Almost Over

Well, it is our last night here. Vacations sure do go quickly! We have had a great time. East Tawas is a nice town to visit, we recommend it. It has a small town feel, but also has a lot of the amenities us city-folks are used to.

Here are some of the things we did and recommend:

We had a great dinner at Northwoods Steakhouse. It is right on US-23 in East Tawas. It's next to the Big Boy. Their house Cabernet is really good and the food is even better. It's atmosphere is that of a lodge. All knotty pine wood, hunting trophies on the walls, etc.

We took a ride on the AuSable River Queen. It is a flat-bottom paddle boat that takes you on a two hour cruise along the AuSable River. It is a really nice ride. The captain entertains and informs everyone with facts about the area and corny jokes that you can't help but laugh at. There was a performer playing guitar and singing songs as well. Plus there is a bar on the upper deck!

On Newman street in "downtown' East Tawas is a place called Mulligan's Irish Pub. They have some of the bet corned beef we have ever eaten. We had lunch there on Sunday. The corned beef sandwiches were delicious. It was so good we went back for breakfast a couple days later. I highly recommend having breakfast there and ordering the O'Kurt. It is corned beef hash topped with cheese and two eggs. Oh man, I may try to convince Tracey we should go there for breakfast again before we head out.

The sunrises are beautiful on Lake Huron. It is worth getting up for them at least once. You can always take a nap later. The colors are indescribable. It is amazing to watch the sun as if it were coming out of the water and bring with it a new day. It is quite a humbling and memorable experience.

We also went to Tawas Point State Park and visited the lighthouse there. It was built in the mid-1800s and still operates. This is the second lighthouse for that area. This "new" one had to be built because Tawas Point had grown a mile out into Lake Huron, rendering the old lighthouse useless. The scenery on the grounds is amazing, just a vast expanse of blue water extending on forever.

The most important thing we do though was relax. We definitely needed this vacation. It was a perfect way to refill out vessel.

It's Not Vacation Without a Head Wound

Tracey managed to bonk her head while going inside from the deck. Luckily, a bag of ice and Facebook made her feel better.

A Day of Rest

Lazy day today. The weather was beautiful so we spent the day on the deck reading and enjoying the outdoors.

Tracey took the day's activities very seriously.

The Walks Are Short in a Small Town

You want to talk small towns? Welcome to East Tawas.

Tracey and I checked out "downtown" yesterday. It stretches along Newman Street from US-23 all the way to State Street. If you don't have a map handy, that's two blocks. There area nifty shops there. I foresee a couple more trips to the Choclatier while we're here, that's for sure. We tried chocolate covered orange slices that made me want to kiss whom ever made them full on the mouth with tongue. We also ate at Mulligan's Irish Pub and enjoyed some of the best corned beef we've ever had the pleasure of masticating. I won't even tell you what I wanted to do the person who made our sandwiches there. I was also very pleased to get a Harp at Mulligan's. I assumed Budweiser and PBR was the extent of beer selection in a two-block downtown. I was wrong.

Before heading downtown, we took Ruffino for walk around the neighborhood. He made sure to walk through every mud puddle along the way. I assume he was conducting a survey of the depth and sediment content of the puddles in this area. I'll be interested to read his findings.

Tracey noticed that there were many cottages for sale while on our walk, so that put the idea in her head that we should get one. It appears that the housing market is doing OK up here, by the way. She found a listing for a 3000 sqf house sitting on 135 acres for $999,000. I'll bet we could get it for $996,500. If not, she also found a one bedroom, zero bath or about $15,000. You read that correctly, there is no bathroom. It made no mention of an outhouse, either, so I guess you go in a bucket or just hang ass out a window.

Getting There is...

Tracey and I were both very excited that Saturday had arrived. Ruffino was excited as well, though, he had no idea why. Our plan was to be on the road by noon and at the cottage by 3:30 or 4:00. And we followed that plan exactly -- in the Pacific Time Zone.

No matter! We are on vacation and making our own schedule.

We arrived a little after 7:00 last night. We were a bit disappointed to discover that the cottage is not actually on the lake. The water is across the street and blocked by other cottages. This did not bother Ruffino one bit, however. He had a whole new world to explore and pee on. We were still pulling up the driveway, in fact, when Ruffino saw a new friend that he just had to say hello to. Waiting for the car to stop would take too long apparently, so he shot out the back window and raced down the driveway towards two kids who were walking a dog. I have to admit that it was entertaining to see the looks of terror on the faces of these kids as 70 pounds of German Shepherd bounded towards them. Ruffino said hello with a quick sniff of the terrier's posterior and then ran back to Tracey who had been screaming his name.

That was the excitement of Day 1. We unpacked the car, put food away and sat down to relax. The power went out around 9:00, which could just be the way things work around here. I'm not sure.