Fennville was only about 20 miles out of our way on the drive back to Chicago from Empire and proved to offer a welcome alternative to the Farmhouse Cafe in Douglas that had a 45-60 minute wait for sandwiches on our trip up north. Instead, we waltzed in and out of the Root Cafe in downtown Fennville in a matter of minutes with great food and service to dine on a dog-friendly patio. Perfect! It has a broad menu – we tried the Cuban sandwich, the turkey sandwich and the mixed salad greens with pulled chicken and bacon. It also has excellent homemade lemonade (pulp and all)! We stopped in Fennville maybe 10 years ago en route to up north and ate at the Blue Goose Cafe, which was fine. Roots Cafe is an even better option.
Tile from Kuilema Pottery Dining al fresco at Root Cafe
The cafe also shared space with a gallery with lots of local or near-local ceramics, (kuilema pottery in Grand Rapids) so I did a wee bit of shopping too. It also sells rustic bread from the well-regarded restaurant /bakery(dinner only) a few doors down called Salt of the Earth, which serves new American cuisines made with seasonal fare from local farmers and producers.
We noticed there is also a cute little Children’s on the small main drag, that looked like a good stop for our grandchildren, next trip!
My best friend from high school PJ lives in the Empire/Glen Arbor area and introduced me to it when we were teenagers in suburban Detroit, visiting her parents cottage on Lake Michigan in Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes. So a highlight of the trip is catching up with her and her family, which we did during a lovely afternoon at her beach gathering and cookout with about 15-20 people that stretched into the night, complete with swimming, Petosky stone hunting (no luck, as usual), grilled corn, brats and s’mores, stargazing in the dark, dark sky.
Empire school house mid-restoration
My visit also happened to coincide with the biennial Empire house tour benefiting the impressive contemporary Glen lake community library in Empire so PJ and I visited four homes in Empire and two perched on Glen Lake. Each was very unique and stunning, from a converted 1910 apple barn transformed into a 3-bedroom home to a 1912 arts & crafts bungalow, as well as an ultra modern site-specific architects’ home (“net-zero energy construction,” polished concrete floors inlaid with local beach sones, loft-style great room, native vegetation garden with non-native outdoor pizza oven) and lovely new-construction 12-year-old cottage (“scandi-modern meets cozy farm house”) in the charming sleepy village of Empire to a dramatic modern home tucked into a lakeside hill with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Glen lake (the deep blue cabinets echoing the lake) and a crazy sprawling 1927 log “cabin” also on the lake, in the woods, with origami wood floor, furniture and fixtures mixed with whimsical decor that reminded me of a Wes Anderson movie, complete with collections of peace sign sculptures, stiletto sandals, felt doughnuts hanging from the wood rafters in the sleeping loft, a portrait of Jimmy Hendrix mounted on the cut-stone floor to ceiling fireplace/hearth. I had a definite case of screened porch-envy after the tour.
All the homes had lovely paintings by well-known area artists, whose work PJ took me to see at three Glen arbor galleries including The Center Gallery, part of Lake Street Studios, which has a succession of one week summer shows of various local luminaries. The current show, of rural landscapes by Margo Burian, was almost all sold after just a few days. Other artists with the gallery, which focuses on local work reflecting the local landscape and culture of the sleeping Bear dunes region/Leelanau County include: Joan Richmond, Jessica Kovan, Amanda Ackerman. Other impressive galleries: Synchronicity and ArborGallery, where the saleswoman was a former art teacher at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, my kids’ alma mater.
View from a house-tour home on Glen lake (interior photos verboten)Not on the house tour: our Airbnb in empire, which worked well for us
We took a slight detour to Pyramid Point where we parked our bikes and hiked into the woods for 20 minutes to a high clearing atop a dune looking out at the water in many shades of blue, some worthy of the Caribbean, aqua, navy, greenish, and turquoise.
