Feb. 6, 2021
I’ve teleworked at home for ten long months now and other than a few camping trips last summer, I’ve pretty much stayed at home. Our 25 y/o son has also been at home finishing up a semester before grad school, constantly playing video games, yelling his head off for someone to “1B1 me, chicken, 1B1 me,” and critiquing every meal I prepare. If I had to listen to that for another weekend, I was sure I’d go postal. I asked my spousal unit of 28 years if he’d like to escape up north. I received a resounding, “Hell, yes!” in response. After 28 years at Detroit Diesel, John was ready to escape to anywhere as well.
While I longed for the $275 a night log cabin with the claw foot tub, I settled for a studio cabin on 18 acres and 1,000 feet along the main branch of the Au Sable River at Finley’s Riverside Cabins in Grayling. How I misunderstood the cabin’s location (25 feet from M 72 and 200 feet from the river) is beyond me. I had planned on sitting indoors to watch the river and the wildlife, but all I could see were parking slots and the sparse traffic on M 72.
John wasn’t up to walking the property or any outdoor activities then (come on! A wind chill of 2° isn’t so bad!!) so we decided to head back down I-75 to where his family has some cottages. After catching up with our brother-in-law in Roscommon and admiring his newly finished pine family room, we headed back to the cabin to decide on dinner. We weren’t sure yet about dining out although the restriction had been partially lifted, so we opted for a carry out from a new-to-us place, Ray’s BBQ, Brews and Blues. We had the mumbo jumbo gumbo and the chili; both were excellent! As it turned out, it was a good idea to get a carry out because at about the same time, their water line froze and the whole restaurant had to close for the night.
The next day I convinced John to take a quick walk through the property to go see the river. I am a water person and need to be near it, in it or on it. The property is situated on a 90° bend in the river and had a shoveled trail through the snow along the river, which made for easy walking. There were signs all around of how much fun this place would be in the summer: Adirondacks cozied up to the river’s edge, covered in snow; a patio table with four chairs with a great view inviting random butts to plop down; a large firepit with chairs all around waiting for more ghost stories; upside down canoes close to the launch site; and a large pavilion with picnic tables and an industrial size bar-b-que. I noticed the owners had thoughtfully strung some small solar lights in the trees along the paths for night walking, and secretly thought I’d get John back out there later that night. After our walk, we thought we’d head into town to go to the Au Sable Gift store, a moccasin / leather goods shop for a wallet for John, and then to Dawson & Stevenson’s Diner (the Coca-Cola museum/diner/soda fountain) for breakfast. Supporting the local businesses is what’s needed now, right? so off we went. Much to our chagrin, both were closed! Back to the cabin we went and gathered our stuff for the 45-minute trip to the wineries on Mission Peninsula in Traverse City.
On the way there, we stopped for lunch in Kalkaska at the Trout Town Restaurant, on the recommendation of a friend of mine with property in the area. We were put in a dining room all to ourselves and enjoyed a couple of great meals (corned beef, swiss and horseradish for John with fries, and a small salad of mixed greens, chicken, dried cranberries, toasted pecans, cheddar cheese and raspberry vinaigrette for me, plus a lot of John’s fries). We will definitely go back there, probably every time we drive through Kalkaska in the future. We kept our masks on except for eating but really came in contact with no one but Jodi, our waitress, and she looked pretty healthy and energetic.
Since our wine cabinet at home was almost empty, we just had to fill it up. Our initial stop on the peninsula was Black Star Farms, the first winery you come to heading up Old Mission. We didn’t need to have the tasting because this is our favorite stop and we already knew what we wanted. Fifteen minutes and half a case later, we were back in the truck heading up to the next one.
Chateau Grand Traverse was too full to get into. We were not the only folks who thought this was a great way to spend a cold wintry day in Michigan. With a limit of 25% capacity, it didn’t take long to reach that, so they were taking names and numbers and would give you a call when the coast was clear. Rather than wait, we opted to head further up the road to Brys Estate, where they have the best strawberry wine slush on this good planet. Unfortunately, we were informed that the wine that goes in that drink isn’t available until April; it was being made as we inquired. To make up for my disappointment, I saw a merlot I thought I’d like for $10 only to find out at the register that I misread the sign and the 1 was really a 4! Back on the shelf it went as I don’t like to feel guilty while I enjoy a glass of every-day wine.
We decided to head back to Chateau Grand Traverse, put our name on the list and wait in the car. John was due for a nap anyway, so about 20 minutes later, we received the call that we could enter. Once inside, thought, we had to wait on numbered circles (we were number 3) until we could enjoy the five wine samples for $6. All the servers had a large plexiglass shield hanging on small chains from the ceiling, so we could completely remove our masks for the tasting. The countertop was sprayed and disinfected prior to our approach and the tasting finally began. After 28 years of marriage, we were surprised to find out we had the exact opposite reaction to the same wines. What I loved, he didn’t, and the other way around. We knew we were going to get a few bottles of the Late Harvest Riesling, so we were just looking for what else we may enjoy. One of the cheapest bottles they had was a $10 bottle of MishMash. Turns out Meijer’s hired CGT to make up a blend that only they would sell, which is a combination of some of CGT’s grapes and some imported from California. It was definitely worth the $10, and is one of their best sellers. We scooped up another half case of wine and headed out the door back to the cabin.
All that wine tasting and driving 45-minutes back resulted in another nap for John, after which we headed over to Ray’s BBQ, Brews and Blues for dinner since the food was so damn good the night before. We went for the smoked ribs this time, with their own homemade special BBQ sauce and were not disappointed. The fries were perfectly done shoestring potatoes, and after having looked at all that wine today, I had to have a glass or two of the Spanish Rioja. Our food literally came within eight minutes and we enjoyed every sloppy bite sitting under the moose head mount above the fire. We topped it off with dessert: a square of the decadent warm chocolate Texas sheet cake for John, and a hot chocolate cheesecake slice for me. Absolute yum. There were only three other tables and a booth taken, so keeping socially distant was a snap and everyone wore their masks except when eating. I could get used to this!
I think we Michiganders finally have the hang of getting back out during COVID. Everyone kept their distance, wore their masks, had hand sanitizer in the area and seemed to be friendlier and more welcoming. Add to all that the lack of noisy crowds and rude people, and it was a pleasure getting back out there. I’m already planning our next trip north!