Tag Archives: winery

Saugatuck Vacation Adventures Continued!

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After our visit to Tulip Time Festival, we headed back to Saugatuck, Michigan to check into our bed and breakfast and scope out more of the downtown area of this small beachy-town. Saugatuck is a cute little area right on the lake, and nestled right next to it’s sister town of Douglas which has a very similar feel and separated mainly by Blue Star Highway. I seriously cannot get enough of this area and have begged JP multiple times to grow a money tree so we can purchase a summer home in this area. Wishful thinking!

We stayed at the Twin Gables Bed & Breakfast which has become a fast favorite of ours, and we were able to experience a new room, the Beaujulois! It was on the second floor and had a great view the harbor and a nice sitting room with a fireplace which came in handy as the temperatures cooled down over Thursday night and plummeted from 79 degrees to 47! EEEK!

After we checked into the room, we ventured to downtown Saugatuck and went window shopping and dipped into some of the cute little stores that lined the street. Because we visited in the off-season, there weren’t many people out and about, which was great for us because we could go at our own pace and actually enjoy ourselves. We stopped into all different kind of shops including two pet stores, a fair trading store with some cool scarves and jewelry, and even walked around in the small park area at the edge of the shopping area. We then decided to stop in a small bar on the water and have a beer before going back to the hotel and freshening up for dinner. Oh, and we totes stopped at Kilwin’s for some yummy fudge! We scored the sea-salt caramel, Kilwin’s marble and peanut butter fudge. Yum-O!

After an awesome dinner, which I have an upcoming review on, we headed back to the room to relax and prepare for our adventures the next day!

me in heaven ...

me in heaven …

The next day, we headed out to the Fenn Valley winery in Fennville, MI for some wine sampling! The vineyard is in the middle of nowhere, which you can imagine but as you drive up to the winery, you are immediately surrounded by fields of those awkward looking grape trees! We hopped out of the car and made our way into their large tasting room, which looked like it also housed dining for large events (wedding, anyone?) and were immediately hit by the scent of wine.  All of their wines were lined up by type (white, red, dry, sweet) and we were able to pick out 5 different types to sample for free! Eventually, we settled on three different types – one of them being a cherry wine that was sooo delicious!

The winery also boasts tours of the vineyards during the weekends where you can take an in-depth look at the wine making process and also walk away with some free samples and a nice glass. We visited on a Friday and weren’t able to participate. Boo! But I had a great time looking around and picking out a wine to take back with me. If you’re into wine or just looking for something to do while in the Saugatuck area – definitely check out Fenn Valley or many of the other 90+ wineries in Michigan! Make sure to head to the vineyards though for that unique experience, as many of the winerys have storefronts in the town we stayed in.

Eat: Cooper’s Hawk Winery + Restaurant

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Cooper’s Hawk Winery + Restaurant is a mid-west based upscale chain restaurant which began in a south suburb of Chicago in 2005. It boasts a private on-site winery at each of it’s locations and flies in grapes from vineyards and crushes them on-site to make some tasty homemade brews. Most of it’s locations are in the suburbs of Chicago, but it also has a few other midwest locations in Indiana, Missouri,Ohio and Wisconsin, as well as in Florida.

I’ve heard tons of great things about Cooper’s Hawk but haven’t had the opportunity to dine there before. Last week, JP and decided to have a celebratory lunch marking her first day as an official strictly full-time nursing student.  We’ve had mixed feelings and worries during this whole process, and it was great to just have made a great decision for the both of us and celebrate her focusing on her schoolwork and personal well-being for the next year. After bouncing around several dining ideas, we settled on Cooper’s Hawk because it was somewhere we both wanted to try.

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Happy Birthday 2 Me!

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I turned 29 over Memorial Day weekend (Ok, actually on Memorial Day) and after a whirlwind trip to Kansas City, I headed off to Ohio to meet up with JP who had already driven to the state to visit with her family. I had a really good time, as always, and was even treated to a birthday treat!

JP’s family had their annual Memorial Day cook-out at their house which always, always, always has great food. The next day was my big birthday and we headed to Amish country in Ohio. I’m not going to lie, the Amish fascinate me. Plain clothes, no electricity and no Facebook? What?! I can’t imagine. But somehow these people have made it work for years! There were cute little antique shops all lined up down the main street in this area…full of old stuff and even newer things made by people in the Amish community. Amish ran the stores and yes, it was weird to see them with cell phones. I thought you couldn’t use technology. Apparently some of them are more progressive than others.

A&J Furniture, how can we help you?

We stopped at Guggisberg cheese factory to scoop up some treats (they had the creamiest Amish Swiss cheese ever), and also stopped by an awesome winery called Breitenbach which had the best sangria flavored wine slushies ever. They were perfect on a 90 degree day! Then we stopped in town and walked up and down the main street that had tons and tons of small shops ran by the Amish. Some stores were filled with antiques that reminded me of my grandfather’s garage and some had new items or things made by the women in the community.

After our shopping we headed to lunch and we were starving. We headed to Der Dutchman for some broasted chicken. Seriously. Hands down, the best chicken I’ve ever had. The outside was ultra crispy and the inside was super juicy! We were talking about it for days!

So that was my birthday adventure! I hope everyone had a fun Memorial Day weekend! We’re gearing up for a fun festival-filled weekend in the city! Can’t wait! Summers in Chicago are the best!