Exploring Downtown Manistee

It's safe to say that our camping trips are a little bittersweet now that our dog Jovi is no longer with us. We still miss her dearly every day, but due to her anxiety, we were never able to travel too much beyond our campsite when we would take her with us. Her absence gives @mrsbozz and I a bit more freedom to roam around and explore, but the cost always lingers with us a little bit when we are out and about.

We've tried to make it a point when we camp in less remote locations to see if there is a used bookstore locally that we can try to visit. Sometimes it's right in the town where we are camping and other times it is a half hour or so away.

In the case of Manistee, Michigan, the town is just about five minutes south of the state park that I talked about here.

The downtown area of Manistee is actually pretty typical for your average middle of American small town. One single main street that runs through the center of town, empty and full storefronts lined up in a row with a theater, a couple bars, and all kinds of other stuff thrown in for good measure.

We discovered via Google Maps, that Manistee actually had two bookstores in town, just about a block away from each other in fact. Unfortunately, the one we were really interested in was closed due to "water damage" and it didn't appear they were going to be open again any time soon. Instead, we walked down to the other store to check it out.

Bad luck for us, the other store was more of a new bookstore versus a used bookstore, so most of the books were the same price or more than you could find them online. It was also a pretty limited but specific selection of books. They really seemed to cater toward the young adult genre with lots of fantasy books in that vein.

One of the things I really enjoyed about the store was the fact that they still had the original floors from decades if not centuries ago. These old wooden floors gave that distinct creaking noise when you walked on them and you could tell they have seen lots of traffic over the years.

I have a feeling many of the buildings along Manistees mainstreet probably have similar floors.

The word Manistee is from the Native American Ojibwe tribe, but the meaning is still a little sketchy. The town has a population of about 6300 people, and it dates as far back as 1751 when a Jesuit mission was established there. I'm sure we can all assume that settlement in this area probably dates much earlier than that due to the presence of the Odawa tribe in the area.

If you are interested in seeing some of the daily life in the city, here are a couple webcams you can check out.

During our visit, it appeared the downtown area was in a bit of a transitioning phase with several businesses having closed up and other new ones opening. I imagine there was a time when every single business front was full in this little town.

After a short walk downtown, @mrsbozz and I decided that we needed something to eat for lunch. We headed a short distance away to another part of town that seemed a bit more run down than the others I took the photo above of this old building that kind of had that old west style to it. It's curious to think what life this building likely had in another era.

It actually looked a little more occupied than not, so I refrained from pulling a @slobberchops and doing a bit of urban exploration.

I found a place with pretty good reviews and apparently some amazing broasted chicken called "The Painted Lady", but @mrsbozz was pretty adamant she wasn't going to go to a place called "The Painted Lady", so instead, we ended up next door at a place called Two Slices. As you might imagine based on the name, this was a sandwich shop that also had a variety of baked goods for sale.

I didn't take any photos of the interior because it was packed full of people (a good sign), and I was just picking up our food to take back to the trailer to eat anyway.

As we headed back to the campground, we passed the large Morton Salt plant in the town as well as the harbor that you see in the photo above an the opening photo of this post. There were a couple large ships docked that my wife tried to get some shots of, but I was driving a bit too fast for her to have much luck.

I got the pastrami melt you see in the first photo above and @mrsbozz got the turkey slider that you see in the second photo. We both agreed that these were some of the best sandwiches we have had in quite some time. The flavors were amazing, but the real star of the dish was the bread. They claimed it was a "muffuletta" bread and while both of us though Muffuletta was just a sandwich, I have since learned it is also a kind of bread.

It was so light and delicious. Everything worked perfectly together to give you an amazing bite each time. We both ate half our sandwiches, then saved the other half so we could savor it as a snack the next day.

I would definitely visit this place again and if you ever find your way to Manistee, make sure to check out Two Slices.

Being the sweet tooth that I am, I couldn't help but pick up a couple of their homemade cookies while I was there. I got one molasses cookie and one peanut butter cookie. I have to be honest, the peanut butter cookie was almost too sweet for me. There was something about it that made the sugar overpower the peanut butter, so it wasn't quite balanced.

The molasses cookie on the other hand was fantastic and I was almost mad I didn't buy more of that kind since I had to share half of it with my wife. It was soft, sweet, savory, and delicious. It was everything a good molasses cookie should be and more. My mouth is actually watering right now thinking about the sandwich and the molasses cookie again.

Manistee is a cute little town on the shores of Lake Michigan in the lower peninsula. It doesn't get quite as much recognition as some of the other towns along that coast, but it is still a fun place to visit and has some real gems if you take the time to look for them.

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