Dare I say it? The Heritage trail from Glen Arbor north for 10 miles to the end at Bohemian Road was almost prettier than the more traveled portion from Glen Arbor south to Empire. The trail was mostly level and sometimes went along backroads but the backroads were quiet. It paralleled highway M-22 at times but still, not too much traffic. There were crushed gravel portions but nothing too tricky to ride on. And oh the scenery! Shaded, sun-dappled trails through the woods, wide open meadows with a sea of waving purple wildflowers and wooded hills in the distance, startling glimpses of blue lake between the green leafy trees, the odd white birch among the pines and elms, old white farmhouses, bright red wooden barns.
Lunch was chocolate milkshakes and gelato (mint and mocha) at the fabulous new gelato/bakery opened this month by The Grocers daughter, a fancy chocolate shop. Noah and dirck found a pick up pickle ball game on a court in a small park in Empire, west of M-22. My faith in Michigan cherries was restored at a stand on M-22 just north of Empire. (Previous cherries purchased elsewhere were not as good. Mushy and lacking flavor.)
Tonight we returned, as we have every night we’ve been here, to Esch Beach, just south of Empire. At 6 pm the crowd had thinned! It has a wide sandy beach and sandy bottomed lake bottom, with glorious views of the dunes to the north and the wooded hilly shoreline. It also has a designated dog area – we discovered this trip that Millie can swim and lives to go in the water if you throw her a ball to fetch. Linus and Felix both warmed to the water and beach.
I have a habit, perhaps bad, of spending much of my time when revisiting a place trying, often unsuccessfully, to remember where I went last time. Fortunately I have this blog to remind me.
Which is how we ended up in the small pretty village of Northport, while driving north of traverse city in the Leelanau Penninsula along the famously scenic highway M-22 (so famously scenic that it has inspired its M-22 bumper stickers, shot glasses, tees and stores.) The Tribune, a sweet looking restaurant in a former small town newspaper office, was closed (due to it being a Wednesday) but we found good sandwiches nearby at The Bohemian Cafe, next door to a little BBQ place, which, in turn, is next to a shop selling, oddly, beautiful kimonos imported from Japan via the internet.
Like the village of Empire, Northport has retained its small town charm despite becoming gentrified or tourist-fied. There are some high end stores but not too many and not too high-end (although a floor mat made of lobster-catching cords, thick and plastic coated, was $120 at one tasteful store.) And the place still has irreverent and idiosyncratic touches – a sign next to a bunch of old silver knickknacks at an antique/junk shop reading “dead peoples stuff ” and a vending machine with a sign boasting that it’s the worlds first (or only?) goat cheese vending machine. (There was goat cheese in the machine, which we assumed is refrigerated). The waterfront was quiet, lined with lawns, parks, flowers, a marina. The residential streets were quiet too with old cottages and lots of trees and gardens. (This is not the case in other towns like Suttons Bay or even Glen Arbor, which are bustling with tourist attractions.)
Goat cheese vending machine (perhaps the world’s only)
We saw major Michigan celebrities on the Heritage trail in Glen Haven, Mi today — big burley young men in Michigan Wolverines shirts who turned out to be U of M football team players. Other mere mortal tourists watched them and tried to avoid being seen gawking. This was perhaps the most unexpected sight on the trail, which we rode for 20-some miles (round trip) from Glen Arbor to Empire.
Uncle Noah with Felix and Linus
It’s a really nice wide paved trail that winds mostly through the deep green woods (with the occasional white birch) but offers a few glimpses of Lake Michigan (at Glen Haven, which has some old historic buildings with big old boats on view and a hotel in the making) and Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, past the Dune Climb, a wide steep mountain of sand that many tourists were huffing and puffing their way up and then running down, arms akimbo. The heritage trail is largely flat until just past the dune climb when it becomes hilly, often steeply so, much of the way to Empire.
Our pretty Airbnb in empire…Nancy’s garden. Much nicer than the dump we rented last year in Beulah, which has a glorious view of Crystal Lake. No lake view this time but gorgeous landscaping and gardens in a sun-dappled clearing of thick woods.
