Jamestown NY

A quick stop for lunch. Finally discovered a Tim Hortons (Yay!). Until then we saw a virtual sea of pizzerias (meh...). We'll be back on the road shortly.

Going Home...

Our vacation is coming to an end. The final leg of this journey takes us from Mentor OH to Syracuse NY via the Southern Tier (the NYS Thruway is so boring so we're trying an alternate route). It's roughly a 7-hour drive so we should be home in time for dinner.

Degas at the Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland's West Side Market

Just got into Cleveland and our first stop is the West Side Market, one of the best public markets in the country. Lunch will be at the West Side Market Cafe - a cup of lobster bisque, a smoked salmon BLT and a portobello BLT (yes, we're eating very well on this trip!). After lunch we'll shop a little (chocolate peanut butter buckeye candies and chocolate covered bacon!) and then it's on to the art museum.

Greenfield Village in Dearborn MI: the oldest continuous operation steam locomotive in the US

Detroit Zoo: The Underwater Tunnel in the Arctic Ring of Life

The Detroit Zoo

Exploring the zoo today. Many of the animals are out and active, especially the penguins and otters. Taking a quick break for lunch before visiting the Arctic Ring of Life.

Five Days: A Quick Wrap-up!

I'm beat, and the huge and incredibly delicious dinner at Slow's BBQ did me in, but I'll try to give you a quick recap...

On Wednesday we made it to Mackinaw City in time to catch the 3:30 ferry to Mackinac Island, and despite a slow drizzle we biked the 8 miles around the island. Lots of fun, and LOTS of mosquitoes on the east side of the island between mile markers 1.5 and 3.0.  That night we dined on the island at Goodfellows, which was decent but unremarkable (a Yelp review is forthcoming).

Thursday was a drive north to the UP where we convinced the Prius it had four-wheel drive and we went in search of the Crisp Point Lighthouse.  It was worth the 18 or so miles on very rough, sometimes very muddy, sometimes flooded dirt roads. The tower is beautiful and the fog made for even better pictures. From there we back tracked through Paradise (lunch at The Fish House was amazing! Best fish sandwich I've ever had!) and headed north again to Whitefish Point Shipwreck Museum.  Incredibly well put together and worth the price of admission.  On our way to Sault Saint Marie to see the locks it rained, but cleared by the time we arrived.  No ships were passing through, but it was interesting nonetheless.  We took dinner at the Indo-China Garden. For Thai food in the UP, almost in Canada, it was pretty good.

Friday was Mackinaw City to Frankenmuth.  Lots of lights along the way (check out previous posts for pictures) and Frankenmuth was quite an experience.  We visited Bronner's, the world's largest Christmas store, and all I can say is "wow...".  Dinner was at Zehnder's, the world's largest family restaurant, where we had the AYCE chicken dinner.  It's served family style and was enough to feed a family of 4 or more.  Whew!

Saturday was Frankenmuth to Detroit, and thank goodness the weather finally improved.  We checked out a few more lights along the way and finally got to our hotel at 6 p.m.  While Lu showered I got on Yelp and found that not far from the hotel was a Thai restaurant, Amarin, that everyone was claiming is the best in the Detroit area, so we decided to check it out. The reviews were right.  It was really really good, and super cheap!  The Pad Thai with shrimp and scallops was delicious, and I couldn't believe how many shrimp and scallops I got for around $12.

Today was the DIA (Detroit Institute of Arts) and Belle Isle Park.  Beautiful, and I'll post more about them tomorrow.  The day ended with dinner at Slow's BBQ on Michigan Ave.  This place has excellent reviews on Yelp and has been featured on The Food Network.  It was DELICIOUS! This place could run circles around the Dinosaur BBQ in Syracuse.  The apple BBQ sauce was so good I wanted to steal the bottle!

So now I'm sitting in the hotel room, fat and happy, and thinking that I'd better take a shower and crawl into bed before I fall sleep in this comfy chair.  Nighty night, all...

Livingstone Memorial Light, Belle Isle Park (Detroit MI)

Palm House at the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory (Detroit MI)

So Far Behind...

Staying in a motel with virtually no wifi and then late nights getting into hotels with wifi has put blogging a daily recap about four days behind. I'm going to try to catch up tonight with a Reader's Digest version of the past days' events, but it all depends on how late we return from dinner at Slow's BBQ, a Detroit institution (Google them, or check them out on Yelp). Check back late tonight for an update!

