COLOR TOUR WOES

Day One of a spontaneous trip up North (as Michiganders speak), to review the fall color face lift enjoyed by our State.  Woefully the leaves are stubbornly retaining their chlorophyll gluttony and refusing to turn as quickly as usual. Every year is basically a crap shoot -- too much rain? cold nights? wind? Part of nature's little game of "catch me if you can" on fall leaf painting. Temperature is in the mid 70's.

However all is not lost, frequent pops of burnt orange (often fluorescent) were paramount as mile after mile of ROAD WORK signs were encountered. Occasionally the orange is punctuated by a few errant spots of yellow and green from the worker's safety vests.  I usually refer to them as targets considering the level of accidents that occur to road workers. One has to ponder why government budgets end in September with new money available October 1, Did it occur to anyone that perhaps road work would be better completed in, say, the warmer months? Immediately subjecting fragile new roadways to the punishment of winter does not seem to be a very good game plan. But I digress.

Ok, past Houghton Lake a few more Fall jacketed trees are starting to appear.  No doubt these are possibly dying foliage throwing a last shawl of brilliant color on before passing on. Could be the slowness of the technicolor show commencing or the angle of the light, but I have never seen the color of raspberry on so many colored leaves.  Or could it just be a trick of my sunglasses - the proverbial rose colored phenomenon?

After another 30 or 40 miles we will be crossing the Mighty Mac to the Upper Peninsula the land of whitewater waterfalls and chuckling chipmunks. Well at least I think they are chipmunks I hear as one traverses the off-road woodland paths to the aforementioned waterfalls. It is also the land of two mailboxes - one for warm weather and the second 10 feet higher to accommodate the massive piles of plowed snow that occur in the cooler months. A land where the motorcycles of summer are replaced with the rumbling excitement of the snowmobiles, with drivers and passengers often wearing the same protective gear as weather does tend to change quickly.

 Sault Ste Marie (the Soo) was uncharacteristically sheathed in warm weather and green trees. Most unusual for October. Remembering our adventures from our youth we eagerly checked into the downtown hotel and headed to the "Antlers" restaurant for dinner where one picked out their meat from a giant cooler for grilling and some brave souls would attempt the 5-pound hamburger. Although the masses of animal heads and body parts were still prominently displayed on walls and ceiling alas the meat locker was gone along with the front door and other illusions of grandeur that made the Antlers special.  Upon suggesting that changes had occurred since the last trip there to the youngish waiter who looked extremely blank or cautious as not to upset the customer it dawned on me - that was 40 years ago. Sigh. Things definitely get smaller as you get older.

After dinner I was treated to the numerous well-lit exotic places of food and fantasy that were bypassed in favor of the A-room with its dead animals on the walls and no obvious door. Perhaps the darkness and lack of front door should have been warning enough. Not that one in front; ok that one is chained, go to the rear past the motorcycle chained to some steps. In pouring rain no less. Finally finding the back door available ( oh that's why everyone parked back here) and then another labyrinth to a hostess who seated the two of us at a table for 8. Did we stumble on a party to be joined by others? Or are we dining European style where all are friends over food or lack of tables. Nope, just they know how many diners to expect on a rainy Wednesday evening so it just plain didn't matter!

Bottom line - I didn't recognize the old place.  Wasn't it bigger with a more elaborate menu? Dead animals still making camp on walls ceilings check. However I did discover "pontaine" which is apparently a Canadian delicacy that closely resembles cheesy fries.

Souvenir hunting in mind after dinner we discovered all sidewalks apparently roll up at 9 pm. Except for the fabulous restaurants and bars of course. I suppose it makes sense as the majority of people we saw on our impromptu road trip were boomer aged. So hunkering down with some wine or whiskey is probably the activity of choice after 9 pm. This is a college town so there was a variety of bars and saloons to choose from however.