Northern Michigan Breweries and Activities

February 2021, Weekdays and Weekend

We try to go out on less busy days, so most of the following visits were on weekdays. Our Saturday visits were earlier in the day when places are usually less busy (with the exception of Walloon Lake at the bottom of this post).

Grayling, Michigan

We visited three breweries in Grayling: Paddle Hard Brewing, Rolling Oak Brewing Company, and Dead Bear Brewing. All of these locations are within walking distance of the Bed & Breakfast where we were staying, although I would not recommend walking to Dead Bear Brewing after dark in the snow. That location is on a busier stretch of road, whereas, the other two are in the downtown area.

Rolling Oak Brewing Co

This was our first visit to Rolling Oak Brewing Company, which also happened to be our favorite of these three locations. We learned about this brewery because they are in the Hop Passport. We liked all of their beers, and if we had known they were having discounted growler fills ($12), we probably would have stopped in the car to fill ours. They have inside and outside seating. We got the last table inside, we thought, until we went to the bathroom. The bathrooms are located down a couple of steps near the entrance. There is a fireplace and a couple of tables in this area before the restrooms. 

I got the flight sampler at Dead Bear Brewing, which is a great value with the BrewVine Passport. I liked most of their beers when I got this a few years ago; however, this time I did not like any of them. They were out of their IPA, which is probably the one I would have liked best. Their bar seating area is spacious and comfortable.

Keg urinals at Paddle Hard Brewing

Petoskey, Michigan: Stafford's Perry Hotel

 

February 2021, Weekend, Two nights, Bayside King Deluxe Guestroom 401

Sunset from bayside king guestroom 401 at Stafford's Perry hotel

Reservations, arrival, check-in

We booked the Winter Getaway Package, which was a fabulous deal. The package included two nights lodging, breakfast (this is included for all guests, actually), $40 in dining credits, and a gift bag. I booked the package over the telephone, as soon as we learned about it via MLive. I could not find the package on their website, although I did find it online after I had made our reservation. I am not sure if I missed it the first time, or if we booked our stay before their website had been updated to include the package.

Winter getaway gift bag at Stafford's Perry hotel
(wine corkscrew not visible in photo)

I received a pre-arrival email a few days before our stay. There was a link in the email for room enhancements or requests, and I filled out the request form. I requested a top floor room in a quiet area, and I inquired about the bottle of wine included in our gift bag; I wanted to request red wine instead of white, if this was an option. I also asked if our room had a fireplace, as I had seen a few guestroom photos with fireplaces. I received a call from a staff member two days before our arrival. He told me that although our room type did not have a fireplace, we would have a nice top floor room in a quiet area, and that he had also fulfilled our request for red wine in our gift bag. The entire call was professional and positive.

View from bayside king guestroom 401 at Stafford's Perry hotel

We arrived at the hotel a bit earlier than we had expected--almost 2 hours before the check-in time of 4PM. We received a warm welcome, and the agent told us our room was ready. He provided information for our package, and hotel details. He also told me they had put a portable electric fireplace in our room for fireplace ambiance. Wow, I thought that was impressive!  

Guestroom 401 with added fireplace ambiance at Stafford's Perry hotel

The color of the two inside photos above is a bit distorted/blueish. Apparently, I had bumped the exposure on my phone before taking those photos. There is another photo of the sofa below, which is a better representation of the actual coloring in the guestroom.

Grayling, Michigan: Borchers Bed and Breakfast

February 2021, Weeknight, One night, Au Sable room

Lodging choices in Grayling consist of mostly small motels, a couple of Bed and Breakfasts, and two name brand hotels (Days Inn and Ramada). We decided to try a local Bed and Breakfast for our stay. We had tried to stay at this location during off-season last year; however, our trip was cancelled due to shutdowns caused by the pandemic.

Reservations and check-in

There are four rooms at this bed and breakfast. Two of them have a second guestroom door directly onto the baloney: Au Sable room and Main Stream room. We made our reservation online, and chose Au Sable room, because it looked like a corner room. All rooms were available when we made our reservation, and Main Stream room had also been reserved when I checked online the day before our stay. When we arrived, there were actually two other rooms rented besides ours.

I received a telephone call from Cheri the day before our stay. She confirmed our reservation details, and inquired whether we had any food allergies or dietary needs. She provided her cell phone number, just in case we arrived before 4:30PM. We did not expect to arrive that early, and we arrived as expected, shortly after 5PM. Cheri was waiting for us, and our room was ready. After a brief tour and quick settling into our room, we walked downtown to a couple of local breweries (information about that in my Northern Michigan post). Even though it was snowy and cold out, this Bed & Breakfast is close enough to walk downtown. 

Views of Au Sable River from Borchers Bed & Breakfast Au Sable room

Au Sable room

We loved this room. It was clean and spacious. It is located on the southeast corner of the house, and the french doors walk out to the balcony facing the river. Even though the mostly overcast skies caused our view to be more dreary than bright, we liked the view. 

