Kansas
Travel Blog
Chronicling
changes to KansasTravel.org and Keith's exploration
& photographing Kansas restaurants, attractions, museums, festivals
and art. Contact him.
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Saturday
- June 7, 2014: We drove to Topeka to purchase hot (horseradish) pickles
at CW Porubsky Grocery and Meats in the Little Russia neighborhood. The
small family market was founded in 1947 and is now operated by the third
generation of the Porubsky family.
While
we were there, the pimento cheese spread caught my eye and we purchased
both regular and hot. The hot (Kroegers Country Meats) is really hot and
I am quite impressed with it. You might not get that much heat in the first
bite, but you will have it after 2 or 3.
We
drove just a few blocks away to check out Bradley's Corner Café
in the NOTO arts area of Topeka. The 13 year old restaurant was busy and
we had to wait a few minutes for a table. My burger and fresh cut fries
were just OK, and Linda's chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes was
better, but the highlight was the pies. There were 27 pies, all made in-house
and the sour cream raisin meringue pie was one of the best pies I have
ever had! Linda's chocolate peanut butter pie was also very good.
After
checking out a couple of other neighborhood businesses, we started back
home with two meat markets to revisit. The first was Kroegers
Country Meats in Lecompton, where we learned that they have added several
new house made sausages.
The
second was Steve's Meat Market in
DeSoto, where I wanted to get pickled beef tongue, but they were sold out.
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C.W. Porubsky Grocery and Meats
Bradley's Corner Café
Kroegers Country Meats |
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Saturday
- June 14, 2014: I returned to Topeka to pay a second visit to Bradley's
Corner Cafe and to do some additional photography of CW Porubsky Grocery
and Meats. While I was talking to the cashier at Porubsky, I picked up
an exciting tip. I love the chili, but it is only made on Monday through
Thursday, so I have only manage to get there a couple of times. It turns
out that during the chili season you can call on Thursday and ask them
to put aside some chili to be purchased cold on Friday or Saturday. I will
be taking advantage of that!
While
in Topeka, I also photographed the recently restored Kansas State Capitol
Building. Across from the Capitol, near 8th & Jackson, I spotted a
tree wearing a crocheted cozy. 7 other trees were spotted nearby. Researching
online this evening, I found that about 15 trees were "Yarn Bombed" on
April 19th to bring color and attention to the area.
This
evening I added a new page devoted to CW
Porubsky Grocery and Meats.
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Yarn tree cozy |
Wednesday
- June 18, 2014: We tried the new Sizzles BBQ Bar & Grill in Shawnee.
The menu is much longer and more interesting than the name suggests. The
chef is working to take the food and presentations to a higher level than
most Kansas City BBQ restaurants. The pricing is a little higher than many
similar restaurants, but the servings are large and could be shared or
box
Overall
the food was good, though the crown beef ribs were a little closer to charred
than I wanted. They still tasted good. If I was comparing Sizzles to the
existing restaurants, I think the nearest comparison is Jack Stack BBQ.
The
service was very good.
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Crown beef ribs with sautéed spinach and garlic bread
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Saturday
- June 21, 2014: We revisited the Overland
Park Farmers Market in old downtown Overland Park, Kansas. It is a
fun place to purchase produce, live plants, homemade preserves and fine
baked goods. It has grown over the years and now has more hot food such
as roasted peaches and elote (roasted Mexican corn.
Some
little boys were having fun in the fountain.
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Playing in the fountain |
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Sunday
- June 22, 2014: We used my birthday as an excuse to throw a party
promoting our web sites
WWW.KansasTravel.org
& WWW.MightyMac.org today.
The
party featured a wide variety of specialty foods, wines and beers from
around the state of Kansas (plus a few from Michigan).
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A small part of the foods at the party |
Wednesday
- June 25, 2014: We made a six day trip to Mackinaw City, Michigan
and the surrounding area to update our sister web site, www.MightyMac.org.
