Life in Birmingham

Michigan Brewers Guild U.P Fall Beer Festival (3rd Annual)

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 01:52:00 +0000

After our lengthy day of hiking yesterday in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, we kicked off our first morning in Marquette at Sweetwater Cafe for a hearty breakfast. While there aren't too many choices in Marquette for breakfast, this place stood out easily because a) we knew it wasn't a chain restaurant, b) they "select and purchase ingredients that are nearest their natural state". Done and done. Naturally, we both adjusted our typical omelette order that we've had the last couple of days to the Huevos Rancheros. In the menu it was described as "two locally raised eggs cooked to your liking, topped with sour cream, melted cheese, and our bold Ranchero sauce. Served with organic black beans, brown rice, and two whole wheat tortillas." We held the sour cream, but devoured everything else remaining on our plate as it was certainly flavorful, fresh, and filling.

After breakfast, we took a stroll around the Lake Superior shore near downtown Marquette to find the Marquette Harbor Lighthouse. We couldn't really up close as that required a purchased tour, but we were able to get a decent view from the beach.

It was yet again another nice day in the U.P. with not a could in the sky. On our hunt for the lighthouse, we encountered several families out walking their dog. While we appreciated the uptick of people out and about, we were a little confused by the amount of people walking their dogs until we realized that it was something like show your dog off day in Marquette.

While we could have taken another day long hike, today, our main event was the Michigan Brewers Guild U.P. Fall Beer Festival in Mattson Lower Harbor Park. Since moving to Michigan in 2007, we have attended roughly 7 Michigan Beer events, thus, we figured we should just make our enthusiasm for Michigan Beer official by joining their "enthusiast club". Part of membership includes admittance into the festivals an hour early for sampling, thus, we figured, what better way to spend one of the hours in Marquette! After signing up, Scottie and I heard as we entered the festival that we were #5 and #6 entries.

It was definitely a different feel here at the U.P. festival from some of our previous Michigan Brewers Guild festival experiences. Location-wise, besides maybe the Fall Detroit festival in Eastern Market, this is hands down the best location for the actual festival. Instead of set in a nondescript park in Ypsilanti at Riverside Park for the Summer festival or in the parking lot of Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock/Grand Rapids for the Winter festival, the U.P. festival is also located in a park but with a backdrop of Lake Superior and the city of Marquette, it has far more to offer than the others. In contrast to the Summer festival, there wasn't a line wrapped around the park to gain admittance into the festival for the enthusiast hour or even at 1pm when the event started, but it certainly picked up momentum by early afternoon.

This festival also didn't have every Michigan brewery, but with 450 beers from 20 breweries, we were pretty happy with the selection especially to recognize some new breweries for us including Greenbush Brewing Company, Blackrocks Brewing Company, Red Jacket Brewing Company, Library Brew Pub, and Jasper Ridge. While I'm sure we have probably had their beer had a previous festival, these names stood out more since they weren't squeezed between a lot of the bigger names.

We spent the next few hours sampling some new beers, collecting loads of free stickers and buttons, munching on our pretzel necklaces, and chatting with a few of the brewery representatives. We even ran into a former co-worker of mine at the event. So here's the final list of our ratings...

Brewery	Beer Sampled	Scottie	Lindsay
Munich Helles (German Lager)	Munich Helles (German Lager)
Arcadia Brewing Co.	Cannon Ball Gold Wet-Hopped Pale Ale
Arcadia Brewing Co.	Roggen Berry
Arcadia Brewing Co.	Sky High Rye West Coast Pale Ale
Arcadia Brewing Co.	Jaw Jacker Pumpkin Spiced Ale
Atwater Block Brewery	Bloctoberfest
Bell's Brewery	Black Note Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout
Big Buck Brewery	Spiced Harvest Ale
Black Rocks Brewery	Drunk Yoda Amber
Black Rocks Brewery	American Whisky Stout
Copper Canyon Brewery	Buffalo Jump Stout
Dark Horse Brewery	Smells Like Weed IPA
Dark Horse Brewery	Bourbon Barrel Plead the Fifth Imperial Stout
Dragonmead Microbrewery	Ring of Fire Pepper Beer
Founder's Brewing Company	Red's Rye PA
Frankenmuth Brewery	Oktoberfest
Frog Island Brewing Company	Devil in the Details Russian Imperial Stout
Greenbush Brewing Company	Distorter Porter
Greenbush Brewing Company	Anger Black IPA
Jasper Ridge Brewery	Jasper Brown Ale
Jasper Ridge Brewery	Blastin' Blueberry Wheat
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales	Lift Bridge Brown
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales	Olde Ore Dock Scottish Ale
Kuhnhenn Brewing Company	Penny Black Lager
Kuhnhenn Brewing Company	Imperial Creme Brule Java Stout
Kuhnhenn Brewing Company	Oktoberfest
Library Brew Pub	Miner's IPA
Library Brew Pub	Oktoberfest
Livery Microbrewery	Bourbon Barrel Aged 6th Anniversary Ale
Livery Microbrewery	Barrel Aged Maillot Jaune
Marquette Harbor Brewery (The Vierling)	Citral Imperial IPA
Marquette Harbor Brewery (The Vierling)	Chum's Nitro Breakfast Stout
Motor City Brewing Works	Ghettoblaster English Mild
New Holland Brewing Company	Dragon's Milk Oak Aged Ale
New Holland Brewing Company	Imperial Hatter IPA
New Holland Brewing Company	Envious Cherry Ale aged on Oak and Fruit
New Holland Brewing Company	Ichabod Pumpkin Ale
Red Jacket Brewing Company	Oatmeal Express Stout
Right Brain Brewery	Shadow Watcher Stout
Right Brain Brewery	CEO Coffee Stout
Rochester Mills Beer Company	Oktoberfest
Sherwood Brewing Company	Mistress Jade's Hemp Ale
Sherwood Brewing Company	Pumpernickel Rye Stout
Short's Brewing Company	Autumn Ale London ESB
Short's Brewing Company	Noble Chaos Stout

