Category: TRAVEL

Tips and advice offered from my personal experience

TRAVEL

Carriage Ride on Mackinac Island

Jane Sadek

Not What Mom Had in Mind

One of Mom’s fondest memories of Mackinac Island was a carriage ride around the island, so of course, I wanted to take one, too. I am quite certain things had changed since Mom visited, because I do not remember my carriage ride with same fondness she remembered hers.

To begin with, I think her ride was on a Grand Hotel carriage, driven by a member of the excellent Grand Hotel staff. Mine was not. We caught a carriage downtown that took us to the tourist trap of all tourist traps. Little did I know that short trip would be the best part of the experience. Our carriage driver for that short hop was a Mackinac Island long-time resident. She knew and loved her horses. Her carriage was pristine. She knew and loved the island.

Then we arrived at the terminal. In non-Covid times it is probably a bustling building. For us it was an empty barn-like place with a tacky souvenir shop. Like most Covid-related disappointments, I just tried to ignore it. The carriages bringing customers from downtown dropped people off on one side and the tour carriages were loaded on the other. We went through the building, to the tour side and waited for our carriage to arrive.

I have nothing to say about the carriage ride except that the driver was a disaster. Some kid from someplace else and limited carriage driving experience was our driver. He didn’t know or love the horses. He certainly didn’t know or love the island. What he loved was himself and his wit. Yep, it was miserable.

However, Mackinac Island was beautiful and much of it I would not have been able to see without the “witty” carriage driver, so I am glad I went – this time. I would never do it again. I would ride bikes like my family did while we took the carriage.

I’m not going to let a bad driver keep you from seeing the beauty of the island though, so here are some pics.

The day isn’t over, yet. We got back together with our family for some final moments on Mackinac, so come back next week for some more fun (and no “witty” carriage drivers.

TRAVEL

Lunch at the Grand Hotel

Jane Sadek

Time for Lunch

Well, the gang’s all here and true to what I’d heard, the lunch buffet was really an event. The number of choices available was astounding. The service was gracious. It was a dream come true – sort of – and I am grateful to my family for the chance to have the experience.

Still, it wasn’t THE dream come true. Aside from that rocking chair moment, this wasn’t the Grand Hotel experience my mom had wished for me. Mom had come to the Grand Hotel on a bus tour called Great Hotels of the East with my sister and my aunt. They’d already stayed at Mohunk Mountain House and other amazing places. Stepping off the ferry, they’d boarded a horse drawn carriage and been welcomed at the front desk as guests, without paying a $10 fee and being handed a self-guided tour pamphlet. They stayed in the uniquely decorated guest rooms and were invited to the tea dances and the formal evening dinner. Most of all, there was nothing called COVID going on and the hotel was full to bursting with others who were enjoying all the Grand Hotel had to offer.

For Mom, this was the ultimate experience. Oh, she’d been to Europe on one of those 32-countries-in-16-days tours. She’d visited the British Isles. She’d been to Hawaii. She’d planned and enjoyed innumerable road trips, but she never had the opportunity to do the kinds of things I have done.

Her tours of England and Europe happened on a bus, shuffling through major tourist attractions with 60 or so people she would never see again. She never wandered Britain on her own, staying at bed and breakfast inns and taking her time on Cotswold backroads or seeing the Potteries with some locals she chatted up at a pub. She hadn’t stayed at the Mena House in the shadow of the Pyramids, sailed on the Nile or ridden a hantoor through Alexandria. She never attended a friend’s wedding in a German cathedral nor her nephew’s wedding in Cairo. She’d never taken a river cruise down the Nile or hurried through the streets of Budapest to make it back to the boat on time. She didn’t celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary with a vow renewal ceremony on a luxury cruise ship in the Mediterranean.

The leap my mother made from working at the five & dime on the Square in McKinney TX to sitting on the porch at the Grand Hotel was pretty amazing. It was beyond her wildest dreams. She wanted so much for me to have the same moment she did at the Grand Hotel, but by the time I got there I’d ridden to the Pyramids on a camel, feasted in the Sinai, watched a ballet performance in the Schönbrunn Palace, had drinks at the Monaco Yacht Club as the guest of the CEO of Celebrity Cruise Lines and so much more.

