Stonington

Friday in the UP is behind us.  It's 6:45 in the morning on Saturday as I start to write this, and I'm trying not to listen to the noise of the lobby and coffee shop right around the corner from our suite.  It hasn't woken me up during our stay here, but it's a lot to have to hear early in the morning.  If only this hotel had a doorway to close between the lobby and this wing of rooms.  Oh wait, they do.  Sigh.  I've already written a bad review on TripAdvisor and will argue with Conrad if he considers staying here again.  And yes, I did talk to them about this two days ago when it first happened.  So much for customer feedback, right?

Enough of that, though, Peter (and no, I'm not naming the hotel, but if you ever come up to Conrad's hometown, ask me where NOT to stay, and I will tell you). Let's get back to yesterday.

Two days ago we had grand ambitions of a drive over to St. Ignace and the ferry to Mackinac Island.  By yesterday morning, that had downgraded significantly.  We had breakfast with Karen at a new place in town (generous portions for the most part, but my breakfast burrito was mostly potato instead of egg) (I swear, this post is not just a litany of complaints), then spent time in the room doing some paperwork things that needed to be done.  It was after 1:00 when Conrad and I finally got ourselves going for a drive.  Mackinac Island?  Nope.  The Stonington Peninsula.

Yeah, not very ambitious.  A drive to a lighthouse at Peninsula Point. 

A nice drive, mind you, and the lighthouse was a lovely little setting. 

Everything so green there.  We were able to climb up the stairs inside the lighthouse

and take in the views from there. 

Lovely.  Back in the car, we headed through the tunnel of trees to the paved road, then past fields and occasional houses.  There was something about the green space that invited, and it would have been fantastic to stroll or run through those places.  Alas, aside from most of it being private land, I can only imagine what sort of ticks a person could pick up among those tall grasses and such!

We left the Stonington Peninsula behind us and meandered through the nearby communities, admiring some of the homes and gardens that we rolled past.  We headed on into Escanaba and picked up a few things needed for a night-in in the hotel room.  Once back at the hotel, we headed to the bar for a happy hour drink.  We've been enjoying the Mammoth Gin, a Michigan brand, and for all that we have had issues with the hotel, the bar has had good service and good drinks.  Credit to them for the terrific martinis. 

It's clear from the crowds at the bar when it opens at 4:30 that flood on in that they're keeping folks happy.

We came back to the room and began our grazing for the evening.  Veggies and dip, then a nice assortment of meats and cheeses with almonds and biscuits.  A good wine to go with it. 

Re-watching season one of The Crown on Netflix.  Eventually reading with music.  Little fuss, just us having that easy time together to end our last night in the UP for this trip.  A nice day for a drive, a nice evening, and the promise of being that much closer to being home.

fitting in

Our last day in Rhode Island is drawing to a close.  We made it back from Narragansett in time to have a we nightcap at the hotel bar (yes, that is a martini in a white wine glass - apparently they only have two martini glasses at the bar)

(I did not finish my martini).  Soon to bed.  We have to pack in the morning, take the car to the airport, and then meet Ed for our jaunt up to New Hampshire.  Full days ahead!

So once again, it is a short entry for me and a photo or two.  We visited Ed’s library earlier today, and I continued a tradition of getting photos taken in a little reading cubicle in the children’s room.  Cute, no?

To bed, to NH.  I’ll check in quickly tomorrow!

Carmel Valley Ranch getaway

Gosh, there's a handful of days from the past week to cover under one blog entry, and often for multi-day trips, I'll break things out into more than one entry.  But I think I'll take this all as one.  It may result in a longer entry, but that's ok.  I also don't think I'll chronologically catalogue what happened.  Instead, let me highlight some things in whatever order I feel like.  Starting with...

Farm animals!  Oh yes, the resort we were staying at, the Carmel Valley Ranch, has farm animals at its corral up on the ridge above.  In fact, the goats

provide milk for the cheesemaker at the hotel (we chatted a bit with her on Wednesday when she offered a cheese-tasting to folks - it's a small operation, a handful of gallons a day, she makes three cheeses).  There were alpacas,

sheep, a couple of highland cows (miniature, but they looked plenty big),

donkeys.  Van was in his element - he loves animals of all sorts, and he's always happy to pet them if they are happy to be petted. 

