On May 1st Jay and I flew to Michigan to scope out our future home.
Jay has been to Michigan a few times through his interactions with Kellogg's, but this trip was my first time ever stepping foot in the State.
We stayed in Kalamazoo, but because the Kalamazoo airport is so small
and only flies from Detroit and Chicago, we took a three hour flight
from Salt Lake City, Utah to Detroit, Michigan.
After a two hour lay over then an hour delay, we hopped on a small plane and flew for 30 minutes to Kalamazoo.
From there we picked up our rental car and checked into the hotel.
The Light Tunnel in the Detroit airport.
Jay and I felt our expectations were reasonable; at the least we wanted a place that was pet friendly, had two bedrooms, a dishwasher, and a washer and dryer.
Since Jay is doing a rotational program with Kellogg's and we will only be in Michigan for a couple of years, we were looking to rent and were open to anything from a house, townhouse, condo, or apartment. I was secretly really hoping we would find a cute little house.
Rich picked us up from our hotel then handed over a folder full of
apartment brochures.
Our first stop was a small apartment complex in Kalamazoo. The second we pulled up I thought to myself, NO. We went inside anyways to speak with the manager and took a tour of the complex.
It
was all indoor, nearly every apartment door was decked out in fake
flowers and porcelain animals, the fitness room was weak, and the only
tenants in sight were elderly... We quickly realized this was an old
folks home!! Ha! Rich apologized for his mistake and we had a good laugh
about it.
The next few stops were frustrating. Everything was old, small, and only a couple were pet friendly. The ones that were pet friendly had a 25 pound weight limit.
Before lunch we looked at one more apartment. It reminded me so much of
our apartment complex in Tennessee- pet friendly, an indoor and outdoor
pool, and a full fitness room. The apartment we looked at was tucked
away at the end of the complex surrounded by trees. It had a porch, a
patio, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, vaulted ceilings, washer and dryer,
and a dishwasher. The apartment itself didn't necessarily look old but
with things like unfinished counter tops and rusty light fixtures, it
looked really worn-in. It wasn't the most beautiful apartment, but when comparing it with everything we had looked at thus far, it was my favorite.
During lunch at Panera (my favorite!) we discussed and considered trying to negotiate cheaper rent for the worn-in apartment. But the day was only half way over and we thought it'd be best to keep looking.
The next few places were, again, frustrating. Everything was old and small. And by this point I was getting emotional... I think I was really set on finding a house or even just a townhouse. But our housing search only consisted of grungy apartments.
Our second to last complex was the Landings. It wasn't a dream apartment, but it was certainly above mediocre.
The open apartment is on the third floor, which means vaulted ceilings, two bedrooms, two bathrooms- one with a bath tub, a patio, a laundry room that came with a washer and dryer, a dishwasher, tons of storage, pet friendly with a weight limit of 100 pounds, located on the edge of the complex with a beautiful trail that runs along Brickyard Creek in the city of Battle Creek, and only 6 miles away from where Jay will be working.
Again, a lovely apartment that met our personal requirements and then some. But for some reason I just wasn't 100 percent. It was looking like a house wouldn't be an option, and we spent all day looking at only apartments, so I wanted to see at least one town home before making a decision.
Our last stop was a town home located in Kalamazoo.
The inside was decent. But the area surrounding the complex was sketchy... One of the neighbors doors had been smashed in by the police. Yeah, no thanks.
By the end of the day we were exhausted and after everything we had looked at, the apartment at The Landings in Battle Creek seemed to be our best option. So we put down a deposit and ended the house hunt.
The Landings
That night we soaked in the hot tub, then ate pizza while watching The Office in our hotel room. Just what we needed after a long day.
On Friday we drove to downtown Battle Creek and toured Kellogg's Headquarters.
My favorite part about downtown- the scent of fresh cereal!
The "Keebler Room"
W. K. Kellogg
Where all the head honchos meet to make big decisions.
Old advertisements.
The "Keebler Elves Treehouse"
After the tour we had lunch at The Union in Kalamazoo with Dan- Jay's current manager over the part-time work he has been doing for Kellogg's.
After killing some time in the city, we went back to our hotel room and watched hours of The Office.
Seriously, this trip came at such a good time. We were both in serious need of vegging! And Michigan was completely dark, cloudy, and rainy right up until our last day. This made it easy to not feel guilty about staying inside and vegging.
Downtown Kalamazoo
On Saturday we drove back over to Battle Creek to see the Kellogg's Cereal Plant where Jay will be working.
We also looked at our apartment one more time. And fell in love with our backyard.
On Saturday night Jay and I joined The Bennett's and the Blewitt's at the Christensen's house for a BBQ.
Brandon Bennett, Brian Blewitt and Mike Christensen work at Kellogg's headquarters. They have been extremely helpful in preparing us for our big move to Michigan. And Brian and Jay served together during their missions in Germany! Such a small world. It was such a wonderful time for Jay to catch up with an old friend and for us to feel of everyone's warm welcome.
As Jay and I were telling everyone of our house hunting experiences, Mike's wife, Elizabeth, mentioned that someone in the ward was renting out their house.
We were 98 percent set on our apartment at The Landings, but when Elizabeth mentioned the house I just couldn't resist looking further into it.
After our dinner, we drove to the house in Kalamazoo. The couple were super gracious and let us intrude on their Saturday night at 9:30pm to show us around.
The house was perfect. Perfect. Absolutely everything and more that I could ever dream of in a starter home. The neighborhood was clean and very friendly. The house had a basketball hoop in the front yard, a huge fenced off backyard with a porch and BBQ and garden, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a garage, basement with a piano (the piano came with the house!), and a salon space in the basement where I could do hair! (The wife currently living there is a hairstylist.) All of this for an affordable price. We were completely sold. Then we looked up what the commute would be for Jay... 40 minutes minimum.
We thanked the kind family for their time, went back to our hotel, then spent the night discussing.
I'm so glad we saw the house. I knew I would have regretted not looking into it. However, it was torture. I wanted that house badly. But at the same time, it didn't feel right for lots of reasons. One of the main reasons was the commute. Jay and I are still sharing a car and it has been working out great. But a 40 minute commute would make it very inconvenient. And I hated the idea of Jay being almost one hour away from home, versus at The Landings where he would only be ten minutes away.
Jay was just the sweetest though. He told me that if this house is what I need to make me happy, then he would do the commute. But I just couldn't ask that of him! It didn't feel right.
And so, as much as I really really wanted the house, when it came to making a final decision it seemed simple in my mind- we don't need the house.
I realize this whole thing makes me sound dramatic and a bit like a snob, so I want to end off by explaining how excited I am about our apartment! It is beautiful. It will fit us perfectly for the next two
years, and we have absolutely no reason to complain. The more I think about it, the more excited I am and more importantly, the more I feel it is the right thing for us at this time in our lives.
We are truly blessed just to be able to afford to keep a roof over our heads.
I am truly blessed to be with this hard-working and crazy selfless man.
When it all comes down to it, I don't care where we live, just as long as I have my man.
Flying home on Sunday. Kalamazoo airport.
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