Still, I didn’t do what she did at the Grand Hotel. I was just a visitor, not a guest. So while I can say I have been to the Grand Hotel, staying there will remain on my bucket list. I have no idea what will take me back, but there are many places and many experiences I never even had enough imagination to dream, until they actually happened to me, so I will keep the faith that there are more exciting things in my future than there have been in my past.

Come back next week. There are still adventures on Mackinaw Island. We’ll take a carriage ride around the island next.

TRAVEL

On Our Way to the Grand Hotel

Jane Sadek

An Exciting Day Begins

For years, it didn’t matter which exotic and exciting place I told my mother we were about to visit, her response was the same, “I sure wish you’d go to the Grand Hotel.” Well, when I woke up in the Marriot Courtyard Inn in Petoskey, Mom’s wish was about to come true.

I was up early like I always am and hit the shower, because we had tickets for the first Shepler Ferry Boat of the day. Then I went down to the cafe where I’d already scoped out the fact that they had Diet Dr Pepper. Returning to the room, I helped Bill get ready for the day, because we all had to report to the lobby at 7:30 AM sharp. Our ride on the ferry was without incident and we were soon on Mackinac Island.

Welcome to Mackinac Island

We made our way down the gangplank and onto the island. The one thing everyone knows about Mackinac Island is that there are no motorized vehicles allowed. Near the pier you can catch many types of horse drawn vehicles, but we opted to walk up the hill to the Grand Hotel.

What a charming place it was! My excitement was building with every step. I was nearing the place my mother had recommended to me for years on end.

Then suddenly the wait was over. I was at The Grand Hotel.

If you’ve never been, then be warned, you can’t just waltz in for a visit. There’s a $10 per person fee for everyone. And you can’t show up barefoot in your bikini. Proper dress is required. After 6PM men require a jacket and The Grand Hotel does not believe women should wear slacks. I guess we passed muster, because they gladly took our money and allowed us to take our self-guided tour of the grounds.

My mother had told me all about rules and for her sake I’d dressed up for our day on Mackinac, from my full brimmed sun-hat, to my floral dress, to my snazzy shoes, I was intent on making Mom proud.

The place has a huge visual impact, but I just couldn’t wait to get out on that long front porch and sit in one of their rocking chairs. Mom loved everything about The Grand Hotel but she loved those rocking chairs best of all. I finally planted myself in one and whispered to my mom, “Well, Ruth, I made it.”

Emotion swept over me in a way I never expected. Tears began to run down my face and my shoulders shook, from my sobs. I guess everyone else thought I was crazy, but Mom and I were having a moment.

The tears passed and the moment was over. I was ready for my self-guided tour. Bill and I headed one way and the rest of them headed in another. Here’s a sample of what we saw.

After walking around inside the hotel, we set out to see something of the grounds. Everything is immaculately maintained. I saw no leaf out of place, no paint beginning to peel and every single piece of grass seemed to be part of a large shag carpet. Here’s a few of those exterior shots, including our fellow travelers and us.

Our sweet nephew had arranged for us all to have the amazing buffet lunch. Soon it was time to make our way back to the dining room to be seated. I was really excited, because my mom had certainly been fond of the meals at The Grand Hotel. Come back next week and find out how it was.

TRAVEL

Chateau Chantal

Jane Sadek

Elegant Winery with Breath-taking Views

To top off a marvelous day, our nephew had one more place to show us. After our historical break, it was time to hit our last winery. This one was Chateau Chantal and it had visions of grandeur.

Chateau Chantal is more than just a winery. It is also an inn with 11 guestrooms, so driving up to it, one had the sense of driving up to something magnificent. I can imagine that a stay there would be quite nice. If northern Michigan is on your list, I can recommend staying here as your headquarters, while you spend several days exploring the area.

The beautiful aerial shot is an result of Bill bringing along his drone on this vacation. We’d already had it out once, showing the kids how it worked, flying it around their neighborhood. The grandiose vistas around Chateau Chantal inspired him to pull it out again.

Perched on the highest ground in the area, the chateau dominates the landscape and from it’s patio you can see just how beautiful the area is. The architecture is reminiscent of a chateau, but one on a rustic farm, not something like Château de Chambord.

