Monday
To get back to the mainland we did the reverse of arriving being careful to get ourselves to the right dock at the right time and insuring our bags did the same. We spent our three hours of free time this morning meandering the impeccably tidy downtown streets; grabbing breakfast at Chuck Wagon, a hot tip from a delivery man; shopping Doud’s Market, the oldest grocery store in the country; and locating the Indian Dormitory and mini-Statue of Liberty (thank you Boy Scouts of America). The streets were busy with horse-drawn wagons delivering all sorts of goods before the arrival of the first ferry of the day.

As soon as our luggage was offloaded in Mackinaw City we found the car and headed two and a half hours south to Traverse City and then cut north 12 miles to our destination, Chateau Chantal, a B&B on a working vineyard on the narrow Old Mission Peninsula. Situated on a bluff overlooking vines as far as the eye can see with Lake Michigan in the distance, it made quite an impression. We were lucky there was an accommodation available, unusual this time of year. We have a beautifully appointed two-room suite with a tiny patio steps away from one of the many postcard views of the scenery below.

Dan and I graduated high school with Fran who, along with her husband, Jim, not only farms grapes, apples, and cherries, but is part owner of the winery. With 48 hours notice that we were going to be in their neck of the woods they invited us to dinner. We had a grand time talking old times, catching up, hearing about their decision to trade corporate America for wine, seeing Jim’s stained glass and Fran’s stunning one-of-a-kind garments and quilts, and hearing about their decision to spend a large part of each winter on Molokai doing mission work. Jim made cherry pie from their cherries and Fran cooked pork in her homemade cherry barbecue sauce. Delicious. After totally overstaying our welcome, we headed back to our gorgeous accommodations and fell into bed.

Today
In order to luxuriate in our fine surroundings we decided to have a down day of sorts. Breakfast pizza, tossed greens, fresh fruit, pastries, and brown sugar bacon in the sunny dining room got the day started off on a high note. From there we explored the northern part of the peninsula, all six miles of it. We almost had the road and the few sites to ourselves. We enjoyed seeing a small log home built in 1856, a lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula, a general store that looked about as old as the log house, a mission church, and a mission house. This took us to noon, so we shared a couple of cookies and the local market’s special of the day: a double bacon cheeseburger and chips. Naps followed, then a complimentary wine tasting, reading in the sun, and snacks for dinner. We got a giggle out of the notion that we dined on Oreos, salt and vinegar chips, ice water, and jelly beans in our beautiful room. I guess it’s true: you can take the kids out of the country but you can’t take the country our of the kids.

… A Sidebar of Note …

Since the original plan was to be across the Mackinac Bridge
enjoying the Upper Peninsula these last two days, I thought it might be fun to mention a couple of personal things about the other half of the state.

Deb and Tom’s origin story started in Marquette!
They met and married there. The rest is history.

Although Dan and I are new to Michigan we have actually been to the Upper Peninsula,
two times as a matter of fact.
Dan and Deb’s dad retired from the Air Force at K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in Marquette,
and we came for his retirement ceremony in 1975.
When Dan deployed to Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990
Matt, Murphy, and I returned to K.I. Sawyer to spend the Christmas holiday with Cyd
where she was living with her Air Force husband and three super cool kids.