ShotsnCruises

For all you Trump bashers, what President has ever donated $1000000 of their own personal money to a natural disaster? Why so quick to judge? What would you do different if you were in his shoes? Lest we forget we have North Korea threatening war on our footsteps, and every other part of national security and the country to run. We cannot comprehend the burden that the office brings, yet everyone is so quick to judge. He came too soon, he came not soon enough.... blah blah blah. He will never please you no matter what, and anything done will be judged through a negative filter. Meanwhile, we have Antifa beating people in he streets of California and no one condemns their actions!!!

This board was fine when judgmental comments were kept to ones self, but recently the leftist libs have killed it for me. I'm sick of it!!

I spent hours on my knees in tears crying and praying for the victims of Harvey and in 2 days I fly out with my company's Operation Black Swan to provide crisis services for the victims.

So much for the fun of the cooler.

You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

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Mdpa, couldn't agree with you more!!

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As to the dining out vs. in options. We prefer to dine in. We do take out a few times a month, but since I love to cook, it is mostly my food we eat. We find eating out more obnoxious than it is enjoyable. With children allowed to run around restaurants and scream, people rude, loud, and not dressed proper (I don't want to smell you or see more skin than clothing when I dine out), we would just as soon skip the convenience. We also have seen the quality of restaurants drop over the past few years (at least near us). I can cook a much better steak, drink our preferred wine (for less than a quarter the price), and not have to worry about the drive home!

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Early dinner or very late lunch today, depending on how you see it.

Mediterranean inspired:

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Mysty, this is news to me and I am unable to offer any further understanding.

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Jeff, yes, you are right. Stupid auto correct!!!

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JP, the wine is The Franc from Constantino, California. Quite possibly my favorite of all time. This was a 2014, but the 2010 was the best vintage (IMHO).

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Dinner finished:

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Dinner in progress:

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Cam, many a car deer accident in my neck of the woods, especially as we get close to Fall and the rut. Glad everyone is okay.

Jeff, your pizza oven is the one envy I wish my kitchen has! DH keeps talking about building an outdoor brick, wood-fired oven. I would love one, but that would mean a big outdoor project and we have 3 indoor projects going on right now!

Sunday brunch at our house this morning. Southwest style scrambled eggs (ham, jalapeño, and applewood smoked gruyere cheese topped with tomatoes), bacon, fresh fruit and sourdough toast.

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It's Michigan blueberry season, and I always try to get my fair share!

Only 5lbs today, but more to come.

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Jeff, there is a restaurant and inn called Old Mission, and that may have started then. Not sure.

JP, geography was close. However, there is no direct route or ferry from Traverse City to the UP. No ferries from there. There are ferries to other islands.

I suggest you drive all the way to the top of Old Mission, about 2 miles north of where you are staying. There is a beautiful lighthouse and a beach. Caution, water is always COLD!

Make sure to check out the OTHER Peninsula, Leelanau, a drive to Fish Town in Leland is worth it.

If you want a GREAT PUB with good food and craft beer, check out North Peak downtown. There is also a nightly food truck rally called Little Fleet that is the happening place to be every evening.

You are going to experience my favorite location on earth in the summer!

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Just saw you are going to Traverse City area. My favorite get-a-way spot. Where are you staying?

Be prepared for wine tasting. Michigan produces some of the best Riesling in the world. The Reds are getting better, but there is a lot of fruit wines, especially cherry.

It is our states own little piece of heaven. I recommend a drive up Old Mission Peninsula (between the two bays) and visit Brys Estate Winery and 2 Lads winery. Chateau Chantal is beautiful, but I don't enjoy their wines. It is also at the top end of Old Mission Peninsula. A wonderful place to eat is Trattoria Stella in the Commons (just south of town on 11th street). It is the old state hospital that has been renovated and has shops and restaurants. I do recommend a reservation as this is a very busy time of year up there!

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JP, I am a Michigan resident.

What would you like to know?

