Category Archives: 2) Frequent Destinations

August 10, 2025 · 12:12 am

Ray & Al’s in Galien and, now in Three Oaks (Allen Ray’s coffee place @ Commune+Market), Judy Ferrara Gallery, 3 Arbors Gallery, Viola’s Cafe, Home Camp flower Farm – southwest Michigan

Glad to be back here in the summer although the lake was tempestuous yesterday with 5-7 foot waves and frigid temp (58 degrees).plus Canadian smoke that dulled the fiery red sunset. The major evening activity here in Bridgman on Weko beach is watching the sunset and listening to someone play taps on the bugle. gotta love that.

We finally got around to eating lunch at Ray and Al’s, a charming little “lunch room” in an old building on the small main drag of the rural village of Galien, about 11 miles east of Three Oaks. It’s got that nice mix of nothing fancy but well done food (excellent tuna melt, hero sandwich) with dabs of antique decor and appealing (and remarkably reasonably priced) contemporary art.

The same people have opened a coffee place inside Commune+Market, a new community gathering spot in Three oaks with individual vendors inside a contemporary building. A few more spaces need filling but there’s a sweet stationary, small press shop there now. Viola’s cafe has opened under new management and is supposed to be good Cajun. We also visited two excellent galleries – Judy Ferrara and 3 arbors art (which represents the stunning art photography of Chicago artist Jessica Tampas, who took the author photo for my book. See bottom right of photo montage above.)

Next stop, Homecamp flower farm where we walked up and down the rows of the small farm clipping zinnias, wildflowers, ornamental thistles for a huge bouquet. Good value at $20. Tonight, we watched taps on the beach. Perfect.

Next visit to try: Out there and Farmette

Note to self: skip getting gas’s off interstate in Michigan city on an August Saturday. A zoo.

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August 9, 2025 · 3:04 am

Smoked whitefish, flying pig, Ruthann’s bakery in Bellaire, Chippewa trails camp/rapid city – up north (Michigan)

Chippewa trail camp for girls (remains)

We found even more to like in the village of Bellaire, which we appreciated for its unassuming charm and mellowness especially after visiting too-bustling-and-touristy Charlevoix and Harbor springs. No Hamptons-like fancy lifestyle stores or sports cars, here. Instead just the right amount of stuff catering in a low-key way to tourists. At The Flying Pig, we found reasonably priced repurposed furniture and handmade clothing. At Clayton’s, local crafts and candles; excellent ice tea at the local tea and spice store; plausible bagels and delicious chocolate chip cookies at Ruthann’s Bakery.

Bellaire shopping

(We were less impressed with the prepared food we found at Royal Farms, on the highway north of Bellaire.) Behind a Victorian house in the residential main drag we found the unlikely location of a smokehouse with smoked and fresh fish and meats, including pricey waygu beef and wine. I got my smoked whitefish fix.

Grass river nature are (and classic stone construction)

At Grass River Nature Area, we took an easy walk along boardwalks in a wooded swamp area, over quiet fast running streams to an overlook along the grassy shores of the river, envious of the occasional pontoon boat gliding by on this untouristed stretch of water.

Outside Rapid City on Elk Lake near Torch Lake, I managed to find my old summer camp (thanks to two street names of the nap: Chippewa Trail Rd and Chippewa Camp Road. They led to a restored sign for the defunct camp which is now a private residential neighborhood/community with some remnants of the camp! Several of the old brown wood cabins remain. Some were moved and combined to make a holiday home. A very nice guy invited us into his home – made of two joined cabins. Above his couch in the living room is a wall hanging made of pieces of the old cabin wall autographed by campers long ago. He invited me to look for my name or any others I might know. Surreal.

He also took me to another cojoined cabins concoction where we also looked at the names of the wall, dating back to 1969 (when I might have been a camper for two months.) Another cabin had the original sign from one of the cabins I bunked in. (Duayma!). The dining hall/lodge is still there (now a residence or communal space I think) as is the old stone Dutch oven and surrounding wood benches where we had pancake breakfasts. I knocked on one of the handful of new vacation homes on the lakefront because the owner is apparently a former camper but she wasn’t home.

