A Day in Chelsea, MI

Yesterday my hubby and I drove to Chelsea, MI to spend the day with our youngest son and his family.  Jeremy lives on wooded property, so he and his dad spent the day cutting down four trees.  

In late afternoon we drove to town for dinner at Smokehouse 52 BBQ - an eating establishment that just opened in February of this year.

Downtown Chelsea's Main Street is lined with old buildings, making it very quaint.  The town was first settled in 1820, and was literally put on the map when Michigan Central Railroad built a station there in 1850.  Chelsea is also home to Jiffy Milling Company [Jiffy baking mixes] which I blogged about here.

Cow that hangs in front of Smokehouse 52 BBQ

Front of the Restaurant

The interior has a loft feel with exposed duct-work, brick on one wall, and a high tin ceiling. That's Jeremy and Landon facing forward in the photo below.

A log wall leading to the other half of the restaurant.

I ordered hot tea to go with my meal, which was made with a Lipton tea bag.  Now wouldn't this have been a perfect place for Two Leaves Tea Company's "Bud" tea?  My guys would have ordered it!  They settled for a tall glass of iced tea instead.

I ordered smoked brisket, mac and cheese, and coleslaw.  My meal also came with a square of Jiffy cornbread.  Humble apologies that I forgot to take a photo when my plate first arrived, so you have to see it messed up with BBQ sauce.  The food was delicious!

A few doors down from Smokehouse 52 was a Cafe with a gourmet coffee and tea bar.  My daughter-in-law wanted me to see their offerings of organic teas, so we walked over after dinner.  The cafe is called Back to the Roots.

Since I had already drank two cups of tea at the BBQ restaurant, I ordered a Chai herbal "to go."  I watched the barista as he placed the Chai in a tea sac to steep.

Below is a photo of their behind-the-counter tea selections.  There were at least thirty teas to choose from.  They sell tea smoothies and lattes too.  The barista said they have a lot of patrons who come in for tea, and he felt the number would only increase since Starbucks purchased Teavana.  

We headed back to Jeremy's for an evening bonfire.  Below are Jeremy and Landon getting the fire going.

The big logs were from one of the trees that had been cut down earlier in the day.

When it got dark, hubby and I headed for home.  It was a fun day with family!