If you caught my answerring machine any time within the last few days, then you know it has been 'that magical time of the year again. No, not the Olympics, my summer vacation!'
I almost felt like I was playing the lead in 'where's waldo?' as I asked you to guess where I was going (smile).
My travels took me to Mackinaw City, Michigan, a small tourist town at the northern most tip of Michigan's lower peninsula. The town sits on the shores of Lake Michigan, the Straits of Mackinac, as well as Lake Huron. Any place you stop at along the waters edge gives you an absolutely breathtaking view. You can see the Mackinac Bridge, Mackinac Island, and several other islands.
I stayed at a hotel right on the shores of Lake Huron. The Chippewa Motor Lodge/Waterfront Inn (www.largestbeach.com) boasts that they have the largest beach with 600 feet of sandy shoreline. I had a lake front room, second floor, with a glass sliding doorwall that opened onto my private balcony (!) complete with chairs and a table.
Not only was there the beach, but there was also an indoor pool with a waterfall and innertubes, a jacuzzi, a sun deck off the pool, a game room, shuffleboard courts, and data ports and refrigerators in each room.
The hotel was really nice. During the high summer season they charge a pretty penny for their rooms, but as summer wanes (and it wanes early in northern Michigan) the rates drop until they become downright affordable.
The only thing that's kind of wierd about Mackinaw City is that it sort of felt like I was in South Africa during apartheid. Why? Well, they import seasonal workers to supplement their summer staff. The workers, for the most part, appear to be from the islands. Like Jamaica. So the work force is black. You see these folks in the hotels, restaurants etc. as they do their jobs. And you see them walking on the edges of town as they go back and forth from their housing to their jobs. But you never see them on the beaches, or in the stores shopping, or sitting down to a meal at a restaurant.
The northern Michigan economy seems to be based on fudge, smoked fish and pasties. Just about everywhere you go folks are selling one or all of these items.
One night it was late and I was starving and I went by the Mackinaw Pastie + Cookie Company (www.Mackinawpastie.com) to get something to eat. According to a newspaper clipping framed and prominently displayed on their wall, the Detroit News rated them as the best pastie place in Michigan. Well, just between me and you, that was the worst pastie I have ever eaten in my life.
The first tip that there was something amiss should have been when they asked if I wanted gravy with it. This thing was dreadful. It looked like canned dog food when you cut into it, and it had a slightly sour taste to it. Ick. Pitched it into the garbage can after a few bites.
The next day I went across the Mackinac Bridge to get a pasty. You cross over the bridge, take a left (go west) onto US 2 and go about, well, less than 10 miles. The place is called Lehos or Lehtos, I can't remember exactly how it was spelled, and it's on your left as you head west. Mrs. Lehos/Lehtos makes the pasties by hand. They are traditional pasties and they are so good.
I drove up to Sault Ste Marie on my second day of vacation. The city is famous for many things, but one of the most notable is the Soo Locks, that marvel of engineering that enables ships to be lifted 21 feet from St. Mary's River and Lake Huron's level to Lake Superior in about twenty minutes.
The Soo Locks is one of the world's busiest, with more than 11,000 ships passing through each year. I sat along the Locks edge on one of the many benches and watched a ship pass through.
For years I did volunteer work with convicts both here in Michigan and throughout the country, and I've spent alot of time travelling the highways and the biways. On my way back down from the Soo I stopped off on M-28, the highway that zigzags the shores of Lake Superior to the edge of Marquette. I used to stay at a motel at 75 and 28, the Sharlynn, when I was up that way on prisoner business, and I wanted to see it for old times sake. Half the motel had been bulldozed! And don't you know it was the half I'd always stayed at! So much for the historical plaque---Tawny Ford stayed here (smile).
I stopped off at the Kinross/Kincheloe exit next. I'd stayed at a couple of motels there over the years, also while on prisoner business, and I wanted to see how they had fared. Well, the Eagle Inn (or maybe it ws the Eagle Motel, who remembers anymore) is now the Sunrise Motel. It's a big place. Back when I was staying there they had just done a remodel and turned every two rooms into a suite. A HUGE suite. The bathrooms were bigger than the living room at my house!