Lunch was a sublime chocolate milkshake and Sour strawberry sorbet shared with dirck and newly available at the venerable GrocersDaughter chocolate shop. There’s also gelato and baked goods in a new building that opened last Saturday. Why bother with a mediocre sandwich when you can have a chocolate milkshake instead? It’s a little confusing figuring out where to get what. The gelato / bakery is in a separate new building, also including the milkshakes but the well-reviewed fudgesickles are sold at the original chocolate shop.
In Glen Arbor we rode about 10 miles north along another segment of the trail, this one on a road through the woods along Glen Lake but there were few cars. We got a few peeks through the woods to get a glimpse of big summer houses perched on the lake.
Heritage trailGlen haven Empire beach
I should add too that in Glen arbor, Anderson IGA is now an upscale market with everything from local cherry jams to Dots pretzels. A branch of Lchaimdeli, based in Beulah, just opened. The bagels are good. And there’s a new store with well-chosen charcuterie fixins called Inn and Trail Gourmet. Old standby Cherry republic is good for meals and snacking on free samples of dried cherry everything. And Esch beach is a sandy swath of beach that kindly welcomes dogs. Our lab Millie plunged in, waves be damned, twice in what looked like an attempt to rescue dirck who did not need rescuing. But she didn’t plunge in when I was swimming. Hmmm….
We gladly returned to the Weko Beach area in Bridgman, Michigan for a family get together at the end of a holiday weekend so Weko Beach was more crowded but still lovely. And the day after the 4th, we had more of the hot sandy beach and refreshing Lake Michigan water to ourselves. With my sisters house at capacity we stayed overnight at an Airbnb in Berrien Springs, a farming community (where produce sold at the green market in Chicago’s Lincoln Park comes from) that is due west. We took a pretty rural road (snow road) back to Bridgman about a 25 minute drive that appeared to be a bike route. (Good to know.)
It was hazy this morning so we explored St. Joseph and Benton Harbor as well as the Red Arrow highway south which is dotted with antique stops, restaurants and produce stands. We had good sandwiches at the Whistlestop, ready-made not the made-to-order because a storm overnight knocked out power for awhile. Excellent chicken salad sandwich, turkey club and lavender lemonade, light on the lavender. On our way out of the area, we stopped at Oink, a cheerful ice cream shop with kooky decor (ice cream scoopers hang down from the rafters) and excellent flavors (Michigan pothole, as my sister recommended, chocolate with small Reese’s pieces; lemon cheesecake bar).
We did learn that many stores are closed on a Tuesday (and probably Monday too) so we’d like to return on a day when ARC, a gallery in Benton Harbors “arts district” is open, as well as the shop Alchemy on red arrow.
Weko beach with Nora And HankIce cream scoopers line the rafters at Oink
Word has it things Benton Harbor is becoming a hipster outpost among the small charming lakeside communities here in southwest Michigan, an easy 90 minute drive from Chicago.
My sister Jill, who moved here from Chicago, was excited to show us all the cool stuff she’s found here, which would take several days (more time than we have this trip) but we got a good start. We had a very good lunch at the lively, art-infused Mason Jar cafe in Benton Harbor (excellent sandwiches, burgers, scrambled egg concoction and fresh lemonade).
At the Mason Jar
Weko beach in the small town of Bridgman is a broad expanse of perfect sandy beach lining Lake Michigan, great for swimming, with a sandy bottom, long stretch of shallow water and surprisingly not-frigid water. (Is it a bad thing climate-wise that the frigid Lake Michigan of my childhood is no more?) Beyond the beach are wooded dunes, what looks like a primo campground and more densely green Michigan woodland. Just south of this beach is Warren Dunes State Park where we hiked up at dune, through the woods, up an even steeper dune (hand and foot style) and then across and down the dunes with the dazzling blue lake and sky in front of us. (Note to self: next time wear hiking books, not sandals. The sand was hot on our feet and we could have used more treds going downhill in the woods on packed sand). We returned to the park later to take Millie, our lab, to the dog beach, which she enjoyed. Busy place with lots of sunbathing humans and frolicking dogs.
