Art
Do not, repeat, do NOT go into downtown Saugatuck. If you're looking for art done by artists with talent instead of pretension, don't waste your time going into downtown Saugatuck. I have never seen such a high concentration of trash in my life. If you want to patronize artists whose work looks like something you could do in your garage in your spare time, there's a lot to choose from. They're obviously much better at marketing than painting. The atmosphere is grossly commercial and phony. The stores are an equal mix of bad "art", T-shirt shops, fudge shops and just junk. Lots of assembly line paintings from the Orient, lots of abstract "art" that's just throwing paint at canvas and lots of, apparently, serious painters with neither taste nor talent. Overall a sad comment on art in our society. Tourist Trap. It was a drag.

We found one small exception near downtown, Blowers Inn, a block or two away from the main area. It's not a B&B as they don't do food, but it's a nice place. John Blowers also does painting. I found that I liked some of it, especially his abstracts which surprised me as I don't care for abstract art as a general rule. We talked with him for a few minutes and liked him and his perspective on things - art and Saugatuck in particular. Check out Blowers

We also found one major exception. About five blocks away from the downtown area, we found a great water colorist named Pat Camillo. Unfortunately, she's moving to Florida and will be closing her studio at the end of the summer. She's looking for a gallery to display her work after she moves. We really liked her work, and had a great time talking with her about it. She's a delightful person to talk with. We bought a print. She's a true artist on the edge of a flood of drek. Go there. See her work. Buy some. Keep track of where she moves to. Go to Pat's Art Studio

Update 2006
Pat has not moved to Florida after all. She's still in Saugatuck. Check out her work.

Update 2009
Pat has married and is now Pat Camillo Rempel. She's still in Saugatuck.

Also of interest. On the water between Saugatuck and Douglas is the Joyce Petter Gallery. It's a very large, private gallery featuring many artists. A few of them I liked: Martin, Barbara Pias and Rod Odel. I saw two or three I wanted to take home, but the near-thousand-dollar prices were way out of our budget. There is something there for almost every taste. Much of it I thought appallingly bad, but taste is taste.

The artist area of Douglas isn't really worth the trip unless you simply want to look at everything for the sake of looking. No need for me to go back there either.

Other Oddities
We've done a lot of antique hunting in all parts of the country and were amazed at what this area calls an antique store. If you're serious about antiques, don't bother going to Saugatuck / Douglas. We looked in several and were very disappointed. Stores full of reproductions and weird junk, only some of which could be considered antique in the loosest sense of the word. They all had other stuff mixed in as well, "art" by locals, mass produced, commercial stuff, random junk. Some reminded me of the "rubber tomahawk" shops in the worst tourist traps of northern Wisconsin, Colorado and like places though not necessarily "Indian" theme. Just the same look and feel.

Toward the end of our stay we found an antique shop brochure and were happy because we thought we'd finally be able to find a good shop or two. On reading the brochure, we realized we'd already seen over half the shops on the list and didn't consider a single one worth the trip. None were what we considered worthy of the name. We like formal, high end shops with beautiful things we can't afford, and we like the cluttered, jumble shops where you find the occasional dusty gem and everything in between. None of that in Saugatuck. We passed a few antique shop signs while driving around the countryside, but didn't have time to stop to find out if, like the art shops, the good stuff was out of town.

We only entered one food establishment in Saugatuck, just to get a drink after hours of thirsty walking. It was a rather cute, little "50s diner" kind of place with pictures of Marilyn Monroe and Jimmy Dean, 50s style booths and counter stools - you get the idea - pretty well done period look. But the music playing on the background system was 70s and 80s rock. In a 50s diner. Huh? But it seemed to be all of a piece with the rest of the town. Nothing genuine, even in reproduction, if you get what I mean.

In Douglas we stopped at a little sandwich and ice cream shop and found decent food for fair prices, given the tourist trap location. My wife had a cucumber wrap she said was quite good. I had ice cream. It was decent, so we were pleased after the disappointment of the morning in Saugatuck.

One very good point. Both towns had decent public restrooms in little parks on the edge of the shopping areas. Have to give them both a compliment for that.

Now for the good stuff.

Remember that Pat Camillo and the Petter Gallery are exceptions in Saugatuck, then heed this statement. The good stuff is out in the country. We found two brochures from artist groups that will guide you to much that is worth the trip. Look for "The Allegan Artists Trail" and "Blue Coast Artists". We only made it to about half of them. Our favorites were both potters. Ed Gray (http://www.edgraystudio.com) was exceptional. We bought something from him. Mark Dyer (http://stewartiastudio.com) was very good as well. I wanted to buy something of his too, but you can only buy so much before it gets out of hand. We spent time talking with both of them and found them to be genuine artists of integrity - no pretensions. Simply nice people to talk with. We talked with Ed Gray for at least a half hour. A very enjoyable time.

White Oak Gallery was a bit disappointing. My wife is a calligrapher and is always looking for hand made paper, which was why we stopped at White Oak. The paper was all very chunky, not suitable for pen work. Perhaps OK for brush work. There was lots of other stuff there as well, but nothing that interested me. Some really terrible paintings and other less than impressive productions.