The next day, we awoke fairly early to get on the long haul back to Birmingham with a quick stop at Third Street Bagel to load up on our carbs and protein for the day! Instead of taking M-28 east backtracking through the U.P. to Mackinaw City, we decided to take 41S to M-2E for a more scenic route. Along the route and throughout the U.P., we passed these signs so I'm guessing the Hiawatha National Forest is a large part of the Upper Peninsula.

Our route would took us through the town of Manistique offering us scenic views of Lake Michigan and the Manistique East Breakwater Lighthouse. From there, our drive was a bit tree-covered until we hit a stretch of M-2 that is the Lake Michigan Scenic Highway.

We pulled aside at one point to get yet another view of the Mackinac Bridge from the U.P. side before completing the 7.5 hour drive back home!

More photos can be found in my photo album and here's a link to the map we used to guide us throughout the trip. This is also a great site with guides to the U.P.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 23:23:00 +0000

Our motel, the Sunset Motel on the Bay in Munising, was pretty awesome considering our expectations were pretty low. The lady that checked us in gave us some tips for where we should hike and which waterfalls to visit today in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We have to give some credit to Regina and Tommy for a good recommendation there.

While we did wake up on the early side, we eased our way into the day because our bodies were certainly feeling the pain from biking in Mackinac and hiking yesterday at Tahquamenon Falls. Thus, we took a quick drive downtown Munising for breakfast at the Navigator, which also served as a hotel and radio station apparently.

The day's activity started with shorter hikes in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore out to the Miners Falls and Miners Castle. Pictured Rocks is a national park just 3 miles wide but stretching 40 miles long from Grand Marais to Munising with sandstone bluffs that rise 200 feet above Lake Superior washed in shades of pink, red, and green from the mineral-rich water from the rocks (Moon Travel Book). If you want a sneak preview of what's to come, you can check out Kid Rock's video for "Born Free" featured Pictured Rocks here.

At the Miners Falls trailhead, we picked up a self-guided tour pamphlet. The 1.2 mile round-trip gravel walking path led us through a forest of trees until we came upon a staircase that led us down to view the 50 foot drop of the falls into a sandstone canyon. Miners Falls has the greatest volume of water flow of any waterfall in the park. The water is tea-colored because of tannins - compounds released from roots of wetland plants upstream. The falls cascade over an inland section of Pictured Rocks cliffs and these cliffs also create the Tahquamenon Falls we saw earlier.

Back on the road, we drove a little farther down to the Miners Castle viewpoint. Miners Castle, the best-known feature of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, is a turretlike (tower) shape within the sandstone cliffs. Apparently, in 2006, the northeast turret of Miners Castle collapsed.

We "pressed on" to the main event of the day, which was to hike the Chapel Falls Loop trail. Unfortunately, for my car, the road leading to this trail was not yet paved. At this trailhead, we had the option of taking a 6.7 mile loop to the Chapel Basin Area (lake, falls, rock) or a 4.5 mile around Mosquito River/Falls. We opted for the former. Who wants to hike by Mosquitos?

As our motel gal mentioned, "the trails beginning here lead to one of the most scenic areas of Pictured Rocks. Beside the glistening white sands of Chapel Beach, you will find picturesque Chapel Rock. It is one of several wave-eroded sandstone formations in the Chapel area." (from some literature at Pictured Rocks).

Hiking through mostly forests and a few small hills, at 1.3 miles in, we found the Chapel Falls. The trail continued around the edge of the falls.

The Chapel area was named by early European explorers and is found on early maps as La Chappelle. Chapel Rock is a remnant of Cambrian age sandstone. The archway between the rock and the mainland collapsed in the 1940's. It and the remaining arch were carved by Lake Nipissing high waters some 3800 years ago.

