Kalamazoo-Where the water boils

Michigan Day 4

According to many references, the word kalamazoo is Potawatomi for “boiling water”. There is some discussion as to what “boiling” means, but it is likely because of the rapids in the Kalamazoo River. In fact, we later discovered that the locals refer to city as the “Zoo”.

We planned on spending the day in Kalamazoo because the city has a lot to offer plus we just liked saying ‘kalamazoo’.

After spending an hour on the deck once again watching the sun rise over the lake, we headed to Kalamazoo. Our first stop was a trailhead of the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail at the Mayor’s Riverfront Park, right along the previously referenced Kalamazoo River.

In the same parking area we discovered Kalamazoo Growlers Homer Stryker Field. The Growlers are a club team of sorts, made up of collegiate athletes with eligibility remaining. The Northwoods League has twenty-six such teams.

*—The Kalamazoo River Trail trailhead. Branding the rock!—*

After unloading the bikes, we headed out on the trail back towards town. We questioned that strategy at first. We had to cross a number of construction areas with traffic. It was quite urban. But eventually we found ourselves in more of a rural area and continued on for quite a distance. The turn around point was the Kalamazoo Nature Center where we found this very curious structure.

–*–At first, we had no idea what this was.* All *those rolled up tubes made us wonder and a little nervous—*

— *Turns our it’s a bee habitat. There didn’t seem to be any inhabitants, at least at this time of year—*

With a 12 mile ride complete, we started thinking about breakfast. We located Bagel Beanery. There was a lot of road construction going on which made locating the restaurant and parking a little tricky. They had lots of bagels and sandwiches but we skipped the coffee. Instead of fresh brewed, they offered coffee by the cup out of a machine. We opted just for a couple breakfast sandwiches and they were very good. We would search for another coffee shop later.

*—Not much to look at from the outside—*

*—The food was very tasty. The egg and cheese was hot and the veggies were cool. Perfect!—*

We quickly found Water Street Coffee shop in Portage. Portage MI is a south suburb of Kalamazoo. As it worked out, the coffee shop was right on the way to the lake for our next kayak adventure.

*—Mary had the dark roast “Midnight Oil” and David had Guatemalan medium roast. Both were excellent!—*

Portage has a number of lakes we could have chosen. We picked Austin Lake to kayak. We paddled until it started getting a little warm. The water was clear and there was a slight breeze-perfect for a lake tour.

Not too far from Austin Lake, we found Cove Lakeside Bistro overlooking West Lake. It was around 2:00 in the afternoon so we thought some sort of refreshment was in order. Mary had a Sam Adams Summer Ale and we shared a couple appetizers.

After a good rest, we were ready to check out the pickleball courts at Lakeview Park (at Austin Lake). These courts were fairly new and each court was protected by a fence – helps keep the ball in our own court. We played 3 games and were getting ready to return to the house.

*—The courts were excellent and protected from the wind—*

It was at that point we noticed a food truck in the pickleball parking lot near our van. “Cousin’s Maine Lobster”!

—Cousins was featured on Shark Tank in 2012 and has since expanded into franchising, restaurants and online ordering. (Editor’s note: We’ve recently visited another such franchise truck based out of Chicago when it visited a town near us ).—

The truck has a number of lobster dishes. We decided to get carryout for dinner. Mary ordered the Lobster quesadilla; David got the Lobster grilled cheese. While it was by far the most expensive food truck purchase we’d ever made, the dinner was excellent!