Waiting in line to enter the US. It took about a half an hour to get across the bridge from Sault Ste. Marie, ON to Sault Ste. Marie, MI. Do we declare? Do we not declare? Hmmmn . . .
Here is a glare-ridden, rainy view out the right side window of Lake Michigan. Lake Huron was on the left side.
We pulled off to check our truck connections at this roadside rest, just inside the US border.
Since it was the Tuesday after Labor Day, we were the only ones at this stop. The crowds are gone now.
After driving through a thunderstorm and constant rain for several hours, we arrived in Traverse City and set up camp on the shores of Silver Lake, near Interlochen. We were excited to see Michelle and met her after work and went to her/our favorite Mexican restaurant – Osorio Tacos Y Salsa, in Williamsburg, just east of TC. It has the best mexican food in the area!
Thursday evening we had dinner at Cooks’ House, hosted by a Michelin Star chef and Michelle’s beau; Eric Patterson. Eric had prepared a “5 course tasting menu” dinner with wine pairings for Cathy and Michelle and brought in a rib eye steak for me. Michelle had told Eric that I was a “meat and potato guy” (he normally doesn’t prepare steaks). The restaurant is the best in TC, meals by reservation only and has two, sold-out seatings per evening. It was fabulous.
The tasting menu included:
- Chilled Heirloom Tomato Soup & Oyster Mushrooms – Garlic Puree
- paired with Ranga Ranga Sauvignon Blanc
- Hubbard Squash Creme Brule Bhel Puri
- paired with Bowers Harbor “RLS” Chardonnay
- Slow Roasted Brisket – Chimichurri-Potato Subji – Swiss Chard
- paired with Pierrre Gruber Bourgogne Pinot Noir
- Roasted Beets – Red Cabbage – Dukkah – Olive Oil – Fresh Chevre
- paired with Love Drunk Rose
- Parsnip Cake – Spiced Honey – Yogurt
- paired with Castello deBrolio, Vin Santo del Chianti Classico
This is Cathy’s slow roasted beef brisket.
The roasted beets:
And the parsnip cake:
This is my (very large) rib eye, on a bed of roasted baby new potatoes.
Eric joined us for dinner (he had the tasting menu), and although the steak was cooked to perfection, I should have, in retrospect, gone with the tasting menu. It all looked very, very good.
Friday we met Michelle for lunch at Harvest, in downtown TC. Harvest is an “Asian/Mexican restaurant specializing in street type food using all local ingredients.”
Cathy enjoying her pork and peach tostadas:
My bean burrito and sweet potato fries. It was both a lunch and a dinner . . .
After lunch, we went to the Ciccone winery to pick up our race numbers for the Stompede, Cathy was entered in the 5K and I opted for the seven mile, cross country event. I got some second thoughts when I saw the course elevation map at check in. It was going to be “hilly” to say the least. Oh well, at least everyone has to run the same hills!
This is an afternoon view of the vineyard and West Grand Traverse Bay near the start area.
Michelle told us about a book sale at the Book exchange and of course, we had to go. We left with a boxful of books and some DVDs.
While picking up our running numbers we also chose to purchase tickets for the wine pairing and tasting tours that were being held at several peninsula wineries.
Rove Estate:
Cicconi Vineyard & Winery:
Mawby:
Friday evening we spent an enjoyable evening and dinner with Victoria and Matt Sutherland at their “in town” home (they also have a “cabin” on the lake). Victoria is the Publisher and Matt is the Editor-in-Chief of Forward Magazine, Inc., an independent media company totally devoted to covering the indie book publishing industry, for which Michelle is the Managing Editor of book reviews. The in-town home is incredible. It was originally the bottom floor of a historical cigar box factory, complete with pine flooring and very large exposed beams. They have kept many of the original features and have decorated it with many locally sourced items, and have designed a fabulous kitchen with three cooktops, three sinks and a mile of countertops! They are excellent cooks and we had a good time in conversation about a myriad of subjects.
Race morning (Saturday) at Cicconi vineyard:
The sun has just come up, and the course was wet (it had been raining for several days due to the Texas hurricane).
Cathy walking up the hill, through the vineyard to the start area:
Several hundred of our “good friends” waiting for the start:
Typical of the course between wineries. If we didn’t see the orange cones, we were off course.