At about 3.1 miles in the trail, we finally made it to the shoreline where Chapel Rock resided. It's essentially a large sandstone formation with a lone white point perched on top. The view looking down is about 20 feet to the Chapel Beach and Lake Superior. We hiked around the cliffs until we eventually made our way down to the beach.

At the beach, we saw cliffs off to the west where we thought we could hike around for a little while going a little off the trail. However, it was well worth it as we're about to hit some of the best pictures of the trip, so hopefully you aren't bored yet.

This is Chapel Cove or Chapel Cave and looking back east to Chapel Rock. It's amazing that a slight change in location, angle, or time of day can cause the water and cliffs to look so much different. The view looking back east beyond Chapel Rock. In the far distance, we even spotted Spray Falls, which plunge about 70 feet over the Pictured Rocks cliffs directly into Lake Superior.

More pictures from the hiking...

The emerald waters carved these cones in the sandstone.

We thought this might be Grand Portal Point or Indian Head, but I'm thinking it might not be either.

The above shot was our last stop on our off-trail before we backtracked to complete the Chapel Rock loop. We made it back close to where we started and decided to cut-off to check out the Mosquito Falls while we were out here. .8 miles in, we found the Mosquito Falls, which flow over three drops with the largest being 8 feet.

We didn't spend too much here before completing the 6.7 mile loop plus the 1.6 mile loop to Mosquito Falls plus approximately a 2 mile loop on the Lakeshore Trail (total 10+ miles of hiking) in 4 hours, 16 minutes (stopping several times for photos!). Our legs were sore and our stomachs were growling! Thanks to this 50 Hikes in Michigan's Upper Peninsula for guiding us!

There was still plenty of daylight left for our adventures, so we decided to knock off some of the many waterfalls in this area before heading on towards Marquette. First up was one still within Pictured Rocks, Munising Falls. Luckily this trail was only .25 miles. Munising Creek has eroded the Munising Formation sandstone for thousands of years. This horseshoe-shaped valley has been patiently carved by the creek. We were dragging at this point, so we only walked up the stairs to one of the two viewing areas.

Back on H-58, which we took a lot over the last two days, we headed to the "Twin Falls": MNA Memorial Falls and Tannery Falls, part of the Michigan Nature Association (MNA). We basically parked back near our motel and walked over to these secluded falls. We started off on the 10-minute trail out to the MNA Falls. These were kind of wimpy falls. I guess they are seasonal and only really flowing after heavy rains. But there was the ability to walk behind the falls which was unique. Much more impressive were the Tannery Falls, which used to be privately owned by Rudy M. Olson. When Mr. Olson passed away, he left the falls to the MNA so they could now be public. These falls are pretty hidden and much more unknown.

Some good timing landed us at the Horseshoe Falls, which seemed as if they were part of somebody's backyard that they are now trying to profit from. There were some nice grounds near the waterfalls including a whole section to learn about the various trees in the region. Since we had to pay an entrance fee of $3.50/person, we tried to milk it.

We managed to pass Alger Falls from the road, and then backtracked through town to find some lighthouses! First, we located Munising Range Lights, which I assumed you would have been able to see from the bay, but these seem to be pretty far inland. Constructed in 1907, this front and rear range lights still operates and assists ships entering the east channel of Munising Bay.

While attempting to find a second lighthouse, we encountered the "Welcome to Christmas" sign, and literally right across the street were the Christmas Range Lights. It was about another hour and half to Marquette. We arrived with enough time to shower up and head off to the Upfront & Company (upon recommendation from Julie) for dinner and to partake in the Bell's Tap Takeover! It was all Octoberfest and K-Zoo Stout for us! After, we made it over for a pint at The Vierling Brewery.

That pretty much concludes the hiking portion of our trip...phew!

More photos can be found in my photo album and here's a link to the map we used to guide us throughout the trip. This is also a great site with guides to the U.P.

Tahquamenon Falls

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 03:20:00 +0000

Welcome to the U.P. where people say a lot of "Eh" and refer to themselves as "Yoopers". After a long bike ride yesterday in Mackinac, we were a little sore, but not as sore as we were after today's journey.

Upon crossing into the U.P., we headed straight for the Tahquamenon Falls, which are located in the Tahquamenon Falls State Park. We decided to park at the Lower Falls and hike the 4.5 mile river trail up to the Upper Falls.

Here's the general layout of the Lower Falls. We basically viewed the falls starting from the black box pretty much in the middle of this picture. We then walked to the left all the way around that big hump following the trail that ran off this map on the lower left side.

At first glimpse and from a distance the Lower Falls didn't really impress us; however, when we hovered over the edge of some of the closer viewing areas, we instantly fell in love with the roaring rapids. There is a service provided by the park where you can rent a canoe to take out to an island in the river which supposedly gives the best views of the falls. But we had a long hike ahead of us.

The Tahquamenon Falls are known for their unique color as the brownish-bronze comes from tannic acid of decaying cedars and hemlocks that line the banks.

