Grand Traverse Resort and Spa---Valentine's Day Weekend --Part One

Okay, so it took me awhile to get this up! We've been really busy this week for some reason or another.

So, let's get started!

Friday at around 11am, we left Madison Heights for our 4 hour drive to Traverse City. We stopped for lunch with some friends and then we were off.
The drive isn't too bad; most of it is freeway driving and then some two lane highway driving. I slept most of the way and Brandon listened to Rush Limbaugh on the radio(bleh!). Around 5pm, we arrived at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa. 

ACCOMMODATIONS
I was somewhat surprised at how busy it was! We stayed in the tower rooms which were quite nice. There was a jacuzzi tub and a wet bar with a mini fridge. The TV was a bit out of date, and the room was a tad stuffy, but it wasn't a big deal. The beds were so soft! You just sink right into them, which most people like. I however, like really firm beds, but they were still comfy and I was so tired each night that it didn't really matter.

The only problems we had with the room all weekend were: Saturday morning, we didn't have any hot water around 9 am, but by 1pm it was back on. Ashley's friend works at the front desk and she said a lot of people were complaining about it, and they had someone out to fix it right away. It sucked, but I just took a shower later. The second problem was the the thermostat didn't want to work. It was stuffy and hot in the room every time we walked in it...we would eventually get used to it, but it was still a pain.

The tower rooms are newer and thus cost more money. The "Tower" rooms run about $180 on a busy weekend (we were there for winterfest) and about $150 on a regular weekend, with week rates being around $130. Whereas the "Hotel Rooms" run for about $30 less a night, respectively.


DINING

At the resort, there are 3 places to eat that aren't seasonal (there's 5 in the summer). After we settled in, we went down to the Sweetwater American Bistro  for dinner. The restaurant itself is really cozy. We sat in a booth and ordered our meals.






I had a Chicken BLT that had Garlic Mayo. It was really, really good. Brandon had a homemade pizza.

As far as pricing goes, this place is pretty afforadable. For two people, dinner and drinks, it ran us $25 including tip. Also, the resort allows your to charge everything within the resort to your room, so that was convenient.

I also really liked their salt and pepper shakers! They were huge!




We also tried out Jack's Sport's Bar while we were there, which shared a kitchen with the Bistro, thus having the same menu. The only differences were that Jack's was much smaller and had TVs.

The rest of our Dining didn't take place at the resort, and  I suggest to go down town and dine there, it's fun!
Here's a few of the places we stopped by:

Saturday morning we went to J/S Hamburg. It's a small restaurant down town that serves a greasy breakfast and some homemade toast, and since we had all had a few the night before, it hit the spot. I don't have any pictures of the food, and I imagine it wouldn't have been all that appetizing to look at now, but at the time, it was heaven.

Dinner Saturday night was at a Place called Stella's.Stella's location is where the former Traverse City State Asylum used to be. It was creep as all get-out. The walls were all brick and it was just simply, eerie. We asked our waitress what the room we were sitting in used to be, and we were a little bummed to learn it was for grain and farm feed. However, she did inform us that the kitchen was formerly the morgue and where their walk in freezers/fridges were made peerrrfeecctt sense. CREEPY!
Overall, this place was awesome. The food was amazing, and the staff was very accommodating. The four of us shared two bottles of wine (both Rieslings), two appetizers (calamari and gnocchi).


For our main entree's,
Brandon had Veal Scallopine, Ashley had a Chicken Dish, I had a Rib-eye (only thing guaranteed lactose free), and Sal had two orders of Tagliolini, (they were small!)
The menu changes everday and the chef uses local ingredients for as many things as possible! It was absolutley delicious. Unfortunately, The only picture of food I have is of Sal's Tagliolini, which is
Butter-poached white Gulf prawns, Maine lobster claw & knuckle meat, diced tomato. We ended the night with some chocolate and some hot tea. We liked the tea so much, we decided to go on a little trip the next day to find some!


Well, I need to get some stuff done around the house, So I'll update with part two later. That entry will include the Winter Wonder Fest, as well as the Spa, and Shopping!  Hopefully, I'll finish it tonight!

<3