Travel. Usually we think of travel in literal terms of a destination or a location we drive or fly to. It is a fun, scheduled thing we do to get away from the daily grind to relax. It is never enough time. We quickly realize how fast the time went and immediately start to long for the next time we can get away. Travel can also be thought of figuratively. We are constantly traveling in our own lives, trying to navigate through all the "stuff" we cannot get away from. The good, the bad, the complicated, the sad, the happy. It is all there, all the time and there is no destination you can escape to but there is the view of looking back. The view of seeing how far you have come during your life trek and how you have made it through all the "stuff."
This woman in this photo is my mom. I caught this photo at the perfect moment. My mom has been through a lot of "stuff" and yet she still can look at all the beautiful views around her and realize she will keep climbing. It is always worth it.
Nosh Two. Weekly Conversation.
My conversation today is with registered dietitian, Libby Rothschild.
In the past year, I have met many new professionals and friends on the social media platform of Instagram with Libby being one of my favorites. Libby is very passionate about being a strong support system for other registered dietitians and RDs-to-be, as well as individuals passionate about food, sustainability, education, and health professionals. She wears many different hats as a registered dietitian and I can honestly say after interviewing her in personal, she loves all of them. I admire her for the value she brings to our profession and her ability create relationships, even on the Internet. This is a podcast you will for sure want to listen to and it will remind you the world is your oyster!
Please enjoy my conversation with Libby.
Connect with Libby on Instagram and her new website, LibbyRothschild.com
Nosh Three. Part Deux ofWeek/Adventure in Review.
Part Deux of the Mom/Daughter Michigan adventure is the best part! I hope you will hang in there with me as I share a bunch of my favorite photos and continued story of our time on Mackinac Island. It might be possible there is over 100 photos on my phone from our trip....
After we biked, drank and ate, we summoned the "taxi" to take us to The Grand Hotel. There is no motorized vehicles on the island, so this was our Uber to the hotel.
As you pull into the hotel, you cannot help but kind of take a step back. This hotel is huge! Everything around the hotel is in pristine condition and the legendary front porch is aligned with beautiful red geraniums and the United States Flag.
There are Uber's going in and out of the hotel all the time. If you do not stay at the hotel, you can go and visit certain parts of the hotel and there are individuals monitoring the people going in and out. The complex is huge! We decided we would check in and get situated and then go explore all The Grand had to offer. After 6:30 pm, all ladies and gentleman need to be dressed accordingly, no shorts or jeans are allowed on the premises, so we only had a few hours to spare.
I headed in to the front desk of the hotel and checked in. We were given our keys to our room (which were actually keys) and I was told we would be staying in the Masco Cottage and were given directions to our room. At first, I thought I heard in-correctly and asked again where we were staying. I kind of stopped in my tracks because I did not book a cottage and confirmed they had directed us to the right room. This hotel has many different rooms and different price points, so maybe that was just the name of our type of room? Off Mom and I went through the hotel to our "room."
As we approached our "room" we see french doors with a sign above it: Masco Cottage. We both look at eat other and slowly walk up the 5 stairs with our keys in hand in complete disbelief.
Holy shit, we WERE staying in a cottage.
With both of our eyes bulging out of our heads, the key goes in and we look ahead to a fully stocked kitchen and mini library. Speechless. There were no words coming out of either of our mouths. All I could keep thinking was "I didn't reserve a cottage."
As we ventured through the kitchen, there is a beautiful living and dining space. Beautiful colors throughout, a comfy couch and chairs, two other sets of french doors and two women who are completely besides themselves.
As I am walking through the living and dining space, I spotted this picture and a special feeling came over me. This did not just happen by chance, this was the doing of Dad and Kate, our two missing heartbeats. I believe they were right there with us.
That wasn't all, down the hall way we went and on our left, a huge bedroom.
With an attached colorful full bath.
Then on our right, another bedroom.
And ANOTHER full bath.
Straight ahead, there were stairs leading to the second level (adorned in my favorite color).
At the top of the stairs was this Tiffany blue family room, equipped with a large flat screen TV, Wii, surround sound and the movie "Somewhere in Time" which was filmed at The Grand Hotel in 1979 starring Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour.
To the left of the family room was another beautifully adorned bedroom.
And then to the right another full bath and bedroom.
But wait, WE DIDN'T RESERVE THE COTTAGE.
With my Sanders caramel and chocolate covered pretzel in hand (because I didn't have enough sweets yet that day), I called down to the front desk.
With complete confusion in my voice: "Hi, this is Anne and I am in the MASCO Cottage. However, I do not believe I should be in the cottage. We only reserved a basic room, maybe you should check to see if this is right?" The sweet girl on the other end asks me to hold and she was going to get her manager.
The manager Ashlea Flores gets on the phone and confirms we are to be in the cottage. We had received an upgrade and to enjoy our stay. That is when I knew this was divine intervention and it was all meant to be.
We opened another set of french doors, taking it out to the porch wrapping around the cottage. Beautiful red and white impatients and wicker chairs and loungers adorned the porch and sitting area. Off to our left was another room we curiously opened and went into.
A huge 8 person hot tub, robes and big fluffy towels all ready and waiting for us. It was unreal.
