Visiting My Cousin

It was my cousin's daughter's birthday party last weekend, so we went to visit him.  Well, it more just meeting my cousin and his wife and we were outside.

 As we were outside, I saw this cardinal hanging around.  After some waffling about getting my camera, it seemed like he was sticking around, so I grabbed it.

 I'm glad I did because I was rewarded with some decent pictures.

 It seemed like he was posing for me but I'm sure he wasn't.

 I was pretty happy because I have a hard time getting cardinal pictures.

 I think this was my favorite picture.

 The moon looked pretty cool too.

 I think this is a black-throated sparrow.

 It is a pretty cool looking bird.

 They have a bird bath and so the sparrow went down to it.

 Another picture of that bird.

 I'm not sure what bird this one is.

Nor this one.

The Wolverine Passes Kalamazoo

As I headed into town, I passed by a park that I'm pretty sure that I've seen from the train.  There is train bridge there.  After visiting with my cousin, I decided to go catch the train at that park.

 It didn't take too long for the train to appear.

 I thought it was pretty cool to see the train going over the bridge.  I just wish the water were a little smoother.

I think it looked pretty cool passing over the bridge.

The Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital

I ended up going to the Western Michigan game yesterday.  Because I got there a bit later than planned, I ended up parking at the Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital.  I kind of wish I had more time to look around because it looked like there were a few neat buildings.

 The hospital was opened in 1859 as the Michigan Insane Asylum.  The most prominent structure is the water tower above which was built in 1895.  At one time, the asylum would have two farms which were worked by the patients in an effort to help rehabilitate them.  In 1978, it would become the Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital and in 1995 it would assume it's current name.

 I kind of liked the picture presented by this chapel.

I think I liked this one even more.

Eastern Michigan Basketball Vs Western Michigan

And finally I was in Kalamazoo for the game.  I managed to make it in time.  As always, these are my favorite shots...for others go to Eagle Totem.  This was pretty much a must win game for Eastern Michigan in order to have home court advantage for the first game of the MAC Tournament.

 Raven Lee going up for a basket.

 Mike Samuels getting the ball taken away as he goes for the basket.  This was mostly the story of the day.

 Mike Talley about to dish the ball off.

 Olekan Ajayi waving towels in celebration of Eastern getting the lead for the first time in the game.

 Anali Okoloji going for a layup.

 Karrington Ward about to dunk.

 Raven Lee taking a shot.

Mike Talley going for two.

Eastern ended up losing.  Mathematically, they still have a chance to get home court advantage but they have to win their two remaining games and Miami has to lose both.  Given Eastern's road record this year, if they don't get that home game, I think they are sunk.

The Wolverine Passes Kalamazoo

I went over to my cousin's for Thanksgiving today.  He lives over in Kalamazoo.  Since I enjoy watching the train, I had to look at the schedule to see when I could catch a passing Wolverine.

 Sadly, my timing wasn't that great and I almost missed it.  When we got to the station, I saw that it was already there and I tried to find a decent spot to catch it.  This would have been a decent spot had I gotten here sooner.  So I present a slightly blurry Wolverine.

However, I found an old signal tower.  It almost reminds me of the one I made for my train setup.

Eastern Michigan Football Vs. Western Michigan

So I went over to Kalamazoo to see Eastern Michigan play Western Michigan.  I also caught up with my cousin, so that was cool.

 I think this is one of the older campus buildings, they are going to turn it into the Alumni Center.  My cousin said they've been tearing down many of the buildings.

 So I got to the game and Western Michigan ended up running the opening the kickoff back for a touchdown.  It was at this point that I figured it was going to be one of those games.

 Bronson Hill taking the handoff from Reggie Bell.

 Western Michigan's running back finding a hole in the defense.

 A helicopter flying over the stadium.

 Bronson Hill setting up another run.

 This is Media Time Out guy, he comes out on the field when there is a media timeout.  I realize that TV is source of much of the revenue that makes many college sports possible but the amount of dead time detracts from the experience of actually being at the game.  If colleges are complaining about the number of people actually going to the games, maybe they should find a way to balance between TV and people at the games.