Harbor springs (we stayed at the cove long ago).

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August 6, 2025 · 11:00 pm

Bee Well mead & Cider and Short’s Brewery in Bellaire, Antrim creek Natural Area (beach); Bolt art studio and Bolt sweet corn, Mushroom houses, The landing by Ironton ferry (charlevoix)

This Airbnb is truly a hilltop hideaway, as advertised and it doesn’t disappoint. It’s up a winding road from the town of Bellaire, set off by itself in a clearing in the woods, one of those places that’s someones’s little piece of paradise, a labor of love to create and sustain. I generally like staying at these kinds of places.

Bellaire turned out to be a pleasant small town, enlivened by a Cidery (Bee well) and a brew pub (Short’s) plus an ice cream shop/fried chicken place. Much sleepier (and less expensive to stay in) than a major tourist town like Charlevoix, which is what we were looking for.

Our Airbnb guidebook highly recommended Antrim Creek natural area and we immediately saw why. It’s a wild feeling beach that has been remarkably unpopulated. Great place to take a dip in the water. The bottom is a combination of sand and rocks, and there are some big rocks too, so it’s a little tricky swimming, but great for cooling off, and again, only a handful of other people.

A highlight was seeing my “aunt” Sue Bolt, an old family friend and well known artist Up North and beyond. Long ago, she and her late husband made an old grange hall into their studio and after a lot of hard work became fixtures here with their whimsical

ceramics, sculpture, paintings and prints. We dropped by the Bolt studio, where Sue’s daughter, also an artist, warmly greeted us and later we got to catch up with Sue. A real treat. Later, we chanced by Bolt sweet corn so we stopped to say hi to Sue’s two sons and get some corn which was indeed, very sweet. The best we’ve had this season, anywhere.

We had a late lunch at The Landing, a famous place with patio tables overlooking the quaint Ironton Ferry. Place was packed but it was fun to be part of the crowd, enjoying a day up north, the food was good and there were lots of young energetic servers. We stopped briefly in downtown Charlevoix to admire the famously eccentric “mushroom houses” designed by a local untrained (I believe) architect.

Bellaire shopping

We also stopped briefly in Ernest Hemingway’s Charlevoix haunt, Horton Bay, but the cool old general store and Red Fox Inn (now a bookstore) weren’t open. We hope to return on Thursday when the general store may be open.

Horton Bay

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July 29, 2025 · 1:50 pm

Shake shack (NYState thruway @ Angola, dog park & cheap gas (loves over the Ohio border on I90- heading home from NY

This time there really was a shake shack in an unlikely spot – the I-90 rest stop in Angola, NY. About 20 years ago I thought I’d found a shake shack outside Kansas City. But when we got to Overland Park we found a snack shack. Oh well. (My family has teased me about this ever since.)

I’m sure the KC plaza has the real deal now! And so does the rest stop literally over the NY state thruway in Angola. The burgers were great, as always, but the small outdoor eating area could have used some shade or umbrellas or a little fake grass. Millie took shelter under the picnic table, while we sweltered in the summer sun.

We waited until we crossed the Ohio line to get gas and were rewarded with $2.96 per gallon gas and a shady (!) fenced in dog park. Thank you Love’s!

Cottage “before” pic

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July 28, 2025 · 1:46 pm

Ithaca Falls/Fall Creek Gorge, soft serve at cream at the Top, pavement @Ithaca Farmers Mkt — Ithaca

How I never made it to Ithaca Falls, part of Fall Creek Gorge, during 50-some years of visiting Ithaca I don’t know but two days ago, our friends suggested it in lieu of hiking up Cascadilla falls gorge on a muggy July day. Great option! We parked just south of Cornell’s campus and took an east short walk to the huge falls. I needed one more gorge visit before we left and this was perfect.

I’ve always had trouble remembering which falls belongs to which of the two gorges that run through campus. Ithaca falls is part of Fall creek Gorge, just below the Stewart Avenue bridge which is below the suspension bridge and then Beebe lake to Forest Home. (Next trip: check out the rim trail!) The second gorge, Cascadilla, connects downtown to collegetown.

