If
you know anything about this area and some parts of upper MI, then you’ve heard
of fish boils, where White Fish and veggies are cooked in a large pot of
boiling water over a wood fire.
I’d
seen a fish boil on one of the TV shows that features different restaurants and
since one show had been about Pelletiers Restaurant and Fish Boil and we were
camping five miles from their Fish Creek location we opted to give it a try. From the TV show, I thought they were out in
the country, but they are actually located right down town but the set-up makes
it seem like you are not.
We
awoke to overcast skies, an off and on drizzle, a good breeze, and cool temps –
I wore a warm up jacket while doing my computing outside.
After
a couple of failed restaurant stops (too crowded), we stopped at MacReady Artisan Bread Co. for some artisan bread and scones and took them back home for
breakfast. The bread was pretty good but
we all thought the scones were too dry so no need to return.
We
knew the maple syrup we had purchased in New Hampshire several years ago was
about gone and when we saw it advertised here, we looked up a local supplier
and went to their place to check it out. InTheWoods Sugar Bush Maple Syrup is literally in the woods among the
1400 maple trees that they tap from - not visible from the road and no sign.
Their house and sugar operation share the same building and when you
drive back their gravel lane in the woods, the first thing you notice is the
blue plastic tubing running among the trees for collecting the sap. I failed to get a pic but someone else did.
The
campground is located a couple of miles north of Two Rivers, WI a town of
11,000+ that serves the local area with only a couple of tourists stops - being the birthplace of the ice cream sundae is their major claim to fame. They
have a very nice public beach area, several marinas and the name comes from the East and West
Twin Rivers that run thru town and join just inland from Lake Michigan.
This is the old fishing village.
We
departed the Brimley MI area about 9:30am on Wednesday and took the following
route: MI-28, MI-117, US-2, US-41, MI-35, US-41, I-43, WI-143, CO-V, WI-42,
CO-W, CO-O. None of the roads were
really bad and they were generally pretty good for paved over concrete. One stretch of MI-28 was a little rough but
they were actually resurfacing it. We
gladly waited for three re-paving projects.
MI-35 was a very scenic drive along the shore of Lake Michigan. On a sad note, while driving around MI and on the drive to WI, we have seen many closed or obviously depressed businesses.
We
rolled into Scheffels Hideaway Campground about
4pm (3pm with the time change) after a pleasant 6½ hour (305 mile) drive. I would rate this as a nice campground with
three big draw backs for us – only 30 amp power, no sewer, (both of which I knew
about) and afternoon sun. The power
would not be an issue if were cool enough to open the coach but it wasn’t and
we ran one AC and the other on high fan (remember, we have one down), which kept it just tolerable then we turned
them off to use the microwave, hair dryer, etc.
The
primary reason for coming to Sault Ste. Marie was to see the Soo Locks which we
finally did our last day in the area.
For a good service to visitors, the locks has a 24 hour hotline that tells
you when the next ships are scheduled to hit the locks and for this day, there
was one due in at 11:45 am.
So
we got ready and headed up to the Soo to make our first stop at the Tower of History which is a 210’ tall concrete tower with observation decks and a high
speed elevator.
After
experiencing the crowds on Saturday, we decided to stay close to home on Sunday
beginning with a breakfast trip just up the road to the Dancing Crane Coffee
House but it turned out that all they had to eat was a few sweet rolls, ice
cream, and pasties so we bought a half dozen frozen ones to go, and went back
to the RV where Bev and I had a very good pasty and Pat had a meat loaf
sandwich. It was unique though.
After
a relaxing afternoon, we headed down to Brimley for a late lunch at Jack’s Grub & Pub. Arriving at 3:30pm we pretty well had the
place to ourselves. The cook is Polish
and we went there for the specialties – Perogies for Pat and Cabbage Rolls for
Bev and I but before the main course we had our first ever Poutine as an
appetizer – French fries topped with cheese curds and brown gravy. It was very good but a little hard to eat as
they used mozzarella cheese – we’ll be making his at home with curds from
Sweetwater Valley Farms. These shots are
of Pat’s and Bev’s meals.
