Forever ago, Billy and his coworkers were driving 'up north' to meet with a vendor, and he would go through this little town of Clare. It's been on our list, though pretty low, for a while now, so when my mom gifted me an overnight babysitting with Billy, we decided to finally check it off the list.
There's really only one hotel in town, so we stayed at the Doherty.
They also have a hot tub, which Billy reminded me about multiple times, and I still forgot to pack my bathing suit!
Nearby was a single screen theater, which was only showing a movie we would not have ever watched, but since it was the only game in town, Predator Badlands was on the itinerary!
After checking in, we visited the rock shop first, lest they close before the movie ended. Billy ended up finding the perfect clover shaped ornament, made out of an Irish marble even! He also found a pewter character to represent him in our D&D games with the Cornishes.
Once we finished at the rock shop, we went to eat lunch and played some bar trivia. The game was fairly repetitive, but it was a fun way to spend time before the movie. Once three o'clock rolled around we headed to the box office to purchase our tickets.
The first half of the movie was every bit as boring as I thought it would be. I couldn't believe that I had over an hour left of the movie when I ran to the restroom.
*****Spoilers***** This movie was totally a hallmark movie. The grumpy old man finds out that family is who you want them to be, and between the quirky sidekick, and loyal pet, the ending is happy and sweet, you know, for a predator.*
*****End Spoilers*****
After the movie we went and checked out a local eatery. It was quite a bit like Nico's here in town. Nothing special, but overall inoffensive.
Then, came the real reason Billy thought I would like Clare, a basement speakeasy!
It was so well done. The waitresses were in period dresses, and the feel was very themed. It was well done, though I would have liked some swing playing on the speakers, personally.
I ordered one of their seasonal drinks, and it was pretty! Not very tasty, but really pretty.
Billy's ice cube had a fleur de lis imprinted on it!
Since we had just eaten, we ordered a chocolate fondue desert to help us stave off the cold! It was delicious.
B
We shared a pot of breakfast tea, but each of our cups had a unique pattern!
The food was really tasty, but of particular note was their mulberry jam, it was so good!
This art took us some pondering. The cooler there reads "city morgue" and it took the second "deliveries" door before we realized that this was the backside of the Cops and Donuts store. Well played.
We stopped into a shop that we found on google, but it turns out it was primarily a liquor store. They did have an old timey milkshake machine though, so I got a coffee milkshake!
They were out of milk, so I bought a Starbucks Frappuccino to use as the milk component. It was very coffee, but really good! While I enjoyed my cold drink, out in the cold, Billy ran into the brewery to get a to go beer from their local brewery.
Clare has installed an art walk along their main thoroughfare, so I grouped them all here together for your viewing pleasure, though they were taken over the course of our stay.
It was sad to leave, but we opted to stop off in Alma, to buy a beer from their local brewery. It was snowing there, and felt much colder than Clare, though it's not far.
We also stopped in Ithica and St. Johns, but neither of them had breweries, and both downtowns were pretty much closed up on a Winter Sunday.
Sarah dug the cans out of the recycling for me, since I neglected to take pictures of our brewery 'tours'.
When we made it home, we found that there was quite a bit of snowfall!
The girls built a snowman!
It was a lovely birthday getaway with my favorite person, though sometimes the temperature has me wishing one of us had a better weather birthday!
later days
*After we got home, Billy went out to see how bad the reviews were, and it turns out, this was the highest grossing of the entire Predator series. It's the only one that I'd ever seen, so I contributed to their 'success' despite being unimpressed by the movie. oh dear.
edit 11-27-25: backdated for continuity.
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