An excellent day

We are in a perfect little corner of the parking lot at the inn. We are shaded at all times of the day. This means cool breezes with no direct sun to heat us up. There are birds singing, neighbors working in their gardens, and the sounds of people lounging around the inn. We sit here comfortably in Bella, listening to these little pieces of life as we sip our iced coffee, before we start our day.

When we were ready we rode our bikes into town. Today we had our very first job as a mystery shopper, where Bernie got to pretend to be a new customer at a local bank.

Then we got on our bikes again and rode up and down tree covered streets with tons of tourists everywhere. We went to the post office and then we stopped by the office of a local realtor, Laura Durham, to say hi and tell her thank you, because she had emailed us to offer us a place to park in Saugatuck MI. www.millpondrealty.com

As we were exploring around town we saw a sign for Sit!, an exhibition at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts about the history of chairs and the stories they tell. The opening reception was today and starting in less than half an hour, so we got on our bikes again and went to the Center. There we had a wonderful time chatting with the locals, enjoying the wine and cheese, and learning about chairs. Who knew chairs were so fascinating. www.sc4a.org

We heard that Wicks Park was a good place to get a bite to eat, so once again we got on our bikes and headed to Wicks. We split the turkey burger, because we are trying to eat healthy. The burger was ok but we think we’ll stick with regular burgers from now on. www.wickspark.com

After dinner as we rode our bikes down Water Street we happened upon Marianna's massage chair. We had met her online and wanted to meet her when we got here. She wasn’t there but her chair was just outside a cute fair trade store, called Monteverde.

We went inside and met the owner, Jennifer, who is a go-getter. She’s only 25 and already owns her own store. Jennifer called Marianna to tell her we were there. When she got there, we had a great conversation with both of them and it was really nice meeting them both.

Marianna told us about Uncommon Grounds, a pretty cool coffee bar, where the staff is very friendly. On their door we saw a poster for a free musical performance that was about to start. So we headed to the patio with our mocha latte and sat down to listen first to Zack, who accepted a request by Mar for a Beatles song, and then to Kathryn, who performed for us because by then we were the only people there. They were both awesome and gave us complimentary copies of their recent CDs.

By then it was getting dark and we were ready to head home. We rode our bikes and made it back to Bella a bit tired, but very pleased after such an excellent day. We are delighted to be in Saugatuck MI.