I spent as much time as I could down at the lake on the beach. I have to tell you, that was no easy feat as it was COLD in Mackinaw City. The highs were no higher than 63 and the lows, well, the lows were--does frost on the pumpkin mean anything to you (smile)?
I wasn't able to lay out in my bathing suit, too chilly for that, but I did lounge on the chaises and the swing, etc. on the hotel beach. I spent time sitting at the foot of the Mackinac Bridge on the Mackinaw City side. They have a nice park there with benches, picnic tables, barbecue grills, and the lake is shallow enough there so you can walk out into the water or swim. There's also a park on the north side of the Mackinac Bridge, on the upper peninsula side, with a pretty area for sitting and picnicing. I sat there too and was rewarded with a view of several freighters passing under the bridge.
I never went swimming, too cold, but I waded out up to my knees in Lakes Huron and Michigan. There's a great stretch of beach along Lake Michigan on the UP side, maybe 10 or 15 miles west of the bridge.
Before I forget, if you're ever passing through Mackinaw City and you're hungry, there's a great little restaurant almost in the shadow of the bridge, Audie's. It's on the east side of the bridge, on that street that runs alongside of the bridge. The food comes to your table fast, it's hot, and it's good. The prices are good, too.
Well, that's it for the summer vacation tale. Wish you could have been with me, I missed you.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
www.tawnyford.com
Friday, August 27, 2004
If you caught my answerring machine any time within the last few days, then you know it has been 'that magical time of the year again. No, not the Olympics, my summer vacation!'
I almost felt like I was playing the lead in 'where's waldo?' as I asked you to guess where I was going (smile).
My travels took me to Mackinaw City, Michigan, a small tourist town at the northern most tip of Michigan's lower peninsula. The town sits on the shores of Lake Michigan, the Straits of Mackinac, as well as Lake Huron. Any place you stop at along the waters edge gives you an absolutely breathtaking view. You can see the Mackinac Bridge, Mackinac Island, and several other islands.
I stayed at a hotel right on the shores of Lake Huron. The Chippewa Motor Lodge/Waterfront Inn (www.largestbeach.com) boasts that they have the largest beach with 600 feet of sandy shoreline. I had a lake front room, second floor, with a glass sliding doorwall that opened onto my private balcony (!) complete with chairs and a table.
Not only was there the beach, but there was also an indoor pool with a waterfall and innertubes, a jacuzzi, a sun deck off the pool, a game room, shuffleboard courts, and data ports and refrigerators in each room.
The hotel was really nice. During the high summer season they charge a pretty penny for their rooms, but as summer wanes (and it wanes early in northern Michigan) the rates drop until they become downright affordable.
The only thing that's kind of wierd about Mackinaw City is that it sort of felt like I was in South Africa during apartheid. Why? Well, they import seasonal workers to supplement their summer staff. The workers, for the most part, appear to be from the islands. Like Jamaica. So the work force is black. You see these folks in the hotels, restaurants etc. as they do their jobs. And you see them walking on the edges of town as they go back and forth from their housing to their jobs. But you never see them on the beaches, or in the stores shopping, or sitting down to a meal at a restaurant.
The northern Michigan economy seems to be based on fudge, smoked fish and pasties. Just about everywhere you go folks are selling one or all of these items.
One night it was late and I was starving and I went by the Mackinaw Pastie + Cookie Company (www.Mackinawpastie.com) to get something to eat. According to a newspaper clipping framed and prominently displayed on their wall, the Detroit News rated them as the best pastie place in Michigan. Well, just between me and you, that was the worst pastie I have ever eaten in my life.
The first tip that there was something amiss should have been when they asked if I wanted gravy with it. This thing was dreadful. It looked like canned dog food when you cut into it, and it had a slightly sour taste to it. Ick. Pitched it into the garbage can after a few bites.