Andrew Wyeth's "Sea Boots" at the Detroit Institute of Arts

Peche Island Lighthouse (Marine City)

Fort Gratiot Lighthouse

Port Sanilac Lighthouse

Point Aux Barques Lighthouse

Dinner for Two 'Family Style' at Zehnder's in Frankenmuth

New Presque Isle Lighthouae

Forty Mile Lighthouse

Old Presque Isle Lighthouse

Whitefish Point Lighthouse

Crisp Point Lighthouse

Lunch at The Fish House in Paradise

I'd read very good things about their whitefish chowder, and stories are true. It's excellent!

More Lighthouses - Michigan's U.P.

Today we're going to try to find Crisp Point Lighthouse on the shore of Lake Superior in Michigan's UP. It's a little tricky to find (read "lots of little back roads") but we're up for the challenge. From there we'll backtrack to Paradise and then go north to visit the Whitefish Point Shipwreck Museum. Then it south and east to wrap things up in Sault Saint Marie with a stop at the locks and some dinner before returning to Mackinaw City.

Perturbed with Super 8 in Mackinaw City

The website advertised 'free wifi'. What it neglected to mention is what I was told when I called the front desk to complain that we couldn't connect to the wifi: "Yeah, it's weak. If you can't get it in your room you're welcome to come to the breakfast room and try it there." Really? That's the best they can do? Sit in the breakfast room on the other side of the parking lot? I want to lie sprawled out on the king size bed in my boxers watching TV while I surf the web! Had we known that the rooms don't have wifi we probably wouldn't have booked this motel. Misleading advertising, Super 8! Shame on you!

So, no recap of the day. I just can't pull off a post that long from my phone...

Arch Rock on Mackinac Island

Onboard the Capt. Shepler

Riding some fun waves aboard the 78' Capt. Shepler headed for Mackinac Island. Hope the weather holds so that we can rent a couple bikes and explore the island for a few hours.

Awaiting the Ferry to Mackinac Island

Standing on the dock! Really foggy an windy, and cold!! I had to stop by the Mackinaw Crossing to buy a windbreaker.

Lunch in Harbor Springs

A quick stop in Harbor Springs for lunch. Of the several choices we settled on Mary Ellen's, a tiny locally owned breakfast/lunch place on East Main Street. Lu's opted for corned beef hash with eggs sunny side up, and I'm having a mini cheese burger with fries. The only downside so far is that they don't have a public restroom. Ugh!

Day Four: Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Rain!  We'd planned on a ferry ride to South Manitou Island for four hours of hiking but the weather put the kibosh on that idea.  We were up early and on our way to Leland to catch the ferry when they called to say that the usual schedule had changed due to the weather forecast.  Usually you can catch a boat out of Leland at 10 a.m., dock at South Manitou around 11:30 and then catch a boat back at 4 p.m., but 4 p.m. was also the predicted arrival of a rather nasty looking storm, so they were only making one run to drop off campers and that was it.  We could have ridden along, but $32 was too much to pay for just a boat ride.

New plans!  We elected to continue on our way with a few modifications to the route.  We traveled up the east side of the peninsula to Northport and then down the west side to Leland.  In Leland we decided to check out Fishtown - dockside fish processing shacks that have been converted into gift shops a cheese shop. One building still sells fresh and smoked fish.  Then it was on to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to hike the trail to Pyramid Point.  From the trail head it was .6 miles to the bluff overlooking North and South Manitou Islands.  Our next stop was Glen Arbor to visit the local farmer's market.  I had to have a few delicious strawberry shortbread cookies from one of the many bakers, and Lu picked up an oak bookmark from a guy that fashions interesting and quite beautiful furniture out of reclaimed wood from old barns.

Mission Point Lighthouse

We took a new route back to Traverse City and wandered around Front Street for a bit before settling on The Dish Cafe for lunch (see one of the earlier posts).  Since our schedule was a bit screwed up thanks to the weather we opted to move tomorrow morning's activity to today and drove out route 37 to visit the Mission Point Lighthouse.  It was getting cooler and the wind was picking up, but that didn't stop the swarms of bugs near the water's edge.  Then it was back to Traverse City and relaxing at the hotel before heading out for dinner.

We'd planned on dinner at Apache Trout Grill, but the place was mobbed!  Sure it might be good (it's Yelp reviews sounded somewhat promising), but good enough to wait in an overcrowded lobby with 20 other people?  Not likely.  I remembered that there was another place down the street that sounded interesting and we decided to give it a try.  Read my review of Harrington's by the Bay for the details.

Tomorrow it's on to Mackinaw City (and fudge!!) and biking around Mackinac Island.  I hope the weather cooperates!

Dinner at Harrington's by the Bay (Traverse City, MI)

What a fantastic find! Read my review on Yelp: Harrington's by the Bay.

