Pure Michigan

We realize we've still been slow on the posting, but we're still recovering from the humidity of the South and the alcohol of Kentucky. 

We made it to Michigan on Monday afternoon, stopped quickly at Adam's alma mater Kalamazoo College, and headed north for Rockford, MI, hometown of Mr. Adam Granger. We accomplished very little Monday night aside from eating steak salad, playing with Adam's dog Abby and Christie and Mike's dog Oliver and hitting the sack.

Upon waking up on Tuesday, first thing's first: introducing Chadé to Meijer, the Michigan-bred store that spawned the likes of Walmart and Target. That's right, Meijer was the original. Get three people from Western Michigan together and within 5 minutes, Meijer is bound to come up in conversation. [Kinda sad how true this was for the trip - it's just a big store - Adam].

Adam and I bought a few pounds of cherries and went home to make a cherry pie! (Little known fact: Michigan exports about 75% of the nation's tart cherries). 

In the picture on the left, Adam is working a cherry pitter which pits the cherries faster than you could any other way. And, to the right, obviously, are the finished products. They were delicious.

After making pies, Adam and I stopped by the beach of his neighborhood Lake Bella Vista where he used to go wakeboarding during the summers. Then we headed into Grand Rapids to celebrate his sister Beth's final exam of college. We ate at the delicious Bistro Bella Vita (sorry, no pictures) then hit the bars, then hit Yesterdog, a local favorite open until 3am where hot dogs are $1.80 and Obama made a stop on his campaign trail. 

Needless to say, Michigan was a re-fueling stop towards the end of our journey. The night of beers and hot dogs with Beth and Adam's friend Christie resulting in so many points awarded and deducted that neither of us can remember the ending score from that night, so we'll call it a wash. Adam does get a point for giving his sister her favorite bottle of wine for her graduation and I get a point for suggesting the cherry pies.

Score: Chadé: 8, Adam: 7.

Stats:

2 cherry pies baked

3 dogs played with

16 states visited

4500 total miles driven

More about Cleveland this afternoon (we are currently in Cleveland but don't have time to blog about it quite yet!)

- Chadé