Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 1:00 p.m. in "The City."

This is a special Sunday afternoon edition of my regular early morning blog.

We're back! Not that there was ever any doubt, but the southbound trip was made under less than ideal conditions, weather-wise. In fact right now, we have a current temperature of 63° under cloudy skies here in GH. Oddly enough, in Kalamazoo, the current temperature is 73°. We weren't that much farther south, but that's the way it is. As we were driving back from Kalamazoo, we encountered a fog bank that lasted for 30 miles or so. The sun rose this morning @ 6:06 a.m. and it will set tonight @ 9:28 p.m. Tomorrow, the temperature is forecast by the NWS to reach 78° here in GH. The forecast for both Tuesday and Wednesday calls for a 50% to 60% chance of scattered showers/T-storms.

Now on with the blog. In the interest of brevity and also because my baseball teams didn't fare so well the last few days, I'll be skipping over the sports in this blog.

Our first stop on Friday was in Portage, MI to visit the Air Zoo. We were not disappointed, Mary included. I am going to add some pictures here in a mostly random order, that depict our visit. Once again, don't forget to click on any picture that interests you, for an enlarged version.

Everything I'd hoped for, and more.

This is just inside the main exhibit area.

The opening of an animated depiction of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.

Ready to launch.

Near the entrance, is this supersonic SR 71 Blackbird spy plane.

All eras of war-birds are on display.

We felt like we'd been transported back into the 1930s.

A B-25 bomber of the type that General Jimmy Doolittle flew over Tokyo early in WW II.

For Adam, what's a museum without a Jeep.

At the top of the stairs that get you to the overlook of the main exhibit area.

Early incarnation of  Blue Angels aircraft, propeller driven.

A jet-powered incarnation

Don't remember where, but a nice collection of beer tappers somewhere

Whiskey Before Breakfast, the opening act on Friday.

Some of the talented Irish dancers from the Quinn School of Irish Dance.

This is a band named Andro. Traditional Irish with a hint of modernity.

After following a more circuitous route on Friday, we learned a better way to get to the fest. This is a turtle exhibit that depicts the Ojibwa tale of the creation of Mackinac Island.

Some of the older Quinn dancers about to go on stage.

Peat in the Creel, a great local band.

Sometimes, the children took over the dance floor.

A terrific band named Crossbow, all students at Grand Valley State University in Allendale.

Kennedy's Kitchen.

Blackthorn, through the trees.

Mary took this picture on our way back to the hotel. I think it is a wheel from one of the belt-drives in an old factory in Kalamazoo.

Mary changed to her macro lens and took this photo of  what is an invasive weed, but also a beautiful flower.

Also on our walk back to the hotel, are these homes in Kalamazoo.

We took a lot of pictures, so I had to choose some representative samples. We had such a great time, that we plan to go back again next year.

While we were away, the fur-children were in the tender care of Dawn, our pet-sitter. She and the girls get along great, so we didn't have to worry. However, the girls were glad to see us when we got home.

I think that's enough for one blog. I hope you enjoyed our journey to the Air Zoo in Portage an to the Kalamazoo Irish Fest as much as we did. Ciao.