Coffee – Page 8 – ON THE ROAD with Maria + Stephen

Western Michigan

23/08/201808/03/2021 by Maria+Stephen, posted in Bike Trails, Biking, Boondocking, Camping, Coffee, Hiking, Kayaking, Scenic Drive

Arriving in Traverse City marks our completion of the 117 mile long M22 which follows the Lake Michigan shoreline of the Leelanau Peninsula. The M22 is a beautiful scenic drive offering great vistas of Lake Michigan and the Grand Traverse Bay. 0014,0015

Traverse City Coffee Scene: Higher Grounds + Planetary Coffee. We have been disappointed with a number of the coffee roasters/shops in Western Michigan. Arriving in TC has brought us a couple of notables with Higher Ground Coffee Roasters and Planetary Coffee (serves Half Wit beans). Erik Harms owner and barista (pictured below) at Planetary is a long time roaster having previously roasted at Higher Grounds and the well regarded Dogwood Coffee in Minneapolis. Erik has provided us with several recommendations for the UP which we are excited to try over the next week. 0015,0016

Biking the Leelanau Rail Trail TC-Sutton Bay-TC. 0015

Hiking the dunes at Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore. Camping at Leelanau SP. 0014

Kayaking on the Pere Marquette near Lake Michigan. 0013

Biking on the Pere Marquette State Trail. 0012

Pere Marquette State Trail

Detroit: Museums + Coffee Part 2 + Baseball

15/08/201812/06/2020 by Maria+Stephen, posted in Art Museum, Baseball, Coffee, Museum

We enjoyed our stay in Detroit. There is a lot to do and see in the Motor City. The local government and corporations are clearly working hard to revive the city but without a doubt the big “D” remains a gritty place with a long way to go.

Final day in Detroit; more museums + coffee; Maria and I spent the morning at the former Ford plant known as the Piquette Avenue Plant. This location was the very first plant Henry Ford operated as Ford. His previous two attempts to manufacture automobiles failed in quick succession.

Great Lake Coffee Roasting was our final coffee stop.

We are spending several days in Detroit before traveling north to the U.P. On Monday night we watched the home town Tigers make a nice comeback to defeat the White Sox 9-5. On Tuesday we ventured back into Midtown Detroit to spend the afternoon at the Detroit Institute of Art after sampling some very good coffees at New Order Coffee Roasters. The DIA has six Van Goghs of which five are currently on display as you can see below. Van Gogh produced 900 paintings so we have apx. 680 paintings remaining yet to be seen in person. The featured photo above is from a massive set of murals painted by Diego Rivera focusing on the massive industrialization manifested by the auto industry. The murals were produced after Rivera made hundreds of sketches inside one of Ford’s largest manufacturing plants. They are considered both highly accurate in regard to the assembly line, yet they also symbolize the impact industry has on humanity and our environment.

043A3D5F-1F20-4D3D-B13B-2C806C83B919 — The Diggers by Vincent Van Gogh

Toledo Ohio: Museums + Coffee

13/08/201812/06/2020 by Maria+Stephen, posted in Art Museum, Coffee, Museum

Started the day with a coffee with Maddie & Bella Coffee Roasters followed by a visit to the National Museum of the Great Lakes and a tour of the Great Lakes freighter Col. James Schoonmaker. This freighter was commissioned in 1911 and was the largest Great Lakes freighter at that time. The freighter worked the Great Lakes until 1980 carrying grain, coal and ore. 0006

Museums and Coffee today in Toledo. Maria and I spent a relaxing afternoon at the renowned Toledo Museum of Art. Several excellents exhibits and two paintings on display by my favorite – Vincent Van Gogh. We finished the afternoon at Black Kite Coffee & Pies. Black Kite serves the excellent roasts of local roaster Flying Rhino. 0005

Day Trip to Nelson

28/02/201730/04/2018 by Maria+Stephen, posted in Coffee, Scenic Drive

On Sunday we took the day off from skiing and snowshoeing and hit the road to visit the “big city” of Nelson (pop. 10,000). The ride up provided the excitement of driving through the Nancy Greene Summit Pass (check out the video) and then motoring along the Kootenay River (pictured below). Of course, a major goal of our trip was to find the best coffee roaster in the region.

Happily, we can report that we had productive and delicious stops at Oso Negro Coffee Roastery and John Ward Fine Coffee both located on Ward Street.

Red Mountain Rossland BC Canada

25/02/201730/04/2018 by Maria+Stephen, posted in Coffee, Skiing

Our first day at Red Mountain after a smooth but long travel day on Thursday. A beautiful day! I met an 84 year old women named Renata while riding the chair. She is originally from Germany but while mountain climbing in the Colorado Rockies in 1960 met a Canadian mountain climber. They fell immediately in love and she never retruned to Germany. She is an avid skier. Her son was on the Canadian olympic team and has skied all over the world.

After skiing Maria and I drove into Rossland and had our first cappuccino and london fog of the trip at the Alpine Grind and finished with dinner at Idgies.

Rossland is a small town with a year round population of around 3500 people. Everyone is very friendly and the place is very mellow.

A great start to our Rossland adventure. Tomorrow we will be snowshoeing and heading north to Nelson, BC (the marijuana capital of Canada) in search of coffee roasters.

View from Grey Mountain

Schulz Trees “Trail”

Alpine Grind

Plenty of snow!

Montana Coffee Traders – Every road trip requires an excellent coffee segment on day one to set the tone!

15/09/201630/04/2018 by Maria+Stephen, posted in Coffee

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