March "Marshall" Madness

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Left Chicago Union Station on Amtrak 7:30 AM on Saturday, March 20

It was probably the best Amtrak train ride I've had - it was on time, moved smoothly and I had so much room, I didn't know how to handle it. Also, Amtrak is equipped with electrical outlets.

I slept on the train. I slept a lot because I went to bed at 2AM the night before.

I arrived in Battle Creek and we went grocery shopping for foods for the weekend.

We got back home and dicked around for a little bit. Ate some homemade hummus.

Then we made homemade chili. It was with Pork Tenderloin (could have done w/o that) but it was delish. The beans were pureed with fresh jalapeños. Since we forgot to buy jalapeños at the grocery store, my friend and I made a quick run to the market. During this run, we did some sightseeing of the historic mansions that fill the downtown area of Marshall. Marshall is known as the "would-be" capital and numerous wealthy people made it their home while it was in the running. This was fun, I enjoy old homes.

Some other friends joined up and we all caught up with each others' lives.

When the chili was ready, we crunched tortilla chips on the bottom of a bowl with cheese and added chili on top. It was great chili, perfectly spicy and perfectly cooked/stewed.

Then we just hung out and played some games and drank some beer before going to the Dark Horse Brewery.

I believe I had shandy for the first time which is half lemonade, half beer. It was pretty rad - I enjoyed it very much.

Dark Horse Brewery

I love the Dark Horse Brewery. Tonight, I tried the Black Beer.

"Reserve Special Black Ale - Conceived in a dimly lit room on a blistery cold night in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but born and raised here in Marshall Michigan. The Reserve Special is the oldest of all beers in the Dark Horse family. It has an incredibly “thick” presence and when poured into a glass its color is so dark it’s eerie. The flavors explode onto your taste buds with heavy malt, roast, and chocolate, but stay very balanced. The Reserve Special Black Ale has a hard time being called a stout or porter but it fits nicely into the category of a delicious strong black ale."
-Dark Horse Brewery Wesbite

I also had a taste of the Rasberry Ale and a mix of both. Pretty good. Oh yeah, I forgot, we got an order of cheesy bread which was delicious.

After two beers at the Dark Horse, we went over to the Copper for old fashioned peanuts (that you just throw on the floor) and popcorn. I thought it was hilarious to throw the shells at my friends. They had green beer leftover from St. Patty's. I have never had green beer but this particular beer was Bud Light which I have not had since seeing the movie Beer Wars

..."A contemporary David and Goliath story that takes you inside the cutthroat world of the big business of American beer." - IMDB....

So instead I ordered the "Rock" Horse Amber and without even flinching the server gave me the Dark Horse Amber. We sang aloud to the classics so that everyone in the bar could hear us.

"Drive me to sleep.

That's an inside joke from last time I was here and got too drunk. Anyway, we went home and went to bed.

The next day, we got up and had muffins for breakfast. We went to Roma Cafe for lunch. I got the grilled chicken sandwich with pretzel bread. The bread was the best part. My friend got the Michigan Salad which consisted of...

• Romaine Lettuce
  
• Blue Cheese
  
• Candied Walnuts
  
• Dried Cherries
  
• Rasberry Vinaigrette Dressing
  

The Michigan Salad is what I should have ordered because we made our own versions back at home for dinner and I was instantly hooked.

We dropped my friend off at home so he could take part in the March Madness.

Meanwhile, his wife and I went to go see the new movie Alice in Wonderland which I liked very much. My reaction consisted of me wanting to write a fictional book. I was inspired to be creative I guess.

Then we went to the goodwill just outside of downtown. There was nothing available; it wasn't that good at all and very little selection. I was unimpressed.

On the way home, we bought some lemonade from these kids. It was made from powder but still worth the .50 cents. They had some interesting stories involving metal detectors. We also found this amazing mansion that had clearly just been relocated. It was a neat house and definitely worth the expense of moving a house.

Once we were home, we watched some television until it was time for me to leave. Great trip overall.

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