14301 Beadle Lake RoadI get asked all the time. When does figure skating season end?
The answer? It doesn’t.
We go straight from synchronized skating in to individual season then back in to synchronized season.
The first individual competition of the season was this past weekend at the Biggby Coffee Ice Cube in East Lansing. The Howard E. Van Camp Invitational is always the kick off to the season for our skaters.
L had really early practice Friday morning so J decided to take her and one of her friends over Thursday night. B and I stayed home because my parents were coming up from Illinois Friday morning so the plan was for them to pick us up along the way.
L’s first event wasn’t until 11:45. My parents picked B and I up in Kalamazoo around 9:00 then we started towards East Lansing.
When I got B out of bed, I promised we’d stop and get breakfast. We usually back track a bit and go to the Dunkin’ on 9th Street in Texas Township but I told him he’d have to wait a little bit but we’d stop at a Dunkin’ along the way.
We pulled off I-94 at Beadle Lake Road to stop at the new Dunkin’ inside the new Amoco gas station in Emmett Township. This roadside stop has only been open a few months. It’s a brand new build that includes the Dunkin’, the gas station, and a Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken.
While the Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken has it’s own defined space in the building with a door separating it from the gas station, the Dunkin’ is just worked in to the convenience store.
Dunkin’ made it’s mark on the world as Dunkin’ Donuts before dropping the donuts branding so they could be thought of as a coffee house and a competitor to Starbucks. When I was a kid, donuts from Dunkin’ were such a treat. We had one close to where we lived but it wasn’t an every day thing. I can remember my aunt bringing them whenever we’d go somewhere early in the morning. The white long johns always have been and always will be my favorite. And if you grew up in the 80’s or 90’s, you’ll never forget Dunkin’s classic “Time to Make the Donuts” commercials.
The donut case is right up front at this Dunkin’. Usually, they’re behind the counter but in this set up, there is a glass case built into the counter with all of the day’s offerings.
The space always has some seating away from the counter. Again, it’s shared with the convenience store but there are a couple of tables if you’re not in a hurry and don’t want to eat in the car.
I typically order from the app but I couldn’t do that while driving and ordering before we left would have meant everything would have been cold so I just went in to do it. I got B his three Bacon Wake Up Wraps and a medium lemonade plus a Sourdough Breakfast sandwich for myself and two donuts for B and my mom. The cost was just over $31.
B loves the Bacon Wake Up Wraps. These things are so simple. It’s just a small flour tortilla stuffed with egg, cheese, and bacon. They’re not very big…which is why he needs three…but they are really tasty. Yes, I could do this at home for a lot cheaper..and I have….but convenience wins out most of the time.
The Sourdough Breakfast Sandwich is essentially the same thing but on toasted sourdough bread. Between those slices of bread are two eggs, five pieces of bacon and white cheddar cheese. I don’t always get food when I stop at Dunkin’ for the kids but I knew it was going to be a long day. This was a delicious start and held me over until lunch time.
And lastly, the donuts. They didn’t have vanilla long johns so I didn’t get myself one. I got two vanilla frosted donuts with sprinkles. The donuts are fine but they just don’t taste like my childhood. They all come in frozen now and they’re just heated up. I get that from a business standpoint but we have donut shops around that make donuts from scratch every day. These donuts are fine to grab when you’re already at Dunkin’ getting something else but not really worth going out of the way for.
Dunkin’ has been our breakfast go-to for quite a while. We know that B will always eat well and get lots of protein so we don’t argue when he asks for Dunkin’ pretty much anytime we leave the house. This location in Emmett Township is great. It’s right off the highway and it’s connected to the gas station so you can kill a couple of birds with one stone.