Traverse City

Mr. Date and I returned home from a long weekend in Traverse City, Michigan. We were able to do some sightseeing, which included scenic drives of the color tour, hiking the dunes, seeing two lighthouses, wine tasting, gambling and relaxing.

Fall weather is always questionable in Michigan and the weather was a little on the chilly side, in the low 60's during the day and much cooler at night. It didn't rain too hard any of the time we were there, but it would have been nice to have late Indian Summer weather.

Remarkable for me, it was the first time that I can remember going on a vacation (of any duration) with a significant other and not wanting to be home and as far away from him as possible. There wasn't even a brief moment of the trip that I had wished I had a noose or the ability to jump off a nearby cliff (of course if there was a cliff!). I'm not sure why I didn't have that lurking feeling of a need to escape, a need to be alone...and I'm OK with that!

On Friday we did the winery tours of Old Mission Point. We managed to hit 6 of the 7 wineries. We skipped 2 Lads Winery, since it was slightly out of our way and we heard that as it was the newest winery it only had one wine to sample. Seeing that was the last winery to hit, we were pretty much wined out. Actually after the third winery, I was finding that I couldn't remember what the wines tasted like and which ones I really preferred. All in all, we each sampled 36 wines. My favorites (I think) were a semi-dry '06 Riesling and a sparkling cherry wine. I'm hoping that when I do open the bottles, that they are as good if not better than I remember! I had several others that I enjoyed, but not sure that I could enjoy a glass let alone share a bottle! I did feel that when wine tasting along with others that were older, that we seemed to be discriminated against. Our samples were often smaller and the service was less personal.

We also tried our luck at the casino on Friday. I called T to make sure he made it home from school and to check in. In doing so, I threw in a couple quarters into a quarter slot machine. I don't know what I hit, but it started clinking and racking up, finally totaling $115.00. Not that I didn't manage to spend the majority of it on other machines, but it was pretty entertaining to see how much I won and that T was good luck. I should have kept him on the phone the entire time, maybe I would have hit it big. I did see a lady win $600 on the penny slots, so that was pretty cool.

Saturday in Traverse City was Happy Apple Days. We were rather disappointed that it didn't appear to be a festival or any great event. There were a few bushels of baskets in local store fronts that were for the picking while you shopped. The local fire department was celebrating National Fire Prevention Day where the crowds were able to take rides on the old fire engine and the kids received free fire hats and stickers.