In our family, it’s not summer until we’ve made the trek to the legendary Remak’s in New Buffalo, Michigan.  This casual Red Arrow Highway eatery makes a great stopping point for those heading to points further north like Saugatuck-Douglas or Traverse City, but is also well worth a special trip in its own right.  Many tourists pair a trip for a burger with a day at the nearby beach.  If you visit in the peak season, expect at least a small wait (they don’t take reservations), but the line tends to move fast and killing time in the arcade is part of the experience.

When I was a little kid, I used to be slightly scared of this hamburger-eating man who is emblazened all over Redamak’s walls, signs, and menus.  Now I find him charming and nostalgia-inducing. 

On its familiar round menus, Redamak’s offers an array of summer dinner indulgences such as fried perch, mini corn dogs, grilled and grilled chicken sandwiches, and of course its “world-famous” hamburgers.  Guests coming for lunch during the week need look no further than the “Working-Person’s Special,” a cluster of reasonably priced sandwich combos that includes a cheeseburger with fries for $4.50.  If you come at night, that same cheeseburger will cost you 25 cents more, and you don’t get fries!

Patrons can sit inside or out on a screened porch, but we feel that the inside has a more historic feel.  The overhead fans create a pleasant, airy atmosphere.  Also, if you’re seated in just the right spot, you can watch the lighted number board that alerts waitresses when their various tables’ orders are ready for pick-up.

We always start off with an order of mozzarella sticks.  Redamak’s mozzarella sticks have a nice, thick coat of breading and are filled with cheese that is ideally textured – not too gooey and veeeery stretchy.  Whatever you order, be sure to accompany it with a Barq’s red cream soda, also known as the finest beverage on the planet.  All non-alcoholic drinks come in those tall, red, plastic glasses that make everything taste better.

The pan-fried cheeseburgers are a bit on the thin side, but the amazing creamy cheese makes up for this minor deficiency.  Don’t expect lettuce or tomatoes here.  I personally don’t miss it.  The crinkle fries are good as is, but even better if you request a cup of cheese to dip them in.  Ahhh, fried goodness!

Redamak’s operating season is from the beginning of March through the end of October, so call ahead if you are on the borderline.  Bring your dollars and cents, as this is a cash only establishment!

Running from May 1-8, 2010, the Tulip Time Festival is a major event for western Michigan.  After spending some time there last weekend, I can personally attest that this festival draws quite a crowd from all over the country and internationally.  This festival remains in full swing throughout the rest of this week and weekend, so this report and photos will help you know what you expect if you go.

First, no weekend in Holland is complete without Dutch food, and there are many different places to get it this week.  We were starving post-race so we just stopped at Dutch Village near our hotel.  We were able to eat without paying admission to the main park, but I did note that the grounds looked great, having clearly been recently spruced up for this event.  You can check out my full report on Dutch Village here.

The hubby and I each opted for a combo that included Erwtensoep (split pea soup with ham), Worstebroodjes (pork sausage in pastry) and Dutch apple pie, all of which was very tasty.  I also had a side dish of hot potato salad which I did not care for thanks to its sour dressing. 

I believe what we ate was sort of the festival’s signature menu, as an identical platter was advertised as being available at several other locations.  There is also a special outdoor cafe set up at the delicious Alpenrose restaurant downtown and an all-you-can-eat Dutch Buffet at the Queen’s Inn.

After lunch, we headed out to Windmill Island Gardens, advertised as having a historic working windmill, museum, educational presentations, and extensive tulip gardens.  Admission was $7.50 per person.  The park was very busy when we visited around noon, and folks were still pouring into the parking lot when we left.  Do this one early if you want to enjoy the gardens peacefully!

To be honest, the facilities at Windmill Island are not much to write home about.  The educational presentations are not “movies” per say, but “multi-color slide presentations.”  The one we saw reminded me of a 5th grade social studies filmstrip and literally had us nodding off.  The historic shops are less interesting than those at Dutch Village, and the miniature Dutch village (left) is interesting but difficult to really view because of the glare on the glass.  I definitely do not think this park would be worth the $7.50 admission when tulips are not in bloom.

 As for the tulips themselves, they were nice and well-maintained but I think a little past their peak.  The Tulip Time organizers obviously can’t help this, and I attribute it to unseasonably warm weather this past April.  We did enjoy watching little kids wandering through the massive tulip field and posing for pictures among the various clumps of flowers.

After spending an hour or so at Windmill Island, we headed to downtown to enjoy other aspects of the festival.  I was surprised to find that things were rather decentralized, with clumps of vendors and activities scattered here and there.  We also had a lot of trouble finding parking but finally ended up in a $5.00 garage.  I think some signage could help with this issue.

