WEEKEND RAMBLINGS - September 27-28

SUNDAY MENU:
Breakfast - store bought cinnamon rolls and apple cider
Lunch: turkey sandwiches
Supper: Pecan crusted chicken breast, yellow rice, and green beans

READING:
The Alchemist by Paulo Coehho
A Prairie Christmas Collection by various authors
Dark Witch by Nora Roberts

PROJECTS:
I can tell it's fall as weekends are jammed with things to do before winter sets in.  Unfortunately my house cleaning hasn't gotten done this weekend either because of it.

Two weeks ago I bought a tile topped table with 4 chairs for $10.  It was a fantastic buy but needed a bit of TLC.  This weekend I've started the restoration.  I'm not a fan of the blond wood and it was in bad shape anyway so after a lot of reading I decided to use a poly stain and darken up the seats and the wood around the tile.  From what I've read I need to let the stain cure for 30 days and then put a finish coat on to keep it from chipping.  Needless to say Matt is impressed with the improvement so far.  Hopefully next weekend I can freshen up the white portions by painting them antique white and I'll probably distress them a little bit.

Before - it had some type of gel paint or fingernail polish on several of them and lots of scratches

After first coat of stain

After 2nd coat of stain

Table before - thankfully all the tile were intact and none were broken

After first coat of stain

EVENTS:

Saturday we went to a rodeo up at the Civic Center.  After attending my first outdoor rodeo over the 4th of July weekend I'm not as big on the indoor ones and it was such a beautiful weekend it would have been great if it had been outside.  It just wasn't the same standing above the arena watching as it was standing next to the fence this summer.

I did enjoy it though.  One of the broncos apparently opened it's chute gate and came strutting out and pranced around the ring for several minutes showing off before they were able to get him back into the chute again.  There were several of the bulls too that decided they wanted to strut some after they'd thrown their riders and didn't want to leave the arena.  One bull rider was knocked out after being thrown and was carried off on a backboard but thankfully was okay.  I took the pictures with my phone and even with the sports mode some of the action photos turned out slightly blurry so I apologize.  I need to remember to take the camera.

bronco threw his ride and thankfully jumped over the rider so he wasn't hurt

women's barrel racing

waiting for steer roping

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS

I've been focusing on our trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and haven't updated on what we've been doing since we got home.

Two weeks ago I bought a bushel of tomatoes at the Farmer's Market since our tomatoes aren't producing well and canned 7 pints of salsa and 7 quarts of spaghetti sauce.  I also frozen 4.5 pints of tomato sauce.  While I was cooking and processing the tomatoes, I chopped up 50 green peppers I'd also purchased for use this winter.

Last Saturday we went to the Medina Fall Festival.  Neither of us has been to Medina before so we spent about an hour or so wandering around the town, which is pretty small.  We found a second hand store that we investigated.  I picked up a 3 books for $2.  We had initial thought to go to the beef feed at City Hall but decided to try Medina Cafe.  It was a cozy little restaurant that's only open for breakfast and lunch.  I had a kraut burger and knoephla soup. I wasn't sure about the kraut burger but it sounded interesting and it was delicious!  The kraut was mellow and almost sweet and perfect. I think the cheese was Swiss.  We also discovered a meat market!  I'll be going back to pick up some meat.  We didn't have a cooler with us so I couldn't get any while we were there.

After we got some food in us we wondered over to the Lion's Club to check out the arts and craft submissions.  Lots of vegetable entries.  They had 2 huge cabbages on display.  The best part were the pies.  I tried the rhubarb and Matt went with the blueberry and of course they were served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Then we drove over to the tractor and truck pull, which was the highlight of the festival.  Tractor pulls are something I started attending while living in Michigan when the kids were in 4H and have enjoyed them whenever I get a chance.  We were surprised there were not more tractors entered.  There were several there on display but did not participate in the pull.  There were lots of trucks entered also.

GYPSY WANDERINGS - UPPER PENINSULA - SATURDAY

Saturday was the wedding so we didn't have a lot of time for exploring.  We met up with Matt's sister Mitzi and her family and headed to Sault Ste. Marie to see the Soo Locks.  We had breakfast at a restaurant across the street from the Locks.  Matt tried their pancakes, which they claim are the best pancakes in Sault Ste. Marie.  He felt his flapjacks are better.

The Soo Locks is a way for ships and boats to get from one Great Lake to another. They have a wonderful observatory that has several levels to watch the ships go through.  It reminded me a lot of when I was in the Navy standing on the third deck fantail watching the ships go in and out,

We were very lucky that a ship, the Edgar B. Speer, went through while we were there. The ship was almost as wide as the Lock, I think there was like 6 inches difference.  You could hear the ship scraping the sides as it went through.