View through french doors from
Au Sable room at Borchers Bed & Breakfast

Michigan Breweries: Ann Arbor/Saline, Lansing, Jackson

 February 2021, Weekdays after restaurants and bars reopened at 25% capacity

We tend to go out on less busy days, and finding open locations during the pandemic has proven to be a challenge. Even with the allowed opening, some places have opted for much shorter hours and/or fewer open days. We found several places that are only opening a few days a week, and many have not been opening until 3PM or later. I am sharing information about some of the places we looked into or visited shortly after inside seating reopened.

Salt Spring Brewery in Saline, MI

Ann Arbor/Saline

Most of the breweries in this area were not open in the afternoons and/or on weekdays. We had hoped to visit Mothfire Brewery Company, since it was only two miles from our hotel; however, their current temporary hours are Thursday - Saturday from 5PM to 8PM. Townies Brewery, and most of the locations downtown had similar hours. The only downtown brewery that we found with weekday afternoon hours was Grizzly Peak Brewing Company, and we did not end up making it downtown.

Salt Spring Brewery in Saline, MI

We visited two locations that were open on weekday afternoons: Salt Springs Brewery and Wolverine State Brewing. Although Salt Springs Brewery has a Saline address, it is only five miles from south Ann Arbor. This is a location we would visit again. It is in a beautiful old church with inside and outside seating. The beers were good, the service was good, and they have a fabulous Happy Hour starting at 3PM; specials on appetizers and beers. I wish we had been hungry when we visited, because the food smelled fabulous. Wolverine State Brewing also had inside and outside seating, along with food and beer. Plexiglass barriers were installed at the bar for bar seating. 

Neither location was very busy during our afternoon visits. I had been wondering if we would run into wait times with only 25% capacity, and we have not experienced this yet.

Grand River Brewing in Jackson, MI

Lansing, Michigan: Crowne Plaza Lansing West

February 2021, weekday, 1 night, king corner guestroom #436

We have stayed in this hotel a few times before this stay, and I have previously posted hotel info in this blog. You can find my most recent post with more photos here. This is a brief post with just a few bits of additional information, since this was our first stay during COVID-19.

Reservation, arrival, platinum perks

I booked the IHG member rate with breakfast. I made our reservation over the telephone with the hotel directly, because when I looked online, deluxe rooms were available; however, there were no corner rooms for any night that I chose (we had been considering and searching several different dates). The agent was able to make us a reservation for a corner guestroom when I called. There are only a couple of corner guestrooms in this hotel, and portions of the hotel were shutdown to conserve energy due to the decreased business caused by the pandemic.

I received an email for mobile check-in the day before our arrival; however, I received an error message when I tried to complete mobile check-in. Checking in at the front desk when we arrived was friendly and efficient, so this did not present a problem for us. During check-in, we received a couple of chocolate hearts and a small package of Brach's candy, as our stay was an early Valentine's Day getaway. Hand sanitizer was available throughout the hotel, and plexiglass barriers were installed at the front desk. The platinum bonus points posted to my account immediately after check-in.

Guestroom 436

This one of our favorite guestrooms in this hotel. I did not take any photos of the room this stay, as the guestroom was mostly the same as last time we had stayed in it. You can follow this link to see photos from our stay in 2016. 

The bedding has been updated since those photos were taken, and there was a new flat iPhone charger next to the bed. The guestroom layout was the same.

Delicious Bloody Mary at Bordeaux restaurant 
inside Crowne Plaza Lansing West!

Ann Arbor, Michigan: Staybridge Suites Research Park

 February 2021, weekday, 1 night, king bedroom suite #409

Reservations, arrival, platinum perks

I made a reservation online for a king bedroom suite with points. We arrived to check-in around 4PM. Our key packet had not been prepared, although the agent did ask our preference for guestroom location. She did not recognize my status or offer any platinum perks. 

Suite 409 at Staybridge Suites Research Park Ann Arbor

Guestroom 409

Suite 409 is on the top floor, near the end of the hall. It contained the usual Staybridge Suites amenities: full size fridge, stovetop, microwave, toaster, coffeemaker with supplies, dishwasher, bar counter with stools, desk and chair, sofa, and flatscreen TV. The coffeemaker looked kind of nasty, and I had to run the dishwasher when we arrived, as there were dishes in the dishwasher that did not appear to be clean.

Bedroom in suite 409 at Staybridge Suites Research Park Ann Arbor

Our living room TV did not work when we arrived. After a staff member came up to look at it, he left, and then returned again with a new box, or something, which he installed, and then got the TV working. 

Coffeemaker in suite 409 at Staybridge Suites Research Park Ann Arbor

There was a second TV in the bedroom, along with a full length mirror, soft chair, and footstool. I think this is the only hotel I have ever stayed in, which did not have a clock in the bedroom. The only telephone in the suite was on one of the nightstands in the bedroom. The bathroom contained a nice walk-in shower.

Guestroom diagram from back of door in suite 409
at Staybridge Suites Research Park Ann Arbor