rediscovering midwest America

 All these things -- water, baseball, cornfields, cheese curds and friends -- all go together seamlessly here in the midwest. And perfectly describe how we spent the last couple of days. We got up early to catch the ferry on Saturday morning. Our B&B had packed a sack breakfast for us which was so nice and made missing the homemade breakfast easier to handle. When we got to the ferry dock we were told no problem with the ferry crossing, but it was recommended we take the complimentary motion sickness pills as the trip would be seeing 3-5 foot waves. Didn't sound that bad, but we definitely were rock and rolling the whole trip. We spent virtually the entire trip indoors as did most of the other passengers -- except those that needed fresh air "to feel better."  The Lake Express to Milwaukee only the driver was allowed to board by auto waves didn't look so bad the Milwaukee skyline from ferry We did some driving around Milwaukee. Turns out this weekend ends a 9-day ...

Lake Michigan from motel window, Williamsburg MI We have seen so much! And it is such a small portion of Michigan! Yesterday we took off from Petosky, just outside Traverse City and explored an arm of Grand Traverse Bay, heading north up a narrow peninsula and coming back down on the Lake Michigan side. We visited so many small towns we simply cannot remember them all. Small towns here seem to be called Villages or Townships -- we never did find out the difference. One thing we do know is that all have seashores and vibrant-appearing shops -- and people at the bars and restaurants. Also nearby golf courses; we have never seen so many golf courses! We stopped often. Roadside fruit stands are everywhere -- mostly on the honor system with lock boxes to accept payment. Peaches are delicious. Apples are plentiful and sometimes apricots. Also sweet corn but had to pass that up with no means to cook. We tried to find cherries but we are a bit past the season. One other treat which we found in...

 This was a day about food! And about scenery! It was a perfect day today weather-wise and in all other ways also. We loved staying in the casino/hotel and found it first rate in all ways except as to food. Especially on Mondays and Tuesdays the pickings are a bit slim and mostly some type of fast food served on styrofoam with plastic utensils. So today we set out to do better, and certainly accomplished that!  We first found a Swedish Pantry restaurant in Escanaba, a nearby town. The Swedish pancakes were excellent and the ambiance was delightful. We enjoyed lingonberries & spiced peaches and loved hearing all the Scandanavian accents. It was truly and wonderful find. From there to dinner we enjoyed some truly wonderful scenery. We traveled east across the tip of Lake Michigan and then headed south across the Mackinac Bridge and into the northern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan. Either majestic trees or the hypnotyzing Lake Michigan were always in our view. Lake M...

  We are smiling big after finishing golf today not because we did so great but because we were winding up playing two days of exceptional golf here at the Island casino resort. We played yesterday at a course called Sweetgrass which is basically on the grounds of the casino. It was an open links design and surely the best maintained course we've ever been on. Played with 2 ex-cops (their terminology) from outside Milwaukee. So fun and one of them was surely the worst golfer I've ever seen -- and with the best attitude and sense of humor imaginable. The other was much more serious and talked about golf all the time -- also hard of hearing so we mostly listened. Below was our introduction to the course:              We're told he hangs out somewhere here every day. When he bites it's painful but not lethal! Today we played at an even more challenging and exciting course, Sage Run, also part of the reservation but about 15 minutes away. There are tw...