Date in Kalamazoo

My mom has continued her gift of a monthly overnight get away for us, and this month was Kalamazoo. We had been to Kalamazoo before, by train, but did not have an opportunity to spend the night, so we went back and explored a different area this time (and visited places we couldn't last time.)

We stayed at a local renown bed an breakfast, called the Kalamazoo House.  We arrived before the 3pm check-in, but we were able to park our car and explore a bit.

Billy in line with the statues.

 

We were right next to an art museum, but did not take the time to go in.  We did appreciate the art installments out of doors though. 

We decided to give Hop Cat a 4th chance.  It was a decent walk, and when we arrived, wouldn't you know the doors were locked!  (Disappointed again)  Luckily, they opened at 3, and it was 2:58.  So, not being wimps, we stood out in the sun, on the step (we passed many a running car, with passengers waiting in the the air-conditioning in the parking lot) and as such, were the first ones in the door!

As for the meal, well, I was pleasantly surprised.  They had everything we ordered, and all of it was good!

We stopped by a place called Shakespeare's Pub.  They had dozens of beers on tap, and thousands of handles (including Shiner!) on the ceiling.  Sadly, they didn't have any "themed" menus or drinks, which is was I was wanting, so we only stayed for a drink or two, then headed back to the B&B.

A fountain that wasn't on, when we visited that November, was being visited by 2 ducks on this trip!

We went back to our home base and checked in.

Then we headed to the main event: an outdoor concert at the State Theater!

They did have themed drinks, and a free donut to to with them!

We stayed there for a couple of hours, the harmonica sealed the deal.  It was just like being out in New Orleans.  In fact, downtown Kalamazoo has an open container policy within a certain boundary!

We had an 8pm reservation at the steakhouse that we had missed out on, during our previous trip.  It was good food, and very good service, but Webster's' a very upscale hotel restaurant, not an independent find dining establishment.  

-------

The next morning, we enjoyed our breakfast on the porch of the B&B.  The weather was so humid and warm, it was like visiting Brennans's!

After eavesdropping on our neighboring table's discussion, we headed to the Kalamazoo farmer's market.  It was a little smaller (and less permanent) than the Toledo market, but we spent all the cash we had!

I had spied a Sonic cup the night before, and so we sought out the local sonic that was not too far away.

We wound our way back home on the backroads.  When we spotted another "village" we had to go check it out. It had a railroad instead of our lovely river, and not much in the way of shopping.  We agreed that Dimondale is much better. ; )

We were almost directly north of Battle Creek when Billy suggested we go back to the lake restaurant we'd seen driving into town (also on the backroads.)   We were about 30 minutes out of the way, but we made our way back to Gull Lake.

The food was good, the drinks were better, the company was the best. ; )

The pink drink was a pontoon punch, and the green one is a riptide (it was the best of what I tried, though I expected it to be blue.)

We enjoyed seeing all the sights and the beautiful countryside.  Michigan sure is green in the summer, almost green enough to make you forget about the horribleness that is winter, almost.

Grace's friend Zoey had given her a sloth in a package that she brought by, and it was waiting to say hi on my window sill when we arrived home.

We had a lovely, lovely time.  Billy is ready to go back, I still have too much of Michigan left to explore, but I'm sure we'll be back someday!

later days

East Lansing for a Valentine's Day Celebration

My mom offered to watch our crew so that we could go overnight again.  We decided that the bed and breakfast we'd seen at the Jazz festival would be a good time.   Despite booking a month out, the room we wanted was occupied for Valentine's weekend proper, so we waited an extra week to get the room we wanted.

We arrived a little before check in, so we walked down to a very neat bookstore, that we'd visited on the BATYOT a few years ago, so that I could look for books for next year.  I found one, and several titles that I've already purchased, or that we used this year.  = )

When we went to check in, there were letters with guest names and instructions sitting on the table.  It had a very murder mystery feel, with no host. ; )

Our room was the safari room, and it was lovely.

Hallway.

Our room & bathroom.