Mighty Mac is one of the nicknames for the the 5 mile long Mackinac Bridge
which links Michigan's two peninsulas and a nickname for the largest Ice
Breaker on the Great Lakes, the Mackinaw.
We
flew out Wednesday morning with United Airlines, changing planes in Chicago
and going on to Flint, where we picked up a rental car for the 3 hour drive
north.
Our
supper was at Darrow's Family Restaurant in Mackinaw City. Just a plain
restaurant, it was started as a drive-in by the parents of one my classmates
when I was three years old and is run by my classmate today. I had deep
fried whitefish and Linda had deep fried perch, both were fresh and perfectly
cooked. Darrow's also has good pies, soups and salads, but we settled for
the fries and coleslaw which came with fish.
For
several years I have been wanting to stay in the second floor end room
at the small Riviera Motel in Mackinaw City. When planning my previous
visits, the end rooms were already booked, but when I checked on this in
May, room 212 was available for Wednesday & Thursday nights. The motel
is just a block and a half from the foot of the five mile long suspension
bridge and has the very best view of the bridge from any motel, with this
room being the very best. The room itself was nothing special, rather dated
and with two double beds that were too firm for Linda to be comfortable.
But
the view was all that I expected and my favorite part was waking up in
the early morning to use the bathroom and taking photos of the bridge and
sunrise from the room before crawling back into bed.
The
only down part was the midges. The small, non biting flies have been a
growing annoyance near the water in recent years because of their large
numbers. They should have been gone long before late June, but the late
spring had pushed them back nearly a month. Their numbers slowly dropped
during our trip.
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View of the Mackinac Bridge from our room at the Riviera Motel |
Thursday
- June 26, 2014: We were up early. Even earlier because of the time
zone change. But I wanted to drive to Munising, Michigan in time for a
10 AM cruise at Pictured
Rocks National Lakeshore. I have been there three times over the years,
but Linda had not and she had heard many people say how great they are.
The
three hour cruise goes out of the harbor, past Grand Island and the 1868
Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse, then east about 12 miles along the
shore with its huge rock formations rising out of the water, colored by
iron, copper and tannic acid. A beautiful sight with rocks, trees, Lake
Superior, waterfalls and birds.
Linda
enjoyed the three hour cruise, but felt that it had been too hyped up.
She had expected more and was a little disappointed.
Back
in Munising, we had lunch at Johnny Dogs. The five year old place has gourmet
hot dogs, whitefish, burgers and sandwiches. It was recommend by the boat
crew and had good reviews online. Arriving at Johnny Dogs, we discovered
that the tiny place had only three stools inside, with the rest of the
seating on a deck outside.
The
fresh cut, seasoned fries were pretty good. My whitefish had a heavy batter
and was the only fish I had during the trip which I didn't like or finish.
Linda's shrimp po' boy was good. Perhaps I should have tried a specialty
hot dog.
We
then visited several waterfalls which are right in or around Munising.
Munising Falls, Tannery Falls, Memorial Falls, Horseshoe Falls, Alger Falls
and Wagner Falls. Tannery Falls and to a lesser extent Memorial Falls were
not marked and were pretty much undeveloped. The mosquitoes were a distraction,
but not too bad.
I
had planned a couple of stops for the drive back to Mackinaw, but it was
getting later in the afternoon than I expected and we drove straight through
to have supper at Scalawags Whitefish & Chips, where this time I had
the perch and Linda had the whitefish.
After
a little down time at the motel, we went to Shepler's to catch the 8:30
PM Lighthouse cruise. Put on by Shepler's Mackinac Island Ferry and the
Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, it was their first ever night
excursion. We went by Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse and under the Mackinac
Bridge, hurrying on to St. Helena Lighthouse where we dropped off a woman
and her two children who would be working on the light for the next week
and picking up another worker who had finished her week.
