Flash Flood Water Park
35 W. Hamblin StreetI’m not gonna pull any punches. I hated water parks when I was a kid. The rest of my family loved them.
Our vacations all centered around water parks. We went to Wisconsin Dells several years. We went to Indiana Beach a couple times a summer. I sorta got my way one year when we went to King’s Island in Cincinnati….but we only got to do the amusement park one day and the water park three days.
I wore glasses up until about 5th Grade when I got contacts. I hated water parks because I couldn’t see. I’d have to store my glasses somewhere then run around the park blind. I hated it.
My kids are nothing like me. They love water parks. We don’t really do vacations anymore because…you know, sports. We’ve done Great Wolf Lodge a few times but no big trips to go to a water park.
Last summer, J needed something to do with the kids and a couple of her friends. She suggested the water park in Battle Creek. Turns out, the kids had a ton of fun. We promised to do it again this summer.
Flash Flood Water Park is part of the Full Blast recreation complex on the corner of Hamblin Avenue and Capital Avenue in downtown Battle Creek. The water park part of the complex has an entrance from the parking lot on Hamblin so you don’t have to go inside the rec center.
Read more…Big Moe’s BBQ Express (Food Truck)
Food TruckI have missed Lunchtime Live a lot this year. It seems like every Friday, I’m out of the office during the two hours the food trucks are set up at Bronson Park.
I finally thought I could sneak over there and grab something to eat last week…but I was a little too early. Most of the food trucks were still setting up and not ready to open. I didn’t have a lot of time to wait around.
There was a truck that was ready to go though…and it’s a restaurant that I’ve known and enjoyed for several years….and it’s BBQ.
Big Moe’s BBQ Express has restaurant out on Gull Road but they also have a food truck they can hall around for catering and special events. In this case, the special event was Lunchtime Live.
Apoptosis Brewing Company
3811 S. Westnedge AvenueJ and L were still in Bloomfield Hills for a figure skating competition and B was still at Nana’s so I had another night to eat out on my own.
I’m trying to find some places around town that I’ve been wanting to go to but didn’t want to take the kids. I had two days this particular week to do that and I’ve got a few more days coming up soon that I’ll also get to do that.
My pick this night was a newer brewing company in. I was planning on stopping for drinks anyway but I noticed they started a small sandwich menu so I could make it my dinner stop too.
Apoptosis Brewing Company is on South Westnedge Avenue at Parker Avenue in Kalamazoo’s South Westnedge Neighborhood. The building was previously a Big Apple Bagels that closed a few years back. This building was built specifically for that Big Apple Bagels after the previous location further north on Westnedge closed to become J. Gumbo’s (also now closed).
Read more…High Dive Kitchen + Bar
214 E. Michigan AvenueI hate it when I have to miss my kids’ events.
L had a figure skating competition in Bloomfield Hills last week. It was a late addition to our schedule and I’m running out of days off. J and L went on their own. Since I had to work and we don’t have daycare for B during the month of July, he went to J’s parents for a couple of nights.
That left me alone at nights. I decided to take advantage of that and hit up a couple of restaurants I’ve been wanting to get to. The kids haven’t really been into eating out like we used to and sometimes, it’s just not worth the fight to do what I want to do.
I still had to run to the ice rink after work because B had practice. Once he was done, we had to do a lot of car swapping as J’s car needed to get to the shop and I had my truck downtown (it’s a long story). I had J’s parents follow me to the shop to drop off J’s car then take me downtown to get mine.
I was downtown again and I had a number of places I wanted to eat at downtown. I’m going to have another week here in a few weeks were J and L are gone and B will be at NaNa’s so I’m going to get to all of them eventually.
On this night, I chose High Dive Kitchen + Bar.
High Dive Kitchen + Bar is on Michigan Avenue just to the east of Portage Street. The restaurant takes up what used to be two different spaces across two different three story brick buildings. The main part is in the building that previously housed Fuze Kitchen and Bar. The second part of the space is in the building next door which was previously Grand Traverse Distilling.
Read more…Grab N Go Pizza
4317 W. Dickman RoadFriday is pizza day, right?
My co-worker and I had to make a quick trip to Battle Creek sort of late in the afternoon a couple of Friday’s ago. I wasn’t planning on eating anything but he forgot his lunch (or just didn’t want what he brought..I didn’t really ask) and asked me if I was planning on stopping somewhere.
I told him I wasn’t but if he saw something or if there was something he wanted, we could stop on our back to Kalamazoo,
We drove in to Battle Creek on M-96 because our stop was on that side of town and it’s quicker than taking the highway.
I was kind of looking around as we were driving to see if anything new had popped up since the last time I was in that area….and sure enough, something caught my eye and I ended up stopping for a lunch I didn’t plan on.
Grab N Go Pizza is on Dickman Road near Army Street in Springfield just outside of Battle Creek. The small pizza shop shares a building with the Custer Party Store. Prior to becoming a pizza joint, this part of the building was a Burmese Grocery Store
Read more…Kitchen Tribes
555 Phoenix StreetOK, so this is a little unusual. It’s not unusual that I will write a blog post for a restaurant I’ve already been to if it’s been a couple years and there’s been some changes.
