Kayak, Bike and Brew Tour and More Cherry Festival (Day 5)

One of the things my family was really looking forward to on vacation was spending some time at the beach. I, on the other hand, am not much of a beach guy.  So we took Day 5 and turned it into a day where the wife and kids hit up the beach during the day and I went on a Kayak, Bike, and Brew tour around Traverse City.  I had the time of my life!!!

This was one of the things I found when researching Traverse City that I was very excited to do.  I took an Uber over to the starting point and checked in around 10:30am.  They gave me a drawstring backpack and told me to grab a cold beer and pick out a bike for the ride.  I'm not one to turn down a beer and hanging around, so I chilled out in the courtyard until the tour started.  The tour was mostly filled with 20-30 year olds and I was one of the older ones there, but I can hold my own on a bike and kayak, so it wasn't going to be a problem.  

We departed their location on the corner of Front and Gillis and rode our bikes through a mostly residential neighborhood to our first stop on the tour, Right Brain Brewing, which was about 3 miles away.  This was a really cool brewery with some really out of the box beer styles.  I loved that they had a very open room there with a bunch of pinball machines and arcade games.  

Two of the weirder beers I had there were the Cherry Pie Whole (Amber ale brewed with a whole lotta cherry crumble pies from Grand Traverse Pie Company.  Expect light notes of the crust with a big cherry finish.  5.4%) and Thai Peanut (Brown ale w/ peanut butter, Thai chili, coconut & lime -- Pad Thai in a glass. A fan favorite!   7.9%).  Both were pretty good and enjoyable.  

After about 45-minutes at Right Brain, we biked about a mile back in the direction where we came from to the Filling Station Microbrewery.  This was a cool brewery with most of their location outdoors along some train tracks.   

There I ordered a pizza and a beer sampler.  For pizza I got the Memphis Line which included sweet BBQ sauce, roasted chicken, roasted onions, jalepenos, cilantro, smoked gouda, and mozzarella.  It was soooooo good!  The beers were highlighted by the Under the Trestle Mango Kolsch (Brewed with floor malted Weyermann Pilsner malt, and Hersbrucker hops. This smooth Kolsch style beer, with a generous amount of organic mango puree added after fermentation, is slightly sweet, with a bit of tartness from the mango.  5.0%) and Iron Junction Bourbon Stout (Iron Fish Distillery, located in Thompsonville, MI, sent us some American Oak barrels, which were filled with Imperial Stout.  After aging for three months, this dark, rich, malty stout takes on a woody, chocolate, vanilla-like notes from the oak barrels-along with smooth bourbon flavors.  9.5%).

After about an hour at the Filling Station, we left the bikes and walked down to some kayaks along the waterfront.  We got into the kayaks and went down the Boardman River to a pub called Rare Bird Brewpub.  The river was very slow and very relaxing to kayak down and I had a blast!

At Rare Bird, I grabbed a couple light beers, I think a hazy IPA.  Whatever it was, it hit the spot after a day of biking and kayaking.  

After our beers at Rare Bird, we went back to the kayaks and kayaked back up the river to where our bikes were outside of Filling Station.  From there we turned on some tunes and rode our bikes back to the Kayak, Bike, and Brew location.  

After getting back, some of us from the brewery tour went down to The Workshop Brewing Company, where my family met up with us.  They wanted to go see the Dog Jumping competition at the National Cherry Festival and we needed to get some dinner.  There were a few things to note here.  I don't remember what beers I had, but they were really good.  They also were very family friendly as the kids got to play games like Simon and pinball while we drank.  

Avery and I saw that you could buy a beer for a future visitor to the brewery.  So as easily predicted, we bought a beer for a meteorologist and baseball catcher.  We both thought the idea was very  cool.

After saying by to my friends on the brewery tour, we went to the Dog Jumping Competition at the Cherry Festival.  

That was entertaining, but very hot.  So we decided to leave a little early and get some ice cream.  I got a cherry pie with ice cream.  SO DAMN GOOD!!!!

After eating my pie, we walked to dinner.  This was a bad idea as I was already full from beer and cherry pie, but the kids were hungry.  So we went to a place called the Blue Tractor BBQ.  It was good, but the portions were huge!  I did my best to eat what I could, but I was just too stuffed.  The car was about a half a mile away from dinner, so I offered to walk back to the car (walking off the food) and then driving to get the family.  Along the way, I saw parts of the Cherry Festival Parade and road race.  

After picking the family up and heading back to the hotel, I laid on the bed in a food and beer coma.  I couldn't do anything other than lay there.  The kids got some swimming in, but were not allowed to stay out as late as they had been as we were departing Traverse City the next morning.  

Overall, the whole family loved Traverse City and our stay at the Bayshore Resort.  The people in the town were all so nice and there was so much to do.  The beaches and water there are fantastic and I already told the family I hope we can go back soon.