To continue Billy's birthday celebration, my mom stayed overnight with our dear ones, while we went to Grand Rapids*! Our hotel was situated in a triangle, so we had to park in a parking garage, and used the skywalk to access the hotel. All the rooms we saw were labeled 'city view.' lol
We arrived early, so our room wasn't yet available. After checking in our luggage, we went to see if we could buy tickets for the comedy show at the box office. They were not yet open, so we went have lunch at a nearby pub. It was freezing cold outside, and it felt so good to get indoors! QR code menu set the theme for Grand Rapids. The food was okay, but rather pricey for the quality. Billy was able to buy the comedy tickets online, so we didn't have to walk back to the theater.
Once we got checked in, and reclaimed our bags, the room made me reminiscent of the hotel I lived in while the twins were in treatment in California.
This room was a little smaller though, and no wall between the bedroom and living room.
Our hotel did have a pool! There were people in it when I went to snap my picture, and I didn't want to be weird, so I just took a picture of the end they weren't using.
After settling it, it was time to go to the South Sea's Hideaway!
Grand Rapids has many cool sights, on each corner! The was a mini printing museum in one of the windows even!
We found it! It was a sunnier, and slightly warmer walk, which was good, because it was cold, and windy!
The details in this place are phenomenal!
I got to sit in the fancy chair we saw in the online tour!!! They had heavy curtains between the dining area and the entry door, but even so, it was a chilly seat.
The ambiance in this place is amazing. I can't wait to take the kids back there (for Mother's day! ::Billy cough cough::)
Every element was totally considered and brought into the theme.
Vintage table pattern.
Color changing water element, with major Legends of the Hidden Temple vibes.
As we sat down, Billy saw some long curly straws and wanted to get a drink with them. We ordered somewhat randomly, but made a good choice, because they set our drink on fire!!!
There was even a mermaid 'sunning' on our lime slice!
The drink menu was way cool. Sadly, the food menu was a qr code.
A picture of Billy and our long curly straws!
We kept with the flaming theme and ordered the pupu platter. Everything was very tasty. Billy had lots of sauces to taste test, then he gave me the sweet one! = )
I couldn't get over all of the effort that went into this restaurant!!
Once our scorpion bowl was depleted, we wanted to try at least one other drink, and they were both beautiful!
Our final course was smores, with fire, of course!
We finished just in time, because they had a group coming in, but encouraged us to tour the rest of the restaurant!
This was probably my favorite piece.
One of these reminded me of William. Any guesses?
Since the sun had set during the time we were at Max's, it was even colder outside. We walked very quickly to the theater, and went to stand in line, because we were early. We had a bit of entertainment, as the floor below had a live musician, while we waited.
The building has many different sections, and in the banquet room across the landing they were having a football recruiting event.
We were the first ones in the theater, and got excellent seats!
A view of the city, from the bathroom!
The show was okay. We saw three comics, none of whom were funny enough to list here.
Our final stop was the bar under our hotel, they had on the game, the one that nudged us to Grand Rapids, so we at least got to see a little bit of it. And another QR menu.
My drink was pretty, but not very good, and we were both tired, so I don't think either of us finished our drinks before heading up to bed.
There were soooo many signs around the elevators!!!
The next morning we went down to the breakfast room, and they were busy! The breakfast was really good, but there were lines for everything.
We checked out and through it would be fun to go to the nearby art museum.
They had an outdoor skating rink, but as it was even colder than it was the day before, and less sunny, it was a no from me!
I feel like they need this sign at the state border.
There were so many amazing pieces, I took pictures of a few, but am only including my absolute favorites here.
There was a scavenger hunt that kids could do! There were Lego people displayed in some of the rooms. Since I didn't have the paper, I don't know where they all were or how many, but we found three of them!
The description here made me laugh.
A very simple, pretty, reclining chair!
We encountered several locking cabinets. I understand things needing to lock if you live with people other than family, or if you don't trust your servants, ::hair flip:: but there were so many locking cabinets, without handles!
This view is quite similar to the view in our backyard! It was a painting, but looked like a photo!
And some very old portraits!!!
We had one more meal, brunch, in Grand Rapids before leaving, and it was really good, and they had real menus!!
I had a great time, I think Billy did too! We have already discussed a return trip to see another section of the city!
later days
*Technically, Grand Rapids was our third choice, as we first tried Ann Arbor, but the hotels were wildly expensive, and so we thought there was something going on with the University that weekend. Next, we tried Detroit, where they were even more expensive, but it turns out there was a football game, so of course it was expensive. The Lions had an exceptionally good season, and made the playoffs, so good for them, not so good for us.
edit 2-11-25: backdated for continuity.
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