Once parked, we headed to check out the Kinderplaatz portion of the festival, an area geared toward families.  Admission is free for adults and the whole thing is rather surreal as this space includes not one but dozens of “bounce house” type facilities with huge clumps of kids waiting their turn to bounce at each.  As childless adults, we were not so interested in bouncing but we did watch dance performances by a group of children from some dance academy or other.

After we had our fill of Kinderplatz, we walked back to the main drag.  I had hoped to visit the intriguing Dutch Marktplaats, featuring homemade Dutch food, dancing, and items for sale.  Unfortunately (and surprisingly), this much-advertised attraction wasn’t open, despite the fact that it was a Saturday.  It runs from Tuesday May 4th through Saturday May 8th, so you should be able to see it if you go next weekend.  We ended up going shopping a bit on Holland’s main drag.  I’ve been shopping many times in Holland and I can’t leave without hitting up the awesome cooking supply stores and Kilwin’s for some chocolate candy.  We did both, and about 1000 calories later were ready to head home. 

Overall, we had a nice weekend.  I had fun running the race and I’m glad that I saw the famous tulips in bloom for the first time.  It was definitely way more crowded and expensive than when we usually visit Holland, though, and I don’t know that I necessarily need to go back again during this time of year, unless to simply run the race.

If you’re going to Tulip Time Festival this weekend, be sure to check out the online schedule of events!

We just got back from a nice weekend in Holland including the Tulip Time 8K, which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.  There was also a 5K and kid’s fun run.  The event had good facilities at Christ Memorial Church, including plenty of bathrooms, tons of bottled water, and standard food offerings (granola bars, bagels, etc.) pre and post-races.  Despite the large number of participants, we had no problem finding a spot to stretch out either before or after the race.

We had heavy rain en route to the starting point but fortunately it stopped just in time for the race, except for a few random sprinkles throughout to keep us cool.  The 8K course was pleasant, with plenty of time spent running amongst the tulip-lined streets of Holland.  There weren’t many spectators because of the wet weather, but I had my iPod so I didn’t mind.

While I really enjoyed this event, I do have a couple of minor nits to pick.  First, it was virtually impossible to hear any outdoor announcements.  A good number of the 5K runners didn’t even know their race had started!  Second, the 8K run shares the beginning of its route with the 5K runners, who are released first, and the end of its route with the kid’s run, which is released last.  So, we spent the first mile and a half dodging 5K walkers and the last kilometer dodging little kids.  I felt like I was in a video game!

Despite the dodging, I felt great throughout this race and finished the 8K in less than 50 minutes, which was my personal goal.  Full race results are available here.  This was also the longest organized race I’ve ever run.  I’ll be sure to pencil in the Tulip Time run for next year and I recommend you do too!

Let me tell you about the new love of my life, Zingerman’s.  This fabulous company dominates the Ann Arbor food scene, one bite at a time, with its tasty restaurants and manufacturing operations.  We visited several of Zingerman’s franchises during our weekend of eating, ending up at the Creamery and Bakehouse for some goodies and an afternoon tour.

Surprisingly, these two upscale food-making businesses are tucked away in a rather unassuming industrial park a couple of miles outside the city center.  The whole affair looks rather like a rent-by-the-month storage center.  Zingerman’s must not be aiming to reel in the casual passerby, as this area gets no foot traffic.

Fortunately, the facility’s interior is much classier than its in exterior.  In addition to three different on-site stores (the Bakehouse, Creamery, and in-progress Coffee Company), we explored various eating/lounging spaces, demonstration kitchens, and wall displays discussing the company’s history and future plans.

One of the highlights of our visit was checking the wedding cake gallery, full of artistically designed cakes which almost certainly cost more per person than our entire wedding meal.  I love the black and white one to the far right the most, but the draped one to far left was also stunning in person.

  The tour we took was the Creamery Tour scheduled for 1:30 p.m., which is priced at $5.00 per person.  We arrived in the creamery early and spent the half hour before it sampling the store’s wares until our stomachs hurt.  We tried lots of cheeses (Manchester, Mozzarella, Manchego, Great Lakes Cheshire) salami (Felino – literally the best salami I’ve ever had), and gelato (dark chocolate, chocolate chip mint, vanilla).  By the time we finished, the tour was almost beside the point as we’d gotten more than our $5.00 worth in samples and a discount coupon for that price.

