Vacation Reflections – The Greatest Lake
We just returned from a week at my mom’s family’s cottage on Lake Michigan. I have always felt that it is the Greatest Lake, but that may be because I have spent so much time there over the years. Whether or not it is the greatest, there are many reasons to love Lake Michigan—huge sandy beach (I’m still finding sand in my hair and clothes), warm water, waves and currents that change day to day, incredible sunsets—but maybe I just am unaware of how great the other Great Lakes are. I’ll find out about another one of them in a few weeks when we meet up with Madame’s family for a reunion on the shores of Lake Erie, which apparently is Great too!
Our vacation was not focused on food but I made sure to sample local beverages while in Michigan, which is home to more than 100 craft breweries! According to USA Today , Michigan ranks 5 th in the US for number of craft breweries. Anyone who is from Michigan (I count myself as one, since I was born there, and spent my college years there) knows that the state has amazing breweries ( Founders , Bells , Brewery Vivant , Short’s , New Holland …). In the last year Michigan took 3 out of 5 of the BeerCity USA awards (although this is a somewhat biased award, since it is based on popular vote and the state had the most voters).
One tradition that we upheld on this visit to Michigan was blueberry picking, which (once again) in many people’s opinion Michigan is home to the best blueberries! Sadly, we were maybe a week early and struggled to fill our buckets. Nonetheless, we picked several pounds and enjoyed the wonderful fruits all week long and even made ice cream with them. Interestingly, the best blueberry ice cream recipe I found came from a blogger based in the place we live, the Waterloo Region!
I evened managed to find “local” sugar while in Michigan which I was pretty excited about. I came home with 15 pounds of the stuff! The Michigan Sugar Company is a cooperative based on the east side of the state so I felt like it was much more local than any cane sugar I’m ever going to buy. I’ve been working to minimize my use of sugar, replacing it as much as possible in cooking with honey and maple syrup, but some recipes just work best with sugar. This sugar is made from sugarbeets!
We returned home late Saturday night (well, actually it was very early Sunday morning) to a town that had been ravaged by a huge storm ! We were very amazed and thankful to find our backyard looking totally normal. There were even new vegetables to pick, including Sun Gold tomatoes and two huge zucchinis. We made eggplant parmesan but substituted one of the zucchinis for the eggplant, and it was great!
So, vacation is over, we are home again, and I’m back to work on various projects around the house, the newest being Kombucha and Ginger Bug . I will hopefully be successful with these wonderful live culture beverages soon and will share more about them. It’s all part of my attempt to work with local cultures ! First things first though, we need to catch up on some laundry….
July 22, 2013 @ 4:07 pm
Love the first photo of the little boy asleep on the towel. I want to have his life!!
July 22, 2013 @ 4:09 pm
Totally! My young assistant tends to have it pretty good. Although he’s been a bit bored since our return home. Today I’ve heard “now what can I do” about 94 times!
July 22, 2013 @ 4:07 pm
This makes me miss Michigan tremendously! Let me know how the Kombucha turns out — I’ve been thinking of trying this as well!
July 22, 2013 @ 4:11 pm
Well you’ll have to go back. And I will let you know about the Kombucha. I found an add on kijiji (it’s like craigslist, but Canadian) for a free scoby (the kombucha mother)! I gave the generous giver a bottle of homebrew in return which he appreciated, although he had not asked for anything.
July 22, 2013 @ 4:47 pm
Michigan is on my travel list. Nice post.
July 22, 2013 @ 7:11 pm
Thank you, I highly recommend it!
July 22, 2013 @ 8:16 pm
ah yes, nothing like the cottage!
From one who knows,
Barb
July 23, 2013 @ 8:11 am
Yup!!
July 24, 2013 @ 7:55 pm
I’ve never been to Michigan. I had no idea that the lake was that big! Gorgeous photo of your mum (?) and your little man on the bench. You captured some really special moments during your time away. On another note, I adore craft beers! We have some amazing breweries here in Western Australia also. Makes me feel pretty lucky to have some really pioneering young brewers at my back door
Glad that you guys had a relaxing time… hope that it’s easy enough to settle back into everyday routine (I always feel sad when I come back from holidays!)
July 24, 2013 @ 10:53 pm
Hey, thanks, Laura! Actually in that photo he’s next to my grandma! But anyways, yes, a great holiday!
July 31, 2013 @ 4:00 am
Ah, that makes sense, sorry (I think we’re about the same age so I overshot drastically. I work with 65-100+ folk every day so I completely lose my perspective on age at times!). Glad that you had an awesome trip.
July 25, 2013 @ 10:29 am
Looks like a lovely vacation! I spent much of my childhood at Lake Erie — I think you’ll love it! Which beach will you be heading to?
July 25, 2013 @ 10:50 am
Great, that’s good to hear. We’re going to Turkey Point (I think).
July 25, 2013 @ 12:53 pm
Oh!! So cool. Take some pictures for me. That is one of the beaches I used to go to!
July 25, 2013 @ 4:59 pm
From the sound of the post, I think you enjoyed yourself, tremendously. There is no doubt about it and it seems you have a really soft spot for Michigan and you make it sound like a very nice place to visit. One of these days, we shall explore Michigan.
The sand grains in North America are minuscule, they stick everywhere and some months later you can still find them lingering in garments that were worn in the beach.
Last week we went to Port Dover (Lake Erie) to swim. It was a hot day and the beach was full. The kids really enjoyed swimming. We are planning to go back there again.
Blueberry ice cream sounds great. I love blue berries especially blueberry pikelets or pancakes.
At least guelph was spared by the storm. My sister in Toronto was in darkness for some three lonely days. Thanks so much for sharing and best wishes to your wonderful family.
July 26, 2013 @ 8:31 am
Yes, you’re totally right about the sand, I know we brought back quite a bit with us! I’m glad y’all were spared from the storm. Luckily it seems most of the damage around our neighbourhood was to tree limbs but not actually the homes! However, that’s pretty crummy for your sister, glad it’s all over now!
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