Grand Rapids Nesties
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
New to the Area-looking for suggestions
Good evening GR Nesties!
Hope everyone is well. My husband and I are new to the area, and I thought this would be a great place to get some advice. A little background for you all, if interested:
We have been married a little over 3 months. Originally from Detroit, we sort of moved to the GR area b/c DH got a new job. "Sort of" b/c I still live in the Detroit area. I'm staying here until I graduate school in May, then I will be moving to GR full time. In the mean time, I am there on the weekends. GR seems like a very nice city. Do you love it?
So, what's your favorite restaurant? Fun things to do (indoor and outdoor)? Date night activity? Anything else I missed?
Thanks in advance!
-Gina
Re: New to the Area-looking for suggestions
Welcome! You should get a lot of suggestions when people are back on tomorrow. We have a lot of proud Grand Rapidians (either native residents or transplants like yourself) who love this city. Myself included.
I would recommend checking out ?On the Town? (a free magazine) each month to see what is going on. If you are on Facebook, become a fan of GR.Now or their website is grnow.com, this is a great source of what is going on around town.
Some highlights of this area include:
Small neighborhood shopping areas: East Town, Cherry Hill, East Hills ? check out http://www.eastowngr.com/ and http://www.cherryhillgrandrapids.org/
Restaurants: There are some great locally owned restaurants and bars in the areas mentioned above like Electric Cheetah, Cherry Deli, Plus downtown has some great ones San Chez, Bistro Bella Vita, and much more http://downtowngr.org/
Now is a great time to explore downtown as there is a big Christmas window display contest going on. This is the first year that they did it and I think over 30 businesses or buildings are participating. There is free ice skating downtown at Rosa Parks Circle.
Festivals and events:
June - Festival of the Arts - food booths and entertainment set up throughout downtown. Some of the entertainment is pretty cheesy like dance recitals but the event makes for some great people watching.
Celebration on the Grand - the 1st weekend after Labor Day. Awesome fireworks
ArtPrize - late Sept through early October. You may have heard about this already. We are hugeArtPrize fans around here.
Restaurant week - a week in November. I forgot how many resturants participate. They offer a three course meal for $25 (some places do two meals for $25.I would check out the museums for something to do on the weekends. . The Frederik Meijer Gardens is very pretty right now. If you have the extra funds, I would recommend buying a membership are there are several great times of the year to visit.
In terms of night life, I have two little ones so my night life is pretty non-existence. J I don?t have any good suggestions there.
I would totally recommend spending the next year being a tourist and doing something different each weekend, even if it is something you normally wouldn?t think of doing. Check out
http://www.experiencegr.com/
Have fun exploring and keep visiting this board.
Hi! I'm from Detroit (Detroit, Livonia, Roseville) and I did the same thing while engaged to my husband. We took turns going to opposite sides of the state until I found a job in GR.
This is a great place to raise kids and I LOVE that I don't have to sit in traffic for hours and hours. The city has a lot things going for it for the future and it is cool to be a part of it. While I don't want to give up hope on Detroit, it just feels so hopeless when you hear of all of the corruption and problems the city has. here, you feel like we can make a difference and participate. There are definitely some big things that I miss from Detroit (who wouldn't miss their hometown?) but I don't regret moving.
I use the rss feed on the experience gr to see what is going on in the city. My favorite restaurants are Vitale's, Mr. Gyro, Leo's, Tre Cugine, Bull's Head and I also have three kids so my knowledge of the nightlife isn't that great. But there are some great places to have drinks like Hopcat and Republic. I hear there is a country bar moving in to downtown (a nice change of pace from what I'm used to) and also a BW3's. Power shopping is good on Alpine and better on 28th street with Rivertown Crossings being another option. I do like the shops in East GR or downtown Holland as well.
Welcome!
GVSU has a great list! Those are all areas I would suggest starting with!
Welcome to the area & the board! I hope you find that you like it here. Like others said there is plenty to do & see.
Good morning!
Thank you for the info and the welcome. Sounds like there will be a lot to do.
We are staying in Wyoming for now, and hopefully can look into gettng a house after we are both settled out there.
No worries about the night life question. We aren't clubbers either.
Tigers- Yeah Detroit is having a rough go right now. I'm sure I'll miss being here but they will rebound soon- I hope. It seems like GR is a really nice place to plant some roots. We want to have kids in the next few years so it's important that we raise them in a good, safe place.
Thanks again for all the recs. I will be back to hopefully get to know you all. Have a wonderful day!
Welcome! I'm a GR transplant, originally from northern Michigan. My husband and I have been here six years now. We really like the area.