While we were waiting for the Edgar B Speer to get to the Locks, a small boat went through.  It was nice that they had a schedule for when ships were to go through. It was interesting to see such a small boat go through such a large Lock. I wondered how much it cost a boat this size to go through.

Before we headed back the guys insisted on going to the Soo Brewery to try out some beers.  The women went shopping.  I decided to tag along with the guys as I wasn't in the mood for shopping. The guys all got the sampler and several bought growlers to take back for later.  I tried the root beer, which was okay but nothing special in my opinion.

The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent at a beach wedding and the reception afterwards at the Wild Bluff Golf Course.  The food was delicious and we had a very enjoyable evening with Matt's family.  The reception was held under a large white tent next to the building.  It had a beautiful view of the pond behind.  Below are the beautiful couple.

GYPSY WANDERINGS - PART 2 - Friday

Willabee Hotel

I forgot to mention that we stayed at the Willabee Inn in Brimley while we were visiting the Upper Peninsula (UP).  The hotel is about 45 minutes from the airport in Sault Ste. Marie.  The hotel was named after the Russian Terrier dog that the original owners brought with them from Russia and the current owner still have a Russian Terrier that hangs out in the office.  

The room wasn't grand, but it was sufficient for our needs.  It was clean, the bed was comfortable, we had a small refrigerator in the room and was very affordable.  I loved that fact that the window could be opened, no stuffy hotel room.  The window was open to air the room out when we arrived.  It was a nice thought for the staff to air it out for us.  Matt's sister felt her room was damp but she was the only one of the family that stayed there that thought so.  

Our room was on the first floor next to the office and we had no problems with noise.  They had plastic lawn chairs outside of the rooms and we definitely used them and enjoyed sitting outside visiting with Matt's family.  There was also a dock behind the motel, between the restaurant and motel actually, that we used for a hang out in the evening.  Unfortunately the hotel was closed but they told us that it had just been bought and would be reopening again.  It would have been nice to have had breakfast without having to drive.  We typically kept our window open at night but after several nights of a group of dogs barking incessantly throughout the night we kept it shut.  It sounded to me like a kennel of some type.  Someone thought it was coyotes but it didn't sound like coyotes to me.

Dancing Crane Coffee House

I think everybody there would say that the Dancing Crane Coffee house was the best hangout place.  Each time we stopped there for breakfast we ran into several other people attending the wedding.  It was a wonderfully cozy cafe with games and books scattered throughout to enjoy as well as a nice variety of products to purchase.  Matt and his sister Bee played cribbage while we enjoyed a lazy last morning there before we flew home.  Everybody said the coffee was superior in quality.  As I don't drink coffee I'll take their word for it.  The wedding couple actually had a special blend roasted and gave away small packages of it for wedding gifts. They had fabulous cinnamon rolls.

Tahquamenon Falls

Tahquamenon Falls was beautiful!  We visited both the lower and upper falls.  Matt wasn't up to walking the 4 miles between falls and back again so we were wimps and drove.  This is a picture of the lower falls.  If I recall right there are 5 falls total.  The path to the falls is nicely done with timbers and made walking a lot easier.  There were several people in wheelchairs that were able to get to the falls due to the wooden paths.

They had some nice landings to take pictures.  This is part of the upper falls.  It was breathtaking.  We did wonder why the area wasn't being utilized for hydro power.

After all our walking we were hungry and thirsty so we checked out the Gift Shop and bought a light lunch.  We were a little disappointed with the gift shop as Matt found a tshirt he liked but they didn't have it in his size.  It takes a genius to put a brewery at the end of a hiking trail and Matt wanted to try  a beer at the Tahquamenon Falls Brewery.  I tried their root beer.  He chose the blueberry wheat ale.  This ale had a really strong blueberry scent although a light flavor to it.  It smelled so good that I actually tried a sip of it.

Wilcox Fish House

After our adventurous day we were both hungry and wanted some fresh fish for supper. Another one of Matt's sisters and her family had arrived so we went out to the Wilcox Fish House for fish dinners with them.  I tasted Matt's whitefish and it was superb.  I ordered perch which was good but after tasting the whitefish I regretted not getting it instead.  Matt says you can't beat fresh whitefish from Lake Superior and I have to agree with him.  Matt and I both ended our meals with a piece of  warm strawberry rhubarb pie with ice cream. It was the perfect ending to the meal.  I haven't had a strawberry rhubarb pie since my grandmother made them when I was a child.  I think I may have to plant some rhubarb or raid somone's patch next spring so I can make some myself.  Every time we drove by Wilcox's I drooled just thinking of their pie.

And so ended the second day of our adventure.