Mukwa Bar & Grill
1080 S. Nicolet StreetI’m not eating exclusively at casino’s on this trip despite what it may look like.
I got to Mackinaw City around 3:00 and decided to head over to the Island to do some things before my job actually started on Wednesday. It was easier to get my equipment over there and leave it at the job site knowing I was going to have to hit the ground running Wednesday morning.
I spent a couple of hours on the Island and decided to come back to the mainland for dinner. There’s nothing over there that’s really unique and it’s all pretty expensive. Even when eating on the company dime, I don’t like over spending on meals.
I got back to Mackinaw City around 6:30 and decided to head out for dinner. I’ve been coming to Mackinaw for several years now so I’m running out of new places. I’ve kind of made it my mission to eat at every restaurant in Mackinaw City if I’m going to keep coming up here once (sometimes twice) a year.
I noticed last year when I was here there is a casino near the highway. Like I mentioned in my blog from Chicken Guy!, I’m not a gambler so that part really doesn’t do much for me but I noticed they had a restaurant so I decided to check it out.
Mukwa Bar & Grill is inside the Odawa Casino on Nicolet Street between the I-75 interchange and Old US Highway 31. The casino sits a little ways off the road past a huge surface lot that was 80% empty on this Tuesday night. Many years ago, this property was home to Thunder Falls Family Water Park but that closed in 2012 when it was bought by the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians and eventually turned in to a casino in 2016.
Read more…Chicken Guy! (Mt. Pleasant)
6800 Soaring Eagle BoulevardIf you’re thinking to yourself, is he every home? The answer is, it sure doesn’t feel like it.
Another year. Another trip to Mackinac Island for work.
We don’t stay on Mackinac Island though. Even with the obnoxious ferry prices, it’s still a lot cheaper to stay in Mackinaw City and commute the three days we need to go over to the Island.
In the past, I’ve always gone up on Memorial Day and kind of taken my time. My colleague said we didn’t have anything scheduled on Tuesday this year so there was no need to rush. I still needed to go to the Island for a while but there was nothing scheduled so I could take my time.
I left Kalamazoo after getting B on the school bus around 8:30. I had to make a stop in Grand Rapids to pick up some gear then I headed towards the Straits of Mackinac.
I don’t know why, but my GPS took me across the state to Mt. Pleasant this year. As soon as I figured out where I was heading, I knew there was some place I wanted to stop for lunch.
Chicken Guy! chain of quick service chicken restaurants from Guy Fieri and Robert Earl (the man behind Planet Hollywood). The restaurants are about a dozen restaurants and most look to be in food court or entertainment venue settings. There was a stand alone store in Livonia and a plan to open 20 stores in Michigan but that seems to have gone away when the store on Plymouth Road closed last summer.
There is one Chicken Guy! left in Michigan. It’s at Soaring Eagle Casino in Chippewa Township east of Mt. Pleasant. You park in the main parking areas then head in to the casino just like you would to do some gambling.
Pam’s Sugar Shack
217 W. Main StreetThe start of summer.
J and I both had long weekends so we headed to J’s parents house on the lake near Centreville. We typically go through Mendon on our way down instead of Three Rivers just because it’s the way we’ve always gone.
Last fall, we noticed a new ice cream place opened up in Mendon. We never got to it before it closed for the winter.
We had to make a trip back to Kalamazoo on Sunday because the kids had to skate. Sure, we could have stayed home, but we decided to go back to the lake. Everyone is more relaxed at Nana and Grandpa’s and we all really needed a weekend of relaxing.
On the way back through Mendon, we saw the open signs for the ice cream place in Mendon. We weren’t going to get ice cream then because we hadn’t eaten dinner yet but I said if it was open when we came back through on Monday, we’d stop.
It was open on Monday.
Pam’s Sugar Shack is on West Main Street near Portage Street on the west side of Mendon’s downtown area. The small brick building used to be the Bluebird Cafe but has been empty for a while now. It sits right next to Main Street Smokehouse backing up to the St. Joseph River. There is some parking along the side of the building but we just pulled in to the Outdoor Market across the street.
