Day 23: A Lovely Day in Michigan

We had an extra day before we needed to be in Holland MI for the Tulip Festival and decided to check out some of the Lake Michigan/Traverse Bay area. We first drove from Ann Arbor to Charlevoix. We chose not to drive on the interstate but instead went on more local roads stopping at such places as Uncle John's Cider Mill. We did allow the GPS lady to guide us much of the way and were shocked when we were driving along and she said, "Drive onto ferry" And there ahead of us was a little ferry. It only held 2 cars and we were car #2. When the captain came to collect our fare he gave Mr Ripley a treat. Now our dog wants to ride more ferrys. The crossing took about 2 minutes but was an amusing little venture. My Roadfood book mentions a Charlevoix restaurant that sounded like a great place for us to have lunch so we headed there. A sign on the door said "this week only: closed Monday and Tuesday" ...oops. Anyway we found a place called the Weathervane right by the little Charlevoix drawbridge on the channel to Lake Michigan. Our waitress told us to check out some of the houses near the water, and in particular, the ones called "mushroom houses." These are these circular stone houses with mushroom shaped roofs. They looked like something out of a fairy tale.
After exploring Charlevoix we headed to Traverse City. The drive sent us past what seemed like millions of cherry orchards. The trees are in bloom right now so it was beautiful to see.
Food and Wine Magazine recently did an article about the Traverse City area and I brought it along as a source. We visited a winery mentioned in the article called Two Lads Winery which boasts a stunning location with great views, an ultra modern tasting room and surprisingly good wines. We then drove to our hotel which is the Holiday Inn West Bay and as the name implies is right on the bay. Our room has a view of the bay which is quite lovely.
The Food and Wine article mentioned a restaurant called Cooks' House where the chef serves locally sourced food. It is a tiny place--only 20 seats and you have to bring your own wine (there's a nice wine store across the street where we bought a bottle). We loved this place! The food was delicious and the chef and his wife (who is the server) were super nice. Everything was excellent but the highlight was probably Dwyne's salad of smoked rabbit with watercress and golden beets.
After dinner we walked around the downtown area of Traverse City. It's another charming little city. There are lots of nice shops, restaurants and bars and the buildings have lots of architectural character.
Tomorrow we head for Holland MI for the Tulip Festival.