We found a nice RV park just outside of Grand Rapids on the Grand river – they even have their own paddleboat. We are not on the river, but our site is all of 100 feet away from it and it is beautiful and quiet.

Looking for something to do here in the neighborhood, we found the Blandford Nature Center. This small preserve is surrounded by residential neighborhoods and is full of exhibits of the plant, bird, and animal life of this area. The difference between this place and a zoo is the animals and birds in cages here were hurt in some way that prevented them from returning to their home. Katherine, below, was hit by a car. Rather than euthanizing her because her wing was broke, she was brought to Blandford. When she healed, they realized that she could never fly well enough to hunt, so she got a permanent home here. A research facility nearby donates rats and mice to Blandford when they are done with them and the mice die the way they would have in nature at the claws of owls, vultures, hawks, and others here at the center.