Another successful family outing.

Our eighth year going up there. Stayed in Benton Harbor, hit Journeyman's Distillery on the way up. Best spirits I've ever tasted. I had a vodka drink and my wife had a bourbon drink and they were as smooth as a gravy sandwich. Also had great food. Hit St. Joseph's all 3 days also. Ate breakfast at the Mason Jar in Benton Harbor, which was great, and this morning at Luisa's Cafe in Harbert. Pretty good food but way too noisy. Not going back. Also stopped at the Beer Church in New Buffalo. Had a great Scotch Ale, my wife had a tasty Cream Ale. The guy pouring the beer asked if we liked hoppy beers and we both said not at all. He let us try an English Double IPA that was delicious. We both agreed it was very drinkable.

Great time had by all. Can't wait to go back next year.

Peoria Chus checking in.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Great vacation today

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Had old fashioneds and whiskey smashes made with journeyman spirits up at the boulevard a few years back. Very nice. Haven't had their vodka or rum yet.

Yup

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I enjoy staying at four winds casino and losing all my money's to the native Americans. I also enjoy the copper rock stake house within the casino. The wife and I have spent a few nights in the hotel and have enjoyed it every time #rockchalktimallen

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

ChumbawambaMatt.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Yup

chaspoopcheck

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I knew there was a reason I voted for you.

Brogue only bought Douchebag a Shirley Temple

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Nothing like that happens on our vacations

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

I just read this in Tim Allen's voice.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Shoot me a message next year, Matt. I'll buy you one of those Journeyman drinks. Best Old Fashioned I've ever had, would be REAL easy to have four or five and just melt into the floor.

My next door neighbor was the chef at the Boulevard Hotel in SJ, he's moved down to the Public House in Baroda, a restaurant/tasting room for Round Barn winery/brewing. Good food and drink, out in small-town on the edge of wine country.

Care to share which hotel you guys used? I was driving to a bearing supply house in BH the other day, and noticed how those three new hotels just off I-94 overlook quite a dumpy industrial strip...

Have you tried Burn 'Em Brewing, just East of Michigan City, IN? The guys split from GreenBush and seem to have some really good brews.

That's all I could think of. Maybe the parts where he was riding in a Mazda was by the annoying Mazda voice guy.

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

Spent this past weekend with my wife in St Joseph. Kind of a kitschy, yet really nice little toursity town along the lake.

Drove about 15min south of town and hit up Tosi's for a nice anniversary dinner on Friday nite. Great eye-talian joint. My wife went plain and just had spaghetti. I had the chicken cannelloni which was one of the best Italian dishes I have ever had. Also had a bottle of Louis M. Martini 2014 Cabernet which paired perfectly with dinner. http://www.tosis.com/

After dinner we went to Buck Burgers & Brew. Terrific beer selection. I'm not a huge craft beer guy, but I am beginning to venture out of my "Coors Light" comfort zone more and more. Had a Spaten Oktoberfest, an Alaskan Amber (really really good), and then pretty much stuck with Bell's Amber and Two Hearted for the rest of the weekend. Listened to some music upstairs for a while. Older local guy was pretty good, very welcoming. He had a binder of songs that was easily several hundred pages. He took a couple of requests and let me play his Taylor while he was packing up. Sweet guitar, very easy to play. We also went here for lunch on Saturday. I had the Buck Burger which was really good. Perfectly cooked to a pink medium. My wife upgraded to fries which were good too, but I really enjoyed the house made chips that came with my burger. http://eatatthebuck.com/

Before and after lunch and in between the raindrops on Saturday,we hit up most of the little shops on the main strip downtown. Everybody was quite welcoming and happy to chat with us for a bit. The entire area is very pet friendly as well, so of course we enjoyed meeting most of the dogs more than people. Fuzzybutz pet store was probably our favorite, but I also enjoyed the consignment and antique stores that were around. I found an old 1940s Union Pacific Railroad ad from a magazine for $5. My WWII vet great uncle, who is/was big train nut, will be getting that in the mail for his 100th birthday in January.