We went inside, made a couple of espressos and just sat and took it all in. What an amazing, breathtaking view. We didn't want to leave, but we knew there was much more to explore at The Grand.
The Grand Hotel is the most vibrant and colorful hotel. The decor is elaborate and fun. Some people might say it is a little crazy or dated, but I loved it. The colors were so crazy, they all looked like they blended so well together. The entire hotel made me feel like Baby in Dirty Dancing.
Outside, there are beautiful flowers everywhere and well manicured lawns. We explored the Labyrinth, a place for meditation. Along the way was outdoor workout stations leading you through a luscious green trail adorned with trees. There is a pool the size of my small town in Iowa and a gym to get your fitness on. However, we did not make it to either because of our short time there and we wanted to just be in the cottage.
Before dinner and our 6:30 dress time, to play bocce ball on the front lawn while others around us enjoyed a game of crochet. Mom was a really good shot!
As the sun was setting, we wanted to have a cocktail on the legendary front porch and overlooking Lake Michigan in the comfy white rocking chairs strategically placed facing forward. It was the perfect day, a comfortable 65 degrees and a light breeze, dancing the flags around in front of us. We toasted to our Michigan adventure with delicious Grand Hotel Signature cocktail and watched the sun slowly descend onto water.
We then headed back to the cottage, made ourselves another espresso and dressed for dinner. A 5-course dinner and breakfast buffet are usually included with your room when you stay at The Grand.
We stopped by the lounge and got a before dinner drink, I indulged in the Michigan Manhanttan and then headed to the front porch for one more glimpse of the sunset before dinner.
Dinner was lovely. We had a well orchestrated wait staff and a nice variety to choose from on the menu. There are different places to dine at The Grand but we chose the main dining room. There were quite a few people there for dinner and there was no shortage of food.
We ended the dinner with coffee and dessert. They had my favorite Tiramisu and also my new favorite: Grand Pecan Ball with Chocolate Sauce. This was the most delicious pecan covered vanilla ice cream with a warm chocolate sauce. I have never had so much sugar in one day in my entire life. It was great!
We were feeling pretty good after dinner, a bottle of wine and dessert. The Grand had after dinner entertainment in the ball room with a band, singing the classics. We both shared in a dance and decided the cottage and hot tub was calling our name.
We retired to the cottage, slipped on our robes, turned on some music and enjoyed a dip in the hot tub. We didn't want to close our eyes because of how wonderful this experience was. As we finally headed to slumber, we were greeted with our beds being turned down and chocolates on our pillows.
These views were worth the climb and will forever be etched in our memories.
Nosh Four. Workout Playlist of the Week.
My workout playlist this week really encompasses our day at the Grand Hotel, this is some happy music to move to on Apple Music and Spotify.
Nosh Five. What I Love Right Now.
After our day at The Grand Hotel, we ventured back to Traverse City, MI and did some exploring in this quaint town Traverse City is full of hip and cool restaurants and shops, all you have to do is walk around their downtown area and hit all the great spots. We stayed at Hotel Indigo. It was perfectly located and I highly recommend staying there. It is a very modern hotel, with a great shower and workout room. There is also a rooftop bar with great views of the lake.
They have a great menu of different brewers and flavors of cider. I got the Cider Flight and tried 4 different options (there is more than 15 different options and usually some seasonal) as well as other microbrews, bottled beer, handcrafted cocktails, house infused spirits and wine.
The vibe of Taproot is adorable, very comfort chic adorned with one of my favorite colors, cherry red. The wood feels very organic and rustic which is also a reflection of the food.
The food is focused on organic, local and happy free range livestock with menu selections titled Grazing, From the Field, Main Entrees, Pizza's and Desserts. I couldn't resist the Phat Gregory which was a local cider braised pulled pork smothered in house made cherry BBQ sauce and topped with organic cabbage slaw. I had the option of root vegetable apple slaw or Great Lakes Potato chips or Soup Du Jour, which was a potato leek. Couldn't resist anything with potatoes and leeks.
After lunch, we walked around and explored the rest of Traverse City. There are plenty of fun shops around the city and mom got a cute vest a local clothing store. Not to long after, I was determined to find a place to get some type of cherry dessert. Traverse City is known as the Cherry Capital of the World and hosts an annual National Cherry Festival at the beginning of July. Since we missed it, I wanted to get a little taste of cherries. We stopped by the Cherry Republic but this was more of gifts of salsas, candy and other goods made with cherries. I really wanted cherry pie. We stumbled upon the Grand Traverse Pie Company. As we entered the case was filled with 20 different pies, different flavors, crusts and crumbles. I chose the Grand Traverse Cherry Crumb. The lady working could tell we had never been there before because after we ordered our slice she kindly asked if we would like our pie warmed with ice cream AND whipped cream. YESSSS PLEASE! They bake fresh pies all day, from cherry to blueberry to mixed berry to I would have liked to have a slice of each. I also found out they ship pies from the beautiful state of Michigan, so looks like I know what we are having for dessert this holiday!
I hope you enjoyed reminiscing with me about our Mother/Daughter Michigan Adventure. If I have any advice for you: go to Michigan, go to Mackinac Island and go experience it with someone you love!
~AE
