Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Grand Rapids getaway

Last weekend, I took a little getaway to Grand Rapids. Normally, one likely wouldn't think of going an hour away as a "vacation," but it definitely felt like one. And it was sure nice to get away from it all!

Saturday started with a game of tennis. And by "game of tennis," I mean, Dan and I hit the ball back and forth while trying not to embarrass ourselves around the actual players. The former effort was a lot more successful than the latter. 

We then set out to Grand Rapids. First stop: amazing vegan food at Brick Road Pizza. If you live anywhere near the Grand Rapids area (or within 500 miles from it), it's definitely worth the trip. We had vegan spinach artichoke dip, a Caesar salad, and the Tempest pizza (which had an Alfredo base, cheddar, tempeh sausage, spinach, roasted red pepper, caramelized onions with a bit of pesto on top).

The next day, we hit up Bartertown Diner for some equally as delicious vegan eats. Here's my breakfast. This is the tostada stack, which consisted of tostadas layered with beans, rice, tofu scramble, caramelized onions and vegan nacho cheese.

With our bellies sufficiently full, we made our way to Frederik Meijer Gardens. I had never been before, and it definitely didn't disappoint! I wish I had taken better pictures, but even if I had, I doubt they would have captured all of the beautiful plants we saw. I'll try anyway, so here's some:
They take requests. 
Don't ever play this guy in Scrabble.

That night, we went back to the hotel pool, swam some "races." These were unofficial and only against each other as challenging random hotel guests to a butterfly competition would undoubtedly be strange. I'm happy to declare that these "races" went much better than our attempt at tennis.

After the Gardens, we were pretty tired and hungry. Seeing as Brick Road Pizza was so good to us the night before, we decided to head back again. This time for calzones (broccoli, cheese, and green pepper for me, and spinach/artichoke for him) and this little slice of heaven.
Come to mama!
It was a quick trip, and one on which I probably gained five pounds, but it was certainly nice to get away for a bit!