Lunch at The Dish Cafe

Lu is sampling soups - first a bowl of tomato coconut curry and now a bowl of creamy jalapeño chicken. I'm having the Dish Bistro salad - fresh greens, diced chicken, mandarin oranges, sliced apple, walnuts, gorgonzola and an orange-ginger dressing. Delicious!

Day Three: Monday, June 20, 2011

Almost every hotel/motel today includes some kind of breakfast in their room rate, and last night's Holiday Inn Express blew most of them away. Their hot breakfast includes onion, pepper and cheese omelets, sausage gravy on biscuits, warm cinnamon rolls, pancakes and all of the regular cold stuff.  The pancakes were the most interesting of the offerings.  They came out of an odd machine that looked a bit like an over-sized deli scale.  I've never seen anything like it before.  Press a button and the machine dispenses batter onto an internal conveyor belt that cooks the pancake as it travels down the belt eventually spitting out the end of the machine in a manner that looks like the machine is sticking it's tongue out at you.  I tried one and it tasted pretty much like a pancake, expect that it was really thin, no more than 1/4 of an inch thick at best.

After breakfast we drove to Ludington State Park, which is only a few minutes north of Ludington itself, paid the $8 state park admission and began hiking to Big Sable Point Light.  We opted to hike out via the beach and back on a sandy road, nearly 4 miles round trip.  The hike out was fantastic - the waves sliding up on the brown and black sands, gulls flying overhead or wandering the beach, and hardly a soul around to remind me that we weren't that far from civilization.  Just as we arrived at the Light it began to sprinkle a little bit.  Inside we found a nice gift shop and I picked up a super-cool cap and t-shirt, and then we took a tour of the 112' tower.  The views were amazing, and made quite clear that a storm was moving in from the southwest.  We wrapped things up and began hiking back.  Just as we emerged from the end of the road into the campground the sky opened up and poured.  And I mean poured.  I left my camera and phone with Lu and hiked over a couple of dunes to reach the car and came back to collect him.  As we headed toward Manistee the rain let up, and by the time we arrived in Manistee for lunch it had stopped.

We stopped to eat at the first place we saw: The Boathouse Grill.  The decor was simple and tasteful, the menu had plenty of nice options and the waitstaff seemed friendly.  It seemed to take longer than expected for our order to arrive - and the waitress was apologetic - but it was worth the wait.  Lu's seared Ahi tuna salad and my chicken bacon Swiss with avocado and Idaho fries were delicious.

Next up was the Point Betsie Light, which was closed but I still managed to capture some great pictures, and then on to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  After a stop at the Visitor's Center in Empire we backtracked a bit to hike the trail through the woods to the Empire Bluffs.  The hike was beautiful and the bluffs were impressive.  By this point I was hot and feeling a bit worn out by so much hiking so we opted to check out the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, which due to its lush canopy of trees forming tunnels through the forest reminded both Lu and I of the scenic drive through Valley Forge.  As we exited the drive we opted to head toward Traverse City, find our hotel and shower before dinner.  About half way there the sky opened up again and poured, and this time made the earlier downpour look like a spring shower!  Thank goodness it stopped before we arrived at the hotel.

After a quick shower and fresh clothes we headed out for dinner at Phil's on Front. This place gets five out of five stars. The waitstaff was efficient and professional, but very personable. The atmosphere was modern but simple and complemented the old building with it's classic pressed tin ceiling.  Lu started with duck liver pate (served with crackers, diced onion, capers and mustard) and I with mac-n-cheese (roasted garlic and Parmesan), and for entrees Lu chose white fish Florentine and I the crab cakes.  Both entrees came with Michigan asparagus and white fingerling potatoes. The crab cakes were hands down the best I've ever had. Almost entirely crab meat with little filler, lightly packed, perfectly fried and super rich.  Dessert was a ricotta cheesecake for Lu and Louis XVI cake for me.  An expensive meal, but every penny; so if you ever find yourself in Traverse City head for Phil's on Front and order the crab cakes.

Big Sable Point Light

Day Two: Sunday, June 19, 2011

After a very uninspiring continental breakfast at America's Best Value Inn we headed north in search of the St. Joseph Lighthouse. When we arrived in St. Joseph I was struck by three things: the McMansions that line the streets, the housing developments that looked like they had been transplanted from Florida, and that everyone was 150 years old.  Our driving around town trying to figure out how to get close enough to the lighthouse for pictures put us in a tiny park on the south side of the St. Joseph River (not where we wanted to be) just in time to watch Amtrak roll into town across a turning bridge.  I shot a short video of the train arriving and might try to post it on here if I can figure out how.  A quick reconsult of the map indicated we needed to cross the river and meander through a few rather narrow streets to a park where we could walk out the breakwater to visit the lighthouse.  On our way we passed a huge Whirlpool plant.  A-ha! A clue as to the source of the money paying for the McMansions!