Throughout most of the trail to the Upper Falls, we hiked along the 94-mile Tahquamenon River eventually empties in Lake Superior near that town of Paradise that we passed. We crossed several boardwalks throughout the trail that we assume were constructed by the park. Some even were built on a slant to preserve the natural environment. Halfway there, the roots and rocks weren't as prominent along the trail which made it easier. However, we did climb up and down a lot.

After about 1.5 (averaging 20 minutes/mile) hours, we made it to a crazy staircase to give us this view of the Upper Falls. The Upper Falls have a 50-foot drop, creating a fountain of water 200 feet wide. These are the second-largest falls (by volume) east of the Mississippi, outdone only by the Niagara Falls. This fact really surprised us.

The bubbling of the water comes from the high salt content. The Upper Falls have a 50-foot drop, creating a fountain of water 200 feet wide.

The hike back took us 1 hour 20 minutes, so the round-trip was about 3-3.5 hours if you're hiking at rigorous pace Scottie sets for me. We noted that opting for our water Keens versus the hiking Keens was probably a mistake as our feet not only stunk on the ensuing car ride, but they were dirty.

We drove back to the Upper Falls where the Tahquamenon Brewery resided. Time to reward ourselves for the 3 hours / 8 miles of hiking! These were the selections of beer on tap, so guess what we ordered? Hooray, samplers! Here are the results of our sampling...

Beer Sampled	Scottie	Lindsay
Harvest Wheat Ale
Porcupine Pale Ale
Black Bear Stout
Blueberry Ale

With a limited amount of daylight, we skipped Whitefish Point heading straight to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore for a quick .4 mile hike to the Log Slide viewpoint. Looking east, we saw the stretch of the national lakeshore called the Grand Sable Banks, where 200-foot sand dunes are hemmed by a 12-mile ribbon of sand and pebble beach (Moon Travel Book). While we didn't hike out to the Au Sable Point Lighthouse, I was able to get a glimpse of it through the telephoto lens, so that counts as a check on my list!

Along the path, we also learned about the logging industry that was once prominent in this area. In the 1880s, during the white pine lumber era, before railroads, logs were hauled to this point by horse teams, then slid down a log flume to Lake Superior. They were boomed up into large rafts towed to Grand Marais sawmill.

As the darkness set in, we took the windy driving path into Munising to find our motel, the Sunset Motel on the Bay. We were happy not only to arrive to a beautiful sunset over the bay, but also to a clean room. Upon the recommendation of our friendly check-in lady, we settled into Sydney's Restaurant for some cherry burgers, Keweenaw Widow Maker Black Ale, and the opening game of the 2011-2012 NFL season. Hooray!

More photos can be found in my photo album and here's a link to the map we used to guide us throughout the trip. This is also a great site with guides to the U.P.

Mackinac Island

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 02:42:00 +0000

After our scenic route along M-119 from Charlevoix to Mackinaw City, we arrived at Shepler's Ferry just in time to catch the 12 o'clock ferry out to Mackinac Island. Based on a friend's recommendation, we pre-purchased our tickets plus our overnight, unsecured lot, valet parking for $5. That $5 was probably the best $5 I've ever spent on parking fees because these guys were efficient. We literally parked at 11:55am right by the loading area for the boat, unloaded and checked our bags, exchanged our online tickets for physical vouchers, and boarded the boat with maybe a minute to spare before they pulled away.

With a sigh of relief from the rushed exchange at the dock, we wisely chose seats on the upper deck of the ferry on the left side allowing for some pretty amazing views (and first views for me!) of the Mackinac Bridge and Mackinac Island. Mackinac Island sits above the Straits of Mackinac dividing Lake Michigan and Lake Huron as well as the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan. As we approached the island, it wasn't hard to pinpoint the famous, Grand Hotel, where we opted to fork out the big bucks for our observed 2nd Wedding Anniversary stay. I was also pretty excited to see the Round Island Passage Lighthouse via ferry (even though we would see it a few more times later).

After docking at the island, our first adventure was to score us some bicycle rentals for the day, one of the three main modes of transportation on the island as motorized vehicles are forbidden. We rented our bikes from the Mackinac Island Bike Shop, and we were on our way exploring the Main Street. They say that Mackinac Island seems frozen "Somewhere in Time" (also the title of a movie filmed on the island starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour) with plenty of history left behind from the Native Americans, French Fur Traders, British Soldiers, and Victorian resorts. Mackinac Island was also named in the 2009 Forbes 10 Beautiful Destinations.

Our bike ride started along Main Street heading East toward the Mackinac Island State Harbor. Along the SE part of the island, we spotted the Mission Point Resort, built in the 1950s by the Moral Re-Armament movement, a post-WWII patriotic group. We decided to veer in towards the Shoreline Trail which is part of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission. The Mackinac Island State Park covers roughly 80 percent of the island with approximately 1800 acres of land. The entire island was the second (Yellowstone was the first) national park established in 1875; however, the park has since been transferred to state control.