The
ferry went on to the far west end of the Straits of Mackinac to White Shoals
Light, a beautiful barber pole striped light in open water. We arrived
just before sunset and circled the light while the sun went down, then
on to Gray's Reef Lighthouse with Waugoshance Lighthouse visible, but unlit,
in the distance. Gray's Reef light had changed quite a bit since the last
time I was there and I hadn't noticed the changes from the air during the
lighthouse flights in the past year.
It
was now getting quite dark and we headed back, seeing all these lights
from a distance in the dark and stopping briefly beneath the Mackinac Bridge
before returning to the dock.
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White Shoals Light
Mackinac Bridge |
Friday
- June 27, 2014: We were lazy getting started and checking out of the
Riviera before driving to Sault Ste Marie. This was Soo Locks Engineer's
Day, the one day of the year when the security fence gates are opened and
the public is permitted to walk over the walls and explore the buildings.
I went to college in the Soo in the 1970s, but they never permitted this
back then. The locks particularly interest me because my father drove a
dump truck during the construction of the McArthur Lock during WW2.
The
locks circumvent the rapids on the St. Mary's River between Lake Superior
and Lake Huron. Ships up to more than 1,000' long are raised or lowered
21' in the locks. There are about 10,000 passages through the locks each
year. One boat (the 642' Ojibway) was already in the closer McArthur Lock
when we arrived, but after watching it start being lowered, we went on
to the Poe Lock where we watched the 730' Capt. Henry Jackman enter the
locks and cycle all the way through. We also toured a couple of the Corps
of Engineers buildings and checked out displays from the Corps of Engineers,
US Fish & Wildlife Service, Lake Superior State University and other
area organizations.
For
lunch I wanted to dine at the West Pier Drive Inn. It is located beneath
the International Bridge and had great burgers in the 1970s. Today it still
gets a lot of positive comments online. Overall it was disappointing. The
1/2 pound burgers were good, but the fries and onion rings were just so-so.
The drinks came in three sizes, but the large turned out to be just 16
ounces.
We
drove to Shepler's ferry dock in St. Ignace. Although this ferry route
doesn't have the beautiful view of the Mackinac Bridge that the Mackinaw
City route does, it knocked 15 minute off our drive at this time. The next
ferry came with a few minutes and we nearly had it to ourselves.
As
we approached the Island, I saw a ship with an unfamiliar design approaching
the harbor from the other direction. Using my phone, I learned that it
was a 224-foot former Navy submarine surveillance ship, now used as a teaching
vessel by the Great Lakes Maritime Academy and named the State of Michigan.
When
we left the ferry, we walked out to the end of the dock so I could photograph
it. I didn't feel as much like a tourist, when several people who work
on the Island came out to photograph it as well.
Since
our bags were already on their way to the hotel, we spent some time exploring
the downtown. This would be the first time we encountered wedding parties.
First one group which was having a wedding the next day, then a bridal
party leaving Trinity Church. We enjoyed watching the photography of the
party boarding carriages, then saw the photographer hope on a bicycle to
race ahead of the bride & groom's carriage to take more photos along
the way. We would encounter the same and other weddings during the rest
of the stay.
This
was the first time I ever stayed at the 385 room Grand Hotel, which was
built by the railroads in the 1880s. The hotel is famous for its 660' long
front porch and was a centerpiece of the movies "This Time For Keeps" with
Esther Williams & Jimmy Durante, and "Somewhere In Time" with Christopher
Reeves & Jane Seymour. I had managed to secure a bargain price for
a Category One room on a weekend, only $335/night including breakfast.
The regular price for this small room with a view of only the out building
roofs, was $610 including breakfast and supper.
Although
the room was small, it was fairly modern. Fresh flowers and a pound of
fudge were waiting for us. The fudge, the porch & grounds, and wifi
are about the only thing the hotel provides without additional fees. At
least there is no tipping.