The actual tour was good but not great, as there isn’t really much to see and 45 minutes was kind of long.  We did enjoy a demo of mozzarella cheesemaking and then got to taste the freshly made cheese.  We also watched gelato being run through a mixer and then got to taste that too.  Are you seeing a pattern here?

After the tour, we bought some cheese and the amazing Felino salami which was $19.99 a pound but well worth it.  We also hit up the Bakehouse for bagels and Zaaang! candy bars which are one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted.  We ended up leaving the Zingerman’s about two hours, $40, and 2 million calories after we arrived.  Overall, it was an afternoon well spent!

We read mixed reviews of Cafe Zola online before visiting, but the online menu was so appealing that in the end I had to try the place out for myself.  I’m glad I did, because I didn’t find this downtown Ann Arbor eatery to be the overpriced, pretentious affair that many other patrons seem to have visited.  Sure, the food isn’t cheap, but the selection is quite unique and everything we tried was so darn good that I can forgive the overcrowded dining room and long wait to be seated.

Zola has a vibe that is a mix of neighborhood cafe and big city breakfast joint.  It is located within walking distance of many downtown shops and attractions, so you can sweat off the calories from your meal when you’re done eating.  We wandered into art galleries, a cool tea store, and past the Hands On Children’s Museum, all within a mile of the restaurant.

I started my meal with a half-pot of green tea.  I can’t remember the type, but I liked this silver press pot because it kept the water nice and warm throughout my meal.

For my entree, I ordered a dish that combined two of my favorite things – caprese salad and crepes.  Yes, a caprese crepe, stuffed with tomatoes and mozarella, and it was as yummy as it sounds.  This was called the Crepe Zola and I can see why it would be considered a signature disk.  The hubby ordered brioche French toast, which is a pretty standard brunch choice for him, with a side order of kielbasa, which was somewhat of a novelty.  The sausage was delicious, with just the right amount of firmness to the skin and plenty of flavor.

Overall, we enjoyed our brunch, and no one bothered us about lingering a bit over our last cups of tea despite the queue outside.  With food this tasty we didn’t even mind the $30.00 bill that came with it.

Our marathon training is going well; we did our first six mile long run yesterday at a county park.  The only problem was unanticipated dehydration as the fountains hadn’t yet been turned on for the season!  We’re loosely following the training plan set forth in The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer by Whitsett, Dolgener, and Kole.  I say “loosely” because we have a couple of extra months so we can throw in more fun local races and events.  Yay for weekend road trips!

We’ve added a race, and fun weekend getaway, to the schedule I posted on March 16, 2010.  It’s the Tulip Time Run in Holland, Michigan, which kicks off the city’s famous Tulip Time Festival.  The festival boasts fireworks, a parade, tons of Dutch dancing, a quilt show, rides, and, of course, tons of tulips.  The run is on May 1st, while the festival continues to run through May 8th.  I’ve been to Holland many times to visit Dutch Village and the wooden shoe factory but I’ve never seen the tulips in full bloom.  I can’t wait!

The Tulip Time Festival Website can be found at www.tuliptime.com.  You can get your show tickets there too, if you’re inclined to pay to see Matt Giraud (from American Idol) in concert.  Don’t worry, he’s not the only performer on the schedule!

A print-out registration form for the run can be found here, or you can register online.  Available events include 5K and 8K runs and a 1K kiddie run.  We’re doing the 8K, which I think is a unique length for a race.  Pricing is $25.00 now, $30.00 on race day.

Finally, whether you’re running or just hope to tour the festival, you should get your hotel now.  We found fairly limited availability when we booked yesterday, particularly for a one night stay.  The Fairfield Inn does have rooms available for a reasonable price at this time and that’s where we ended up booking.

On our recent trip to Frankenmuth, we pretty much ate our way through the weekend.  Our first taste of Bavaria took place at downtown’s Zehnder’s, famous for its all-inclusive chicken dinners.  Honestly, we were torn between Zehnder’s and its sister restaurant at the Bavarian Inn, but the neon sign outside of Zehnder’s won us over in the end.

Zehnder’s serves lunch and dinner and is open from 11:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily.  Patrons can choose which of several dining rooms they prefer to be seated in.  Most of the ones we peeked in looked substantially similar, with white table cloths, a mellow color scheme, and seasonal floral arrangements.  I cannot ever imagine needing reservations at this massive restaurant, ever, as the assorted dining rooms can fit a total of 1,500 guests! 

Here’s a shot the restaurant’s charming exterior, with aforementioned sign.  The other photo shows our dining room of choice.  I can’t remember what it was called (they all had names), but I know it was to the left after we entered.  We were seated in the center of the room, directly behind the pictured table. 

