2012 Mason County Fall Color Tour

[XLFD]

It looked like a nice route to experience what Mason County is like in the fall.  The Convention and Visitor's Bureau of our area explained it thusly:

The second route (olive green) looked like a winner, with all the trees promised and the golden fields of asparagus.  Oh sure, I've bicycled around the southern area a lot of time during my life, but I've never heard it described so glowingly in the fall months, so I took my bicycle out on a pleasant late October day with my camera in tow to trace this route guaranteed by the CVB to awaken my sense of wonder.

Coming down the PM Highway, I was at first not impressed.  Sure there were the industrial parks to the east of me and the hills of asphalt materials and vestiges of industry to the west along with the railroad tracks, but it just didn't betoken natural fall splendor.  When I crested the hill overlooking the twin bridges, I saw my first natural wonder, the hills of lime that rise majestically in the PM River valley:

It is too bad that the hills are far from the highway, but they do have a scenic overlook at a small park up Iris Road of these hills, and you can see them as you go further up  Iris, you can make them out through the changing fall color.  Back to the bottom of the PM hill, if you take a look to the southeast, you can see the river flats with plenty of multicolored trees, with what looks like some gigantic trees further on the horizon.

When one turns from Iris to Lakeshore, you notice a bit of trees to either side of the road, looking east as you pass Bradshaw you see this color.  But by the next mile, you pass by "Phillips Cemetery" a pleasant small memorial park which unfortunately brings you to mind of Sean Phillips, who may have got rid of his child back in that small park you passed earlier, or maybe even here back in the summer of 2011.  But you then come to a landmark they talked of in the brochure, the Pumped Storage Plant, whose scenic overlook happens to be closed for the season, but you can still see this engineering marvel here, with some construction going on:

Traveling beyond this on Lakeshore, you see the color close up along the road, here and as you roll here until you turn on Meisenheimer Road, and go over the aesthetically unpleasing freeway, with the pleasant backdrop of trees

Getting past that, you look to the north and see the trees changing colors, except the evergreens:

Looking to the south you see the orchards:

And shortly, you see these pristine orchards to the north of you:

Turning off Meisenheimer, you see orchards dotting the hillsides:

Hawley Road is well known for its orchards as well, as we look northwest as we approach it:

Acres upon acres of beautiful orchards as you go down Hawley:

Hawley Road has a lot of orchards and fruit trees:

Even more orchards along Hawley, and some background forests:

Coming up to Stiles Road, more orchards, more fall color in the background forests:

Frankly, I like orchards, but I decided to bail out of this tour, and head up Stiles Road, where there was orchards and farmland with a little color in the background:

At this point, I don't know whether it was the colorful forests in the background that were promised or the orchards, but I gave up on ever seeing the promised golden fields of asparagus, because for some reason, the tour seemed less natural than what I thought it would be from the tour guide.  Maybe it was something they hadn't advertised that bothered me, but I just can't place it.

In other news, the Lake Winds Energy Farm/Park/Fiesta started operations today, prepare for your energy bills to go down, and your unemployed neighbors to start their wind job soon.

[Willy]

You would make a great travel columnist. It's such a joy to look over the orchards and hills now that the new white trees have been installed. I'm sure they're not going to turn colors anytime soon. Thank God for Agenda 21 which will save us from ourselves.

[XLFD]

I hear there may be an opening for a marketing director for the Ludington Area Convention and Visitors Bureau in a little while due to the recent vote, -wink-, and so I am trying to catch their eye.  And what could be more eye-catching than a 500 ft. pinwheel tower in the middle of a field, hiding behind some fruit trees.

[AQUAMAN]

Coming back north one night I was shocked at the many bright blinking red lights that lashed out on the horizon miles in advance and at their bright glow in the sky.  Aliens invading us? Nope just good ole Ludington and it's new wind turbine monsters. Shamelessly glowing bright as the sun amongst our orchards and rolling meadows where hard working growers try to make an honest living.

[XLFD]

Don't be surprised if the brilliant minds of our CVB will start to market the Ludington Area as the new Roswell as part of our cultural economic development and point to these synchronous red lights as proof. 

We can offer up several local county and city officials who act as if they have been abducted by ETs  and intrusively probed.

[masonco]

Will these people decide those monsters are so wonderful and worth the $$$ next year? The constant noise level let alone the affect on the trees. I'[ve already heard negative comments about the loss of beauty when driving US 31 to Ludington. I stay away from that route now.

[AQUAMAN]

Does anyone really think that any CVB/CC/MCPC people live in the wind turbine area to begin with? People making decisions without being directly and personally hit by the situation could care less what others have to endure and how their property values sink. Nobody cared about the International trade laws passed 20 years ago either until they themselves saw their jobs lost now at long last. Eventually what goes around........

[AQUAMAN]

Nice view riding along the rural areas too..............

[XLFD]

What totally continues to bother me is the way the local government via the Mason County Growth Alliance (which includes County Adm. Knizacky, Ludington City Mgr. Shay, PM Twp. Supervisor, and others on their Board of Directors) was an active part of getting these pushed through in Mason County, contrary to long-standing and community-backed zoning principles and standards.  The amount of secrecy involved in the process should give us all some idea as to how reasonable it is to actually put these turbines up.   

Tourism is the backbone of the true sustainability of our community, citizens appreciating their property is what makes up our standard of living, and they shot us all in the foot by taking the citizen's opinions on this wind factory out of the equation in its genesis.