Quickly through March...
March 3rd. Riverside Park Ottawa County Some flooding but we made our way around it.
This is were the trail usually goes through, now just ponds.
March 5th. We got together with siblings, spouses, kids, nieces, nephews, grand kids, cousins, sisters-in-law,
brothers-in- law for the first Family monthly walk 3000! It was decided we would meet at Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve! We had a great turnout, with 11 participants.
March 7th Marie and I visited several parks and places in the Saugatuck / Douglas area.
First Saugatuck Dunes State Park.
Then on into town...
Great Library!
This was at Douglas Beach at Lake Michigan.
We even stopped in at East Grand River Park, (or East End Park) in Grand Haven.
March 14th it was off to Kentwood in Kent County to several of their parks.
Nice parks in Kentwood, Michigan!
March 13th back to Riverside Park. And the flooding is down.
Three days later, March 19th we walked again at Riverside, this time in the evening.
Max Lake
Max Lake and the Grand River at Riverside Park.
March 21st, Marie and I decided to revisit Bend Area Open Space,
9500 12th. Ave. Jenison, MI 49428 Ottawa County.
And a brief stop at the Haire Cemetery.
March 24th Riverside Park, finally some pretty wildflowers!
On March 28th, it was Henderson Lake Nature Center, Montague Township.
We found Trailing Arbutus blooming here last year along the shore. Even though we didn't expect it to be blooming it was! Not very pink, and none were blooming in the woods yet.
That almost wraps up March 2017. I'm not sure about noting each outing, maybe things will change for next month. March was great!
Until next time that's all!
April 11 2011 For Marie's and my adventure this week we thought to go to Blandford Nature Center (1715 Hillburn Ave NW, Grand Rapids, Michigan), this is a cool place but lots of elementary field trippers visit here, which is nice for them.
So on we went down the road to a new park Marie had made a note card on. It is called Stanaback Park located at the end of Whitebud Drive, off of Pfeiffer Woods Drive, between Breton and Shaffer Avenues in Kentwood Michigan.
This too seems like a nice park and we did walk here a fair distance. We found a hepatica trying to bloom, it was a cool 54 degrees but windy. So off we go to find a place more out of the way, not so city.
Marie suggests Paris Park Nature Reserve (3213 60th. St.) in the City of Kentwood. Ok I'll play along though I'm thinking we are still very close to the city of Grand Rapids, big city to me. We found Paris Park to be the jackpot. Nice wetlands and forest, Plaster Creek winds through this almost 70 acre park. Currently Paris Park is owned by Kent County and leased to the City of Kentwood.
It should be called "Snakes in the Grass Park" since we saw six snakes here. Four of these snakes were big, long, dark, slithery, and liked the water. I haven't identified them.
We also met this frog!
Plaster Creek at Paris Park Nature Reserve
We saw a few wildflowers blooming, False Rue Anemone, Spring Beauty, Purple Cress... we did the wildflower dance.
Spring Beauty
We left this park and quickly headed for Grand River Park in Ottawa County.
Grand River Park has a variety of environmental niches so you will find everything from ephemeral spring wildflowers to long blooming summer wildflowers (of course not at the same time right). Wet, dry, woods, fields this park has it all.
We first found beautiful groups of violets blooming, lots of Spring Beauty, some Cut-leaved Toothwort, but best of all we found Harbinger-of-Spring (Erigenia bulbosa), also known as Pepper and Salt. This was the first time we found this spring ephemeral this far north, we have seen it in southwest Michigan.
Harbinger-of-Spring
More wildflowering adventures soon!