Zehnder’s offers both a traditional menu and a more famous family style option.  We breezed right past the schnitzels and fish dishes to order the All-You-Can-Eat chicken dinner for $18.95 per person, adding mixed Bavarian sausages for $2.00 more.  Don’t worry, we did have more traditional German food a couple of days later at the Bavarian Inn which offers an almost identical menu.  I have to say I liked the chicken dinner better, and Zehnder’s also won out for atmosphere and service.

Our meal kicked off with this rather unusual selection of appetizers.  As you can see, we received a light noodle soup, crunch garlic toast, and fresh bread in two different varieties.  To accent the breads we were given various spreads, the best of which was the slightly spicy cheese served with the garlic toast.  The coleslaw-looking stuff to the middle left never got touched.

After spending some quality time with our breads and spreads, we dug in to the main course.  This included fried chicken, dressing, mashed potatoes with gravy, buttered noodles, and green beans.  Most of this menu is standard, with the vegetable option I believe changing seasonally.  The buttered noodles (homemade) came coated in cracker crumbs and were the best I’ve ever had.  Other standouts included the juicy fried chicken and the fluffy mashed potatoes.  There was really nothing I didn’t like, with the possible exception of the dressing.  This is an all-you-can eat meal, but there was so much food I think we only had seconds of the noodles and possibly the potatoes.

Finally, our meals ended with two small dishes of homemade ice cream.  I was expecting hand-packed but soft serve was a nice surprise.  The hubby ordered plain vanilla (boring!) and I, as you can see, opted for chocolate and vanilla swirl.  This small dessert was a perfectly sweet ending to a perfectly delicious and enjoyable meal!

Really, Frankenmuth is one big dose of Christmas spirit.  It’s also the subject of many Travel Channel specials and highway billboards, which combined led us to drive four hours each way to enjoy this “World’s Largest Christmas Store.” 

Don’t let the title mislead you – there’s a whole lot to do here besides just shop.  We watched a film called “The Wally Bronner Story,” admired the holiday decoration displays, had a quiet moment in the Silent Night Memorial Chapel, and enjoyed frosted Christmas cookies and hot chocolate – in October! 

Of course, the shopping itself can’t be beat.  Bronner’s offers ornaments, nutcrackers, Christmas dishes, holiday greeting cards, collectibles, stockings, advent calendars, snacks, trees, wreaths, and more.  I personally got a jump start on my holiday shopping by picking out ornaments for everyone in my family.  Many items can be personalized on the spot – and for free – by a Bronner’s artist.

Bronner’s is open year round.  From January through May, hours are Monday through Thursday and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5:30 p.m.  The rest of the year, the facility remains open until 9:00 p.m. every day except Sunday.  Bronner’s is closed (perhaps ironically?) on Christmas day as well as on New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  The exterior light displays are left on until 11:00 p.m., however, so those arriving in town late can still enjoy part of the show.

You can read my full write-up from our visit here.  Some of my favorite photos from my trip are below.

OUTSIDE:

INSIDE:

To get a true idea of the size and scope of Bronner’s, you should check out the store map! 

Also, if you can’t make the trek to Michigan, many Bronner’s products are available online.  We bought a couple more ornaments after we returned home and were happy with the service we received.  I do think going to the store makes for a more special experience.

After literally years of talking about it, the hubby and I finally got around to spending a late summer day at Southern Michigan’s Air Zoo.  Admission to the facility is free, which is a nice touch.  However, to ride any of the facility’s many rides will set you back between two and four dollars.  Simply to avoid messing with buying and counting individual ride tickets, we each purchased an unlimited ride wristband for around $14.00.  I would guess we probably about broke even which was fine with us.

The newer of Air Zoo’s two buildings is pictured above.  The facility opened at 11:00 a.m. on the day we visited and folks were literally lined up outside waiting to get in.  This is not to say it was overcrowded, which is fortunate because most of the attractions are simply not designed to handle large numbers of people.

The picture above shows just a small portion of the interior space – the place is huge!  This corner hosts a few of Air Zoo’s more family-friendly attractions.  Don’t be fooled by the tame appearance of Mongolian Balloon Race, though.  It spins quite fast and was just about enough to make me vomit!  We may have fared better on the adjacent airplane ride, but I’m not sure if we could have fit in the tiny ride vehicles.