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Good eye Jeff and JP, yes a ribeye for my husband. I had a KC strip.

Making flank steak tacos tonight. I took today off work so we have some time to finish our basement project.

We put new flooring in the basement kitchen. It is waterproof laminate. Not the most expensive product out there, but it looks nice and will do even if we get flooding again. It is also easy to install ourselves.

We moved and rearranged everything in our basement and are going to be putting in a wine cellar as well. Lots of work, as we have a 15,000 book library down there (which thankfully is far from where the flooding happens)!!

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Dinner

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Can we be done talking politics/insurance/healthcare now?

I'm loosing my taste for hanging out at the cooler....

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Spins, yes the cake was baked in my bunt pan. Although, you can make it in any cake pan and it tastes just as amazing.

Thanks for the welcome back everyone. I am trying to stay as I can. Weekends have gotten busy and time gets away from me. I am hoping to cook some more over th next 3 days. Food pics to come.

I check out for a week and it feels like I have been gone forever!

Viking looks interesting, and something to keep on our cruising radar. For now, we are a bit overwhelmed planning our next 2 cruises, trying to decide if we really want a sailboat (or just like toying with the idea for awhile), and trying to remodel parts of the house. Life got really busy really fast.

To cope, here is my Chocolate Cherry Cake (with real Michigan cherries):

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Morning Cooler Cruisers. I apologize for my absence. With all the rain here, our basement has had water coming in, and we have been dealing with that fun mess. Luckily, nothing seems to be ruined. Work has been a whirlwind up until today, where I only have 2 patients scheduled. So, some breathing time and cruise planning time.

I am looking for some Caribbean advice from my fellow cruisers. On our upcoming Wind consecutive cruise, we will be on St. Bart's twice. The first time is the hubby's birthday. We previously were not that impressed with St. Barts. We found the island busy, but not in an industrious way. We also found things to be terribly overpriced. I am looking for a tour we can plan that possibly gets us out on the water and won't break the bank. Silversea offers a sailing tour, but I am always leery of ship yours (and if you remember, we had such a disaster in Bequia on our last Silversea cruise). So... Any suggestions? We aren't really "lay by the beach people" not into shopping, and I guess as a last result, the 2nd day in St. Bart's we could always create our own "Sea Day" and remain on board.

OP, what dates/ship sailings are you going on in March? We are doing a consecutive cruise on the Wind March 4th and 11th. I started a roll-call but no one has joined in!

Les,

Sorry, just now seeing this. I am once again looking for something more exciting and different to do on our B2B that won't break the bank. Two stops here, one on DH's birthday! Maybe we will give a ship's tour a chance.

Lois, I too have heard that phrase a lot! I am hoping we are an exception to that. Not sure if we will buy this summer/fall or wait until next year. It might depend on if we find "the one" this year or not.

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Exciting news, Shots! Sailing must be very rewarding, being so close to the water and maneuvering directions must feel very empowering. You both will much enjoy this activity, I'm sure. Our son in law just re-named his boat (a motor one) and called it Cielo (meaning Heaven). That's how he feels about it.

I am hoping we can re-learn as we go. It has been a while for both of us. I am hoping for that "riding a bike" thing.

We will have to think up names. I hadn't even gotten that far yet, but that will also be fun for us.

I love reading about all the travels. I must admit that I am a bit jealous right now. I have no planned time of until our March cruise. I have time I could take, but have not planned any yet. Our company just started its new fiscal year (July 1), and my paid time off (PTO) bank just reset. I am going to spend some time this weekend planning for how/when to take some time off.

In other, more exciting news... We decided to buy a boat! We have not found the right one as of yet, but we are looking at sailboats around our area that are for sale. Lots of lakes in Michigan. My husband's mother had a boat for many years, and I used to sail smaller boats when I was in high school and college. We are hoping for something around 25 feet and that has a cabin to sleep 2 of us comfortably for a night. Our plan is to start on the small inland lakes and maybe we will get confident enough to take her out on the big lake!