  

The St. Joseph North Pier Lighthouses were beautiful, as we knew they would be.  You can read more about the them here, on Lighthouse Friends.

 

On our way out of town we passed a large office building with an immaculately manicured lawn... Whirlpool Global Headquarters.  Mystery solved! There's a lot of washing machine money in St. Joseph.

 

The South Haven South Pier Light could be a wonderful if the local hooligans didn't choose to cover it with graffiti.

 

Lunch time, and Crane's In the City, 11 East 8th St in Holland, was perfect. Lu tried a bowl of ham and bean soup and a slice of red raspberry pie; and I ordered a chicken Caesar salad followed by a slice of apple cheese strudel and coffee.  Lu's soup and pie had to be good because it disappeared rather quickly.  My salad was HUGE, and the strudel... well, let's just say that had anyone tried to steal a taste they surely would have suffered a fork wound. They make their own bread, pies, etc. and their own preserves.  A jar of red raspberry jam and a jar of apple butter are making their way back to New York with us.

 

Next was a stop at the Windmill Island Gardens.  This was a lot of fun, and very educational.  I was most amazed at how the brick was laid for the windmill.  It's not flat.  It slopes outward to force moisture out of the building.  Very ingenious.  Afterwards we tried to visit Big Red, the famous Holland Harbor Lighthouse, but it's in a state park and Michigan feels it's appropriate to charge out of state visitors $8 to spend 15 minutes in their park taking a few photographs.  I didn't agree, so I parked a little ways down the street (illegally, don't tell...) and walked back a bit and took a few pictures from what was too far a distance.  I'm sure they didn't turn out well, but I have a pictures of Big Red!

 

The Grand Haven Lights were next, again $8 to park in an overcrowded lot.  We found a spot near the Coast Guard station and walked (and walked, and walked) the beautiful brand new boardwalk to get to the lights, and it was totally worth it.  Gorgeous!  Stunning!  We have the bright red sunburns to match the lights!

 

Our last light of the day was the Little Sable Point Light, and it was a perfect finish to a day full of beautiful lighthouses.  She stands majestically at the beach, tall with classical features, and she still has her third order Fresnel lens.  The natural-color brick of the tower and it's beautiful location with wind-twisted trees, sand dunes and driftwood made for perfect pictures, and I took a lot of them.  Oh, as an aside, the pics posted on this blog so far were taken with my iPhone 4 and emailed into the blog.  At some point I'll post better pictures taken with a higher quality digital camera.

 

On our way to dinner at House of Flavors in Ludington we took a little detour to the harbor to check out the SS Badger, a huge passenger and car ferry that makes the trip across Lake Michigan to Manitowoc WI twice a day this time of the year.  It's a big ship, and it's a coal-fired boiler, too. The Badger kicks it old school. Anyway, back to dinner. House of Flavors is a must for anyone visiting Ludington. The place is decorated in a fun throwback style, the waitstaff is friendly and efficient and the food is out of this world. I had the best meatloaf dinner I've ever had.  And then came dessert... I had to do it.  I ordered "This Little Piggy", and I ate the whole thing! Two scoops of ice cream with two toppings served in a trough.  Lu had two scoops in a cup, and he daringly tried the Blue Moon, a house favorite for which the actual flavor remains a secret.  I tried it, and it reminded me of Maalox. Thank goodness I opted for This Little Piggy!

 

That wraps it up for today.  Time for bed... Zzz...

Little Sable Point Lighthouse

Grand Haven Lighthouse

South Haven Lighthouse

St. Joseph's Lighthouse

Day One: Saturday, June 18, 2011

We planned to leave Syracuse by 9 a.m. but got our usual late start and finally entered the Thruway heading west at 10:19.  A stop at the first Tim Hortons just west of Rochester was required and then it was back on the road until we hit Erie PA where we gassed up (well, actually topped off the tank - we were averaging about 45mpg) and grabbed a quick lunch at Wendys.  Traffic picked up around Cleveland and then we were nearly all alone until arriving in South Bend.


Dinner was at a Ponderosa up the street from our super cheap motel, America's Best Value Inn on 933 South.  As Ponderosa's go, this one was very clean, the staff was incredibly friendly and efficient, and the food was really quite good.  The 'Inn' was okay, reasonably clean and definitely quite.  The bed very comfortable, or maybe it was that I was too exhausted to care.