From AI:

In essence:

  • Fall Creek Gorge is larger, with a more expansive feel and multiple waterfalls, including the impressive Ithaca Falls. 
  • Cascadilla Gorge is a more intimate experience, with a well-defined trail that allows for a closer look at the creek and its waterfalls as it winds through the gorge. 

We did a quick spin around the Ithaca Farmers market’s semi- open air pavilion, picking up some sugar snaps and trying to resist the heirloom tomatoes (since we’re driving home right now). Yes, the rough gravel parking lot has been replaced by pavement, losing some hippie scruffiness and gaining some boho practicality.

For our final (and third) visit this trip to Cream at the Top, our favorite ice cream stand, miraculously carved into a cornfield in Lansing, we shifted from our favorite hard ice cream flavors (white lightening, queen of hearts, grasshopper pie, Michigan pothole, Rush hour) to soft serve chocolate dipped in chocolate. Big decision and good call. It was so creamy I could swear it was frozen custard. We’ll be back.

Cottage sunset

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July 27, 2025 · 1:49 am

Antique boats, rollercoaster roads, Doug’s fish fry – to Skaneateles and back

What a tricky name to spell and province but Skaneateles is as pretty as I remember from our last visit here, some 25 years ago. I forgot it’s only a 50 minute drive from “the cottage” (our friends’ place in Lansing/king Ferry).

We had fried fish but also a shrimp po boy and lobster roll at Doug’s fish fry, a local haunt with a much-appreciated picnic area perfect for our dog (and us) with picnic tables and umbrellas for shade in a enclosed picnic area with a green lawn bordered by pretty flowers.

The village feels much more well-heeled and touristy than Ithaca, with well preserved old buildings all my Main street and upscale gift shops and a pretty old inn overlooking Skaneateles Lake. The lakefront park is charming, as I remembered, with a dock where an old fashioned cruise boat takes visitors out onto the narrow finger lake. There happened to be a vintage boat show, with shiny wood boats as old as the early 1900s.

We did a loop drive, coming up the west side of owasca lake and returning by driving along the east side, both pretty routes through emerald green farm fields, narrow rollercoaster roads up and down the hills, past worn farmhouses, dairy farms, and small old towns.

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July 26, 2025 · 2:36 am

Mills State Park, Slow fox farm, omega institute – salt point/rhinebeck,NY

(Oops. Forgot to post this a few days ago.) Lovely visit to our friends little slice of heaven in Duchess County. We mostly stayed put (why leave Heaven?) but did walk the dogs (our Millie; hosts’ Ollie and Leto) along the Hudson at mills State park, past the columned white concrete mills mansion atop a sloping green lawn with beautiful old trees and majestic river views. (Sampled red raspberries along the way.)

In the afternoon we tried out our friends electric bikes on hilly and curving back roads, past old white farmhouses, landing at Slow fox farms beer tent (technically in Rhinebeck).

Returned just in time for a brief downpour and then biked past omega institute, a retreat, and returned on dirt shady dirt roads to heaven!

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July 24, 2025 · 12:02 am

Hike from upper Treman, Tuesdays at taughanock – Return to Ithaca

Our near-annual trip to Ithaca (thank you Myra and Mike) has produced a few discoveries to share:

The parking is free at state parks here for people age 62 and over. Alas I did not discover this until age 66 (now) and have dutifully shelled out $10 at parks including our favorite, Treman which has a gorgeous trail hugging a gorge.

The money shot at Upper Treman

A ranger also told us that when we use the pay machine (in lieu of a ranger) we can scan our license with our birthdate to get free parking.

Tuesdays at Taughanock is a summer music series on the patio of the charming inn at Taughanock falls, which I first went to for dinner with my parents as a kid. (When it was as the Taughanock farms inn.) It sits high above Cayuga waters (not as high as Cornell to the east). $20 gets you a large burger, chips and a beer or glass of wine, plus the music, in this case a low-key performance by singer Annie Burns, of Burns sisters fame (a popular local group we last saw maybe 20 years ago.)

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May 18, 2025 · 12:32 am

Mongers/The Rind and Catching Fireflies – Berkley, Mi and Cafe Corina in Farmington.

