Biggby (Saginaw Road)
957 S. Saginaw RoadTime for the road trip for my *favorite* figure skating competition of the year. Skate Midland.
It’s not that I don’t like the competition. It’s actually great for the younger skaters and the kids always have so much fun. There’s a lot of friends that go to this competition because it’s the last Basic Skills competition of the year. Some want to finish on a high note while others, like my kids, get a head start on debuting new programs for the next year.
I just hate the drive.
There’s no easy way to get to Midland and once you get past St. Johns, there’s not even a place to stop and use a bathroom. We run in to that problem every year and have to frantically try to detour to some small town hoping they have a gas station with a public restroom.
We were only taking B this year. L has leveled out of the basic skills dance levels and she didn’t want to do free skate because she’s been battling a knee injury and hasn’t worked much on jumps.
We got super lucky in that all of B’s events were within about two hours of each other and we didn’t have to be there until late morning.
We ended up cancelling our hotel and just making it a day trip.
B’s first event at the Midland Civic Arena was a little after 11. He didn’t place as well as he wanted to (again, new level, new program for this competition) so he started complaining that he didn’t do well because he was hungry. By hungry, he meant he wanted candy from the vending machine. T
That wasn’t going to happen. Not while he was still competing.
J asked if wanted a bagel or something. The concession stand at the arena was closed by I was given the name “Dad Dash” by L for nothing.
He begrudgingly agreed to the bagel so I got sent out to get one.
I haven’t been to or blogged about a Biggby in a long time. That wasn’t the reason I chose Biggby…it was fairly close and there was a drink I could get B as well that wasn’t coffee so that’s where I went.
The closest Biggby that came up on Google maps to the ice arena was on Saginaw Road near Eastlawn Drive. It’s in a shopping plaza called Food Court as there are several other food establishments in the complex as well. The Biggby is in the back building that’s actually closer to the intersection of Eastlawn and Washington Street.
Of course, there was a hard to navigate drive thru but, as I mentioned, I haven’t been to a Biggby in a while and that line was really long, so I went inside.
Biggby is pretty much what you expect from a coffee shop. There’s an order counter off to one side with a bunch of merch stacked all around it. The menu board hangs behind the counter on vertical monitors. I really had no idea what I wanted and I was actually looking for the name of the drink I was told to get B.
I put in an order for a 20 oz Vanilla Magic Milk, a plain bagel with cream cheese and a Sausage and Egg Bragel for myself. The cost was right around $15 before tip.
I took a seat in the dining room to wait. There’s a lot of space in this dining area but not a lot of tables. I get most people grab their stuff and go and the trope of sitting in a coffee house writing your screenplay really isn’t a thing anymore so a lot of seating isn’t really needed.
I understand what they’re doing but the thing about coffee shops that always bugs me is that they call out your order one item at a time. Not sure why that bothers me but even the food got called out separately when it was done.
The bagel was the first thing that was ready. I wasn’t going to eat in because most of the order wasn’t for me but since I was still waiting on other things, I decided to get the cream cheese on it for B. The plain bagel was sliced and toasted and came with a small container of Philadelphia cream cheese. I got it all spread out and put it back in the wrapper so the cream cheese would melt in to the bread.
I got my Sausage and Egg Bragel sandwich on an Everything Bagel. The sandwich a sausage patty, an egg, cream cheese, and a slice of cheese on a toasted bagel. I’m not sure what makes a Bragel sandwich any different from a Bagel Sandwich but whatever you call, it’s a tasty sandwich and exactly what I needed after a long car ride knowing I still had a long day ahead of me.
The last thing to come out was the drink. It was a 20 oz. Magic Milk which is just milk with vanilla flavoring and whipped cream. B was annoyed it didn’t have sprinkles on top which I guess is how he usually gets it when J stops at a Biggby. I didn’t know anything about that though. I just took what they gave me.
The only reason I don’t go to Biggby is because I don’t like coffee. There’s really no reason for me to stop unless I’m getting a drink for someone else. The sandwiches are good and I probably should hit the drive thru more often to grab one. That’s something I’ll just have to make myself do more often.
SW Michigan Dining 