Entering the front door left one a little confused about what to do. There was a host/hostess station, but no one was stationed there. An area appeared to be roped off for a line, but there was no line. So, we wandered in and the guys tried to figure out how to get tastings and perhaps a bite to eat. The tastings were great. The bite to eat was packaged snacks that tasted as if they’d been waiting for a while to be chosen.

Still the view was out of this world, so we enjoyed it. Most of the others agreed it was the best winery of the day. Personally, I gave wine honors to Black Star Farms, though it’s not a place I’d want to spend an afternoon. I thought be best experience was at Mari Vineyards and I still regret we didn’t have a picnic.

Winding Down from the Wineries

Remember the trials and tribulations of getting out of town. You know the ones where I had to stay up all night to get work from our editors delivered to all our customers, before we left town. Then there was the early morning flight and the five hour road trip. Well, it all caught up with me and after we climbed back in the car from visiting Chateau Chantal, I dozed off.

We checked into the Marriot Courtyard Inn in Petoskey and the rest of the crew went to dinner, but this girl went to bed. Before moving on to our next adventures, I will share a few pictures, but come back next week, because we’ll be going to Mackinac Island!

Architecture, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Mari Vineyards – The Oak Island Winery

Jane Sadek

Thanks to the Curse We Had a Great Experience

Yep, I’m a fan of The Curse of Oak Island, but Shad, who did all the planning, is not a Lagina Brothers groupie. When he sent me an outline of what he intended for us to do, I did some poking around on the internet. It’s there I saw Mari Vineyards on an attractions map outside Traverse City. I knew this was one of Marty Lagina’s many enterprises and it would not have any direct connection to the TV show I loved, but I still wanted to go. Our host accommodated my desire.

WOW! Is This It?

Fresh off our visit to Black Star Farms, we were hoping for something a bit more, shall we say, engaging. While a covered porch and adjacent farmyard has a certain allure for some people, it’s not exactly my scene. Mari Vineyards suited my taste to a tee. To begin with, the winery sits on a gorgeous piece of real estate, with a commanding view of the area. Even if wine is not your thing, you can’t help but love the view.

As you can see from the first photo, the architecture and accoutrements are also much more upscale. The patio was particularly inviting. I loved the exterior so much I never made it inside, but according to the others, the restroom facilities were nice and the staff was pleasant.

Honestly, however, the wine was not outstanding. I’d give the wine honors to Black Star, but if I was looking for a great way to spend an afternoon, Mari Vineyards would win hands down and I’d probably bring a picnic.

Traveling with Kids

So, I don’t do kids. I like to see them at church and I enjoy my great niece and great nephews in very short spurts, if they can be returned to their parents after a bit, but I don’t dote on them the way some people do. That being said, these kids were pretty great. Major kudos to the parents in both cases. Hannah and Daniel are both obedient, intelligent and respectful.

Hannah is a sweetheart all the way around, perhaps a bit of a Daddy’s girl, but who could blame her Dad when she works so hard to please him.

Daniel is a whole ‘nother ball of wax, a real cut up and slightly naughty. Catching him for a photo was a hit or miss thing. He seemed to know just when to make that face or strike a pose to highlight the imp inside.

Hannah, who is older, can sit quietly and needs little supervision, with or without her ipad. Daniel can sit quietly forever, if he’s playing a game, but once the electronic devise is ripped from his hands, one needs to keep an eye on him and should you fail to do so, he’ll find a way to get your attention.

Wineries are not exactly kid-friendly, so after our second one, we took another tack, visiting the Old Mission Lighthouse. Come back next week and check that out!

TRAVEL

Mission Point Lighthouse

Jane Sadek

A Historic Break from Winetasting

On this Family Road Trip, it was time to take a break from winetasting, so we visited a nearby lighthouse. Did you know navigating the Great Lakes is actually more dangerous than sailing on an ocean? The weather is more unpredictable, sand bars and shoals are constantly shifting and underwater outcroppings lay hidden beneath the surface. From the legends surrounding La Salle’s Le Griffon to Gordon Lightfoot’s ballad about the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Great Lakes have a claim on infamy.