Even a cute little balcony that would be perfect for morning coffee, if it weren't 10 below freezing and covered in snow.

We started the night at HopCat, because they had a nice beer menu that Billy was looking forward to, but we failed at selecting the correct location and looked at the Ann Arbor menu instead. = (  After trying one or two of the ones at this location, we moved to the Jolly Pumpkin.  It is definitely somewhere I want to go back to, though this trip didn't leave me with the best impression.  I think knowing what type of place they are now, I would go back and try something new. = )  We next went to a very typical college bar, the music was so loud we were shouting, and half of the playlist was from our own college days (20 years ago.)  We only lasted one drink, and then decided to go to "No Thai," a place that we saw on our walk to the bookstore, to settle whether or not they served Thai food.  They do and it is so good.  These two old people then called it a night and went back to our room.

The next morning I was up and waiting for breakfast to start (what?)  The breakfast was so good.  We then had time to kill in our room, and actually checked out before the end time!  Our next stop was a local coffee shop, but they were busy, and we had groceries to collect from two places!  

On the return trip to the car, we found some corporate art, and I just couldn't help myself!

Impressive icicles on a house across from the b&b.

It was a lovely trip, and my mom has generously offered another outing for our Anniversary next month, so we will go explore Ann Arbor in March!

later days

Mt. Pleasant

Last year, my sisters and I planned to do another sister trip, possibly to canada.  When the news came out that this would be the final season for Supernatural, we (or I, if you want to be picky) decided that Vancouver was the new destination.  Since my mom was to take over my children for me for our time there, I was on call to help with any project she might one.  There were lots of small reasons that our trip became impossible.  So, we ended up at Whitefish instead.  It was a good time.

But, since I had stored up all sorts of 'babysitting' time with my mom, Billy and I went to Mt. Pleasant instead.  This post is about that trip. = )

So, Mt. Pleasant is on the radar because of a college co-op senior project that Billy lead last year.  He had made several work trips, and thought I would like the town.

We stayed in a B&B because it was within walking distance to downtown.

An our room had a piano in it!

For dinner we went to Camille's steakhouse.  My expectations were set fairly low (Mt. Pleasant is not a large town.) It did not disappoint!

It shares a building with Mountain Town Staion.

On the second day we had 2 escape rooms planned back to back.  Sadly, this brought our solve rate down to 83%.  (100/50/100)

The first one was Alien, Area 52, themed. I liked the hands on props, much of it was old scientific equipment from a lab!  It was really tricky, but well done. We did solve it, but 10 minutes too late.  We had a few difficulties with some of the props, which took up extra time. So, maybe we could have solved it had we known that the prop was not working properly?  We will never know, but instead of a 0% on that one, I gave us a 50%.  It was still a failure, but we did solve it.

The second one was dinosaur themed.  I liked the set up.  The escape room itself was very techy.  Before we went in the room they had a video of the set up for the room which was pretty neat.  We were also complimented by the attendant that we were the first 2 person group to not request a clue.

There were no concerts while we were there, but we went to check out the nearby casino.  We played with $20, and Billy won a small pot, which meant that we actually only spent $2.50 or something.  It was a fun couple of hours.

A modern cigarette machine!

The resort is on a reservation, and so when you walk through the halls there are lots of displays about the tribe and their history.  I thought this baby contraption looked pretty cozy. = )

They had a Bennigans that was still in operation!  I always get their Monte Cristo and love it every single time. Though, I feel like they shut down just after we moved to Houston, so it's been a long time since we've eaten at Bennigans.

Our B&B was so pretty!

On our way out of town, we tried to go canoeing down the Chippewa River, but the Canoe place wasn't open on a Monday morning.  Weird, right?

We drove to a nearby park to look at the river and find some rocks for the kids (that's what we always bring them as 'souvenirs' on our trips without them.)

We were back in time to pick up my Sam's Club order (since we were travelling on a Monday) and pick up the kids from school! = )

We could probably go back again, have great time, and enjoy a completely different experience! I am definitely a fan of Mt. Pleasant, and have adopted CMU as my Michigan favorite.

later days