Lunch was at Full Circle Cafe, a popular local spot in Stevensville with a good cobb salad and sandwiches below a high stamped tin ceiling and an old-fashioned counter. We did a little shopping at local farmstands including Alex’s Veggies in Stevensville and Michigan Local Harvest on the Red Arrow Highway in Sawyer, picking up some fresh strawberries, asparagus and rhubarb and other fruit from other places (not yet fresh in Michigan). We hit a little traffic returning to Chicago on a Friday late afternoon but nothing terrible and was such a nice rural/beach getaway from the city.
My first trip to what was then called the El Rey Inn was in the late 1980s. It was an inexpensive lodging option in pricey Santa Fe, a humble but packed-with-character, hacienda-themed motor court motel on the outskirts of town, with low, whitewashed rows of rooms with rough hewn wood beams on the ceiling and old Mexican tiles, pretty green plazas with flowers and a funky old pool. We stayed here maybe three more times into the 2010s, when it started to feel a wee bit faded and run down.
Santa fe
Now it has been transformed by motor court aficionados from Austin into the hipster El Rey Court, a boutique motel with trendy toiletries, contemporary art and, yes, higher prices. But it’s a fun place to stay still, and we had a good excuse. We are here for the wedding of our lovely niece Amelia and longtime beau Nick.
Farmers market
Breakfast was next door on Cerrillos Road at The Pantry, a terrific unpretentious diner with a long counter, two rooms of tables (perfect for our big group) and New Mexican landscapes. Breakfast was enjoyed by all, with entrees including huevos rancheros, burritos and a scrambled egg concoction with vegetable and avocado.
Wedding
Next stop, the farmers market at the Rail Depot, which was a fun scene, with a few early vegetables but also lots of makers of juniper bitters, baked goods and hanging clusters of red chilies. Fun to return after our month in these parts in February and see flowers in bloom.
On our long drive home from Albuquerque to Iowa (16 hours), we stopped early on (after two hours) in rough-around-the edges but cool–in-pockets Las Vegas, NM home to almost 1,000 historic buildings, most 19th century. Several overlook the city’s plaza and, next to the railroad tracks, the fantastic recently restored and reopened Castaneda Hotel, formerly one of the famous Harvey Houses that served passengers on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. Opened in 1899, the Castañeda is a Mission Revival building designed by a prominent Pasadena architect. Here’s a good 2019 story on its rebirth in the Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/travel/story/2019-08-30/new-mexico-hotels-las-vegas-castaneda
Las Vegas Plaza
In the plaza, we stopped briefly at the dog-friendly (thank you!) also recently restored (by the same brave souls) 1882 Victorian Plaza Hotel, where we got excellent baked goods at a little cafe in the lobby and posed in front of the staircase where the character played by Woody Harrelson was killed in the film “NoCountry for Old Men.” Other films and movies have been shot in town including the series Longmire.
At the Castaneda Hotel beside the railroad tracks, (also dog friendly) a nice woman who gladly showed us around, said actor Josh Brolin and other cast and crew from an upcoming Amazon series “Outer Range” rented out the hotel and The Plaza for seven months in 2021 while filming. Reopened in 2019 after it closed 70 years earlier, the hotel is a massive red brick structure with a cool courtyard facing the railroad tracks. The same folks who fixed up Las Vegas’s hotels also revived La Posada, another former Harvey House in Winslow, Arizona that has long been on my to-visit list.
The infamous staircase from “No country for old men”
We caught a quick view of the stunning snow-capped Rockies as we drove through the dramatic Raton Pass from northern New Mexico into Colorado but after that the land soon became wide open flat yellow ranch land. With the temps in the high 40s, we pulled off another (quick) picnic in the LaJunta town park. Amazed we could do this in February! A highlight: we spotted some strange unknown animals in the field that looked like a large tan and red dog with antlers. Google informed me they are pronghorns, not technically an antelope but comparable., resembling a cross between a goat and Antelope with 2-pronged antlers.
