We're All Going On A Summer Holiday

Actually, we're back from our all-too-brief vacation now. We went up to Traverse City to tour Michigan wine country. We tasted more wine than you could shake a stick at, not all of it good but significantly more of it was good than I thought it might be. We still managed to come home with almost 3 cases of wine. Here's a picture of us at L. Mawby, which has phenomenal sparkling wines and great staff.

We went to some good restaurants--only one of which was truly great. It's called Trattoria Stella and it is in the restored buildings of the old state mental hospital. We stopped for lunch on the way home today and it was wonderful. Even the bread was awesome--served with olive oil and balsamic. We started with an antipasta plate with sliced beef tenderloin, olives, field greens, fontina cheese, strawberries, and raspberries. Then I had a sandwich with chocolate-hazelnut spread, strawberries, and spiced nuts. Amazing. Jeff had cheese ravioli with shittakes and a cream sauce. For dessert I had pannacotta with strawberries and Jeff had rhubarb and blackberry gelato. We will definitely return if we go back, and I highly suggest you check it out if you're in the area.

The hotel we stayed at was a Travelodge, so nothing fancy. But it was spotlessly clean and Jeff surprised me by getting a room with a Jacuzzi! Yay! The AC went out on the first night so we had to switch to another room. The manager was so nice about it and very helpful. For the price, we'll definitely be staying there again!

And finally, I got to see black squirrels for the first time. They are so cool looking. I totally wanted to take them home as pets.