These days, technology has replaced the lighthouses and their faithful lighthouse keepers, but the Great Lakes still take their toll. On this particular sunny day the lighthouse was just a lovely place to relax. There’s a tour available for a small fee, but they were just about to close, so we just enjoyed the scenery instead.

Shad and Maggie were involved with the kids, but Bill and I found a few Adirondack chairs to relax in. It was a lovely way to pass some time. Nearby was a historic cabin which had been moved to the property. We did take a promenade around it and gazed into the rooms furnished to reflect the lives of early settlers to the area – though I’m sure the Indians who lived in the area already thought they were settled without any cabins.

Here’s a few pictures we took as we lazed around the historical park.

Traverse City Area

I’ve always thought of Michigan as a sort of oversized mitten. The Traverse City area would be close to the nail on the ring finger of your left hand, if you were looking at the backside of the mitten. My mom had once taken a bus tour around the shores of Michigan, but over the years, I had forgotten exactly what she’d seen on the trip. She wasn’t much into wine tasting and with all the other magnificent lighthouses still standing, I doubt Mom’s tour bus detoured up into that small peninsula, but I’m glad we went up there. It was just the right size for a day trip.

If you are in Michigan and looking for a fun and relaxing way to spend a day, I would certainly recommend the Old Mission Peninsula with it’s lovely old lighthouse, beautiful scenery and delightful wineries, but I would not have made a special trip from Texas just to go there. Speaking of wineries. We tried one more before calling it a day. Join me next week to find out about Chateau Chantal.

TRAVEL

Black Star Farms

Jane Sadek

Rustic and Awkward

Having lived on the Central Coast of California, we love wine tasting, but we also know it to be quite an adventure. When we first moved to the Central Coast, wineries and wine tastings were a very casual and free affair. As the area became more well known for its wines, the casual part stayed, but the free went away.

Bill has never quite gotten over the fact that today’s wineries all charge for a tasting, but he’s learned to live with it. We’ve also learned to live with the fact that few wineries are going to be offering up wines as good as we were introduced to in Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara. That’s especially true, if we’re visiting the wineries in nearby our Texas home in Grapevine.

In Michigan we didn’t know what to expect. Our first winery was Black Star Farms and it was a farm. A white clapboard building with a big covered porch was the tasting room, but one look around told us we’d much prefer to taste our wine on the porch. From the porch we could see barns, holding pens and other rustic sights.

I’m sure the awkwardness was all Covid’s fault, but I got the distinct impression we weren’t altogether welcome there. These days there seem to be doors opened out of necessity, but their occupants wish you’d had the good sense to just stay home. I’m sure a pair of kids also added to the scrutiny we received. There was no way for them to know these kids were perfectly behaved. All in all, I thought the porch would be the best choice for our visit. I love al fresco, but I got the feeling if we hadn’t asked to be on the porch, we would have been told to go out there anyway.

They shooed us out to the porch with papers from which to choose our tastings. There wasn’t much on the paper to help you decide what you wanted, nor did anyone seem interested in helping you out. Eventually they begrudgingly returned to collect our papers and we waited forever for them to deliver our selections. No one ever came back out to check on us either.

The wine itself was actually pretty good and Shad tried some of their other offerings, like bourbon. We took our time enjoying the tasting and the long porch was very pleasant. After a while we decided to move on to the next place, which was a little more exciting.

Would I recommend it? Yes, I would, especially if the pandemic is ever over. I think they might be happier to see you, then, but their product is lovely and porch offers a great place to relax. I hope you’ll join me next week to find out about Mari Vineyards. For now, here’s a few more shots from Black Star Farms.

TRAVEL

On the Road Again

Jane Sadek
Our Family’s Home

Visiting Michigan

Imagine our joy when we arrived at this beautiful home, which is even more beautiful inside than it is outside. Waiting for us was Bill’s niece, Maggie, her husband, Shad, our great niece, Hannah and our great nephew, Daniel. They were the most gracious hosts and hostesses you can possibly imagine. A big meal was planned and it seemed everyone had something exciting to say. I would tell you more, except for the fact I can barely remember anything. I was a zombie.

I do know the first order of business was to reorganize all our luggage, because we were leaving the next morning for a road trip. Eventually, I excused myself from all the fun and slept like the dead. I’m sure I missed a lot. These are Egyptians. Life begins at about 9 PM.

