Thursday Smoke and Driving

The smoke went from bad in Northern Michigan to covering most of Michigan. We started to execute our plan to get to Southwestern Michigan for a wine tour on Friday (staying Friday and Saturday in suite rooms with a view of Lake Michigan). I was still tired and slept until 7ish. Deborah and Jeanne met earlier for the complimentary breakfast at the Ramada Inn. Which proved once again that even something as simple to execute as breakfast can be totally hosed up, even in corporate-industrial versions. The one staff person for breakfast I saw move one cup at a time on a stack of paper cups to ensure the initial stack matched perfectly (while ignoring the other things that were missing). Bagels without cream cheese, no peanut butter, and syrup empty just describe part of the problem. But the eggs looked like real eggs, and sausages were not replenished until they ran out, and were likely good (I never saw them). It looked like a false economy with a single-threaded focus and no support from a manager.

But the room was clean and bright, and soon I was showered and ready to leave with Deborah and Jeanne. We got a hotel luggage cart, loaded up, took it to Air Chevy, arranged it all into the various spaces, and were soon off. Suggestions for breakfast were shared.

Bessar Museum returned to our list, and we arrived at 10, their opening time. Bessar is the name of the family that ran the local cement and other industries (mostly gone or sold off now). The family invented better ways to mold cement products and was in Alpena around the start of the 20th century. There is a lot of limestone and calcite in the area (used in abrasives, cement, and steelmaking). The family built (a cement cinder block building, of course) a museum.

We found a small Dale Chihuly collection quite nice. The pieces are all gray, reminding me of the family’s focus on limestone products. The history of Alpena was covered in a wonderful display of windows into 1800-style businesses set up as if the owner or clerk would be right back. Antiques, all placed as if in use, really made it feel real. The write-ups about native people and their suffering surprised us with the clarity and willingness to be critical. As with the previous NOAA exhibits, some of the archaeological items were stored in drawers. The stone points dated back 10,000 years and showed the changes and improvements over time. The use of copper surprised me, as did the pottery and repairs with copper wire. I learned some new things.

Finally, after investing more time than we expected on this small but marvelous museum (we did not stay for a planetarium show), we went out to a rock pile. Here, you were allowed to take what you found. Limestone from the local quarries was broken up and dumped in a pile, surrounded by walls of rough limestone, for searching and recovering fossils to take home. Yes, we pounded and searched the rocks. With a few rocks recovered (Jeanne is taking them home to the kids) and a few purchases from the gift store, we headed on our five-hour trip across and down Michigan.

Visibility was down, and it was gray everywhere with smoke now. I got a headache and seemed extra tired. I put on a paper mask, and that improved. Yikes! We all got masks on.

We stopped at the Moose & Stella Cafe for breakfast (about 200 air score) and had a heavy lunch and redo of breakfast. They had a crowd and seemed disorganized (and an extra plate of food was delivered to us that we took home in a box), but the food was good. I had lots of coffee as I had three more hours of driving to go.

The drive was a stair step on what I would call back roads that led to an excellent SW-headed highway, 131, and other easier driving. The traffic in Michigan was sluggish, and I had to pass folks driving below the usual 10 over. Grand Rapids skyline was missing in the smoke until you were very close, and then the rest would disappear.

We connected with Jason, our wine tour person, and the same one we used the previous day. We arranged lunch and will see him at 11 on Friday at our hotel. We will risk the smoke but will be carrying masks.

We arrived and learned that our rooms would have to be on different floors because they were the last rooms in the hotel. The weekend was selling out. We then headed out to find Forever Bookstore in downtown St. Joseph. It was a nice bookstore, and Jeanne and Deborah found things.

Dinner was not at the brewery we planned; there was an hour-long wait for a table. We found a higher-end place around the corner that was not too busy, and soon a brilliant server, Eric, was helping us find wines and food to try. He also wrote us out a list of places to try in St. Joseph and the nearby area. He loves Disney. We talked about our experiences, and he found the recent price hikes outrageous. He spent a lot on his last trip, more than he expected.

Dinner was marvelous, with Jeanne having excellent short ribs while Deborah and I had the baked local whitefish in a wonderful sauce. We tried panna cotta for dessert but also ordered a crème brûlée; the crème brûlée was better.

With a few glasses of wine later (coffee after one glass for me), we headed back to our hotel to unload the car and rest. We drove by Silver Beach on the way. It was a good salvage of the day.

Thanks for reading!