Visit the Farm House Bakery near Vandalia

Thanks to my sister, Emily, for this review. A delightful little bakery can be found over near Vandalia, just north of town. Located one mile off of M-60, the Farm House Bakery has many treats to offer.

Open Thursday through Saturday, the Farm House has an array of delectable treats to offer. Starting at seven a.m., breakfast is served with surprising efficiency.

On a recent visit, my sister and I received our food quite quickly. We both ordered the Farmer’s Wife, which consists of their wonderful egg casserole; choice of French Toast, pancakes (both served with pure maple syrup) or biscuits and gravy; choice of meat (a mild sausage or bacon); and choice of pastry (cinnamon roll, glazed donut, bismark, apple fritter, or muffin). Each breakfast also comes with a dish of fresh fruit (grapes, melon, and pineapple). Beverages include milk, juice, and great coffee.

My sister and I both chose the biscuits and gravy and sausage, but she went with a cinnamon roll while I chose the blueberry muffin. Both are excellent choices and come icing drizzled all over the top. The muffin was FULL of blueberries, just the way I prefer.

I personally have tried the apple fritter, cinnamon roll, and blueberry muffin. (The bakery happens to be conveniently located on my way to work.) There are other varieties of muffins left to sample. Also available are fresh-baked breads and pies, as well as other sweet goods.

The Farm House also serves lunch. They offer sandwiches, regular and buffalo burgers and subs.

If you plan on going on a Saturday morning, go early in order to find a table. Hopefully you aren’t shy as tables are sometimes shared by more than one party. If you do have to wait, it will be well-worth the time.

The Farm House Bakery is open Thursday through Saturday, from 7 am to 4 pm, and is located at 59573 White Temple Road.

Part 2 of U.S. 12 places of interest in Michigan

This is the continuation of some of the many places of interest along U.S. 12 in Michigan. Enjoy! See part one, here. White Pigeon Bup's Drive-In - The drive-in restaurant is still alive and well along U.S. 12. Bup's has excellent home made root beer. You can have a frosty mug of it while you are there and/or buy it by the gallon for $3. Yum!

Coldwater The Capri Drive-In - One of America's Top 10 drive-in theaters. Great prices and specials all summer long.

Northwoods Coffee Co. - In addition to their excellent coffee, Northwoods Coffee Co. has excellent food and lodge decor. Their website leaves a lot to be desired though.

Clinton The Clinton Inn - Officially opened for business on Thanksgiving Day in 1901. They are open for lunch and dinner as well as Sunday Brunch.

Saline An abundant number of Antique stores, Art Galleries, and Coffee Shops proliferate this little town. I like to refer to it as "Little Ann Arbor" due to its proximity to Ann Arbor and the fact that with all of the development between Saline and Ann Arbor you can not really tell when you leave one town and enter the other.

Well, that is as far as I am going with this review of places of interest along U.S. 12 in Michigan. Once you leave Saline, the quaintness of the "old Chicago Road" disappears into strip malls and fields of concrete. There are numerous other stops to make along U.S. 12 and I would like to list them sometime in the future.

Great places to stop on U.S. 12 in Michigan

The huge U.S. 12 yard sale is this weekend all across southern Michigan. There are a lot of neat places to stop along the way any time of the year. The following is an informal list of some of my favorite U.S. 12 stops as well as some I have not yet visited. We will start at the western end of U.S. 12 in Michigan and work our way east.

New Buffalo Redamak's - "The hamburger that made New Buffalo, MI famous." I have not yet stopped in and tasted this famous burger, but it is on my list. I love their website. They have some great oldies music playing while you are looking around the site. Note: Redamak's only accepts cash, no cards or checks.

The Bean Counter - Great little coffee shop right on U.S. 12. As a recovering accountant I can appreciate the name (come on you know people always refer to accountants as bean counters).

Three Oaks Historic Drier's Meat Market - In business since just after the Civil War ended, Drier's Meat Market is a National Historic Site. They still throw sawdust on the floor and their ring bologna is as famous as it is tasty.

Featherbone Factory - Once home to a thriving women's garment factory, the Featherbone Factory is now home to Kinner Enterprises. They sell rustic home furnishings and hundreds of garden stepping stones and statues.

Okay, that is it for part one. I am posting the second half of this U.S. 12 adventure separately. I just kept coming up with more places to stop and the post was getting longer than I wanted it to be.

Catch a falling star with the Perseid Meteor Shower

For those of us in Michigan now is the time to catch falling stars during the Perseid Meteor Shower. Unfortunately, the peak meteor activity this mid-August will be interfered with by the full moon tonight and its waning phases the next few nights. I remember laying out on a blanket one summer night as a child and watching the show that the meteors provide. It was literally a fireworks show presented by nature. Instead of booms and whistles the night air was only punctuated by my family's 'oohs' and 'ahhs.'

So, create a memorable family experience and lay out under the stars at least once over the next few days. The show starts to fade around the middle of August which is already next week. Where has the summer gone?

On a side note:

When I was writing this article, the Don McLean song "Starry Starry Night" (its actual title is Vincent, as in Van Gogh) popped into my head. I must admit that I never really listened to the words to this song in detail before. I never knew that it was about Vincent Van Gogh. You can listen to a live performance at Don McLean's website here. Starry Starry Night refers of course to Van Gogh's "Starry Night."

Giant garage sale on U.S. 12 this weekend

Beginning this Friday, August 11, and running through Sunday, August 13, you can shop at hundreds (perhaps thousands) of garage/yard sales from 9 am to 5 pm each day. I have heard of a lot of folks that make a weekend trip out of this. They start at one end of U.S. 12 as it runs across lower Michigan and start shopping. Speedier shoppers might accomplish this feat in a day, but the majority make a weekend out of it and stay at one of the many fine Bed and Breakfasts or hotels along U.S. 12.

Can you imagine if people from here in Michigan all the way to Washington state (where U.S. 12 ends) participated in this yard sale? The current holder of the "world's largest yard sale" title is the one along U.S. 127 from Kentucky to Georgia.

I'll be posting some places of interest along U.S. 12 tomorrow morning. There is more to U.S. 12 than yard sales, of course. :)

P.S. Interested in the history of U.S. 12? Check out the documentary, “From Moccasins to Main Street.”

P.P.S. Head over to www.us12heritagetrail.org for additional info.

Alternative fuel turns out to be Manhattan's trash

Gary Varisto of C&V Logistics thought he had a great idea that would help the environment and create jobs at the same time. What he thought to be waste paper that could be pelletized into a burnable fuel that would create electricity instead turned out to be trash from Manhattan. He already had interest in the product from Cadillac Renewable Energy to use his product. Now the trash sits at Seng Dock & Trucking waiting to be disposed. Varisto doesn't have the funds available to pay for the trash removal. He had already invested $160,000 in the pelletizing equipment and his dreams of generating jobs and electricity with waste paper have been dashed.

Read the entire article at the Ludington Daily News.