On to Traverse City

I can’t help it. I was up at five. I took a bath and got myself ready for a day of sightseeing. Bless my family’s heart! My love of Diet Dr Pepper is well known. The frig was stocked well with them and my nephew, the doctor, said my red eyes and slight sore-throat would succumb to a Claritin. By 7 AM I was human.

My great niece and I took the seats at the very back. She was an absolute joy and a great travel partner. My great nephew was a little fussy. Within an hour, we made the first potty stop. By about 10, we had to make another one. Too many women in one car. Hannah and I were the most frequent potty flyers.

The Apache Trout Grill

The first official stop on this road trip was the Apache Trout Grill. Though I had never heard of it, it’s popularity cannot be denied. We shared Brussel Sprouts and Shrimp Bruchetta for appetizers. For lunch I had something call Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad, which doesn’t begin to hint at the Bleu Cheese, Cherries and Mandrian Oranges which were in it. YUM!!

But the best was yet to come. Behind the restaurant is a dock with chairs all lined up for your relaxation comfort. Here’s a few of our moments on the dock.

After allowing our delicious meal an opportunity to digest it was time to take on the afternoon’s agenda of wine tasting. Come back next week and taste along with us.

TRAVEL

Clarkson MI via Chicago IL

Jane Sadek

So, Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?

We like to save money. We can’t help it. When I researched flights to Michigan, I discovered (thanks to our friend, Mr. Pandemic) our flight to Detroit or Flint would be comparable to our flight to Rome just a couple of years before. I’d pulled every trick out of the book to make the Rome flights affordable, changing planes and enduring overnight layovers to save a few bucks. To pay virtually the same to get to Michigan seemed ridiculous.

I started looking for alternatives. Chicago was only five hours and many hundreds of dollars less, according to my research. I imagined an early flight and an easy five hour drive was worth hundreds of dollars. I mean this money was coming out of my travel budget and that’s the most precious funds I have access to. Bill said it was a no-brainer and, as I bonus we love Chicago, so we might end the trip with a day or two there.

The Good Idea Meets Reality

In my wildest dreams, I would have never guessed I would have been up for 24 hours by the time we got to the airport, but thanks to some random problem with our network, that was exactly the case. While other folks are able to catch a nap on the plane, in spite of my total exhaustion, that wasn’t possible for me. I’m lucky to grab even a couple of hours of sleep on international flights. About all I could manage on the short hop to Chicago was to rest my gravelly eyes. No sleep would come.

In Chicago, we grabbed a rental car and hit the road. Whoever (Google) said it was going to be a five hour drive obviously was out of touch with reality. Traffic was a nightmare and there was a lot of construction. There was a goodly amount of navigating to do through Illinois, so I stayed awake to help, but once we crossed over into Michigan, I was finally able to doze off.

It seemed as if I had only dozed off for a moment or two, but in reality I had a good nap. Bill, who certainly isn’t used to getting up at 4 AM, was fading fast. When I moved a little bit and fluttered my eyes, he asked if I would drive. I wanted to ask, “Are you kidding?”, but instead I told him to pull over at the next opportunity and I would fight it for a while.

The Torture Chamber

Bill dozed off the second I took over the wheel. A few moments later a sign announced I was approaching some construction and I thought to myself, “HA! As if we haven’t had it all along.”

It was true that Bill had driven through some construction, but nothing like I was about to face. As the lanes narrowed down, one truck pulled in front of me and another fell in line behind me. Then suddenly there were concrete barricades on either side of me and the road was rough. That’s when it began to rain.

Tears came to eyes just as they had at 3 AM, as I fought to deliver the images to our customers, so they’d have them within our designated time frame. I knew I had a job to do. I just didn’t know how I was going to do it. Bill may not have been up for as many hours as I had, but he’d valiantly driven for hours on end, while I dozed. It was his turn.

Imagine driving, in the rain, on a strange road, with a truck ahead of you and one behind you, when you can’t see over the concrete barriers on either side of you. Oh, and don’t forget the rough road. I had no idea how Bill could be asleep.