We parked our bikes just after the first mile marker by the Arch Rock stairway. We began our climb learning that the park includes 70 miles of hiking/biking trails. Beyond the normal trails and forests, the park also consisted of unusual geological formations like this Arch Rock. Arch Rock is an example of Mackinac Island's breccia formations (fractured and recemented). About 4,000 years ago, the lake waters slowly dissolved the softer material that extended into the center formation. As the lake erosion cut away its base, the middle of the stack slowly crumbled into the water leaving the firm breccia limestone arch that we see today (courtesy of the Mackinac Island State Park).

Naturally, we happened to time our arrival at Arch Rock with a tour group so we had to wait in line to get some pretty nice views out to Lake Huron and of Arch Rock.

As we made our way around towards mile 4-5, we started to see some views of the Mackinac Bridge from Mackinac Island's west shore. It was also at this point where we spotted one of many historical markers on this island for the British Landing during the Revolutionary War. In July of 1812, the British snuck up on the Americans stationed at the Fort Mackinac, which led to the American surrender of the island. However, it was later returned to us after the war.

Between miles 6 and 7, we discovered another major geological rock formation called Devil's Kitchen. This group of small sea caves is one of the youngest rock formations on the island. This large mass of brecciated (fractured and recemented) limestone was formed about 350 million years ago. Wave action of the last few centuries eroded the softer parts of the limestone creating the smooth-bottomed surfaces (courtesy of the Mackinac Island State Park).

As we approached downtown Mackinac where we started, we spotted the Round Island Lighthouse near the SW part of the island at mile 7. It was pretty close to the Round Island Passage Lighthouse we discovered earlier aboard the ferry.

We made it back around the loop with about a 1.5-2 hours to spare still with our 4-hour time frame, so we decided to bike inward to catch a few more sights. First up was Fort Mackinac, which sits atop a limestone bluff overlooking Main Street, and was an active military site from 1780-1895. The British selected this location for its superior position of defense.

After studying the map a few times, we finally found another geological formation on the island called Skull Cave. Skull Cave is one the island's oldest geological formations located in the base of a 30 foot high limestone stack. 11,000 years ago this stack of hard limestone was exposed, as wave erosion of the ancient lakes cut away the softer material surrounding it. The caves weren't really doing much for us, but we searched on for the limestone structure called Sugar Loaf, which stands seventy-five feet above the surrounding level and is the largest of the island's limestone stacks. More than 11,000 years ago, the erosive power of ancient Lake Algonquin washed away the softer material around Sugar Loaf created this isolated stack (courtesy of the Mackinac Island State Park).

Our ride concluded with a nice view of the island from the east bluff. We also stumbled upon a plaque on the East Bluff for Lewis Cass, who was appointed a general and military governor of Michigan after the War of 1812 as a result of his unwillingness to surrender his sword to the British. Later, we rode by the Governor's house on the island.

With little nourishment along our ride (other than the Clif Bar we housed at mile 5), we decided to play into the circus downtown Main Street to get ice cream at Sanders (although supposedly this town is all about its fudge). While we were down there, we also peaked into the Michigan Peddler shop which had a lot of Michgan-made gifts. On our slow walk up to the hotel, we found some more Michigan historical markers for the island itself and the significance of the fur trading industry including the American Fur Company that was located here.

As we approached the Grand Hotel, we saw a sign reminding us of the dress code for the hotel which was after 6p.m. (men were required to wear a coat and tie while ladies were strongly encourage to wear a dress or skirt). Built in 1887, this hotel is the most famous spot on the island and they do everything here in a "grand" way. As you approach the hotel, you're overtaken by the sheer beauty and simplicity of the white house-esque building with a yellow awning, carefully planted red geraniums, several American flags flapping in the wind, the rolling red carpet, and the infamous 660-foot long front porch (which claims to be the longest). In the August 2011 issue, Travel + Leisure honored Grand Hotel as the #41 Best Resort in U.S. and Canada in its World's Best Awards 2011, its definitive list of the world's top hotels, as voted by readers. You can also get more of a feel for the hotel in this video.

Included in our hotel deal through Scottie's insurance, BCBS (which partners with the Grand Hotel through a program called Live Healthy. Live Grand to promote healthy lifestyles) was a 5-course meal, which we prepared for with a shower and our "dress code" garments. Dinner was served in the Main Dining Room seated pretty much first come first serve with a set menu (tonight's option was the "blue" menu) and an extensive amount of dishware. It was as if we were at a country club or in the movie "Dirty Dancing". Scottie and I noticed that we were surrounded by much older couples that were probably off celebrating their 40th or 50th Wedding Anniversary while we were just clinking our glasses of Carmenère for our second anniversary!