Lodging
There are dozens of B&Bs in the area, many in Saugatuck. After walking around the downtown area, we were VERY thankful we hadn't gotten a room there. (Though as stated earlier, the Blowers Inn would be a good choice if you did want to stay near downtown.) We organized this trip on very short notice for the July 4th weekend. Everything listed on the saugatuck.com website was booked up. I started calling B&Bs one week before the 4th, leaving a message asking if they'd had any cancellations, as I knew they were full.

The first to call back was The Inn at Froggy's Pond (Sandy & Tom Taverna), a few miles south of Allegan on M40 (which is about 20 miles east of Saugatuck). What incredible luck. Go to http://www.froggys.com to see the rooms and other info. What is NOT listed on the website is a special service they do for guests on request. First let me say that the breakfasts were excellent. Sandy is a fantastic cook. An unusual and delightful feature is that they serve you in your room. It's great, you don't even have to put your shoes on.

Now for the special deal. Sandy will cook you a dinner, served in your room. She faxes you a check list which you mark with your favorite things and hated things and she builds a meal for you based on that. Not that she cooks only your favorites. Our meal contained things I would never order, but that I had not marked off as hated, thus they were fair game. We had no idea what our meal would be until we arrived. This method is like the philosophy of entering a good restaurant, saying, "Feed me." and waiting for the results. I would guess there aren't too many places in the entire country where you dare try this.

So Saturday evening around 7:30 began our five course meal. Sandy's husband Tom carried it all up the many stairs to our room thus eliminating his need for a Stairmaster. When I opened the door at his first knock, the aroma of garlic and the sound of sizzling told us we were in for a treat. Shrimp on a bed of sea salt, with lemon, of course.

Within a minute or two of our finishing the shrimp, Tom was at the door with our salad. Here's where I saw proof that well prepared food can be good even if it's things you "don't care for", as long as it doesn't cross the line into the hated category. The salad was asparagus on an unusual kind of lettuce (whose name I've forgotten) with a teriyaki dressing and topped with something made of egg. I don't care for asparagus and I don't care for teriyaki, but it was very good. I ate it all.

Then came a fruit sorbet for a pause before the main course. Delicious.

The main dish was roast pork loin with Sandy's barbecue sauce, green beans and mushrooms, roasted, new potatoes, and corn pudding. It was indescribable. The potatoes and corn were my favorites. I could have eaten them until I died. Her selections of spices and sauces are amazing, I can't imagine anyone not loving her cooking.

When Tom brought up the desert, we were afraid we couldn't eat it, we were so full. We had eaten everything in sight and were in danger of passing out. The fruit desert was so light and delicious, we were able to eat it all as well.

We had to rest for a hour or so afterwards before we could move comfortably. Sandy had warned us that if we ate everything we'd probably be uncomfortable. I give you fair warning too. But do it. Bring your own wine or whatever (or not) as Froggy's has no liquor license. Be ready for a true feast.

Our breakfasts were noteworthy as well. First morning, French toast topped with slivered almonds, sausage with glazed apples on top (yes, that's what I said) and banana with yogurt and blueberries. Second morning, Quiche with a topping somewhat like ranch dressing with salsa, bacon, pound cake and fruit. All unusual, all very good.

Every plate of food came decorated with flowers (all edible according to Tom, with the possible exception of the pansies) and included fruit. It being hot summer weather and the middle of the fruit season in western Michigan (a major fruit growing area) Sandy worked fresh fruit into almost every dish. Lots of strawberries and blueberries.

If you're serious about good eating, spend a weekend at Froggy's Pond just for the food. It's worth the trip just for that. Anything beyond that is gravy (no pun intended).

Update 2006
Sad to report that the Tavernas have sold Froggy's. It is now owned by the same people as the Castle in the Country. I have no info on how good the place is now.
Froggy's Inn
Castle in the Country

After running on for paragraphs about Froggy's food, there's still more. The amazing thing about food this weekend was that we also ate at an excellent restaurant just up the road from the B&B. We arrived late afternoon on Friday and asked Sandy for a recommendation for dinner. She sent us to the Grill House, a couple or three miles up M40. We ate a light meal of appetizers and soup that was excellent (I've run out of superlatives). Broccoli and cheese bites - perfect - not watery or runny, very rich, balanced flavor. Steak nuggets with peppercorn gravy that was just incredibly good, the best gravy I've eaten in my life. Baked potato soup - delicious. Had it not been for Sandy's cooking overshadowing this meal, it would have been the highlight of the trip.

Other Interests
Folbot kayaks - Camping - Willys Jeep - Leatherman - Knives - Biking - Daisy BB guns -
the Horn - Music - Books -
Computers - Heathkits - Hopi silver work - China -

Opinion (for what it's worth)
Vacation Evaluations - Rants - Ludite Chronicles -

Miscellaneous
Wreck - Airbus A380 at O'Hare - Chicago Floods 2008 -

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10may09