We had lots of running up and down the rows of grapes. I guess they only grow grapes on hills?
The start of the long, one mile, 15% ascent to the finish line:
Here is the view from the top of one of the hills. The turn around for us was the communications tower in the far right of this shot:
Finished!! That is me with my second place (in my division) medal.
These grape stomp pits were at the finish line. I was checking my time and completely missed them! I still don’t know how I made it past them without tripping or falling in. I took this shot on the way back to our truck.
We had dinner at the Alliance on Saturday. The Alliance is a “shared plate” restaurant. This is similar to “family style” but with very upscale food selections. Smaller portions allow for different selections and greater variety . . . another of the many fine eateries in TC. Eric called and arranged for our reservations the evening before as they are booked many days in advance.
Sunset tea at the top of the Hotel Indigo, which was directly across the street from the Alliance. There was live music in the courtyard between the Alliance and the Hotel. Eric met us here and immediately obtained blankets for Cathy and Michelle as it chilled a bit as the sun went down. It seems that he is known by all in TC. I did not get a blanket. hmmm . . .
A view of Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan from the hotel:
Sunday morning we had breakfast at S2S, (Sugar to Salt) in Traverse Commons, another of TC many fine eateries. Cathy and Michelle had duck hash with a semi-raw duck egg, I went conservative and had regular eggs, regular bacon and regular home style potatoes.
My breakfast was very good and I am sure theirs was also.
After breakfast, we met Eric and continued on the wine tasting and pairing tours of the Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail. We tried our darndest, but could not visit all the participating wineries in the alloted two days. Eric directed us to the best of the best of them.
- Boathouse Vineyards
- Silver Leaf Vineyard & Winery
- Bluestone Vineyards
- Tandem Ciders
- Black Star Farms
- Mawby / bigLITTLE
- Ciccone Vineyard & Winery
- French Valley Vineyard
- Shady Lane Cellars
- 45 North Vineyards & Winery
- French Valley Vineyards
Eric and Michelle at French Valley Vineyards:
The morning view of West Grand Traverse Bay (Lake Michigan) from the tasting room:
Enjoying the atmosphere at 45 North Vineyard & Winery:
The Boathouse Vineyards. I went out back to enjoy the live music and ogle the immaculate wooden Chris Craft that had docked.
The connector channel behind the Boathouse, between S. Lake Leelanau and N. Lake Leelanau:
Tandem Ciders. Apparently, some very interesting and good ciders. Remember, I volunteered DD.
Cathy stepping into Shady Lane Cellars:
It’s was a benefit to go wine tasting with Eric, as being the chef that he is, he gets a lot of personal attention from the proprietors. The single taste vineyards offered more than one choice, the multiple choice stops basically “opened up their selections” to us. Alas, I was the DD for the event.
We also stopped by Leelanau Cheese between wineries as we had heard about them at our dinner with Victoria and Matt on Friday. They had served cheese from Leelanau and it was very good, resembling a dry Monterey jack, which we have had difficulty finding locally. Leelanau Cheese was founded in 1995 and specializes in Swiss and French style cheeses. The owner immediately recognized Eric and came out to talk with us (Eric).
After a full day of wine-hopping and eating, we slept in for a change and decided to meet Michelle and Eric for lunch before leaving Traverse City. Since we arrived a few minutes early, I went for a walk on the dock. The water was still, blue and very clear. You could see down at least thirty feet! The salmon were just starting to run up the Boardman River, which goes through the heart of town. The steelhead will soon follow. We did see hundreds of salmon at the Boardman River fish weir downtown, near the Alliance Restaurant.
Our luncheon destination, the Monkey Fist Brewing Company!! Actually, we ate in a small restaurant inside this converted horse stall (really!), called “Wren the Butcher”, which specializes in “artesian sausages and American comfort food”. I stepped out and had a spicy chorizo sausage sandwich and Cathy had mac and cheese . . . of course, Eric and the cook here were friends . . .
We left Traverse City about 1:30 in the afternoon, destination . . Ohio.
Another couple of days in TC and I would not be able to run, just waddle. Too much good food.
Travelling with the Schinglers 