Construction is to begin Monday at the former Southwest Little League site, 580 Kirtland St. SW, where a BMX bike course exists. The park now will be known as Grand Rapids Bike Park.
There will be a landscaped track area and trail.
You think it’s cold here in west Michigan?
It’s so cold in Florida that lizards are falling from the skies!
15 KILOMETERS OF FUN: 2008 Meijer Festival of Races 15K at the Cherry Festival in Traverse City this past weekend:
I ran the race and it was hot and humid. Near the race’s midpoint, on McKinley Street, is a massive hill that doesn’t seem to end. Once you get to the top, it’s even steeper going down the backside. They call that stretch “Mt. McKinley”, and for good reason.
VERY COOL: Download Free PBS Programs from Kent District Library. The price is right.
YUM: Grading West Michigan’s hot dog joints
I noticed the Pronto Pup of Grand Haven:
313 S. Harbor, Grand Haven (grandhavenprontopup.com)
Eaten: The Pronto Pup (only thing on the menu), a dog on a stick dipped in batter, cooked in 100 percent vegetable oil and served “naked,” or slathered with ketchup or mustard
Verdict: A lot like a corn dog, but oh, so much better. The use of a wheat-based, rather than corn-based, batter adds an intangible sweetness to the dog. Another classic West Michigan item — available seasonally and the third weekend in January — that’s nearly perfect in its simplicity.
Grade: A
The small Minnesota town where I grew up had a summer festival called the Pow Wow, and one of the top treats was the “Pow Wow Pup,” which many people referred to as a “pronto pup.” I’ve always thought that I liked the Pow Wow Pups more than I like standard corn dogs (which I do like very much) and wondered if it was a different sort of batter. This description of a “pronto pup” makes me think it was. Wikipedia says that the pronto pup had its origin at the Minnesota State Fair.
| Reviewing West Michigan’s best hot dogs |
THIS WEEK: GRNow Weekly Preview July 7-13
DON’T GET BORED: Absolute Michigan’s July Event Calendar.
No shortage of fun in Michigan this July!
FREE TICKETS: Rothbury Ticket Giveaway from GM Next & Absolute Michigan
For the entire month of July, Absolute Michigan will be focusing of Michigan festivals celebrating music, art, food and the other things that make Michigan fun.
To kick it off, we’re having a spur of the moment Rothbury Ticket Giveaway courtesy of the folks at GM Next Plug In!
See Absolute Michigan at the link above for details.
HUNTING FOR TREASURE ACROSS NORTHERN MICHIGAN: Geocaching:
It’s an activity invented in 2000, and it has been picking up steam across Northern Michigan and worldwide. The high-tech adventure basically involves finding coordinates for hidden treasures on the Internet, seeking them out through hand-held GPS units, then replacing found treasure with trinkets of your own and writing in the provided logbook. The craze is so popular in this part of the state there are more than 1,300 public geocaches in the Traverse City area alone, according to the city’s convention and visitor’s bureau.
My family and I have done a little geocaching, and the kids are eager to try some more. It’s fun, fairly simple (though finding some of the caches is far from easy), and it gets you out of the house for a bit. By checking out geochaching.com you can find a quick afternoon activity nearly anywhere.
It’s also led to geocaching-related activities:
This year, Holiday Vacation Rentals has added a new twist. Anyone who rents one of its 100-plus vacation homes or condominiums — most in the Boyne City and Harbor Springs area — can follow a private geocache route that has elements of a scavenger hunt thrown in. They provide the GPS unit, along with mapped routes that take you from clue to clue and eventually to the “treasure.”
Sounds fun.
IN A JAM? Try the 2008 Valentine’s Day Guide for Grand Rapids area Valentines eating and fun.