So this is a condensed version of our one night in Bay City. We had two things to accomplish tonight- eating dinner with a water view and slllllllllleeeeeeep, as we wanted to be up and fresh for the 300 miles or so to our next hotel in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.
As is my wont I went out for a stroll with camera and video cam (Canon HD) and I literally had the streets all to myself. Where is everybody??
Regarding the restaurant I found and was excited about, we came there at 8 p.m in the car and followed 4 other people inside. We all waited for a waitress to come by the hostess stand. I heard her tell the people in front of us ' it's after 8 and the kitchen is closed for the night". Huh? 8 p.m shut-down? That's just the time when most restaurants are seating the dinner rush.
Back out to the car for a re-think.
Well the hotel has a restaurant....
and I noticed some tables outside as we left....
So back to the Hilton. We were the only people sitting outside but the service was just fine and the food was basic but good. I think the light failed just before my steak sandwich and fries came.
But you'll get the gist. The location was fantastic.
After dinner a stroll down by the river. Quiet and peaceful. We would sleep well tonight....
On the walk back across the lawn to the hotel I estimated about 30 % of the rooms to be occupied.
But- it was a Monday night in May so I guess that is not too bad for business.
It was after 5 p.m when we drove into Bay City guided by the car's navigation system. As we crossed over the river we could see our hotel and could also see a ship coming down the river so once we parked we walked down to the riverside to get a closer look as the ship came by.
The hotel was a Double Tree by Hilton and was chosen for it's great water views and the fact that we could get a suite which included a balcony.
Looking East across the city there was an odd lack of people in the streets-or even cars for that matter....
The "city" has a population of only 34,000. It has dropped 50% since 1960. Certainly no problem finding parking. It was quiet and peaceful which was a bonus.
This was the main shopping street around 6 p.m. Most of the businesses were already closed for the day. Wide streets!
Yippee! I found a waterfront restaurant ten minutes walk from the hotel. People were on the upper terrace eating and drinking. We could have dinner here at sunset!
A loft building near the hotel. Not many boat owners apparently.
We live over 200 miles west of Frankenmuth but are aware of it's existence as they have billboards on Highway I94 in Indiana advertising Bronners-a year-round Christmas store. I guess they have other stuff to sell but I have yet to set foot in their store and this wasn't going to be the trip to pick up some ornaments for the Christmas tree we don't have. Maybe on a future visit as I liked the route we chose for this trip.
Frankenmuth has a lot of German Restaurants for a town in Michigan. It's a handsome little spot a few miles from the highway and it was where we would have our first meal in 15 hours. Yikes!
I had forgotten that until I heard it on the video that follows. Somehow we missed breakfast and made it all the way until 3pm on coffee and anticipation.
The food was ersatz German but was welcome after such a famine. The veal schnitzel needed pounding thin and needed more salt and pepper in the preparation. There are 3 prep steps in making one after you have beaten it thin with a mallet. First you dredge it in flour which has salt and pepper added to it, then you dredge each filet in a mixture of one egg and a tablespoon of water which has had salt and pepper added then into fine bread crumbs with...yes, salt and pepper sprinkled in it. Then put in the fridge for 30 mins so the mixture sticks to it better. Bring back to room temperature.
Then into a big frypan (don't crowd a small pan-use a 12 inch non-stick skillet.) Medium heat then add olive oil once pan is hot. Be generous with the oil as once you drop the veal in there you are going to be happy if it is covered. To get a nice light batter you should be gently shaking the pan while it is cooking. Two minutes a side and you are done. Squirt some fresh lemon on the schnitzel and serve with rotkraut/blaukraut (pickled red cabbage from a jar) or sauerkraut. Add a glass of German beer and maybe a few fried potatoes in a cast-iron skillet, enjoy and then collapse on the couch!
Here's the Bavarian Inn....
No collapsing on couches after this meal as we still had 90 miles or so to drive before we etched our hotel in Bay City. Join us there....
Once outside the giant appropriately-named hothouse one can amble the many paths to different zones of the outdoor garden.
The horse statue is maybe the most notable one because of it's scale.....
Ain't that a kick in the head?
Carol falls foul of the violent beast.
This of course reminded us that an afternoon nap is one of life's greatest pleasures.
Kids will have fun in this very pleasant and educational environment.
The trowel is maybe 20 feet tall
Horse on man-back
Driftwood horse
Tree man
For the last and my favorite sculpture we move back inside for the Meerkats....
As we were winding up our brief tour of the gardens we stopped by the waterfall to listen to it's soothing sound.
We were by now 4 hours into our Canada trip and lunch would have been nice. We had a lunch spot in mind but it was another 100 miles or so away. We stopped at the Meijer cafe for an espresso jolt to help me on the drive on this sunny May day.
Here's more detail for those of you who like plants and flowers. The statuary won't be forgotten.
The Conservatory is a maze of rooms, each representing different plant habitats. A visit to these stellar gardens is something we will repeat in the future. There's just so much to see and we only allowed ourselves a couple of hours there.
Follow the path and suddenly you are in a Tropical Rain Forest.......
Chihuli sculptures in glass on the ceiling of the cafe
Next we'll go outside and see the statuary and whatever else is out there.....
Well we finally made it out of San Francisco one day later than anticipated, without United Airlines help.