I remembered a trip we’d taken many years ago. Bill was driving a moving truck, pulling a car. We were in Albuquerque NM and rain was pouring so hard that you could barely see the car ahead of you, much less the signs over the road. I was behind Bill, in my car, and we were using our phones like walkie talkies. In spite of the fact I could barely see, I was directing Bill, as he drove ahead of me. I looked over to my dog who was in the seat next to me. I thought animals could sense danger, but my Shih Tzu was dead asleep. I must create a false sense of security when I drive.

Back in Michigan, I put in about an hour and a half in that moving torture chamber and I was done. That’s about the time the road opened up and the trucks zoomed away. I pulled off at the next McDonald’s for a potty stop and for Bill to take back the wheel. He took us on to Clarkson and to the home of our family. Come back next week, because things do get better.

TRAVEL

Michigan Bound

Jane Sadek

The Bags Were Packed, But the Business Wouldn’t Let Go

For one of the few times in my life I left the planning to someone else. My nephew, Dr. Megala, had lots of good ideas about what we should do while we visited Michigan, so I left it to him. Meanwhile, I was squaring things away so our business would actually let us leave.

As fate would have it, we had to do five different shoots the day before we left. Thankfully, we had a second photographer, so Bill only had to do three, but while we had a second photographer, I was still the only one handling the post production end of things. This trip would be our first stab at remote operations. Bill had bought a new laptop in recent months, so my primary job was to make sure everything worked.

I had checked and double-checked every link, every app, every email address – anything I would need to do my job while I was gone. There were only a few jobs sprinkled throughout the time we’d be away, but I was still nervous. As a way to test everything, I was going to use my laptop to process the jobs that came in that day.

In order to speed up the process, Bill met me mid-day with a photo card with two of his jobs, so I could start downloading images. When I came home from picking it up, our second photographer had emailed me his first set of pictures, also. I sat down at the laptop and began to process the jobs. The laptop told me it would take about 20 minutes to download the first shoot. Nothing out of the ordinary. We use raw images which are huge.

Not long afterwards, the laptop changed its mind and told me 45 minutes. Soon it was reporting a new time frame – 5 hours. FIVE HOURS!! Assuming it must be something wrong with the laptop, I went to Bill’s computer and tried to download another set of photos. His computer said it would take 2 days. I went upstairs to my computer. It wanted 5 days!!

When Bill got home I had decided our network was broken. Oh, I could get email, social media and all kinds of other things on our wi-fi, but nothing was downloading anywhere. I had pulled out my mobile hotspot and was about to load it with gigabytes. He decided I must be doing something wrong, so he wanted me to explain everything I’d done in the hours since he’d left me the photo card.

Now, as much as I love this guy, I was frantic and he was using his calm, cool tech-support voice. My hair was was on fire and I was on the verge of a total meltdown. I tried to be calm, I really did, but I wasn’t very good at it. Somewhere along the way, as I explained the problem and recounted my steps, the computers decided perhaps they’d only need another half hour or so to finish downloading the first job. We don’t have a clue what changed, but something did.

On a good day, it would take about five hours to download five jobs and send them to the editors. I’ve improved the process in the months since, but I was still figuring things out back then. Having started with two of the jobs in mid-afternoon and the others coming in shortly afterwards, I should have been done by dinner time.

As it turned out, it was bedtime before I got all the images downloaded and sent to the editors. I’d asked for a rush on all of them, so even though I was exhausted and was supposed to wake up at 4, I wanted to get a confirmation the editors had them and to have some kind of idea when they’d be ready.

Up until then, when I asked for a rush, I got an immediate confirmation and the images would be returned within the hour. That’s not what happened this time. Finally, sometime after midnight I got the confirmation they’d received all the jobs, but in spite of all my begging emails, I didn’t get the five jobs back until 3 AM! THREE AM!!

Bleary-eyed from being awake for 22 hours or so, I was totally stressed out and started delivering the jobs via email with tears in my eyes. At 4:05 AM the jobs were all sent and I walked downstairs to get ready to leave the house at 4:30 AM.

Now, I thought I would receive a hero’s welcome when I reported to the bedroom. Instead someone in this household, who will remain nameless, started telling me I had done it all wrong. Some day I will forgive him, but I am still working on it. Come back next week and see what happened next.