As the appetizers arrived, I realized I had already made a dining faux pas by placing my dinner roll on the main plate in front of me not on the side "bread" plate. Oops. I would make that mistake again during breakfast. Double-oops. To start, I opted for the Lobster-Avocado roll with grilled pineapple-chili sauce while Scottie chose the American Wagyu Beef Tartar with herb aioli, heirloom tomato and radish salad. They weren't messing around here. Next up was the soup where we both tried the Chilled Asian Melon Soup, which was quite original and delicious. Our salads came next which was a Mackinac Wedge that included a crispy kurobuta bacon slice, blue cheese, olives, toasted hazelnuts, and tomato vinaigrette. Splendid.

At this point, I was getting full, but I saved room to eat as much of this as possible. For the main entree, I ordered the Veal Scallopini and Crisp Bobwhite Quail with chanterelles, a dried apricot relish, asparagus, and some pasta. It was divine. I was so big on the quail which tasted like a greasier version of chicken strips, but Scottie helped me finish my plate. He ordered the Braised Lava Lake Lamb Shake. To cleanse the palate and because it came with the meal, I put down a little bit of the Tart Cherry Sorbet for dessert. The Parlor inside the Grand Hotel where the post-dinner "demitasse" (a small cup for coffee) is served, accompanied by music from The Grand Hotel Orchestra.

After a long day of biking, we were stuffed and well-fed, but as we exited the Main Dining Room, the staff handed this bit of chocolate-mint as if the 5-course meal wasn't enough. We took a stroll up along the West Bluff to help with our digestion and to observe the pretty sunset. After taking our own self-guided tour of the hotel, we indulged in a nightcap at the Cupola Bar. Even when we returned to our room, these folks at Grand Hotel were always thinking as they left us fresh towels and some sweet dreams chocolates. Classy.

In the morning, we awoke to another clear sky, bright sun kind of day. After our delightful 4-course breakfast (mango juice, strawberries and yogurt, and a veggie omelet!), we strolled into town to write some postcards at no other than the local Starbucks before heading off to the ferry for our return trip to Mackinaw City.

Upon boarding Shepler's Ferry, we handed our luggage tag tickets and our car valet ticket, thus, when we arrived back ashore, everything was pretty easily located. Talk about efficiency.

Back in Mackinaw City, we stopped at the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, which guided ships through the Straits of Mackinac from 1892-1957 and at Michilimackinac State Park, an old British Fort, for some good photo opportunities. And then we began the $3.50 drive across the approximately 5 miles of bridge!

The total length of the Mighty Mac is approximately 5 miles and at mid span, the roadway is 200 feet above the water. The main towers are 552 feet above water. Bridge construction began 1954 and completed just 3 years later. The Mackinac Bridge has the third largest suspension of any bridge in the world. The Mighty Mac is categorized as the 8th Wonder of the World.

More information about Mackinac Bridge and Mackinaw City located here. This is also a great site with guides to the U.P. including Mackinac Island.

More photos can be found in my photo album and here's a link to the map we used to guide us throughout the trip.

Charlevoix and M-119

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 02:19:00 +0000

Ever since we moved to Michigan, Scottie and I have talked about taking a trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P); however, we managed to hit up just about every other part of the state (except "the Thumb") before we finally put the U.P. trip on the books. This year, it was an easy decision to pick the U.P. And financially, we picked one of the best weeks to go up there. Not only was school back in session (thus, we avoided all the family vacationers) but it was after Labor Day so we avoided a lot of the traffic driving to/from the U.P. Plus, we conveniently planned our trip to end in Marquette coinciding with the Michigan Brewers Guild U.P. Beer Festival.

To ease the pain of driving 5+ hours in the car to get near the U.P., we decided to spend our first evening of vacation on Tuesday in Charlevoix, which was about a 4-hour drive from Birmingham. We spent the night at the Macdougall House Bed & Breakfast in room #4, which the owner, Steve, upgraded us into! With the bit of cold front passing through Michigan, Steve, had the fireplace going for us in the morning, so between the chirping sounds of fire burning and the wonderful aroma of coffee, I couldn't think of a better way to kick off our 5 days of activity! Not to mention, Steve served us a fantastic breakfast of champions for our first long day of sightseeing and biking, which included a spread included his homemade granola, yogurt, and berries along with light cream cheese and berry stuffed french toast with some sausages on the side for protein!

We started the day with a one block drive to downtown Charlevoix to find the lighthouse. We've actually seen quite a few of the lighthouses of Michigan, so when we hit up a new city, this is one of my top activities on our list (if I'm planning). First on the list would be the local brewery or winery but Charlevoix didn't seem to have much to offer in that department plus it was still coffee hours for us as we left around 10am.

The Charlevoix South Pier Lighthouse was used to "facilitate boat traffic between Lake Michigan and Round Lake" (Lighthousefriends.com). According to this lighhousefriends.com website, this lighthouse was traditionally painted red, but today it is white. I am not sure if we just found a new lighthouse or what but this guy was clearly red. We also took note of the exceptionally clear and blue water up here. While we noticed this during our trip to the Sleeping Bear Dunes and Manitou Island, it's always amazing to see it again and again.