We will be back there again this year 2014 with hopefully better airline luck. Just a fleeting 3 days with a 4th of July dinner cruise as the icing on the cake-oh, and a night at the Opera seeing Verdi's "La Traviata".
Sometimes it's nice to take a trip without setting foot in an airport.
We like Road Trips!
So up next is one that takes us to a very beautiful Province of Canada, one we have a history with: our 5th driving tour to Ontario.
Our driving tours of Ontario began in 2005 when I was looking at a huge AAA map of the USA and noticed there was a place called Canada at the top. I wanted to do a drive as the leaves changed in October and looked within a 500 mile radius so that we could make it home in a day at the end. I drive a car that has to be garaged in the wintertime so an October drive is maybe the last time I will drive it until April. In winter I switch to a car designed for driving in the snow.
One of the places that fell within this 500 mile radius was Sault Ste (Saint) Marie a town which sits on both sides of the border! (two towns with the same name) .There was something called the Soo Locks on the Michigan side where big ships could move between Lake Superior and Lake Huron even though the former was 21 feet higher than the latter. Amazing! The Locks allow ships to bypass the rapids running in the middle of the St Mary's River. The International Bridge takes road traffic from the USA to Canada and vice versa, high over this river.
The beauty of a driving holiday is first and foremost-no schedule! No airports or trains.
We picked a few days in May 2012 when the weather was good and winter a thing of the past.
I drive a small car. The trunk holds most of the luggage we'll need and the back seat has snacks, camera bags, binoculars, maps, guide books and CDs for the drive.
We live in Chicago but start the trip from a summer home (used year-round) which is at the bottom left corner of Michigan. We will make camp our first night in Bay City, 300 miles away on the East side of the state. It was the place where the singer Madonna grew up and that might be it's claim to fame.
From there we will drive North on our 2nd day, to take up residence in S.S.Marie on the Ontario side.
We'll visit Lake Superior before returning due South with an overnight stay in the lake town of Charlevoix, Michigan.
First stop though is just two hours N.E where the weather made a visit to Meijer Gardens a must-see on our way. Fred Meijer is the man responsible for the supermarket chain that bears his name so has enough money to indulge himself (and luckily, us) in his love of nature and art. If you get hungry there they have a nice cafe which is unique in that it has a Dale Chihuli glass sculpture hanging from the ceiling and many Chihuli pieces for sale in the gift shop. Dale did the stunning glass ceiling sculpture in the wonderful Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.
So let's begin this trip to Canada.....exactly two years ago....May 14 2012
Next up-a German lunch in a German inspired town in East Michigan....
All good things come to an end and so did our 2013 visit to SF.
The last morning, a Sunday, was spent close to the hotel, at the Ferry Building where a light breakfast was planned. We would dine al fresco on a bench overlooking the water.
At some point though we would have to say Farewell to the Ferry and make our way back to the hotel to pack and drive to the airport for our flight back to Chicago.
As we came to the exit from the freeway to the Return Rental Cars ramp the traffic ahead of us was stopped, as was the traffic coming towards us and there were Police and Ambulance sirens and lights.
Luckily we are getting off here thought I and drove up over the highway to continue on. Cresting the top of the overpass we could see a Police roadblock ahead. We were in a line of puzzled drivers.
We inched forward as each car ahead was turned away by the road block. When it was our turn to be by the officer I asked him how we could get to the Rental Drop-off. Keep moving was his response and he waved us away. So now we were headed back the way we came. Beads of sweat appeared on my brow. Luckily the navigation system was still running and I knew roughly where I needed to be so even though the nag was telling me the usual "If possible make a legal U-turn" I drove by instinct as I come from a long line of Homing Pigeons. It worked! Soon the Nav system had me located as heading in the right direction and away from the road block, although I could now see it again but was on the other side of it-the Good Side!! Hooray! The sweat dried up.
We dropped the car at Hertz where it was business as usual -friendly and efficient and took the monorail to our terminal.
Once there we pushed our luggage cart to the United desks only to find they were in semi-darkness and the agents were standing back from the desks, not helping anyone. I asked a man standing aside with his luggage-"what's going on?" without even capitalizing the w. "Airport's shut down"
No flights in (who cares?) or out (We care!). No information via P.A or announcement boards.
Sorry we're closed basically. No flights out...we had to come up with Plan B.
Call the Omni !! Carol called and booked another room. We got a taxi to take us back to the city and the driver told us he had been listening to the radio and it seems that an Asiana Airlines Jet had come in to land, too low and too slow and had crashed on a runway and there were fatalities. A tragic accident caused by human error. So it was a sombre ride back to the Omni but we were happy to be there rather than maybe sitting on the floor of an airport lounge, waiting and wondering.
We spent as I recall a total of two hours listening to Rhapsody in Blue as it played on the United Please hold and we'll be with you Whenever tape. Two hours with the battery running down. We tried again later for another two hours and were offered a flight the next day via Las Vegas and Denver. That we declined. We thought we'd let some time pass to see how things developed. The airport would have to open again. I thought of driving to Los Angeles and taking a flight from there.
However we had a room for the night and as we were back in SF we made the best of it. I took a walk back to the Ferry Building again for some sun and fresh air. We made plans for dinner at the Waterfront and called our cat sitter to have her go visit the cats and tell them the news.
So that will explain why in the video we say farewell to the Ferry Building and show up there again a few hours later.....
