Chocolate Gardens and Cherry Orchards

So I've become a tourist in my own little corner of Michigan, and I'm finally branching out to explore what fun things are right down I-94.  First stop: The Chocolate Garden.  We were lured here by the delicious looking billboard on the freeway, but not really knowing what we were getting into.  Turns out, it's a nationally famous artisan chocolate shop specializing in hand-made truffles.  They've even been featured on the Food Network.  The atmosphere in the shop and in the orchard that surrounds it are reminiscent of the movie Chocolat.  Johnny Depp and dark chocolate mint truffles... YES PLEASE!  

This is what he truffles look like... but MUCH smaller. I think this is the art work from the billboard that caught our attention in the first place.  Annalaura and Lillian simply can't help themselves.  
Next, we stopped at Jollay Orchards to go cherry picking.  One of the most charming things about Michigan that I've learned so far is that you can go to an orchard and pick your own fruit... blueberries, cherries, apples, peaches, pumpkins... and then buy what ever you pick!  How fun, right?  
Unfortunately, the cherries are not quite ripe yet.  Cherry picking will officially start on June 20th.  And now we know.  But Farmer Jay still let us stick around to walk through the orchard, and play with the baby animals on the farm.  
There were kittens and baby bunnies and pigmy goats and geese and a big slobbery stinky dog named "biggie."  This is Brie with one of the kittens.  
And this is me and a pigmy goat.  
And this is just ridiculous.  But it was a fantastic Friday afternoon.  Have I mentioned before how much I love living in Michigan?  Well, I do.  
Summer is going great.  I finished reading The Secret Garden and was fascinated by the idea that magic is what makes things grow. That's probably what I like the most about growing herbs.   Also I liked the central theme that filling your life with pleasant people, thoughts, activities, etc... has the power to bring "dead" things to life- it worked for Mary and Colin and Master Craven, and even the garden itself.  It was a beautiful novel, and I recommend it to anyone who ever craves "a bit of earth."

And I successfully biked 38 miles!!  Half way there!!