You've already received a lot of great advice, but I'll add my two cents. Restaurants we enjoy: Hopcat, Twisted Rooster, Red Jet Cafe, Monelli's, Uncle Cheetah's Soup Shop, Big O's (pizza). Activities we enjoy: Whitecaps baseball games, ArtPrize (September/October), Festival of the Arts (June), hiking at the lakeshore -- Hofmaster and Rosy Mound, and visiting the beach in Grand Haven.
Another 'Detroit' (Livonia, Allen Park) Transplant that moved over here for man. lol I really like it here. You already have great info, but wanted to say HI also. The 'smaller town' takes a little getting use to, but once you're use to it, its Wonderful!!! (I also moved to the 'country', which I wanted but it was weird going from 7 grocery stores in 5 miles to the closest being 15-20 minutes away!).
We did the weekend dating thing for several years, so we were both very use to the 96 travels every other weekend.
Thanks agan everyone. Looks like we'll have a lot of fun learning the area.
And yes- 96 and I will be very friendly:-)
The Portland exit has the best McDonald's and the cleanest gas station rest room :-)
And it can be dry you entire trip until you get to Portland and then it rains or snow. I can't tell you how many times over the last 17 years taking that route, how many times it is raining only over Portland. Even my parents say the same thing. So odd.
Good things to know. That is interesting about the rain...Thanks for the tips ladies!
You have already received better Grand Rapids advice than I could give; I'm actually a lakeshore area girl, we live near Grand Haven. But I'm currently doing the opposite commute--going to law school in Detroit during the week while my h stays here in west Michigan so I totally feel your I 96 pain!
I love west Michigan, and have lived kind of all over the area (grew up near the MI/IN border, after high school moved to Holland for a couple of years and then Grandville for a bit (all while attending Grand Valley for undergrad), before settling in the Grand Haven/Muskegon area.
Welcome! You've got some great ideas, and I have none to add right now. Just wanted to say hi.
My family is in Warren, Eastpointe, and Clinton Twp. I know that highway very well, too. And, my husband and I did the weekends in the same city thing for months too.
I love the west side of the state for a hundred reasons. That's why I moved back after living out of state for a while. Something that I've noticed, and that is commonly stated is a lack of obvious diversity. In metro-Detroit there's a better blend of different people than here. But, I think that as the east side of the state loses young people, many of them come this way, and as a result, GR is becoming more diverse.
So, diversity and a lack of really good pita bread are the 2 drawbacks for me.
Good luck with the rest of grad school. What kind of program are you in?
Hi Diana and GRsweetpea. I am in law school too. Ironically, I go to a branch of Cooley over here but I couldn't transfer my classes and we decided that I'd keep my job until graduation.
Diana, which one do you go to? Close to being done?
Lack of diversity is a concern of ours but hopefully, it'll continue to change. The pros definitely outweigh the cons, so here we are!
A lot of you did the commute thing. Was it a big strain on your relationship?
I go to Wayne and am just starting--this is my first semester. So far the commute hasn't been too much of a strain on our relationship. We've been together for a very long time, part of which has included some long distance in the past. I put in crazy hours studying during the week, so I can get away with doing less over the weekends at home--all different now with finals prep of course! In some ways, I think it was easier for me to compartmentalize things and not take the stress of school home as much.
Good luck with the job search and yay for being almost done!
The distance was tough (but mostly because we were newlyweds and wanted to be with each other as more than what was possible). We talked on the phone every night. Video chatting would have made it easier, but this was 6 years ago.
We had the added complication that he couldn't find a job here until the month before our daughter was born.
But it was all doable. I think once we got over the hump of "sometimes there aren't major things to talk about if you touch base every night, and that's okay" things got better.
Diana,
Thank you! Ooooh I remember the first semester. Well...You will be so relieved when your semester is over- as will I. So you just didn't like Cooley? I know you will do well. I'm not sure how much I can help, but if you have any questions let me know. i have tons of outlines. I'm not sure how similarly the two schools structure their courses.
GRsweetpea,
We are planning to get video phones over Christmas break. I'm sure that will help. It's just so new. We literally moved him out there 2 weeks ago. He loves his job so far so that's good. May will be here before we know it-right???
LOL, yes, I can already foresee being very relieved when this semester is over (14 days, but who's counting
)
I really liked the reputation that Wayne has in the MI legal community coupled with the fact that I was fortunate enough to receive a really generous scholarship. Also, if I were to lose the scholarship, Wayne was still the most affordable choice, even with the distance. Here on the SE side, I stay with some good friends in West Bloomfield during the week and they give me cheap rent.
Thanks for the outline offer, I'll keep you in mind if I need any in the future--I'm pretty set for this term, which is good because my first exam is Thursday! [Yikes.] This semester I have civ pro, torts, crim and contracts (which is a year long course here).