The next day I went across the Mackinac Bridge to get a pasty. You cross over the bridge, take a left (go west) onto US 2 and go about, well, less than 10 miles. The place is called Lehos or Lehtos, I can't remember exactly how it was spelled, and it's on your left as you head west. Mrs. Lehos/Lehtos makes the pasties by hand. They are traditional pasties and they are so good.
I drove up to Sault Ste Marie on my second day of vacation. The city is famous for many things, but one of the most notable is the Soo Locks, that marvel of engineering that enables ships to be lifted 21 feet from St. Mary's River and Lake Huron's level to Lake Superior in about twenty minutes.
The Soo Locks is one of the world's busiest, with more than 11,000 ships passing through each year. I sat along the Locks edge on one of the many benches and watched a ship pass through.
For years I did volunteer work with convicts both here in Michigan and throughout the country, and I've spent alot of time travelling the highways and the biways. On my way back down from the Soo I stopped off on M-28, the highway that zigzags the shores of Lake Superior to the edge of Marquette. I used to stay at a motel at 75 and 28, the Sharlynn, when I was up that way on prisoner business, and I wanted to see it for old times sake. Half the motel had been bulldozed! And don't you know it was the half I'd always stayed at! So much for the historical plaque---Tawny Ford stayed here (smile).
I stopped off at the Kinross/Kincheloe exit next. I'd stayed at a couple of motels there over the years, also while on prisoner business, and I wanted to see how they had fared. Well, the Eagle Inn (or maybe it ws the Eagle Motel, who remembers anymore) is now the Sunrise Motel. It's a big place. Back when I was staying there they had just done a remodel and turned every two rooms into a suite. A HUGE suite. The bathrooms were bigger than the living room at my house!
I spent as much time as I could down at the lake on the beach. I have to tell you, that was no easy feat as it was COLD in Mackinaw City. The highs were no higher than 63 and the lows, well, the lows were--does frost on the pumpkin mean anything to you (smile)?
I wasn't able to lay out in my bathing suit, too chilly for that, but I did lounge on the chaises and the swing, etc. on the hotel beach. I spent time sitting at the foot of the Mackinac Bridge on the Mackinaw City side. They have a nice park there with benches, picnic tables, barbecue grills, and the lake is shallow enough there so you can walk out into the water or swim. There's also a park on the north side of the Mackinac Bridge, on the upper peninsula side, with a pretty area for sitting and picnicing. I sat there too and was rewarded with a view of several freighters passing under the bridge.
I never went swimming, too cold, but I waded out up to my knees in Lakes Huron and Michigan. There's a great stretch of beach along Lake Michigan on the UP side, maybe 10 or 15 miles west of the bridge.
Before I forget, if you're ever passing through Mackinaw City and you're hungry, there's a great little restaurant almost in the shadow of the bridge, Audie's. It's on the east side of the bridge, on that street that runs alongside of the bridge. The food comes to your table fast, it's hot, and it's good. The prices are good, too.
Well, that's it for the summer vacation tale. Wish you could have been with me, I missed you.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
www.tawnyford.com
I almost felt like I was playing the lead in 'where's waldo?' as I asked you to guess where I was going (smile).
My travels took me to Mackinaw City, Michigan, a small tourist town at the northern most tip of Michigan's lower peninsula. The town sits on the shores of Lake Michigan, the Straits of Mackinac, as well as Lake Huron. Any place you stop at along the waters edge gives you an absolutely breathtaking view. You can see the Mackinac Bridge, Mackinac Island, and several other islands.
I stayed at a hotel right on the shores of Lake Huron. The Chippewa Motor Lodge/Waterfront Inn (www.largestbeach.com) boasts that they have the largest beach with 600 feet of sandy shoreline. I had a lake front room, second floor, with a glass sliding doorwall that opened onto my private balcony (!) complete with chairs and a table.
Not only was there the beach, but there was also an indoor pool with a waterfall and innertubes, a jacuzzi, a sun deck off the pool, a game room, shuffleboard courts, and data ports and refrigerators in each room.
The hotel was really nice. During the high summer season they charge a pretty penny for their rooms, but as summer wanes (and it wanes early in northern Michigan) the rates drop until they become downright affordable.
