Fall Colors -- Flint, MI

November 15, 2007.

This blog is especially for my Central Texas friends. We don't see leaves change colors down there (they go from green to brown to gone), and they tell me that the colors are really bad in Michigan this year. However, while I was in downtown Flint, MI, I saw some colors that made me stop and jump out of the car to take a picture. I've never seen red leaves like this in Austin, that's for sure. The yellow doesn't turn out as bright as it should, but you still get the picture. These trees stand right along the Flint River. There are big iron banner signs across other bridges welcoming you to Flint, "Vehicle City USA," reminding us all of a brighter time for this town. A bunch of us were introduced to Flint through Michael Moore's documentary "Roger and Me," chronicling the collapse of the automobile industry here. Through the process of getting ready for depositiosn here I learned that at one time there were 13 different GM plants alone in this city, employing something like 77,000 people. Most of them have closed down now, so there's not a lot of brightness in flint, but you gotta love the color of these leaves. These trees stand near the University of Michigan-Flint, and it looks like there's some effort to get the downtown area back up and running again.