 Reggie Bell trying to set up for a pass.

 One of the Western players getting tackled.

 At this point it was 48-0 and I decided I would leave at the half.

Ryan Brumfield trying to poke through one of the holes.

Checking the score after the game, Eastern did manage to score a touchdown but that was it.  The final score was 51-7.

Going to Chicago on the Wolverine

When I took my brief trip to Chicago over the Fourth of July weekend, I decided that I would want to go back there when I could spend more time.  So I ended up getting train tickets for yesterday.  I was a little hesitant because Chicago in the summer can be brutal but fortunately the weather held out for me.

 Probably one of my favorite signs, the one that says "To Trains".  If you didn't figure it out, I love trains and I love riding on them.  It is a very pleasant way to travel because the seats are fairly comfortable, you aren't packed like a sardine and time seems to slow down while you are riding in the train.

 They've been adjusting the Wolverine schedules lately.  This one normally leaves at 7:30 but it left at 6:40 yesterday which is just fine because that gives a little more time to spend in Chicago.

 A map of the Amtrak rail system.  You get just about everywhere and I think they cover 46 of the 48 contiguous states.  The exceptions being Wyoming and South Dakota.  If you're aren't in a particular rush, I highly recommend taking the train.

 The sunrise looked pretty impressive yesterday.

 Although I hate the waiting part but that is unavoidable.

 I decided to wander a little over to the Gandy Dancer to get a picture of the old train station.  I really wish this were the Amtrak station.

 Just in case you forgot where we were.

 One more shot of the empty tracks.  Actually, I kind of got a little treat as the Ann Arbor Railroad was using the set of tracks on the other side of the Huron River.

 And on of my favorite sounds, the horn of the approaching train.

 And as the train gets closer to the station, it turns its bell on.

 Next I would get to hear my other favorite phrase...."All Aboard".  It's funny, for being such an outdated technology, they can get people on and off fairly quickly compared to other modes of travel.

 Passing the Chelsea train station.

 And the Jiffy Mix plant.

 A shot of a pair of buildings in Jackson.

 And then a shot of downtown Jackson.

 As we were leaving Jackson.

 I think this is a grain elevator for the Kellogg Plant but I'm not sure because it could also be one for Post Cereal.

 One thing nice about this particular trip is that we pass through some of the busiest railroad real estate in the country.  It seems like there were trains everywhere.

 I'm not sure what railroad these belong to.

 I think this was a park in Kalamazoo.

 Passing a street as we were leaving Kalamazoo.

 There is also a bunch of farm country.

 I think this might be the St. Joseph River but I wasn't paying close attention to a GPS this time.

 The best way to enjoy a cup of coffee in my opinion.  One other thing about train travel is that the people on the train are so much friendlier.  The Amtrak staff is mostly friendly and so are the other passengers.

 Going past the Three Oaks train station.  Tjree Oaks is the movie that was used to film the movie Prancer.

 Passing a Norfolk-Southern engine.

 Passing a pair of CSX engines.  Apparently the reason why they are typically coupled this was is so that they don't have to mess with turning one of the engines around if they need to hook up to go the other way.

 This is Norfolk-Southern Country.  If there is one drawback to riding the train, it's the fact that Amtrak has to lease many of its lines.  Because of that, they take secondary priority to the freight trains.  They do own some of the Wolverine lines though and I think they are planning to buy more of them.  But until then, they have to follow the freight companies.

 I managed to pass both the Roger Blough and the Lee A. Tregurtha.  I couldn't react in enough time to catch the Blough but I sort of managed to get the Tregurtha.

 And yet another NS engine.

 Chicago is a convergence point for all of the major railroads.  If you are looking for a particular company, it is a good place to go but you have to find the yards for each of the companies.  I think the Union Pacific yard is to the west of the city.

I was trying to get a picture of my engine in the station but it's a little too dark and I was having issues with my flash (that was later fixed).  If you look closely at the bottom right, you will notice a bird that got smacked.  I got to believe that many animals have met the same fate when meeting a train.