Wanderlust

As soon as I got up the Beloved said: "I feel like putting some miles on the truck!" Now, normally if we go out, it takes me 6 hours to get ready but when you start saying ROADTRIP I'll be in my clothes before you're at the P.
So out we went. To Niles, which is about an hour south of here. It is called the City of Four Flags, because at some point France, England, Spain, and the United States have all raised their flag at Fort St. Joseph, where Niles originates.
We were told that the Spanish only held the Fort for one day though, and there were not even real Spaniards there for it, just discontent Frenchmen and Indians that had gotten permission (and I assume a Spanish flag) from the Spanish Governor down south. And after a day of looting they left.
First we visited the Fort St. Joseph Museum where I gaped at a top hat worn by Sitting Bull (but was not allowed to take photos of) and artifacts found at several excavations at the site of the Fort.
We were told that once or twice a year, Chief Sitting Bull's grandson visits the museum for book signings, and that every year in August there's an Open-for-Public-Day at the Fort site. So I guess we'll be back in Niles :)

We did drive out to where the excavations take place, but other than some drainage there was nothing to see. What probably doesn't help is that the area was used as a landfill/dump AND flooded when a nearby dam was built.

Then we went to Silverbrook Cemetery where some of the names we learned about at the Museum are laid to rest. This is the receiving vault where in the 1800s deceased were kept when the ground was frozen. It's now used for storage. I WAS going to look through the cross on the door, but something inside me said that was a bad idea.

And because it already creeped me out, I somehow felt the need to make it look a little extra creepy. I guess.

We took the long way home, I fell asleep (as usual) and thus ended a lovely sunny cold-but-not-freezing day in South West Michigan. I'll take 365 more of these, yes, please, thanks!

Now, if Notre Dame can win the game tonight I will also have a very happy hubby :)


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