Category: Michigan

Our Last Week In Michigan

Our Last Week In Michigan

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Hey Guys!! We spent one week in Grass Lake, MI. Don’t know where that is? It’s about 45 minutes south of Lansing.

The RV park we stayed at was decent. It was a basic park.

The best part about the RV park was the fishing pond. You didn’t need a fishing pole to catch a fish…a net would’ve been enough. The fish swarmed to us every time we walked out on the dock. The boys took some bread down and had a good time feeding them! We didn’t do much during this week. We took the time to enjoy the good weather and catch up on some school/work.

We did make it to the Michigan State Capitol Building.

Look at that dome!

Both the House and Senate Chambers were pretty much the same. The only differences being the color scheme and the size of the room. The House Chamber is pretty much always bigger.

I loved the ceiling in both Chambers. They had these stained glass state seals…something we’d not seen before.

Michigan didn’t have much money when they were building their SCB.

Throughout the SCB you can see this texturing in place of more expensive marbles and woods. I’ll be honest, the lack of a lot of marble and carved wood didn’t diminish the fine artistry of this building. I love the more earthy tones mixed with the blues that dominated the color palette of this SCB. There are tons of small details that, if you look for, you’ll enjoy about the Michigan SCB!

We found a great BBQ place in Lansing called Meats BBQ! This place is a carnivore’s dream! Don’t worry, though…there are some vegetarian options…sodas. Alex got the Meat Mountain (right picture). It was a huge conglomeration of garlic mashed potatoes, smoked beef brisket, bacon gravy, and spicy creamed corn. I stole a few bites…it was really good!!

That’s really it for this stop, guys! I’ll share with you some of the pretties I found around the RV park during our daily walks! We had some beautiful weather while we were there!

We really enjoyed our time in Michigan. When you see Michigan on the news it always seems to be bad stuff. Drugs, poverty, gangs, violence. We didn’t see any of that. I would absolutely encourage you to visit Michigan! There is something for everyone…outdoor explorations, shopping, foodies! We will definitely be back!!!

See y’all down the road!

#minieasternloop2017

Pizza Roundup Klavon’s

Pizza Roundup Klavon’s

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To my fellow pizza lovers, I bring to you a new pizza post, this time Jackson, MI.

Now from this post you will find out that not only does Klavon’s have big pizzas, they’re also fancy!

The menu is on a tablet which is awesome and all the booths have their own TV!

Klavon’s has some tasty Chicago style pizza (which is now my second favorite style) and other styles, but we got Chicago style.

On their menu they have some soup, salads, burgers, sandwiches, calzones and pizza! Lots to choose from!

The bathrooms are cool and the décor is nice.

They have a giant baseball bat and a metal pizza piece! Cool!

The service was nice and the food is awesome.

I’ll give Klavon’s a 5 star review between good food and service to the fanciness and décor.

See y’all next time on…

Pizza Street!!

Traverse City, MI

Traverse City, MI

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Guys!! Where do I even start?

We had the busiest, best week in the Traverse City area!! This might turn into a really long post…I’ll try to keep it to a reasonable length…no promises though.

The first thing we did when we got to town was head to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore where the boys did some Junior Rangering.

We had a new experience at this visitor center. For the first time in…I honestly can’t tell you how many National Parks/Memorials/Monuments/Battlefields/Forts/Historic Sites we almost left without getting the badge/patch. The boys were finishing up the booklet and one of the Rangers told us it was closing time and we needed to leave. When we asked about the Junior Ranger books he was very unapologetic and completely uncaring. It was time to go…we needed to get out. So, on our way out we quickly mentioned it to another Ranger there and she very nicely and quickly gave the boys their badges/patches. It didn’t take long. We didn’t insist on the swearing in ceremony that usually accompanies the badges. But, it left a bad taste in our mouths. If this had been the first time doing a Junior Ranger Program…we might have just quit. I would hate to see someone stop doing the Junior Ranger Program because of a Ranger’s bad attitude. The boys have learned so much through this program! All of the other Ranger’s we’ve ever met in all of our travels were the complete opposite of this one Ranger. I hope he has better days ahead. Now, that being said…check out the cool patch/badge!

I’m not sure what you picture when you think of Michigan…this is not what I pictured. This gorgeous blue lake was a shock to us.