Wesco (Plainwell)
551 W. Allegan StreetSo, I’m clearly a sucker for gas station food.
I’m on the road a lot and a lot of times, it’s just easier. I can get gas, use a bathroom, and get a Pepsi plu something to eat all in one stop.
I was in Plainwell a couple of weeks ago and I saw a sign at the Wesco gas station advertising their Wesco Specialty Pizza for $5. I figured that sounded too good to be true but I had to give it a shot.
Last Thursday was a little bit of a hectic day. I had to do a job with my usual Kalamazoo colleague, then run to Holland to do a job with a different colleague..plus, I had to get home by 7:00 because J had evening plans and I had to pick the kids up from the rink.
I knew I was coming back through Plainwell so I decided to see about this $5 pizza.
Wesco is a chain of West Michigan gas stations that I usually stop at for popcorn. The majority of the stations are along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The only one really close to us in Kalamazoo is this Plainwell location on the corner of Allegan Street and Prince Street on the west side of Plainwell near the US-131 Interchange. It’s a pretty small lot that’s hard to get in an out of. It kind of shares a lot with the Hardings next door but even that is a tricky lot to navigate.
Krispy Krunchy Chicken (Gobles)
101 S. State StreetLet me know if you’ve read this one before. I’m traveling through a small town and I come across a gas station with Krispy Krunchy Chicken.
I stop for lunch.
I blog about it.
What’s that? You’ve read that one before?
Well. You’re gonna read about it again.
I was in Gobles early last week by myself on a job assignment. It was only going to take about an hour then I’d have the rest of the day to catch up on some things. I know there’s not a lot to eat in Gobles but I’ve had luck at a few places. When I did a search to see if there was anything new. I found something familiar.
Krispy Krunchy Chicken is inside Woodies Goodies on the corner of State Street (M-40) and Van Buren Street in the center of Gobles. The small store is a pretty typical convenience store with gas pumps out front. I’ve stopped in this place before but back then, they didn’t have chicken.
Mark’s Midtown Coney Island (Ann Arbor South)
3672 South State StreetWe definitely did no plan on staying in Ann Arbor Friday night.
L and B were both scheduled to be done with their events at the Margaret Faulkner Springtime Invitational by about 6:00. We only booked our hotel room for Wednesday and Thursday nights with the plan being we’d make the trip home when they were done and have the whole weekend still.
Weather happens. Plans change.
The Biggby Coffee Ice Cube – Ann Arbor was without power when we woke up Friday morning. Events that were supposed to start at 9 AM didn’t get started until 3:30 PM. L’s last event wrapped up right around 10:30 PM.
Sure, we could have still driven home. Ann Arbor is only about an hour and a half away but the kids still wanted to watch the remaining competition (which wrapped up about 12:45 AM) and we didn’t have power at home.
We decided early in the day just to stay another night. J had some credit card points we used to book another hotel. We had no place to be Saturday morning…and again, no power at home, so we all slept in a bit before packing up and heading out.
We were too late for hotel breakfast but we figured we should eat before hitting the road. J asked if there were any Coney Island’s nearby because the kids always love those places. They’re not big pub food eaters but they love a good diner.
Mark’s Midtown Coney Island happened to be really close to our hotel on South State Street not too far south of the I-94 interchange on the south side of Ann Arbor. This location in a small shopping center is one of three Mark’s location. The others are on the north side of Ann Arbor on Plymouth Road and in Saline.
Read more…Chop Detroit (Ann Arbor)
2121 Oak Valley DriveI don’t normally blog about concession stands at ice rinks outside of the main blog. I chose to do something different when I wrote my most recent blog post about the Biggby Coffee Ice Cube – Ann Arbor. I only mentioned it in passing opting instead for a full blog post.
Why would I do that?
Well, the concession stand at this particular rink isn’t a typical concession stand.
Chop Detroit is inside the Biggby Coffee Ice Cube – Ann Arbor on Oak Valley Drive just to the south of Scio Church Road in Pittsfield Charter Township. The stand is on the main floor between Stadium and Olympic Rinks. It takes up the space that was just a few years ago more of a traditional sports arena concession stand.