Among our favorite trails at the Sandia Mountain foothills:
The Pino trail at Elena Gallegos “Open space” – wide dirt path and slight incline initially, then narrows and winding with more boulders, roots and rocks, plus mud, snow and ice (so we turned back after 50 minutes)
On the Pino Trail
La Luz Trail, a little more strenuous, narrow switchbacks and uphill, very scenic.
at Petroglyph National Monument – we did two dog-friendly short hikes (Piedras Marcadas Canyon Trail 1.5 miles; Rinconada Canyon Trail 2.5 miles) with our lab Millie late in the afternoon when the light was particularly dramatic, walking on sandy flat paths on a trail hugging a canyon of dark volcanic rocks, some with ancient markings of hands, faces, animals, crosses and who knows what else made by the ancestors of Pueblo people and by Spanish visitors. The main trail doesn’t allow dogs.
Among the ABQ restaurants and shops we enjoyed: BUT First a shout out to the free local monthly foodie magazine The Bite, which I happened to pick up early in our visit (along with a bimonthly Edible magazine.) The Bite offered dining scuttlebutt and many suggestions of places to eat in ABQ and beyond and never steered us wrong! Thanks to The Bite, I found FARMessila in Las Cruces, Mille in Santa Fe and Mesa Provisions and Ihatov Bakery in ABQ.
Modern General, which sounds a bit like a TV sitcom but is a southwest breakfast-themed “brunchery” with wonderfully inventive and delicious entrees and smoothies in a bright white space resembling a super tidy and curated “feed and seed” general store but with a handful of books, home goods and local lotions and potions, plus what look like very good cookies, brownies snd bread. We shared savory/sweet Green Chile Cilantro Corncakes, three little pancakes topped with a soft egg, with a squiggle of cilantro lime crema and Chile maple syrup; And The Albuquerque,flavor-packed scrambled eggs with green chiles, bacon, cumin, garlic, sharp cheddar with well-browned diced potatoes.And that drink (in the photo below) is a peach pollen smoothie (peaches, bee pollen, cucumber, banana, pineapple juice.) This is a sister restaurant of nearby Vinaigrette and both have Santa Fe locations.
Pueblo Cultural Center’s dining room – we went with the most traditional Pueblo entrees, according to our very knowledgeable server who was raised on the Taos Pueblo. A contemporary (and delicious) take on Blue corn chicken enchiladas and beef and poesole stew (less delicious). The blue corn onion rings were very good. We’d been through the museum part before. The place is an interesting cultural experience, in a well-designed contemporary building with Pueblo decor.
Mesa Provisions – a splurge to thank our relatives who have put us up for the past month in their newest house, this covid-era Nob Hill restaurant’s chef worked previously at ABQ’s Farm & Table, which gave us high hopes that were not dashed. The food and service were excellent, especially the creative take on a green Chile cheeseburger, the shrimp on toast, smoked chicken, I even liked the kale salad. The key lime sorbet was a perfect end to the meal.
Golden Pride – a local treasure near the U of New Mexico campus and hospital, this restaurant advertises chicken and ribs but is most famous for its breakfast burritos (homemade tortillas,) and sweet rolls, which you can request hot or cold. Our relatives recommended hot, which came in a bath of butter, doused with cinnamon sugar. No wonder there’s often not one but two lines of cars for the two drive through windows every time we drive pass on Lomas Avenue. Word has it, few customers eat inside. Drive through is the way to go, easy in and out.
Heart unhealthy breakfast at Golden Pride
The Daily Grind – we liked this casual breakfast and lunch place, off the beaten path. good salads (turkey club) and sandwiches (Cuban).
ABQ’s Modern General (also in Santa Fe)
Kei and Molly textiles – The production facility and showroom for this well-known, do-good local maker of tea towels, aprons, sponges and napkins is right nearby Nob Hill, prompting some early holiday gift shopping.
Sara Bande Home – well-chosen home goods in a small ritzy strip centerin NW Albuquerque on the stretch of Rio Grande that gets fancy, with huge mansions on dusty ranch land. It’s tethered to a good bookstore, paper goods store and outpost of the Flying Star Cafe. We found what we needed so didn’t go on to the fancy and pricey store at Los Poblanos resort up the road.
TakeBetsywithyou 