Conrad was surprisingly reticent,

and when I asked him later, he said that he was wary of touching them because of a recent incident in which a colleague's dog was in the office and nipped him.  I get it, totally.  He loved seeing the animals even if he didn't touch them much.  It was a steep if short hike up

to where the corral was

(the hotel has a shuttle that runs up there), but it was worth it.  So much cuteness.  And at a hotel that once in a while felt overrun by families with small children (sorry, but true), it was nice to see so many kids and their parents and others learning about the animals and engaging with them.  Plus, the views from up there were outstanding. 

A real highlight of the trip.

Bud's at La Playa in Carmel-by-the-Sea.  A hotel bar in an historic hotel

in a wealthy little seaside town.  Van had been there before and wanted us to try it, and as with so many things that Van recommends, it did anything but disappoint.  Oh no.  It was quite the great experience.  We hadn't really had lunch because of a late breakfast and visiting the animals, so after we cleaned up from that, we headed into Carmel-by-the-Sea (where Clint Eastwood was once mayor) and found parking on a street by the hotel.  It wasn't yet 4PM, but we had dinner and drinks on our mind.  The bar wasn't too busy - yet! - and we were able to grab the booth the farthest from where the musicians were set up, a boon to Conrad and his hearing.  Excellent!  Van had talked up the martinis, and so Conrad and I each ordered one (and then a second one).  Called Bud's Martini,

the drink was essentially a Vesper, and a good one at that.  Van had also talked up the hamburger, and again, he was absolutely correct (oh, and we had shrimp cocktails to start). 

Tender pretzel roll, juicy burger. 

It was the perfect late afternoon bar dinner.  We headed past the waterfront near the end of sunset,

and we made it back to the hotel during normal dinner time, our one evening meal not at the resort, and snagged a fire pit

for s'mores before nightcapping by the tree and fireplace in the hotel lobby.

I guess between the animals and Bud's, Tuesday was the best day of our stay.  Quite possibly!  It was raining through NYE, and although that didn't bother us (and didn't deter me from a good morning walk to close the year), it led to us doing rather less, staying mostly indoors.  Ah well.  Back to highlights!

Wine tasting at Bernardus.  This was unplanned.  The four of us (a lot of places were dog-friendly, so she was along with us for the ride) hopped in the car on Monday.  A glorious, sunny day for heading east into the Carmel Valley Village area.  After a very late and tasty breakfast of shared beignets

and then an omelette

for me at Trailside Café & Beer Garden followed by poking in a couple of stores and then a drive around the small residential area, we found ourselves at the winery tasting room (and let me tell you, there were a lot of tasting rooms to choose from).  I had been saying in the car as we drove past so many that it would be fun to perhaps drop in on one at some point during our trip.  And that turned into us pulling into the parking lot at Bernardus, a winery whose name was familiar to Van.  We brought Olive inside, claimed a table in a quieter room, and tasted a half-dozen wines (four were listed on the flight, but the three women working there wanted us to try a couple of others - smart of them, we bought bottles of those additional wines). 

It was low key, unhurried, and - surprisingly - we mostly agreed on the wines we tasted.  I rather liked the whites (and one of the reds), so I decided it would be nice to join their wine club and get a few shipments a year from them.  I look forward to that.

Those were my top three highlights.  But things were otherwise terrific, truly.  We had two meals at the hotel bar, and although I think the bar staff desperately needed an additional person back there with them, I liked the cocktails,

and the food was fine if unexceptional

(but oh, the little gingerbread apple dessert was notches above the savoury food we had). 

We also had our NYE dinner at the hotel at a table over by the windows in the dining room, which felt cozy.  Champagne to start,

then a multi-course menu from which I most liked the beef tartare

(which was flavoured with ingredients of Bolognese, a nice touch) and the beef cheeks

(so tender as to be spoonable).  The whole meal was lovely

but bigger portions than we expected, and it made for a night of indigestion from over-indulging.  Darn it. 

As for the hotel, we had a good, large, comfortable suite

about a quarter-mile walk uphill from the main lodge building.  Aside from the deer,

there were also turkeys

roaming on the golf course

surrounding the property.  There was a hotel garden

and vineyards,

beautiful grounds around the hotel (I loved all the proteas). 

The drive there and back was long-ish but not difficult, at least not for me napping away or reading in the back seat, usually with Olive beside me.

It was a wonderful cap to a relaxing holiday season.  My thanks to Van - this trip was his Christmas gift to the two of us.  I'm so very grateful I finally got to see Carmel Valley Ranch and enjoy it with my guys

and Olive!