The day we went it was super windy. I think we all came away from our hike a little smoother from being buffed out by the sand. We had sand everywhere, but none of us minded. The views were too pretty and it was a wonderfully sunny day!

We were surprised by how much green there was covering some of the sand dunes. During our cold and windy hike we learned about the whys and the whats of it all. I’m trying to keep this post semi-short…so I’ll not go into all of the scientific details.

It was tricky getting pictures with the sand blowing so hard. If you look closely at the edge of the sand in the right picture above you can see the sand blowing away. I had to wait to snap a quick picture in between the gusts of wind. We could have stood there and taken in this view for hours even with the wind, blowing sand, and the cold temps. We kept saying, “Look at the color of the water!”

If you can believe it, there were people in the lake surfing! Guys, it had to be close to freezing in the water. I’m getting hypothermia just thinking about getting into that water.

It looks like some forgotten island somewhere. It’s hard to believe that’s Lake Michigan! I do believe Lake Michigan is our favorite of the Great Lakes! The lake was beautiful in every single view we got of it!

If you like lighthouses and beaches then Michigan is definitely a state you need to visit! It was so very postcard perfect!

 We found a coffee house called Higher Grounds Coffee who roasts their coffee in store. We went in for a tour not really knowing what to expect. We’ve toured distilleries, breweries, tea plantations, chocolate houses, cheese factories, chip factories…but we’ve never had the opportunity to tour a coffee roaster. Our tour guide, Jennifer (what a great name!), was super nice and extremely knowledgeable about the entire process. You can see a bag of green coffee beans in the right photo above. This is how Higher Grounds gets them from several different growers. Jennifer explained how the founder (Chris Treter) of the company went to Mexico as part of his post-graduate internship. He worked closely with and became good friends to a community of coffee farmers while in Mexico and really got a good look at the poverty these growers live and work in. When it was time for Chris to leave he wanted to find a way to keep helping the coffee farmers. When asked, the farmers told Chris that he could sell their coffee to help.

Chris went back to his home in the US and started selling coffee, but he didn’t stop there. He wanted to help his friends back in Mexico get out of poverty. He wanted to make their lives better so he found ways to give back. Higher Grounds has helped bring water to communities that had to walk miles each day to reach a fresh source of water. That might not sound like a big deal, but can you imagine what you could accomplish if you suddenly had an extra 5 hours a day? Can you imagine having to walk a few miles to get a glass of water, brush your teeth, or bathe?

After Jennifer walked us through the entire process from getting the beans to roasting them, she brewed us two different kinds of beans. So, here’s the thing…I don’t drink coffee. Not even a little. The two members of our family who do drink coffee enjoyed the coffee tasting immensely. The other two who tried it…well…they tried it. Ha! Jennifer taught us how to properly brew coffee to insure we get the same taste every time then she taught us how to slurp. Yup, you read that right! Slurp. You need to slurp your coffee so you can taste all the coffee has to offer.

We had a great time learning about and trying coffee! Higher Grounds Coffee is a great company. You can find it in some stores, but don’t worry…if it’s not offered in a store near you, you can also order it online! This company is actually making a difference in the world. Our world would be a better place if more companies cared enough to change the lives of those who can’t change it themselves. Go to their website and order some coffee!!

We love to hit road trip spots like this! Fun, quick memories!

Those are cherry trees in the left picture. I was shocked by the sheer number of cherry trees in this area…until I found out that the National Cherry Festival is held in Traverse City. It should come as no surprise that the World Record Cherry Pie was made here. Nicholas was in cherry heaven!

You could pretty much find cherry anything here. Cherry jelly, cherry salsa, cherry popcorn, cherry candy, cherry ice cream, cherry cake, dried cherries, spicy cherries…I kind of feel like the shrimp guy on Forrest Gump. ;-P We walked away with a few yummies!

Speaking of yummies…let’s talk foodies! We found a place called Slabtown Burger. It has this burger that’s stuffed with cream cheese and jalapenos and…bacon. It’s my new favorite out of all 40 states! Y’all…this burger is ah-mazing!!

Nicholas has a thing for flavored popcorn. We love to support local shops so, of course, we ended up with a couple bags!