We drove by the Earl Young "Mushroom" Homes in Charlevoix constructed starting in 1938. This is the house on 302 Park Avenue. More information about the homes can be found here. Each home has unusual stone fireplaces, unique chimneys, cedar shake roofs, and some have his signature rooflines. Various types of stone were used in all of Earl's buildings - local limestone, fieldstone, Ice Age glacial boulders found in Lake Michigan and farmers' fields, and Onaway stone.

From the homes, we decided to take a quick stroll along the shops of Main Street as well as a nice view of Round Lake from the Bridge St. Round Lake dumps into Lake Charlevoix to the south and Lake Michigan to the North. The downtown bridge over Round Lake opens only on the hour and half hour; however, we actually witnessed it open for a ferry that was going out to Beaver Island. The drawbridge was built jointly by the Federal Government and the Michigan State Highway Department.

That was about all the fun we could muster in Charlevoix plus we had a busy day ahead of us. Route 31 took us on a scenic road along Lake Michigan from Charlevoix to Petoskey. As we drove through this quaint, beach town, we decided to press on towards Mackinaw City so we could catch a ferry over to Mackinac Island.

We decided to take a longer route over to Mackinaw City via M-119 which hugged Lake Michigan's coast line along the Little Traverse Bay. This drive was featured in the Detroit Free Press in their column "You haven't lived in Michigan until..." This route took us through a 20-mile stretch known as the Tunnel of Trees, a state-designated Scenic Heritage Route. It was a narrow winding road through literally a tunnel of trees. We noted that it probably would have been much better a week or two from now when the foliage was in really out. More about this scenic route here.

More photos can be found in my photo album and here's a link to the map we used to guide us throughout the trip.

Royal Oak Wine Stroll

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Sun, 15 May 2011 03:01:00 +0000

With Amy in town, we decided to try out a new breakfast joint in Pleasant Ridge called Mae's. After reading about Mae's, Scottie noted that this was certainly a place worth checking out. We have a little "farm fresh foods", some signature items from "New Jersey" and "Detroit", plus it's locally owned.

Mae’s is proud to have reinvented a Pleasant Ridge landmark, previously occupied by Anna’s Coffee Shoppe since the 1950’s. Sean and Jessica McCarthy, owners and Pleasant Ridge residents, have updated the cafe while keeping with the 1950’s charm. Mae's features Michigan products, baked goods that grandma would be proud of and farm fresh foods in a cozy neighborhood setting. Signature items include Aebleskivers, a Scandinavian specialty Jessica grew up with and Fried Oreos, a delicious treat that she enjoyed at the St. Ann's Festival every summer in Hoboken, NJ. We will also be serving Detroit classics like Faygo and Better Made, which Sean grew up with. Our goal is to be a comfortable place where neighbors gather over fresh food and just like the space itself, be inspired by a much simpler time.

Unfortunately, we rolled in late Saturday morning and the few tables they have were all occupied, but we waited it out because we certainly weren't in any hurry for some good food. After about 25 minutes and a couple of cups of coffee later, we were seated and began digesting their lengthy menu. Scottie ordered it up right getting the "aebelskievers" which were five sphere shaped Scandinavian "pancakes" service with whipped fresh whipped cream and strawberries with bacon and some scrambled eggs on the side. I went with the old stand-by, a "breakfast burrito" filled with two eggs, black beans, onions, green chilies, pepper jack, and turkey sausage rolled up in a grilled locally tortilla. I am quite certain we didn't go away hungry or unsatisfied. The service was great, the coffee was strong enough for our blood, and the food was just the right amount with an abundance of flavor and creativity. Well done! I am quite certain we might have found a place to return to when our family comes for a visit!

Last April, Scottie and I officially took our tour of Eastern Market, so this time around, we were able to show Amy the ropes and help out her producing purchasing! We picked up some blueberries, cherries, pepper, pineapple, and red onions.

One of the highlights this time around for us was spotting towards the SE part of the market as you walk back toward some of the brick buildings where people are parked, we noticed some really nice looking brick buildings where they were trying to sell lofts that resided in a former brewery park for Ekhardt & Becker (E&B) Brewing Company. The E&B (Ekhardt and Becker) Brewing Company was one of the last Detroit breweries to survive after WWII. Built in 1891, this building housed the E&B Beer and Golden Ale through the late 1960s.

In 1970, spaces were converted into residential & commercial units for lease and were among the first lofts offered in Detroit. Today, the E&B Brewery Lofts is the tallest building in Eastern Market. More on the Detroit beer history well documented here in this Detroit News article by Patricia Zacharias and Vivian B. Baulch.

From Eastern Market, we headed up to Royal Oak to attend the 7th Annual Wine Stroll supporting the Royal Oak Police Department and the Boys and Girls Club of SE Michigan. The participating restaurants and retailed offered wine samples and signature hors d’oeuvres to the "strollers". We're not quite sure in the last 2 years that we were here in May that we missed this charitable and enjoyable event, but nevertheless, we were thankful that we got onboard this year!