But I just wrote a blog post on Kitchen Tribes about a month and a half ago! But there’s been A LOT of changes in a month and a half.
We decided to go to the beach a couple of Sunday’s ago. We tend to go later in the evening as the tourists head back to their beach houses and head out for dinner. There’s not as many people on the beach and it’s easier to find parking.
We planned to only be there for an hour or so and that’s about what we did. Before leaving town, one of the kids wanted ice cream and the rest of us wanted something to eat. McDonalds is always an option…but South Haven has places way better.
J suggested Kitchen Tribes. We didn’t realize the menu had changed so drastically, but that didn’t really matter. They still had what we were looking for.
Kitchen Tribes is in the old Dairy Queen building on the south side of South Haven’s downtown. Th building is on Phoenix Street just north of Broadway. The thing that you immediately notice is the parking lot that used to be between Dairy Queen and City Hall is gone…and for good reason.
Read more…Hau’oli Shave Ice
544 E. Morrell StreetA few years ago, the kids got a snow cone machine from Santa. We don’t use it all that often. It’s not really a pain to use the machine itself. We just have a dozen of those big bottles of flavors and the kids have to mix like every color which leaves a mess all over the counter. I don’t love cleaning it up.
L has kind of forgot about it but B asks all the time. “Can we make snow cones? Can we make snow cones?” We almost always tell him no and then he gets sad and then I feel bad.
He asked J last Friday if they could make snow cones. She said no, but she told him after dinner, maybe we could go some place that does shaved ice and he could get a big one with whatever flavors he wanted.
That place is Hau’oli Shave Ice in Otsego. It’s a little shack set up in a parking lot on Morrell Street and East Allegan Street (M-89) on the east side of Otsego. The small building is tucked along the fence next to the H & R Block and B & C Trophy.
Read more…Café Rica
62 E. Michigan AvenueOne more day of working without my Kalamazoo colleague.
I actually had to run to Grand Rapids for something in the morning but then I had an appointment set up in Battle Creek after noon. It was the best way to plan my day but I figured I needed to make a trip to the Grand Rapids office then I could take my time getting to Battle Creek.
My appointment in Battle Creek was for 1:00. I got to town a little after noon. I got gas and something to drink then decided to grab lunch before I did what I was in Battle Creek to do.
I was near downtown and there’s a café in the area I keep meaning to try.
Café Rica is on East Michigan Avenue north of Division Street in downtown Battle Creek. The coffee shop actually got it’s start at BC Cargo, the cargo containers set up in the parking lot behind Full Blast on the corner of McCamly and Hamblin a few blocks away. From there, they moved to share space with Simply Sensational Berries before finding this permanent spot on the ground floor of a century old two story brick building right on the edge of downtown.
Papa’s Italian Sausage
543 E. Ransom StreetHoliday weeks at work are always interesting.
My co-worker was off for the week and we’ve had some management changes so getting through last week was just that…getting through last week.
I didn’t really have a lot of direction on what I was supposed to be doing so I kind of took it on myself to stay busy and contribute.
That left me with some time to actually grab lunch.
I was done pretty early on Tuesday and I was at the office in downtown Kalamazoo. There are plenty of options around me but there’s a new place not too far away that I wanted to get to.
Papa’s Italian Sausage moved from their longtime home on King’s Highway to the corner of Ransom and Harrison to the Harrison Circle Apartment building right on the roundabout. The sandwich shop takes up the corner space on the Harrison Street side of the building right next to Brewery Outre.
Family Affair Restuarant
148 W. Main StreetI was the unlucky one that didn’t get the five day weekend for the 4th of July. I had the weekend off, and the 4th itself, but I had to work Monday night (3rd).
I worked a pretty late shift Monday night. It was almost 2:00 AM before I got to bed. I told J I wasn’t going to go back to her parents house on the lake after work. If I felt like coming back, I’d come back in the morning.
I woke up around 9 AM Tuesday morning. I knew if I was going to go back to the lake, I should do so before the parade in Schoolcraft shut down US-131. I got myself up and moving then started the drive towards Centreville.
J and I typically weave through the back roads as we make our way to the lake. The most direct route is to go through Three Rivers and Centreville but we chose a route that misses those towns and goes through Mendon instead.
I was coming through Mendon a little after 10:00 and I was hungry. I knew there was a diner on Main Street but being the holiday, I didn’t know if it would be open. I didn’t tell anyone I was stopping or asked if anyone wanted to join me. With my luck, the whole group would have been there and the place would have been closed.
Family Affair Restaurant is right on Main Street in downtown Mendon near the intersection with Nottawa Road. The brick building with red awning is one of several buildings like it in the small town business district. All of the buildings are connected to each other and have probably been there as long as most people in town can remember. The buildings have been cleaned up quite a bit over the years. The space Family Affair is in sat empty for a while after a coffee shop moved out and the building next to it was a grocery store that had seen better days but the time it closed a decade or so ago.
SW Michigan Dining 