After we got dumped on with rain, we went back to the hotel and chilled for a bit. Got back out around 4 to do a wine tasting at the Lazy Ballerina. Bought a bottle of Barrel Rouge which is a dry red that is aged in Bourbon barrels. We are going to leave that age for a year and open it up to enjoy for next year's anniversary. Their hard apple cider was pretty good as well. Typically these are way too sweet for my liking, but this was lighter and didn't make me feel like I was drinking a bag of sugar. http://www.lazyballerinawinery.com/

After the tasting, we hit up the old school carousel. There used to be an amusement park all along the beach, and this was one of the only things that has survived over the years. It only took us a few minutes to walk around, but it was still all decorated for Halloween. Judging by that I am sure they do a tremendous job for Christmas as well. Dinner was at Silver Beach Pizza, which is in an old Amtrak station. Kind of a funky building, but they make it work. The pizza doesn't really hold a candle to MANY Chicago places, but it was decent enough and again they have just an amazing selection of beers. Very moderately priced as well. We had a medium pizza, an appetizer, and 5 beers between the two of us and a $50 bill covered everything including tip. We called and were told that the wait for a table would be about 40 minutes, yet when we arrived we were seated after barely a 10-15 minute wait. http://silverbeachpizza.com/

Postgame on Friday was drinks at Ryebelle's, which is upstairs in an old building. We sat at the bar for a while and saw Boyd's 22 year old doppleganger. The service here was really good, and the food looked amazing. This will definitely be on our list for dinner next time we go up there. Czar's for country music was next, and despite the $5 cover drinks were priced just slightly above VFW/Legion Hall prices (Two Bacardi & Diets were $7.50). I am not a country fan, but my wife is and live music is live music so it was an enjoyable time.

Stayed at the Inn at Harbor shores which is nice, but probably not worth the $130-150 per nite pricing. This facility hosts the Senior PGA Championship. I'll have to bring my clubs and play a round there next time, looked like an outstanding course.

All in all it was simply a terrific weekend, if only for a short getaway. We absolutely love the town and are already making plans to go back. Summer is probably crazy busy, but the town does things year round and there is enough in town and in the surrounding area to keep anyone happy. The rain and a couple of hangovers from the both of us only put a mild damper on the events of the weekend. If anyone is looking for a quick getaway that is couple, pet, and child friendly, I would highly recommend St Joe's.

Special shoutout to Peoria Matt whom I traded some PMs with before booking this trip. His information was invaluable as we made sure to hit the places he referenced. We were not disappointed with any place he told us about.

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I stayed on the course a few years ago in a town house. Looked liked a nice course and kicked myself for not bringing clubs and a bucket of balls because I'm pretty sure I would have gone through more than a sleeve or two. It was late season and the place was kinda dead. Buck burgers is pretty good. I still like it up there, we stayed at Union Pier (I think) this year which was a bit more quiet.

I had a great time in Michigan this summer. MANY beers were consumed.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Southwest Michigan has really turned into a major beer haven. My wife and I got married in Three Oaks at a winery, and there are several great wineries there. But between Sawyer, Bridgman, New Buffalo and St. Jo's/Benton Harbor, there are several great breweries there now too. Tapistry in downtown Bridgman is a great one.

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Glad I could help, Frank.

Love Michigan. We have taken family vacations to the Traverse City area for 5 of the last 7 year. Plus, the smallmouth fishing in Grand Traverse Bay is outstanding. Charlevoix is great too.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

When our daughter was first born and we didn't want to fly for vacations, we'd take my father-in-law's conversion van and rent a condo for a week in Douglas/Saugutuck. Nice beach, plenty of places to visit/eat, and a reasonable drive.

We love Saugatuck. The first time years back when we were looking for a place to stay, I found this place that I thought looked nice called The Dunes. I was looking at pictures of the place online thinking it looked good. I then clicked on a photo of the pool and saw it was filled with people and thought it looked like a good party spot.

We were considering booking it, but then after scrutinizing the photos a bit more, I noticed the pool was filled with about 30 dudes and not one girl. After a bit of research I found out what The Dunes was. We found a bed and breakfast down the road instead.

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Yeah the second time we stayed there, the condo complex we were in must have rented out the pool for a Sunday night party that was all dudes. It looked pristine the next day, but we went to the beach anyway.

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Frank

Where was my doppelganger at? Was that the pizza place?

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Frank, glad to hear you enjoyed your time over here. Harbor Shores is a great tract, even with the spread-out nature of it's layout. Gets less and less expensive in the Fall, some days you pay what the forecast high is for the day. I've only eaten at the Inn at Harbor Shores once, it was okay. The Inn looks nice, and it is nearly new, and better priced than the 30 year-old Boulevard downtown.

If you get a chance to venture farther from town, the number of breweries and wineries is staggering. I don't know how I could survive one of the bus tours, I imagine being hammered half way through.

The best news is a lack of local police blotter entry about an inebriated, naked light bulb salesman!

Going to St Joe's again this weekend. Looking forward to it.

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