Jerl and I snuck in a date night! This fried pickle was an appetizer. It was surprisingly good! It’s a pickle spear wrapped in Swiss cheese, ham, and a wonton wrapper then deep fried. It was sooo good! I think we’re going to make these ourselves! I see you eye-balling the left picture…it’s a six layer cappuccino cake with mocha frosting. You can’t tell, but it’s huge!! Jerl and I got half of it down before giving up. Don’t worry…we took the rest home where the boys happily devoured it. I have a feeling we’ll be talking about this cake for years. We were really surprised by all the foodies we found here!

I think all we have left are the pretties! There were tons of pretties around!

We enjoyed the park we stayed in. It was mostly empty and was big enough to get some descent walking in!

That’s it Guys!!

See y’all down the road!!

#minieasternloop2017

Petoskey And The UP

Petoskey And The UP

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Hey Guys!! We spent one week in the Petoskey Michigan area!

We stayed at the Hearthside Grove Motorcoach Resort and Guys…it is now our official favorite RV park! We have stayed in over 100 parks and this one was a brand new experience for us. Now, the lot that we stayed on just had the RV pad and full-hookups, but almost all of the other lots had some type of bungalow on it! How cool is that?!?! The bungalows in the above pictures were some of our neighbors for the week. It felt like being back in a neighborhood!

We were there really early in the season so we basically had the park to ourselves.  We took full advantage of everything Hearthside had to offer!! Check out the theater room! It came with complimentary popcorn. The boys had a blast playing their games on the big movie screen! It ended up being a daily thing while Jerl and I used the fitness room to get in some much needed workouts.

The boys also loved the soda bar. Free soda and popcorn…What?! The boys didn’t want to leave. If you guys are ever in the Petoskey area I cannot recommend Hearthside Grove enough. It’s a fantastic park loaded with tons of perks. One of the coolest things about this particular place is that the lots are for sale. You can buy a lot and then when you’re not there using it, you can let the park “rent” it out. It’s a great concept!

Before I go on…I have to give a shout out to Mike Lilliquist. We met him at the visitor center near the Mackinac Bridge. He had so much information and suggestions for us and he sent us off with some special gifts!! He’s a really great guy and if you need any information about Michigan…he’s definitely the guy to find!

We ventured across the Mackinac Bridge a few times. It’s a beautiful bridge. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a great shot of it due to weather. It was super cold and sooo very windy.

We spent an entire day exploring the UP (Upper Peninsula). We could have spent a couple weeks exploring the UP. In fact, we’ve already decided we’re going to have to go back! Here’s a bit of trivia for you…the people who live in the UP are called “Yoopers” and the people who live below the Mackinac Bridge are called “Trolls”!

The lighthouse in the picture above is the Iroquois Lighthouse. There’s a museum and I think you can go up into the lighthouse, but when we went it was closed. We went before everything opened for the season.

We loved the beach behind the lighthouse. Check out those colorful rocks!!

We made it to the Tahquamenon Falls State Park. There are two sets of waterfalls here. You can see part of the Lower Falls in the above left picture. The Upper Falls were pretty spectacular. There were boardwalks and platforms that let us get super close! The Upper Falls spit out about 50,000 gallons of water per second!! There are over ten waterfalls to go see while visiting the UP, but we only made it to two of them.

There are some decent beaches in the Petoskey area. We made it to a couple in search of a Petoskey Stone. We found some…but we haven’t gotten them polished so, you can’t really see the pattern. Look it up though! Google it and you’ll find tons of images! We found five smaller Petoskey stones that we are wanting to polish up!

Let’s talk foodies! We had heard that a pastie is the foodie we needed to try in Michigan. We are fans. We went to Hunt’s Mackinaw Pastie to get ours. They came out in record time and were so flavorful! Pasties are the perfect meal for a cold blustery day!!

We also found the Polish Kitchen! Guys…this place… If we lived near the Polish Kitchen, we would eat there every week. It’s amazingly good!

I only found one pretty. It was pretty early in the Spring when we were in Petoskey…things were still waking up from their winter sleep.

That’s it! We loved this area and will most definitely be back!! If you’re looking for a great summer vacation spot then head to the Petoskey area and go explore the UP!!

See y’all down the road!

#minieasternloop2017