Rockford is truly one of my favorite places on earth. We lived there for less than two years, but it wiggled its way into my heart. I would move back there in a flash.
My favorite Rockford features are:
the dam. It is beautiful. They have spent a lot of time and money beautifying it since our sojourn there. But even without the beautifying, it was one of my favorite places in Rockford. I love the sound of rushing water. If "majestic" was a sound, I think it would be a waterfall. When we lived in Rockford, we visited the dam almost every day. There is a huge turtle population at the bottom of the dam. We would count them, and look for the old, really big, grandpa turtle.
the concerts. There are free concerts in the park by the dam on Tuesday nights throughout the summer. They started the first summer we lived there, and we have continued to attend them. Rockford also puts on a lot of free activities downtown.
the community. It has such a small town feel. People are friendly, and it feels safe and neighborly.
the White Pine Trail. This is a 92 mile trail that starts in Comstock Park and runs up near Cadillac. I used it almost daily while we lived there. I would head north somedays, and somedays I would head south. Pushing my double stroller.
We moved up to Rockford when I was about 7 months pregnant with Freckles. We needed a bigger apartment. He was born in our apartment there (planned). Shocked the socks off our landlord, though. So, that house has a special place in our hearts. The kids love recounting where each of them were born. BMV on Graceland, Freckles in Rockford, and both girls at our present location.
Mr. Hippie was working today. Between a holiday, weather, and job delays, he had only worked one day this week. As we are planning a trip to Greenfield Village on Monday and work was piling up, he abandoned us for the day.
The kids and I brought donuts and coffee to the job site, and I decided spur of the moment that we should head up to Rockford and walk around. We took off-no water bottle, diaper bag or CAMERA. And we survived, and had a wonderful time. We walked over 2 miles. The miracle in that statement is that there was no complaining from the Hippie offspring at all. They were having fun exploring and rediscovering old haunts. We saw a bunch of turtles at the dam, walked a recently finished board walk on the west side of the river, walked past our old house, and went to the park. We had only been at the park for about 10 minutes when it started to rain. Bummer. We dashed to our car, getting slightly dampened. Meres thought it was a blast.
I could kick myself for not having my camera. It would have been great to get pictures of the dam, the old homestead, the kids up there and the turtles. Sigh. I have been taking far more pictures since I've picked up blogging, but I still all too often forget to take the camera with me. I have to work on the always prepared thing.
On the way out of Rockford we stopped at the new Goodwill up there. I had wanted to check it out the past few times we had been in town, but we never had time. Today we took the time. And I hit pay dirt! Rockford is a rather wealthy community, and Goodwill Stores in more affluent communities are generally treasure troves.
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| Pay dirt-all for less than $15... sandals for LC eventually, dinosaur book for Freckles World Atlas for BMV cool baking thing for Barefoot Hippie Girl |
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| AND-stroller (bear not included) for Meres. We hung with friends last night and she had a blast with their shopping cart. This is going to get her walking in no time flat. Not my goal, but the probable outcome. |
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| Isn't this awesome! There are some things you buy, even if you aren't exactly sure how you will use it. |
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| Love the roosters. |
Have you ever ended up with a treasure from a thrift store? Leave me a comment.
Rockford definitely rocks!