Read more…Moe’s Southwest Grill (Ann Arbor)
857 West Eisenhower ParkwayI think 17 years of writing this blog, you know I’d rather find someplace local when we travel.
The kids don’t always agree with me on that and sometimes, we just have to get them what they will eat.
It seems like every time we go to Ann Arbor, we end up at Moe’s Southwest Grill. It’s not too far from the rink and it’s something the kids have always liked.
We had a pretty decent break in the middle of the day on Thursday and we wanted to get away from the rink for a while. J and L wanted to go to the mall and B wanted to go swimming back at the hotel.
Before that, we needed to grab some food.
Moe’s Southwest Grill is on Eisenhower Parkway at Waymarket Drive on the southwest side of Ann Arbor. The restaurant takes up a corner spot in the very large Colonnade Shopping Center. Parking is a little weird because the shopping plaza is in the shape of a semi circle so the spots closest to Moe’s are actually a little further away but it’s a shopping plaza with a giant surface lot. You’re not gonna end up walking that far.
Read more…Biggby Coffee Ice Cube – Ann Arbor
2121 Oak Valley Drive- Ann Arbor, MI 48103
- (734) 213-1600
- Website
Sometimes, Ann Arbor feels like a second home to us. It seems like we spend a lot of time there skating either for competitions, tests, or practices.
Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor are kind of intertwined when it comes to skating. A lot of the coaches work together, a lot of the skaters are friends despite being competitors, and both clubs have a large number of skaters that do the National Solo Dance Series so we see each other a lot.
Now, it is true I wrote a blog post just a couple of years ago about this ice rink but the ownership and name has changed since then and it bothers me when I link back to it so I’m doing it again. There are some other upgrades as well but we’ll get to those in those blog post and one a couple of posts from now.
The Biggby Coffee Ice Cube – Ann Arbor is on Oak Valley Drive south of Scio Church Road in Pittsfield Charter Township on the southwest side of Ann Arbor. The three rink facility opened in 1995 and became the Biggby Coffee Ice Cube last year along with rinks owned by Black Bear Sports in East Lansing and Brighton.
Read more…Amer’s Deli
314 S. State StreetWe’re right in the middle of a tough stretch of figure skating competitions. We have three over the nex month and a half then one in July and one in August…plus (hopefully) one in September.
The first of the three right now was this past weekend in Ann Arbor for the Margaret Faulkner Springtime Invitational at the Biggby Coffee Ice Cube – Ann Arbor. It’s not usually one of our favorite competitions but (spoiler alert) the kids did pretty well. That doesn’t always happen in Ann Arbor.
I wasn’t planning on going for Thursday’s competitions but last month, I skipped out on a trip to Nashville because I was working in St. Louis. I saved a vacation day from that trip and decided to use it so I could go to both days.
We got the schedule a couple of weeks ago and both kids started pretty early on Thursday morning. We have driven over at the crack of dawn in year’s past but we also found a decent, cheap hotel for Wednesday night so we decided just to pack up and go after I got home from work.
The rest of the family really didn’t beat me home by that much. L still had a lesson Wednesday night with her coaches at Wings West. J picked up Culver’s for them but I wasn’t really hungry at the time and I didn’t want a cold burger so I passed.
As we were driving to Ann Arbor, J asked if I had plans for dinner. I told her there were no Italian beef joints in Ann Arbor like there was on our last trip to Flossmoor, IL. She didn’t believe me, so she looked it up.
I was wrong. There actually are a couple of places that serve Italian beef.
We got to our hotel around 8:00 and got settled in. I asked if anyone else was hungry. B was the only one that responded. Since J had found an Italian beef joint, I figured I should probably get myself an Italian beef.
I ordered my dinner from Amer’s Deli on South Street just to the north of University Avenue in the heart of Ann Arbor near the University of Michigan campus. The restaurant that has the feeling of a traditional New York deli, is right across from the Diag on U of M’s campus and has been a staple of campus life for over 30 years.
Read more…
SW Michigan Dining 