The
Grand Hotel has a dress code after 6:30 PM (Jacket, tie & dress pants
for men. Dress, skirt and blouse or pantsuit for ladies.), but I was wanting
to try a different restaurant this evening, so after freshening up, we
took a horse drawn taxi to The Woods, another Grand Hotel property on the
Island's interior, which I last visited many years ago. It is a beautiful
Tudor mansion with enormous windows which look out on the surrounding woods.
The
menu is German influenced and I had a smoked trout appetizer and pork schnitzel
for my entree. The food was good, but not outstanding, with my favorite
part of the meal being the bread. Linda was happier with her maple baked
Atlantic salmon and lobster mashed potatoes. We were both unhappy with
the lobster bisque, which turned out to be tomato based and had no lobster
which I could find.
It
was getting fairly cold and we changed to warmer clothes when we returned
to the hotel, before going out so I could take some night photographs and
we could have drinks & enjoy live music at the Pink Pony, downtown.
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Capt. Henry Jackman leaving the Poe Lock
Grand Hotel
Myk Rise at the Pink Pony |
Saturday
- June 28, 2014: We had another lazy start, just barely making it down
to the main dining room before 9:30. We had a choice of ordering off the
menu or of a buffet. Since we had been extremely impressed with the lunch
buffet in the past, we picked the buffet, but it was not impressive. I
was even less impressed when I learned that the can of Coke which I ordered
was another $3.75.
We
changed to more casual clothes and rented bicycles from the golf shop.
Linda hadn't been sure about the 8 mile ride around the Island, but it
was mostly flat. We rode at a leisurely pace and stopped many times for
photos and for cold drinks at the Cannonball Drive Inn on the back of the
Island. I had a fall while walking on rocks with wet shoes during one of
the stops. My leg was scrapped pretty badly, but bicycling kept it from
stiffening up. It is still tender today.
We
had lunch at the Chuckwagon Restaurant. A narrow little burger joint which
opened in 1954. I learned of it only a year ago and wish I had known of
it before. My burger was fabulous and the Black Russian (smoked turkey,
bacon, Swiss cheese, slaw & 1000 Island served on grilled rye) which
the person next to us had, looked even better.
After
returning the bikes, we walked back downtown to visit a few shops &
museums, and then take a private carriage ride. Most people take a tour
with Mackinac Island Carriage Tours, but this much smaller company (Arrowhead
Carriages) does only private tours. Our driver, Adam Smith, is a young
man who has worked on the Island for 14 years and lived there for 5. His
wife is from an old Mackinac family and they have a 9 year old son. I had
selected a route going to some attractions which are not on the group tours,
but we also enjoyed learning more about Island life from Adam. Stops included
the new Grand Hotel stables which doubles as a museum, a lookout over Sugar
Loaf rock, and a visit to Fort Holmes at the highest point on the Island.
This
evening we dressed up and had supper in the main dining room of the hotel.
Since we did not have a package which included the meal, our dinner was
$79/each, which included tax and tip. We both started with escargot. The
snails were topped with pastry puffs which I have not seen before, There
were good soaked in the garlic butter after we ate the snails.
We
each had the Swiss cheese and grilled onion soup, which I enjoyed more
the Linda. She is not a big fan of Swiss cheese.
For
her entree, Linda had Jack Daniels glazed Berkshire pork loin with garlic
mashed potatoes, collard greens & mustard-bacon demi-glace. I had herb-garlic
rubbed prime rib of beef with sea salt baked potato, bacon marmalade and
Worcestershire sauce. The prime rib was well done, not the medium rare
which I ordered. Otherwise, it was all good.
Since
our meals included dessert, we had the salted caramel cheesecake with pecan-citrus
Anglaise and the warm chocolate brownie with espresso sauce & black
cherry ice cream. This was the hardest decision of the meal. Every dessert
item looked good.
We
had planned to spend the rest of the evening at the hotel and we followed
supper with several types of live music: the final couple of songs from
the preview of the musical "The Big Bang" in the hotel theater, a piano
player in the main lobby, the Grand Hotel Orchestra playing music for dancing
in the Terrace Room, and finally listening to another piano player &
having drinks in the Cupola Bar at the very top of the hotel with its magnificent
300 degree view of the Island and Mackinac Bridge.
