antiques, there are all kinds of collectibles and just plain junk there too. Something for everyone. You know what they say, "one man's trash is another man's treasure"! The vendors are all friendly and helpful. Even if you're not interested in shopping, it's a great place to go just t...

Day Two What a difference a day makes. The sun was shining this morning and people were heading out to the beach early. The forecast was for 90 degrees and sunny. But summer means more than great beaches in Southwest Michigan. It means lots and lots of fantastic fresh produce as well. Southwest Michigan is known as the "fruit belt" of Michigan for good reason. There are orchards and farms all over the area. After breakfast at the beach, we started out with a drive to Coloma, to Fruit Acres, where the picking season has begun. The u-pick farm is off exit 39 on Friday Rd. But the owners have a fruit stand right at the exit (south of the freeway). We stopped in and bought some fresh cherries and raspberries. Then we drove up Friday Rd. to the farm to take a few pictures. After buying this wonderful fruit we headed home to make lunch... salads topped with fresh cherries and raspberries! YUM! It was a hot and humid day so after lunch we headed to the beach. Lake Mich...

Day One As luck would have it, the first day of our long Fourth of July weekend was a rainy day. Not a problem. There's plenty to do indoors and outdoors in the area. We started our day with breakfast by the lake. Yes, it was raining. Lightening too. But we didn't mind. We stopped at a local McDonald's and got a carryout breakfast (I love their oatmeal) then we drove to Lion's Park Beach. This is now a pay-to-park area which is patrolled and you will be ticketed if you don't pay the $5.00 fee on the spot or buy a season pass at the St Joseph City Hall. We have a season pass so we were free to park in the lot and watch Mother Nature's lightening storm over the lake. It was awesome! If you've never watched a storm over the big lake, be prepared for one terrific light show! As soon as we finished eating, we got out our cameras. D and I love to make a game of trying to photograph lightening bolts over the lake with the lighthouses in the background. Hey, i...