{"id":14946,"date":"2016-06-22T15:08:52","date_gmt":"2016-06-22T19:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/?p=14946"},"modified":"2016-06-22T15:19:27","modified_gmt":"2016-06-22T19:19:27","slug":"fresh-coast-retreat-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/fresh-coast-retreat-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh Coast Retreat 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Freshphoto by Alejandro Photography<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

A month ago I flew out to Grand Rapids, Michigan for #FreshCoastRetreat<\/a> with 14 other bloggers-turned-friends. For 4 days, we cooked out, sang (badly), danced (very badly), learned from each other, sat around the fire pit, made s\u2019mores…If it weren\u2019t for the wine and the gorgeous eat-your-heart-out-Nancy Meyers mansion where we stayed, you\u2019d almost think we were camping. This home<\/a> sits right on Lake Michigan, sleeps 14 (probably 50 if you’re in my family), and I can\u2019t tell you the number of times I asked how soon was too soon<\/em> to come back. (Did I mention it’s available for rent?)<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Fresh<\/p>\n

But that wasn\u2019t the first place we stayed in Michigan, so let me back up. The 3 incredible planners of #FreshCoastRetreat, Liz of The Lemon Bowl<\/a>, Dara of Cookin\u2019 Canuck<\/a>, and Phi of Sweet Phi<\/a>, worked with Experience Grand Rapids<\/a>\u00a0to put together a mini tour of Grand Rapids for our first night and early the next morning, before heading out to the lake.<\/p>\n

\"Amway<\/p>\n

We spent that night in Grand Rapids at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel<\/a>. It\u2019s elegant, historic, and sophisticated, and every staff member was as friendly as can be. Also, the beds are heavenly.<\/p>\n

\"Fresh<\/p>\n

Just inside the hotel is The Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck<\/a>, where we had a whopping 15-course dinner. Everything was fresh, interesting, and lick-your-plate delicious, which made pacing ourselves impossible. Phi wrote about each course in her Fresh Coast recap<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The next morning, we had breakfast at San Chez Bistro<\/a>, a laid-back downtown bistro with a menu full of refined diner classics. I ordered the spinach, tomato, and herbed goat cheese omelet with fresh pineapple and then shared a warm cinnamon pecan roll with cream cheese glaze with Lenny and Denise of Chez Us.<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

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\"Fresh<\/p>\n

From there we headed to the Downtown Market<\/a>, an indoor\/outdoor market full of local butchers, bakers, fishmongers, and more. It reminded me of Faneuil Hall in Boston, or Pike Place in Seattle, with its flower vendors, sweet little bake stands, and one-of-a-kind carts.<\/p>\n

\"Fresh<\/p>\n

After the visit to the market, we were off to the Lake.<\/p>\n

\"Fresh<\/p>\n

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\"Freshphoto by Alejandro Photography<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Fresh<\/p>\n

Thanks to a fully stocked fridge and some tender, loving, care from\u00a0Stonyfield<\/a>,\u00a0Sabra<\/a>, Bob’s Red Mill<\/a>,\u00a0The Little Potato Company<\/a>, Lindt<\/a>,\u00a0Stonefire Authentic Flatbreads<\/a>, and DeLallo Foods<\/a>, we made\u00a0most of our meals at the house. We had our own cooking teams and everything.<\/p>\n

\"Fresh<\/p>\n

\"Freshphoto by Alejandro Photography<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Freshphoto by Alejandro Photography<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Freshphoto by Alejandro Photography<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

During the days, we talked about blogging, shared advice, and opened up about vulnerabilities. It was refreshing and heartening, and I think each of us came away from Fresh Coast Retreat feeling like we have 14 new friends and supporters. That just doesn\u2019t happen every day.<\/p>\n

\"Fresh<\/p>\n

\"Freshphoto by Alejandro Photography<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u00a0am\u00a0so grateful to have gotten to know these people, so\u00a0if you don’t know them already, take a look at their blogs:<\/p>\n

Liz | The Lemon Bowl
\n<\/a><\/span>Phi | Sweet Phi
\n<\/a><\/span>Dara | Cookin’ Canuck
\n<\/a><\/span>Amy | Amy’s Healthy Baking<\/a>
\nDenise & Lenny | Chez Us
\n<\/a><\/span>Heidi | FoodieCrush<\/a>
\n<\/span>Gina | Skinnytaste<\/a>
\n<\/span>Jennifer & Trevor | Show Me the Yummy<\/a>
\nAlejandra | Always Order Dessert<\/a>
\n<\/span>Lee | Fit Foodie Finds<\/a>
\nAlexis | Hummusapien
\n<\/a>Raul | Photography by Alejandro<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Fresh<\/p>\n

Thank you Liz, Dara, and Phi for organizing such an amazing retreat. Thank you to the kind and generous\u00a0sponsors of the Fresh Coast Retreat, who allowed me to be part of such a special experience: Stonyfield<\/a>,\u00a0Sabra<\/a>, Bob’s Red Mill<\/a>, Experience Grand Rapids<\/a>,\u00a0The Little Potato Company<\/a>, Lindt<\/a>,\u00a0Stonefire Authentic Flatbreads<\/a>, and DeLallo Foods<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

photo by Alejandro Photography A month ago I flew out to Grand Rapids, Michigan for #FreshCoastRetreat with 14 other bloggers-turned-friends. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[999],"tags":[76,756],"class_list":["post-14946","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-blogging","tag-travel"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andiemitchell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}