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Chuckwagon Restaurant
Adam Smith assisted by Lola and Sharon
Escargot
Grand Hotel Orchestra |
Sunday
- June 29, 2014: Sunday morning at the Grand we ordered off the menu.
I had grilled New York steak with wild mushrooms, garlic demi-glace &
potato cake. It was much better than the breakfast buffet from the day
before, and the steak was a little closer to medium rare.
We
sat in rocking chairs on the porch for a bit, before checking our bags
to the mainland and checking out of the hotel. We walked to Fort Mackinac,
which was built by the British during the American Revolution. I have been
there several times before, but this was a chance to get some new photos
for my page devoted to the fort.
We
were going to have lunch at the Tea Room at the fort, which may have the
very best view of any restaurant in Michigan, but a storm was coming and
we decided to make our way to the ferry and eat on the mainland. It was
raining hard for our ride back.
For
lunch, we went to Bentley's B-n-L Cafe which I first visited in March.
It is still a cool restaurant, which was moved to this location in the
1940s and looks like the '50s, but the food is average.
Before
leaving St. Ignace, we visited Deer Ranch, one of the places we didn't
have time for on Thursday. I don't think you can call it a "tourist trap"
since it does provide what it advertises, but there is nothing except a
gift shop and several pens with perhaps 40 white tail deer to see for the
$5 fee. Although it is only about 10 miles from my childhood home and has
been there since 1950, I have no memory of visiting it before.
We
returned to Mackinac for a stop at Fort
Michilimackinac before it closed for the day. It is a reconstructed
18th Century French and then British Fort and I worked there summers when
I was in college: firing muskets & cannons, giving tours, working in
the blacksmith shop, etc. One of my childhood friends who started working
at the fort in 1970 is still there and we found him right away, leading
a team of children from families visiting the fort, in a game of baggataway,
the game that became lacrosse.
After
the game, we chatted with Jim, who I had not seen in two or three years,
then toured the exhibits in the newest reconstructed building.
We
checked into our room, a waterfront jacuzzi room at the Beachcomber Motel
at the edge of town. This is the first time I have stayed there and I was
happy with it.
Our
last meal in town was at the Chippewa Room at Audie's Restaurant. It is
the only fine dining in Mackinaw and I try to get there once each trip.
I had bison meat loaf with six small perch added. The bison was just OK,
but the perch were good and so was the Duchess potatoes. Linda had planked
whitefish with Duchess potatoes, which she has had before. The Edgar beer
cheese was good as always and we debated getting some to bring home with
us.
Before
calling it a night, we walked some of the waterfront and downtown so I
could get a few more photographs before leaving town.
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Webmaster Keith Stokes on the Grand Hotel porch
View from our room at the Beachcomber Motel |
Sunday
- June 29, 2014: In the morning I went out for an hour before Linda
was up. Stopping first at Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park, to update
the photos which I took in 2008. On the way back to the hotel, I stopped
at Big Stone Bay Fishery to get some packages of whitefish spread to bring
back to Kansas.
The
only stop on the way to Flint was for lunch. We had nowhere in mind and
started looking at the listings on the freeway signs as we got closer to
Flint. Most of the listings were for chain restaurants, but we saw a listing
for Tony's Restaurant at Birch Run and turned off to give it a try.
Tony's
I-75 Restaurant turned out to be a large, crowded diner which has been
featured on several TV shows. They are famous for huge servings and I had
one of the dishes which has put them on TV - a BLT that has 1 pound of
bacon! Linda's fish, chips and shrimp was equally big, though I came closer
to eating all of mine than she did.
Our
flight was late getting out of Flint and we probably would have missed
our connecting flight in Chicago, but the flights were at nearby gates
and I got there as they were starting to call the standby passengers.
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BLT with one pound of bacon |
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