The only thing that's kind of wierd about Mackinaw City is that it sort of felt like I was in South Africa during apartheid. Why? Well, they import seasonal workers to supplement their summer staff. The workers, for the most part, appear to be from the islands. Like Jamaica. So the work force is black. You see these folks in the hotels, restaurants etc. as they do their jobs. And you see them walking on the edges of town as they go back and forth from their housing to their jobs. But you never see them on the beaches, or in the stores shopping, or sitting down to a meal at a restaurant.
The northern Michigan economy seems to be based on fudge, smoked fish and pasties. Just about everywhere you go folks are selling one or all of these items.
One night it was late and I was starving and I went by the Mackinaw Pastie + Cookie Company (www.Mackinawpastie.com) to get something to eat. According to a newspaper clipping framed and prominently displayed on their wall, the Detroit News rated them as the best pastie place in Michigan. Well, just between me and you, that was the worst pastie I have ever eaten in my life.
The first tip that there was something amiss should have been when they asked if I wanted gravy with it. This thing was dreadful. It looked like canned dog food when you cut into it, and it had a slightly sour taste to it. Ick. Pitched it into the garbage can after a few bites.
The next day I went across the Mackinac Bridge to get a pasty. You cross over the bridge, take a left (go west) onto US 2 and go about, well, less than 10 miles. The place is called Lehos or Lehtos, I can't remember exactly how it was spelled, and it's on your left as you head west. Mrs. Lehos/Lehtos makes the pasties by hand. They are traditional pasties and they are so good.
I drove up to Sault Ste Marie on my second day of vacation. The city is famous for many things, but one of the most notable is the Soo Locks, that marvel of engineering that enables ships to be lifted 21 feet from St. Mary's River and Lake Huron's level to Lake Superior in about twenty minutes.
The Soo Locks is one of the world's busiest, with more than 11,000 ships passing through each year. I sat along the Locks edge on one of the many benches and watched a ship pass through.
For years I did volunteer work with convicts both here in Michigan and throughout the country, and I've spent alot of time travelling the highways and the biways. On my way back down from the Soo I stopped off on M-28, the highway that zigzags the shores of Lake Superior to the edge of Marquette. I used to stay at a motel at 75 and 28, the Sharlynn, when I was up that way on prisoner business, and I wanted to see it for old times sake. Half the motel had been bulldozed! And don't you know it was the half I'd always stayed at! So much for the historical plaque---Tawny Ford stayed here (smile).
I stopped off at the Kinross/Kincheloe exit next. I'd stayed at a couple of motels there over the years, also while on prisoner business, and I wanted to see how they had fared. Well, the Eagle Inn (or maybe it ws the Eagle Motel, who remembers anymore) is now the Sunrise Motel. It's a big place. Back when I was staying there they had just done a remodel and turned every two rooms into a suite. A HUGE suite. The bathrooms were bigger than the living room at my house!
I spent as much time as I could down at the lake on the beach. I have to tell you, that was no easy feat as it was COLD in Mackinaw City. The highs were no higher than 63 and the lows, well, the lows were--does frost on the pumpkin mean anything to you (smile)?
I wasn't able to lay out in my bathing suit, too chilly for that, but I did lounge on the chaises and the swing, etc. on the hotel beach. I spent time sitting at the foot of the Mackinac Bridge on the Mackinaw City side. They have a nice park there with benches, picnic tables, barbecue grills, and the lake is shallow enough there so you can walk out into the water or swim. There's also a park on the north side of the Mackinac Bridge, on the upper peninsula side, with a pretty area for sitting and picnicing. I sat there too and was rewarded with a view of several freighters passing under the bridge.
I never went swimming, too cold, but I waded out up to my knees in Lakes Huron and Michigan. There's a great stretch of beach along Lake Michigan on the UP side, maybe 10 or 15 miles west of the bridge.
Before I forget, if you're ever passing through Mackinaw City and you're hungry, there's a great little restaurant almost in the shadow of the bridge, Audie's. It's on the east side of the bridge, on that street that runs alongside of the bridge. The food comes to your table fast, it's hot, and it's good. The prices are good, too.