Here are close-ups of a few of the planes housed in the first pavilion.  The coolest, by far, was the Lockheed SR-71B blackbird, which was unfortunately located in an area too dark for me to photograph.  While the planes are great to look at, the printed information next to each is fairly minimal and the mannequins are pretty cheesy.  There is a lot more Air Zoo could do with its artifact displays.

Here’s one of the rides we tried, a jet flight simulator.  This ride, like many others, left us feeling a little funny in the tummy thanks to plenty of tilting forward, backward, and up and down in an effort to shoot down an enemy plane.  There is a similar flight simulator for space travel which was not quite as high-tech. 

Air Zoo’s main pavilion also has a 4-D movie which seems to get rave reviews online.  Unfortunately, we never managed to get in to see it because we just couldn’t get the timing right.  One time we actually joined the queue, but the tiny theater filled up and the next showing was a half hour away. 

After we completed our tour of the first building, we followed a footpath through a large field which during our visit just happened to be the site of some sort of historical reenactment festival and military recruiting event.  We made our way through a virtual gauntlet of reenactors who asked us repeatedly to participate in the “2:00 amputation.”  No thanks!  We did pause for a moment to watch a large helicopter landing.  Planes come and go with surprising frequently at the Air Zoo and visitors can even purchase bi-plane rides for a reasonable rate. 

We then entered Air Zoo’s second building which seemed substantially older than the first.  It contained tons of additional planes, most with military heritage, as pictured above.  We saw one gentleman who was clearly a veteran who was permitted to cross the “don’t touch” line to have a picture taken by “his” plane.  That was nice. 

This building is also home to quite a bit of space-oriented “stuff.”  This includes a piece of moonrock (above, center) and models of various portions of a space shuttle (kitchen is above, right).  I actually thought these displays were some of the most interesting the Air Zoo had to offer but that may just have been because I think the space program is awesome.

Finally, I’ll leave you with this quease-inducing photograph of our last ride a day, or rather the hubby’s last ride of the day.  You couldn’t even get me on this thing!  After riding this, he turned to me and said, “you about ready to go?”  It was a good hour before he stopped complaining of nausea. 

We had a nice enough day at the Air Zoo but I think there is a lot of room for improvement.  If the emphasis is going to be on rides, there ought to be some that can accommodate large numbers of people.  If the emphasis is going to be on educational displays, these need to be beefed up.  Right now the place is a bit of a hodge podge and unless you are airplane crazy or love motion simulators, I don’t recommend going too far out of your way to visit this facility.

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve updated.  Sadly, the late summer brought with it fewer midwestern travel adventures than I would have liked.  Fortunately, we do have quite a few fun things up our sleeves for the fall.

September is a perfect time for orchards, fruit stands, and cider mills.  While driving through Michigan this weekend we took a random detour to Coloma because we just couldn’t resist the mouth-watering billboards for Grandpa’s Cider Mill which line the highway.  This turned out to be quite a worthwhile and yummy break in our drive.

As you can see, the building is labeled “The Bainbridge Beverage Company”, although all other signage and the website call this facility Grandpa’s Cider Mill.  I could find no explanation for this online, not that it matters as long as you can find the place.

Upon entering, we were greeted by the site of this large, glass-walled cider mill facility.  Unfortunately, the machines don’t run on Sunday.  It seems like it would be worth a weekday visit to see some apple-crushing action!

Although the cider mill wasn’t running, everything else was in full swing.  This photo shows the bakery area, seating (to the middle right), and a small glimpse of the many canned goods available for sale.  These include preserves, dressings, and sauces from the neighboring Jollay Orchard.  I couldn’t resist buying some Tomato Preserves, simply because I’ve never heard of such a thing before.  I’d gladly take suggestions as to what to put them on!

Baked goods for sale during our visit included apple, raspberry, and mixed berry pie, red velvet cupcakes, chocolate cookies, and those amazing home-made donuts that you can only find at orchards and farm stores.  Grandpa’s also sells its “famous” apple and apple-cherry cider by the glass for just $1.25.

We had mixed berry pie (blueberries, raspberries, and cherries) and traditional cider.  The pie was tasty, although not quite as mind-blowing as what we enjoyed at Crane’s Pie Pantry in Fennville.  The cider, on the other hand, was something to write home about and an absolutely perfect treat on a steamy hot September day.  We would have gladly taken a gallon home if we hadn’t been worried about it keeping on such a long car trip.

We enjoyed our visit to Grandpa’s Cider Mill because it was spotlessly clean, comfortably cool, and offered lots of yummy goodies.  The small facility isn’t necessarily worth a special trip to this area, but I certainly won’t hesitate to pull off the highway for a glass of cider the next time I pass those tempting signs.