Half Way There!
Jul 28, 2006
On your Michigan map, tiny Mendon looks like nowhere. But 150 years ago, travelers must have cheered when they reached it.
Mendon, recommended to me by reader Amy Crabtree Campbell, was the half-way point between Detroit and Chicago, a journey that by stagecoach took 9 days: Four to Mendon, a day of rest, then four either east or west to the Big City.
We slept the other night under the same roof (well, reshingled) those folks did, at the Mendon Country Inn. If you hate the predictable sterility of Hiltons and Hamptons, this place is for you!
It opened in 1843 as the Western Hotel, but was rebuilt as the Wakeman House 30 years later, using bricks fired on the spot from the red clay of the St. Joseph River that runs past it. It's been maintained, more or less, since then, but like everything, it gets older by the year.
That means the floors tilt this way and that. Plaster on the high walls cracks. I didn't climb the spiral maple staircase, but I'm guessing the stairs creek.
But what joy to be with the couple who run it, Geff and Cheryl Clarke, South Africans who moved to Mendon 18 years ago, specifically to run the inn.
When we walked in the other day, through a porch that looked to be long under construction, Geff was playing the old upright piano in the dining room. He wanted to know where we'd been and where we were headed. He wanted to connect. He wanted to debate. He wanted to brag about Mendon, and its eclectic citizens and its real un-Disneyed Amish.
We loved our room, which featured a ship's figurehead looming over the Jacuzzi. Decorating it were 
ship ropes and fishing nets and seashells and beer steins and needlework of Washington crossing the Delaware and innumerable items you never find in a Holiday Inn.
For a town of 900 people Mendon has a lovely restaurant, the Bistro Rio, with a deck that hangs over the St. Joseph River and a menu that would surprise you with its sophistication. Chef Abby Aceves uses local fruit and produce, some of she grows organically in her own soil.
Breakfast at the inn the next morning was a spicy, meaty egg souffle. plus little round waffles dusted in powdered sugar. The 
coffee ran boundlessly. I spent most of the day writing at a big table in the dining room while my husband used one of the inn's many kayaks (they also have canoes) to paddle the river.
We left with regret. I wanted to sit long into the night with the Clarkes to talk about their past, and the travelers they've met, and the insights they've gained in the U.S. and the world.
But distant duties beckoned.
Comment by alison | Jul 28, 2006 2:12:19 PM
You know, I always meant to go to Bistro Rio, and never did. That you liked it really tells me I missed something. Hope you said HI to Kzoo for me as you passed by....
Comment by Bree | Jul 28, 2006 3:18:20 PM
My husband and I stayed at the Mendon Country Inn a couple years ago for a weekend getaway. We arrived at about 9 at night and it was snowing pretty heavy. When we went to our room Cheryl had the fire lit and a bottle of wine waiting. They have great romantic weekend packages. We had a massage in our room and Cherly brought us a delicious picnic dinner. I hope to return in the summer sometime to canoe and enjoy Cheryl and Geff's tremendous hospitality again.
Comment by Bob Wilson | Jul 29, 2006 7:34:18 AM
With this report, it's clear that you are having way too much fun on your decadent journey of discovery. No doubt other Freep columnists are now groveling at the feet of their respective editors to be the next one dispatched on a similar mission. There is a growing fear among some of us readers that you may just keep on going long after you’ve checked off the last entry on your list of places to visit. Oh, for the joys of being a Freep Lifestyle writer! Where do I apply for your job if you decide not return to Detroit so I can go on the next odyssey?
Comment by Roxie Rowley | Jul 29, 2006 9:03:03 AM
Even the smallest town has its own unique story--as you are showing us, Susan. I look forward to reading each of your travel entries. And I hope to visit some of the places you have discovered. Thanks for allowing us to travel with you vicariously. It is a lot of fun!!
Comment by Joshua Raymond | Jul 29, 2006 9:21:51 AM
Susan, glad to see you visited Mendon as recommended by both Amy Crabtree Campbell and I. My wife Janet and I always enjoyed Geff and Cheryl's hospitality and are glad you did too.
A couple of blog things:
1) It would be nice if you and the Freep would leave all your blog posts up for at least the summer. That way new readers can start at the beginning and old readers can review past excursions. It is a web LOG after all...
