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.  

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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

Lansing Date

When my mom offered us a monthly date night, we opted to stay in Lansing.  Since we just drove down to Indiana and back within 24 hours, and then Billy worked a full week, it was nice to be staying nearby.

The Lugnuts were playing against the Great Lakes Loons, at 7pm.  When we planned it out, we decided to get dinner before the game, since our covid leery world has things closing down earlier.

We stayed at the Radisson, which has a great setup, but Michigan is still partially closed, so many of the amenities had not yet reopened. The skywalk from the parking garage was closed.  This isn't the worst news, but it was sad, since we had our coldest day in weeks (coming it at a high of 48F!)

We had a lovely view of the river from our room.

Our reservation was at 5, and we were right on time.  

Billy deliberating over the menu.

Billy ordered a Corpse Reviver that had a very citrusy finish, and I ordered a Bordeaux.  It was a nice smooth red wine.

We split a wedge salad, which is Billy's favorite. I thought it was really good, Billy didn't like it as much.  For our appetizer I wanted to order the bone marrow.  I had seen it when we previewed their menu, and had never ordered it (or seen it offered in my memory.)  

I looked up what it was and how to eat it.  So, you scoop out the meaty bit and spread it on the bread, then add the leafy green on top.  It was pretty good, I ate two breads worth.  Once you have the bone cleaned out, it makes a natural luge to do a shot of whiskey!  That part was really greasy and messy, but super fun.  

Our waiter said he'd never had a customer do it, and in reality, he had probably never heard of it, but was very supportive.  Not being much of a shot taker, or whiskey drinker, I had plenty left for Billy to try it too!  He agreed that it helped take the 'bite' out of the shot.  The rest of the shot I had mixed with coffee for dessert. lol.

We ordered the filet mignon to split.  It was so so so good.  One of the best steaks I'd ever had, if not the best.  It almost melted in my mouth.  So so good.  We ordered asparagus and fries as the sides, but over ordered to the point I couldn't even finish my portion!

Despite being crazy full, there is always room for dessert!  We got the beignets with blueberry, chocolate and caramel sauce.  They were huge!  But oh so good.  I didn't have much in the way of expectations, but Bowdies blew them out of the water.  Everything was delicious, beautifully served and excellent service.  5/7* would recommend.

As we made our way to the stadium, we spied the world's largest lugnut!

Once we got to the stadium, I realized that I had forgotten the printed tickets, though we were able to pull them up on my phone.  Then, I learned that we couldn't bring the food into the stadium!  So, I trekked back to the hotel, put away the food, and almost forgot the tickets again!

I only missed one inning, and since no scoring happened, I didn't actually miss much. We were up in the clubhouse, which gave us a free food, access to a private bar, and indoor seating!  The temperature was dropping, so we were quite thankful for our warm seats.

Big lug even came to visit!

The game was low scoring 2-4, we lost. = (  We left a little early, but had a nice conversation with the ticket checker.

Our next stop was the nuthouse.  We'd driven by many, many times, but never been.  We made it in the door, but sadly, they were closed! = (

So, we bounced down the street to Tin Can, which was the bar we were denied in East Lansing, so we were happy to try them this time.

We played beer pong (my first time!) but the cups were full of water.  Then we played doubles with some kids, but their rules were different than the movies (and whatever Billy had played.)

At 11 they closed up for the night, so we headed back to the hotel (a late night for us old folks!)

I do love the view of the capital.

The night view from our room.

The next morning, the restaurant has not been reopened, so they have a list of items that you can choose.  It was not the best substitute for the free hot breakfast that I was anticipating, and I would have chosen a different room rate had I known that the restaurant was not in operation. = (

We forgot to leave a set of keys** with my mom, so we made a quick trip home to drop off keys, food, and luggage.  Then, we continued our date with a trip to the Lansing mall.  It has many closed stores, but we enjoyed in-person browsing at the ones still open.  

We started our Christmas shopping, but found an adorable bag with all the named constellations for Emily.  Since it tied back into our curriculum, I didn't want to wait to give it to her, when it would have less meaning.  So, we scrambled to find something for Juliet, which turned out to be a 'blind bag' from Claire's.  I hoped that she would just love at least one thing, and she loved almost all the things!  Alice got a cat ramen bowl, William a Scooby Doo Pez dispenser, and Grace a collection of Hello kitty jewelry and hair pieces. = )

For the first time ever, my Kroger order was not ready during my window, and was pushed back an hour!  Since we had time to kill, we went to get Billy's car washed.  We were early for the next window at Kroger, but they had it ready at 3:45, so we picked it up and headed home!

Putting away the groceries and unpacking simultaneously is not my favorite, but adding on the gifts that had packaging that added to the mess was not my favorite.  Next time I'll have to plan it better. = )

With the warmer weather came the sun, and even in the cold we had a great time!  So happy to spend all of my dates with my favorite!

later days

*there is a wild internet meme that I sincerely hope is a real exchange.  It is a troll on someone's facebook page that the user comments that a movie was "perfect" and then later rates it a "5/7."  The troll then brings this up multiple times on other posts, and it is super memorable.  In this case, I would rate them 10/10: change nothing. 

**there was a rummage sale at JLC that my mom took all 5 to!  She said that only William and Grace found a treasure.