Earlier this week I visited two places I hadn’t been to in over fifty years.

The driver was a meeting of the Michigan Sustainable Business Forum (MiSBF) at the Detroit Zoo. Apparently the zoo has a successful sustainability program in place, and they were going to share it with us, including a tour. My intern Marilyn and me gave a school talk in the spring on “sustainable animals,” so why not a sustainable zoo?

My kid-based memories of the zoo are vague, and not very pleasant. I remember it being hot, the sun beating down, and popcorn littering the ground everywhere. I’m guessing I appreciated at least some of the animals, but not enough to remember. So I was very pleasantly surprised to find the zoo grounds colorful, neat, and clean. And they’re using a lot of recycled materials. This play structure, for example, is made with harvested invasive wood and recycled plastics, and the ground rubber surface is recycled too.

Behind the scenes they’ve done quite a bit, too. The first bullet on the slide, eliminating plastic water bottles, is even more remarkable when we learned those bottles used to be the number-one selling item at the zoo. Gone, and replaced with refillable bottles at the gift shop and filling stations throughout the zoo. Wow. And their stormwater management has really improved. With onsite tanks and strategic plantings they’ve been able to practically eliminate overflows going into the storm sewers, which contributes to pollution of the Clinton River. That they’re in an area with a very low water table makes it even more impressive.

Note: BOH = Back of House, FOH = Front of House (customer-facing).

After the presentations and tour I wandered through the butterfly garden and tropical aviary before heading over to a friend’s house for our weekly Dungeons & Dragons session. Our group is mainly folks I’ve known since high school, which for me began in 1976 – fifty years ago. (I could show photos of us moving our mini action figures around on the map, but some other time.)

Here’s some cool birds instead of tiny metal dragons.

On the way I passed the Franklin Cider Mill, another source of childhood memories. Our church was in the Franklin area, and many times on the way home we’d pass the cider mill. And, occasionally when it was in season, we’d stop. I remember hot, crunchy, greasy donuts, sweet cider, and caramel apples covered in peanuts. Was it good? Of course. When you’re a kid, any cider mill is magical.

Looks just the same, too. Why mess with success?

But I hadn’t been there in over fifty years, life being what it is, so I stopped. I got cider, a half dozen donuts for the group, and a caramel apple. And, by golly, they were just as I remembered. But my tastes have changed, so the donut was too greasy and the apple too soft. Fortunately I can get a nice crisp one with walnuts at the Dexter Cider Mill near my house, so I rode my bike there today and scratched the itch. And I’m working a race on Sunday at another cider mill, so no shortage of the season for me!

P.S. One more Franklin memory. Forty-four years ago my wife Joyce and I tied the knot at the Franklin Community Church, which happens to be right up the road from the cider mill. (We did not have cider at the reception, as it was May.) Miss you, bunny rabbit!

Yes, perms were a thing back then.