Category: Uncategorized

I’m a sucker for nice sunrises, and on Lincoln Road, as it winds its way down from Bugai Road to Cherry Bend Road, you can get a nice one. It is especially great in the fall, with an orchard and field in the foreground with the West Bay and Old Mission Peninsula behind.

Being a resident of Leelanau County, I noticed on The Ticker that U.S. News ranked the county as the 73rd healthiest county in the country. Must be the cherries. Grand Traverse County came in at a very respectable 127th.  The county also leads the state in vaccination rates. And we’re also mostly nice people, present company excluded.

This isn’t a food blog, but there are many excellent restaurants in Traverse City, so I’ll comment on them once in a while, and Poppycock’s on Front Street is worth mentioning. We recently paid them our first visit, and we had an excellent meal. They have a Wednesday Date Night special which is two entrees and a bottle of wine for $50.  This is a limited time offer, though. Granted, the time is quite long – Labor Day to Memorial Day – but we’re getting near the end. If you want in on the deal, move quickly.

Pictured here is the most goodest (that is a word, maybe) meal I have had in my time here in TC, the braised beef. Served with brussels sprouts and gnocchi, every facet of this dish was outstanding. It truly one of those “good to the last bite” meals. To let you know how good the Date Night deal is, this entrée is $30 by itself. So for $20 more, you get another entrée and a bottle of wine. Really.

Though we probably didn’t need the extra food, we started with the pita chip appetizer. So good. The hummus, salsa and cheese dipping sides were all great. And service was fantastic, too.  My professional opinion as a life-long eater is that you should go there and get all the good food. 

Traverse City wasn’t always about wine. Man cannot live on wine alone – he also needs marshmallows. The Straub Bros. & Amiotte candy factory at Front and Hall was the third (and final) of the company’s three factories. Today, the building houses several businesses, the most prominent being North Peak Brewing Company which has excellent food and a beer I’m very fond of, Diabolical IPA.

Straub Bros. Candy Factory

The distinctive yellow bricks (400,000 were used in the building of the factory) came from the Markham brick yard on what is now M-22 just north of Greilickville. There was a small-gauge railroad to take the bricks from the brickyard to Traverse City. The familiar yellow bricks can be seen throughout town, including in several buildings in The Commons.

Oops, wrong pedal. That poor 7-11 didn’t stand a chance. If I had to pick a favorite 7-11 in Traverse City, it would be this one. I haven’t been into it yet, but when I took my daughter to school from our temporary base on Eighth Street, we would pass it every day. Hopefully she’ll be returned to in-person school very soon.

Back to the accident at hand. I’m sure they’ll get that glass replaced in no time. Until then, the plastic sheet looks quite fetching, and the cost of keeping the Big Gulps cold will be way down the next few days.

Oops, that wasn’t the brake