Well, that's it for the summer vacation tale. Wish you could have been with me, I missed you.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
www.tawnyford.com
Friday, August 13, 2004
Did you hear that Julia Child died today? When I got up this morning I heard on the news that today was her birthday, 91st or 92nd, I forget which. Then just a bit ago I was reading posts on rec.food.cooking (a link to it is at my website, www.tawnyford.com) and someone wrote that she passed away in her sleep.
I am a big fan of cooking shows and cookbooks. My favorite cooking show these days, on the Food Network, is the one Paula Dean does, Paula's Home Cooking. I have three of her cookbooks and use them alot.
I have a huge cookbook collection in my kitchen. Like some folks read novels, I read cookbooks.
My mother didn't teach me how to cook or bake. Fact is, while she fancied herself quite the cook, her talents lay elsewhere. My grandmother on my mother's side, now she could cook and bake, but she was a stay-at-home and had a knack for it.
Every once in awhile the local PBS station will reply an old episode from one of Julia Child's cooking shows and they are great. I've learned an awful lot from them, as well as her cookbooks. She is going to be missed.
hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
I am a big fan of cooking shows and cookbooks. My favorite cooking show these days, on the Food Network, is the one Paula Dean does, Paula's Home Cooking. I have three of her cookbooks and use them alot.
I have a huge cookbook collection in my kitchen. Like some folks read novels, I read cookbooks.
My mother didn't teach me how to cook or bake. Fact is, while she fancied herself quite the cook, her talents lay elsewhere. My grandmother on my mother's side, now she could cook and bake, but she was a stay-at-home and had a knack for it.
Every once in awhile the local PBS station will reply an old episode from one of Julia Child's cooking shows and they are great. I've learned an awful lot from them, as well as her cookbooks. She is going to be missed.
hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
Friday, August 06, 2004
Many good things to report today!
First of all, I can post to this blog by myself again! Webtv/MsnTV came through with some sort of a technical upgrade yesterday and voila! this site works for me again!
Secondly, the hot muggy weather blew out of here two days ago! Today it's sunny, breezy and just the most absolutely beautiful day you could ever want.
Thirdly, are you familiar with the Syracuse Cultural Workers? www.syrculturalworkers.com They print a catalog chock full of political buttons, posters, bookmarks, etc. You can view their offerings on line, or you can request they send you a paper catalog snail mail (free). Anyway, they have great stuff.
I received an order from them this afternoon--postcards, posters, a book, a bag, and--such a treasure!--a cd by Malvina Reynolds. If you've never heard any of her music, well, then you're missing out on a really good experience.
Malvina passed away a few years ago. I grew up listening to her music on public radio and have been looking for cd's of her for ages with no luck until I stumbled up on the Syracuse Cultural Workers catalog.
The cd I got today is 'Ear To The Ground', topical songs 1960-1978. Twenty-three songs and each one better than the last.
If you like folk music then you'll love this cd.
hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
First of all, I can post to this blog by myself again! Webtv/MsnTV came through with some sort of a technical upgrade yesterday and voila! this site works for me again!
Secondly, the hot muggy weather blew out of here two days ago! Today it's sunny, breezy and just the most absolutely beautiful day you could ever want.
Thirdly, are you familiar with the Syracuse Cultural Workers? www.syrculturalworkers.com They print a catalog chock full of political buttons, posters, bookmarks, etc. You can view their offerings on line, or you can request they send you a paper catalog snail mail (free). Anyway, they have great stuff.
I received an order from them this afternoon--postcards, posters, a book, a bag, and--such a treasure!--a cd by Malvina Reynolds. If you've never heard any of her music, well, then you're missing out on a really good experience.
Malvina passed away a few years ago. I grew up listening to her music on public radio and have been looking for cd's of her for ages with no luck until I stumbled up on the Syracuse Cultural Workers catalog.
The cd I got today is 'Ear To The Ground', topical songs 1960-1978. Twenty-three songs and each one better than the last.
If you like folk music then you'll love this cd.
hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
