I was talking to my dad the other day and he was commenting on the fact that he recently shut down his Facebook account for a period of time. He was sick of getting all the trash that we have all come to expect from that platform. He recently re-enabled his account and mentioned the fact that he seemed to be getting more travel content than he had in the past.
Oddly enough, it's that same sort of thing that led me to the location in this post and the area we ended up exploring in my post today. I was scrolling through Facebook when I saw photos with these amazing views and a caption that read something like "hidden gem day trips in Michigan" or something like that.
Thus we ended up at the Arcadia Lookout just north of Arcadia, Michigan. It's on the west side of the state right along the shores of Lake Michigan.
The drive only ended up taking about twenty to thirty minutes, but it was a beautiful slow path along the coast and through a couple of other small towns just north of Manistee, MI. The "park" is actually just a roadside turn out that they added some bathrooms and maybe twenty or so parking spots to. If you simply pull in the views are great, but pretty typical.
It's when you climb the hundred or so stairs up to the observation point that you actually get the scope of just how majestic the landscape is. We got to see a couple of sailboats out on Lake Michigan as well as a large freighter off in the distance churning its way towards Chicago or some other port.
While I don't know if I would ever come back to this particular spot, I am glad I made the trip at least once. If I ever head back this way, I will more likely head just a bit further north to the Arcadia Dunes area. There is a nature preserve up there and it looks like it could be kind of cool to explore.
Instead, we decided to head back down towards the campground. There was a small country market was passed on our way up and I thought it might be cool to stop in and check it out. They had all kinds of vegetables and fruits as well as pre-packaged goods from local vendors. It was a cute little store and when we happened to stop in the parking lot was packed full of people.
I kept things simple opting for this jar of salsa from Traverse Bay Farms just a bit north of our location and a individual blueberry pie. The pie wasn't the greatest I have ever had. Even though it was relatively small, I still spread it across two or three days before I actually finished it. The salsa on the other hand was absolutely amazing and I have been enjoying that quite frequently.
I do have to admit, and $9.50 for the jar, it was kind of pricey and I don't know if I would buy it again at that price, but the flavors are simply outstanding and given that it is an "all natural" recipe, the extra cost might be warranted.
As we passed back through the small town of Onekama (Oh-neck-ah-ma), we decided to stop at a local spot called The Blue Slipper to get some lunch. This place was established in the 1880's apparently, and the old building actually had a lot of character. @diamonddave, plus his wife, son, and their dog were with us on this trip, so we had to sit outside because of the dog. Which really wasn't a big deal because we got lucky and it was a beautiful day out!
The Blue Slipper gives you a complimentary order of pretzels and their "slip dip" which is basically just sour cream, cream cheese, and some seasoning. It was good or we were starving, because we had it demolished in a few short minutes!
It was such a nice day that I decided to indulge in a delicious PBR beer. This ones for your @tengolotodo!
We also got an order of deep fried green beans that we share between the five of us. Believe it or not, I'm not a huge fan of deep frying stuff just for the sake of deep frying it, but these were quite good. I think I still prefer just plain green beans...
Our friends son decided to step outside his wheelhouse and try something new. He tried the brisket sandwich and while it might not look like much, he had nothing but great things to say about it. I'm probably most impressed that a middle school student like him would be willing to try something new. I thought sure he was going to order a burger with just ketchup or something like that.
They had a special menu touting their fish fry for that weekend, so I was immediately drawn to that. I got the perch in the bottom photo and my friend got the cod in the top photo. If you know your stuff, you will probably recognize right away that they were both over cooked. It was actually a pretty disappointing dish for both of us. I think it could have been good, but they left it in the oil just a bit too long and it ended up kind of killing it.
We aren't usually the sort of people to complain, so we just ate it and went on our way.
@mrsbozz and her friend both decided to try one of the sandwiches they labeled as "panini's" in the menu. Again, if you know your sandwiches, you know that these aren't really panini's. Yes, they are toasted, but panini's traditionally have that hard pressed look to them where everything gets all smashed and melted together.
Needless to say, while I wouldn't write The Blue Slipper off completely, I am pretty disappointed in what we got for being the middle of the day on Saturday. It's not like they were overly busy either. For the most part we were the only table there until a couple more people trickled in.
I'd probably give The Blue Slipper the benefit of the doubt and try them again if I was ever up this way, but with several other interesting places in the area to choose from, it would be a two strikes and you're out sort of thing for me.
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