2) The link to the Mendon Country Inn points back to your blog. Someone apparently forgot the http:// at the beginning making it a relative link, when it needed to be an absolute link.
I've enjoyed reading your blog!
Comment by Leo Linsenmeyer | Jul 29, 2006 11:51:04 AM
yes, yes....let newcomers see the whole schmear...i keep telling friends up north to hook
on and like joshua i am sad they cant enjoy the whole series
Comment by Bob Wilson | Jul 29, 2006 1:42:17 PM
Fellow geek (if I may be so presumptuous) Joshua is correct – it’s not a valid link. Here’s a tech tip from the IT trenches: “Assume nothing -- Test everything.”
For those so inclined, here’s a shortcut that will take you directly to Susan’s blog right from your desktop:
1. Start from the Windows Desktop;
2. Right-click anywhere on the screen (but not on an icon or the taskbar at the bottom);
3. On the popup menu, click New, then Shortcut;
4. A window titled “Create Shortcut” should appear. In the textbox called “Type the location of the item," enter the following text exactly (do not include any quotation marks): http://freep.typepad.com/susan_ager/2006/07
5. Click the Next button;
6. In the window “Select a Title for the Program,” and the textbox “Type a name for this shortcut,” enter whatever you wish for the name of the shortcut you are creating; i.e., “Susan’s Travel Blog.”
7. Click the Finish button;
8. The standard Internet Explorer page icon should now be present on your desktop. If you wish to change the icon for it, right-click on the icon itself. On the popup menu, click Properties. Then, click the Change Icon button on the Web Document tab. Click on the new icon of your choice (I chose the newspaper, for example), then click OK, Apply, OK;
9. Test the new shortcut by clicking on it. It should take you directly to Susan’s blog. Expand the screen full-size, if necessary.
10. Now, mouse around to your heart’s content!
Freep editors, take note. Susan’s excellent adventures may never be repeated, so take both Joshua’s and Leo’s suggestion of keeping her blog online for future readers to enjoy.
Comment by Rose | Jul 29, 2006 6:18:54 PM
Oh! You passed by so close to us! We live on the outskirts of Vicksburg, a near neighbor-town of Mendon. Darn! If I'd only known! You were a favorite of mine to read before we moved from the Detroit area over 16 yrs ago. When I re-discovered you online a couple of years ago, you were reinstated to that status.
I have been enjoying your travels around the state, as well. We recently went on vacation ourselves and upon return, I had to catch up reading about your trip. Funny thing how great minds think alike: we spent time in several of the 'up-north' locales you wrote about (U.P., Sleeping Bear...)
Keep on truckin', Susan! Your blog would make an enjoyable book, hope you are considering it!
Comment by barb d | Jul 29, 2006 9:27:39 PM
What wonderful and interesting people we have in Michigan. Why would anyone want to go any where else?
Comment by Yooper Rick | Jul 30, 2006 9:29:02 AM
It is with great delight to see many thoroughly enjoy where Susan goes and what she see's
So how about E-mailing the Editor to suggest this becomes either a regular series or a annual series or even a short series in each of the 4 seasons. (2-4 each season?)
The thing is another writer/columnist might not be as gregarious or inquisitive to really put heart and soul into these meanderings as Susan has.
THIS is NOT a paid political announcement, or endorsement.
Snignace Rick
Comment by Cindra | Apr 23, 2008 5:02:48 PM
My experience was not so lovely. Yes the Inn is great, but when Geff spotted that I was wearing a shirt with a small Obama in '08 on it he invited himself to our breakfast table, went on to tell us all Democrats are cowards, that in South Africa he and his family were always armed and ask myself and the two other ladies I was with if we had ever shot anyone? The rest of the conversation was just strange (and scary). It ended with him telling my friend he had opened the door to Jesus for her. (I'm not sure why he would think that's not a door she's already gone thru...maybe because she's a Democrat) I think had he not spotted my shirt this wouldn't have occurred, but if someone is so wrapped up in their racial & religious prejudice that they would insult paying guest (who did not seek or this company or conversation)they have gone beyond the bend (so to speak). Needless to say no matter how scenic, I won't go back!!!
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