Today we were back on the beer wagon. We packed the car, and checked out at around 9:00am. And when I say we "packed the car," I mean...we "PACKED the car." The car is quite full, and there some noticeable sag on the back tires. I'm not sure how we're going to put much more beer in the car, but we've got quite a few more breweries to visit, so, I suppose we'll find a way. I'm try to talk Kristen into letting rent a U-Haul to hitch up to the car, but she doesn't seem to fancy the idea. I keep trying to tell her that we have an OBLIGATION to bring back as much beer as POSSIBLE, but she doesn't seem to be falling for it. I'm confident I can talk her into it.

Anyways, we headed towards to Battle Creek to visit Arcadia. So far, our travels through Michigan have gone quite well. In comparing the highway system here in Michigan with that of PA, my dislike of PennDOT and their highway system is only reinforced. The highways here are NOT riddled with pot holes, and are actually designed to handle the number of people living here. Even while traveling through the Detroit area during rush hour we didn't once stop due to a backup. Eight to ten lane highways around a major metro region (as opposed to four to six lane freeways around Philly, which is an even larger metro area with more people).

But back to our beer trip...if we don't get to Battle Creek again any time soon I won't be disappointed. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh because of how early it was, and there was nothing going on, or perhaps it was the crappy beers at Arcadia. This was the first brewpub we visited that we were really disappointed with. The beers we sampled were:

• Angler's Pale Ale
• Scotch Ale
• Nut Brown Ale
• Starboard Stout
• India Pale Ale
• Whitsun
• Cereal Killer Barleywine

The Starboard Stout and the IPA were both okay, but pretty much unimpressive.



After Arcadia we headed out to Gull Lake for a visit to the W.K. Kellog Manor House for a tour. We were the only two that showed up, so we were treated to an intimate tour of the house with just us and curator. The Manor House was the summer home of W.K. Kellog and his second wife. It isn't terribly large as far as mansions of the time period go, but the craftsmanship, design and detail put into this house are astonishing. The walnut trim and Rookwood tiling were beautiful and contributed to the incredible durability of the house.









After touring the Manor House we headed back towards Marshal to visit Dark Horse. We weren't keen on all of the backtracking, but Dark Horse didn't open until 3:00 and, with all the great things I've heard about their beer, I most definitely did not want to miss them. We were most definitely not disappointed. Dark Horse and Kuhnhenn are probably my two favorite brewpubs so far. The beers were phenomenal. We had:

• Amber Ale
• Crooked Tree I.P.A
• Reserve Special Black Bier Ale
• Double Crooked Tree I.P.A
• Sapient Trip Ale
• Too Cream Stout

All of their beers were great. My favorites were the Black Bier and the IPA. Kristen liked also liked the Black Bier. For dinner we shared a pizza: a Chicken Feta Pie.

After Dark Horse, we headed out to Kalamazoo and to the hotel. We have been lucky with our hotels so far, and have been completely satisfied...up until now. The hotel is nice, but we did not get the room we had reserved. After asking them about this, they said that their website often says they have rooms available that they really don't. I'm not sure why that should be my problem, but I intend on taking the issue up with them along with a discussion about their "100% satisfaction guarantee or the room is free" policy.