FURTHER LEAFING/CHAPTER 2

Day Two began with a leisurely breakfast in the hotel (because there was a discount & I have no shame) before a conference call at 9. The early birds were already gone or not yet available. We were directed to a 4-person table this time so our odds of catering another party were lowered somewhat. I guess the Sault is just into giving people lots of room at their table, not at all bad. The window view of the park and river below through the morning fog was quite pleasant though I found myself more fascinated by a crew of two who were wet mopping, not kidding, the floor to ceiling windows with a long telescoping sloppy mop right over the tables on the other side of the room. A hostess came along and was horrified they were cleaning windows right over the breakfast diners and quickly sent them packing.

Apologizing to us she said "I don't know what they were thinking washing windows over people's tables." To which I replied, "well it wasn't our table and I'm just happy to see two young people so hard at work." Made my day - nudge, nudge wink, wink. Now we both know they probably perform this task when people aren't in the dining room which may possibly be how the tables get washed with residual mop splatter.  Win-win!

Proceeded to my conference call in a room so small I think I hit my head on the ceiling when I walked around the bed. Anyway the desk chair was too short for the desk so I put the phone on speaker and just curled up and wrote with the pad snugged up against my knees. A position they frown upon in a real office so cool.

Back on the road on another non-typical warm UP day and headed to the Mac Bridge. Only boats to be seen were the air boat island hoppers to the Island. I stated that I had never stopped at the fort so we detoured under the bridge to the fort entrance. At a price of $11 apiece with no "senior" discount I contemplated how bad I really wanted to see the attraction.  I mean if you've seen one wooded palisade is another one that much different?  The docent was quite adamant that this was a fort among forts and a treat not to be missed, not to mention the scheduled firing of the muskets at 2:00.  Well not wanting to miss possible gunfire and mayhem I bought in. First stop was a history video which proceeded to tell me "well this isn't the original fort, and it's not really a fort at all but a place to exchange furs for trinkets and the walls were to keep undesirables out"- like coyotes and native Americans apparently.  The original structure was torn down to use the wood elsewhere (side note- there is a ton of wood in Northern Michigan so I guess the appeal is it's already cut and ready) and the original buildings were found buried in the sand. Huh.  Possibly if I had seen the video before paying the fee I might have passed.

Anyway to get my steps in for the day, I toured. There were people dressed in vintage palisade wear who I enjoyed tormenting by asking them questions about how they manage life in the 1700's with a cell phone sticking out of their homespun.  There was a mix of real people and mannequins which led to a hilarious moment when I commented on the odd sight of a mannequin who was bent over in the camp garden pulling weeds. Imagine my surprise and chagrin when the mannequin moved and turned out to be a live young woman. Ahem.  The gun show was interesting with two British soldiers sporting long guns appropriate for the times. One gave a fascinating lecture on the bayonet which did more to disrupt the American revolutionaries in a fight than the firing of the musket, which they claimed they could load and shoot 3 times in a minute.  However the thought of being pronged by two foot long sharp steelie things on the end of the musket bothered the Americans more than the possibility of being hit with a musket ball.  I agree. Another hilarious side note, as stated earlier the main audience for these midweek attractions are Baby Boomers who kept yelling for the soldier to "SPEAK UP"  LOL.

On to Traverse City another beautiful area on the water. Land of boats, white sands, blue water and a billion wineries (well give or take a few million).  All and all a pleasant place to linger. Sitting on the 45th parallel puts TC in line with the fabulous wine lands of France and Germany. They have the Gulf Stream, we have Lake Michigan-check and mate.  Asking my sis-in-law for dinner ideas we settled on a new Italian eatery located in, wait for it, a former mental hospital.  Well the grounds and buildings are quite spectacular, fitting for the area so maybe only the choicest mentally challenged called them home.  Perfect.

Dressed in a Tee Shirt that advertised my affinity for red wine and jeans we were asked if we had a reservation. First clue.  No, but they were able to accommodate us. We then commenced a long, long, long walk to the very last little room which was about a 10 by 10 furnished with two four-person tables, a tiny inaccessible window and stone walls.  ahhh, we are pretty much trapped back in what had to be a former patient room.  However, we did pass a fabulous wine cellar on the way in, so I'm good.  We were then greeted by the Waiter, the Assistant Waiter and the Table Clearer, for lack of a better description. Hmm second clue.  We peruse little copies of the day's selections that changes and is printed daily. Third clue - the menu was pretty much in Italian - oops.  But I did get the impression they were big on organ meats and other things that I would probably shoot down the garbage disposal rather than cooking and charging so much for them.  Little did I know I was flushing the expensive stuff down the drain.

Everything was ala carte of course with at least five courses constituting the meal which by my figuring should last approximately five hours.  Though table clearer kept popping in every two minutes to see if we had any dirty dishes to dispose of, so apparently my time estimate was way off. But if you're to spend $100+ for dinner, I am going to take my time.  Waiter A regaled us with the specials which for some reason were not listed on the daily bill of fare. Also from what I recall consisted of the loser of a recent bullfight or pig toss, I'm not really sure. I stuck with soup, salad and pasta with identifiable ingredients.  Really cool restaurant overall and fitting for the type of clientele that would normally frequent such a place.  News flash. People with money dress down 'cause if you can afford to eat there, you can wear any dang thing you want including tutus and sandals.  And that was just the guys.

Final day was in search of a famous, yet unknown apple that is only grown in this area. But as we didn't remember the name of it or where it was located we were rather at a disadvantage. Ended up hitting a couple of vineyards and collecting the special Rose that we went up there to purchase in the first place before heading home.

Oh BTW, looks like this week would have been perfect as the fickle leaves have started their annual showing.  Ah well when you get apples and grapes make cider and wine.