I was more of a Royal Oak gal growing up in suburban Detroit than a Berkley gal. But today I discovered Berkley anew, while visiting my family here. I generally thought of Berkeley’s business district as being along Coolidge road but turn the corner heading north on 12 mile and there is some interesting entrepreneurial stuff going on, the kind I associated with Royal Oak.

We had a charcuterie board at The Rind, the restaurant in the shop Mongers (as in cheese mongers), which also has excellent fresh soups (tomato, mushroom) and sandwiches (grilled cheese with bacon; a hefty muffuletta). The gourmet food area next to the dining area has lots of well-chosen cheeses (Pleasant ridge!), cured meats, chocolates etc. The cheese monger world is tight knit. The Monger owner told me he’s hung out with other cheese mongers I know including my cousin in Great Barrington, MA (@ Rubiner’s cheesemongers) and in Des Moines (The Cheese shop).

Next door we found a gift store I first visited in Ann Arbor, Catching Fireflies, which turned out to be the original store, in Berkley for some 20 years. Who knew?

Dinner was hearty Italian food at the old school Cafe Cortina in Farmington which has been around since the 1970s, I believe.

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May 7, 2025 · 3:07 am

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever, Carver-Hawkeye arena – Iowa City

A complete thrill to see West Des Moines-native basketball phenom Caitlin Clark in person as she effortlessly (or so it seemed) made one of her signature “logo threes” — this one, 36 feet from the basket. We were in the packed U of Iowa basketball arena, Carver-Hawkeye. (Just watching her jaw-droppingly astute passes almost would have been enough.) This was Caitlin’s first return to play at UI since her senior year, only a year ago. Seeing her in action as a WNBA player was like seeing a famous rock star, but with the unusual added familiarity of the star being an Iowa kid. Caitlin is Iowans’ rock star/next door neighbor.

This outing was even better with my friend Jane beside me. (she also snagged the hard-to-snag tickets.) Jane has covered women’s basketball in Iowa since way before its current popularity. She patiently answered my newbie-fan girl questions. For more see her excellent substack account: https://janeburns.substack.com/p/an-expedition-of-joy-and-basketball

As Jane explained, a logo shot (for three points) is when the player shoots from the logo design inscribed on the center of the court. In this case, Caitlin shot from beyond the 22 logo on the court. (22 is Clark’s retired Iowa jersey # and now her Indiana Fever number.) It’s a long way to the basket from there! The crowd (my three friends and moi included) went wild. The discreet 22 logo on the court (next to a larger Mediacom logo) is the spot where Caitlin, in her U of Iowa heyday in 2024, hit a logo three to break the NCAA’s all-time scoring record (that’s for women and men, my veteran basketball fan husband reminded me). To honor her achievement, the “22 Clark” was inscribed on the court.

This time, Caitlin dribbled down to mid-court, jumped into the air and shot the ball over her head, which soared in an arc above the court and right into the basket, hitting nothing but net, no rim. (I’m getting a lingo assist here from my husband). She made it look effortless. Graceful. She leapt like a dancer.

The Indiana Fever was in town to play a pre-season exhibition game against the Brazilian national team. The Brazilians got clobbered (100-something to 40-something…I soon ignored the score) and seemed as much in awe of Caitlin Clark as the older women and little girls in attendance. The Brazil players waited in a cluster with the little girls to have their photo taken with Caitlin. The stadium was packed with proud Iowans in #22 shirts. (I wore my #22 sweatshirt until it got too hot.)

Courtside

This exhibition game was unusual but for future visitors going to Carver-Hawkeye to see the Iowa women (or men) play, a few tips: We had excellent reserved parking for $20 in the lot across the street from the arena and there’s a grassy area with shade from trees for picnicking, but no tables or ledges. (Bring a fold up table and/or chairs.) A few others were tailgating. The arena has no AC and has a reputation for being hot. I didn’t find this an issue but it was a cool day in May. Also remember to bring a see-through bag. My not-see-through bag is small but wasn’t small enough. (It was oversized by 1/2 inch width and height.)

Walking to the arena

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