Taking the Backroads - A Blustery Day

I knew I was taking my chances last week Friday for my Backroads Adventure Day. The day before, Halloween, it had rained buckets of rain all day long, the poor little trick or treaters. But it wasn't suppose to rain until the afternoon that Friday, so I figured I would get as far as I got until it rained.

The wind was a blowing though and the song that was stuck in my head was Pooh's The Rain Rain Rain came Down Down Down. **WARNING!! Don't watch this is you have a problem with songs getting stuck in your head.

I chose to travel to farm country this week.

I felt bad for the pumpkins that didn't get picked to be carved into Jack O' Lanterns.

This poor one never had a chance. It reminded me of the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz after the water is thrown on her and she melts.

Fennville

The next stop was the apple orchards. Last year (2012) Michigan lost all of their apple crops due to 80 degree temperatures in March and heavy freezes in April. This year the weather was on a normal cycle and we had a bumper crop of apples. So much better.

Crane's is the place to go around here for u-pick apples, an experience everybody should do at least once, and Crane's also has the tastiest treats.

Family competition across the street.

M-89 

The road I was following for the day was M-89 which would take me through Allegan to Otsego and finally Plainwell.

Allegan

In Allegan I stopped at the Cemetery right on M-89 going through town. This will be a day adventure in and of itself. So many old headstones, which I absolutely love to photograph.

This mausoleum caught my eye right away, but I could not find any information on Sidney Beach Tremble. I did find another photographer on Flickr that had taken a similar photo, and seems to enjoy taking pictures of old structures. I added him as a contact to follow what he does and where he goes.

I seem to have a knack for finding closed down golf courses. I couldn't find any information on why this one was for sale. No nice blog by the former owner like the last one I found.

Maybe the club house looking like a mini Amityville Horror House doesn't help.

Great maintenance barn though!

And the menu was still posted in the glass case by the door.

I turned down a gravel road alongside the gold course, hoping for some more outbuildings to photograph, but instead found my favorite image for the day. A lone windmill, in a corn field filled with wind blown cornstalks.

Allegan Lodge

My last stop of the day as a fine, rainy mist was starting to fall.

Originally built in Greek Gothic Revival styling as the John Robinson hospital in 1909. Somewhere in the 1920s it was sold to a doctor from the Chicago area who allegedly had underworld ties. 

The facility was supposedly frequented by Mafia figures such as Al Capone, the Prohibition-era Chicago mob boss, and his men when they needed medical attention or when they simply needed to get away from Chicago.

Years later, it was used as an Eagles lodge and an Elks Lodge.  In 2010 it was acquired by an Allegan woman who began renovating the property but now wants to sell it.

The lodge has been the subject of past newspaper articles and television reports for paranormal activities that some say they  have experienced there. It has been called one of the most haunted places in the Midwest.

I am so glad that I didn't know that ahead of time, or it would have creeped me out. I already have this very real fear that one of these days I am going to round the corner or a deserted building and find a dead body. Oh, yeah, I guess I already had that when I found the dead deer.

The back stoop.

I love detailing on old doors.

I can't say that I picked up on any weird vibes, but of course I didn't go inside. It just seems sad that this beautiful place sits empty waiting for somebody to buy it.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

-H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Joining Madge at Rurality Blog Hop