At the check-in station, we were pretty fired up that our tickets included a punch card necklace that we wore throughout the event as we sampled our wine and appetizer in each of the locations. There were 19 tasting destinations. While the event went from 12-5, we started at about 2pm hitting up 18 of the 19 by the 5pm shutdown.

After picking up our tickets, Scottie led the way finding the closest tasting location on Main Street, Tom's Oyster Bar. We haven't actually dined here before so it was nice to see somewhere new. We sampled the Domaine De Millet (a white sparkling wine) along with salmon pate on a krispy cracker.

We turned the corner from Main to 4th Street where we strolled through Stella Boutique. Another new location for us where we sampled the Prima Perla Prosecco with some Cheese Tortellini Palomino from the Oxford Inn. This was a smart business decision by the folks at Stella as they probably sold quite a few items during the stroll. Plus, I think there were probably more men in here during the 5 hours than during the last 5 months total!

Next door, we found another unique tasting destination, the Creative Arts Studio. They were serving a Della Scala Pinot Grigio with some Swedish Meatballs from Woody's Diner. This wine was a little rough but if we ever want to paint some pottery, I'll come here!

Continuing along 4th Street, we entered Chozen by BC. Fair warning, this boutique was a little scandalous, but not sure what their theme was as there were some classy items in here too. At each location, we received a punch on our necklace card. After we walked by some scandalous dress ware for both men and women, everyone in line quickly grabbed a sample of the Tarima Monastrell.

Next door, we entered Lift Designer Toys & GalleryZumba Mexican Grille at this point was just some chips and salsa. But that didn't stop us from partaking!

We turned the corner to Washington and Sherman where we dropped into D'Amato. We were happy to find a tasty wine here (probably the best of wine stroll reds), Terra Andina Pinot Noir, and some seating so we could rate our wines.

Heading back towards the other side of Main Street, we dropped into Andiamo. Surprisingly, we discovered one of the better red wines on the stroll here, Nero d'Avola. I also enjoyed the Andiamo Shakin Pizza and some more pasta! Mid-stroll, we came upon Rock on Third where we tasted the Velvet Devil Merlot.

Farther down Main Street, at Vinotecca, we ran into a line outside, but that didn't stop us from sampling their Primissimo, another fine red Sangiovese and Merlot blend.

Off of Main Street, on Fifth, we found O'Tooles, which appeared much classier during the day than we've seen before at night. They served a sample of Leese Fitch Pinot Noir with a fruit cup plus a mozzarella stick. A random combination but it was all very tasty!

Across the street, we hit up Woody's Diner. The sampling here was a white wine, Moscato D'Asti, with some New Orleans pasta.

From Woody's, we marched back along Washington to the 5th & Fringe Salon & Spa for a really bad white wine, Cupcake Pinot Grigio. But they did have some tasty Vanilla Bean "cup"cakes.

Next up was Lily's Seafood where we had to wait for them to re-stock their wine, a Montpellier Viognier white. It wasn't worth the wait.

We "pressed on" to Pronto! Amy had been asking all day about this place because they were serving a special Mac & Cheese with roasted chicken and mushrooms in a dill-cream sauce. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, all they had were crostinis and a lousy Stella Pinot Grigio.

After a lot of "booing" by us, we moved onto the Oak City Grille along Sixth Street. We were excited that these guys actually had a reserved area for the Wine Stroll with some seating. We sampled the Angove "Red Belly Black" Shiraz, which warranted a big thumbs up. Plus we munched on some cajun chicken sausage tortellini.

Back onto Main Street, we hit up the BlackFinn American Saloon, where we polished off an Oak Grove Cabernet Sauvignon with all smiles.

Towards the end of the downtown area of Royal Oak on Main Street, we headed into Cloverleaf Fine Wine. Our $40 tickets were certainly worth all the samples we tasted, but even more so when we discovered this hidden gem of wine and beer! While we quickly obtained our sample of the Dragani Primissimo Rosso, most of our time was spent looking through all the beer and wine they had in stock.

We came back here after our final tasting but had to squeeze one more in before the 5pm cut-off. So it was off to the Oxford Inn, which was even farther down Main Street. There were others among us jogging to get in before 5pm. We finished with the Chateau Grand Traverse Riesling, some marinated mussels, and barbecue pork sliders. Good times!

More pictures from the event in my photo album.

Welcome Liam

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Sun, 08 May 2011 02:45:00 +0000

While Scottie and I were abroad, we found out that we became Aunt and Uncle Scottie for the fifth time! My sister and brother-in-law welcomed the latest member of their family to the world on tax day, April 15. So just over a week back in the swing of things, we took a quick trip down to St. Louis for Mother's Day to meet the little fella and see the extended family as my grandmother was in town.

More pictures from our trip back to St. Louis.

Seoul - Day 13

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 03:41:00 +0000

On our last day in Seoul, we spent the morning getting downtown to eat lunch. Then, spent some timing strolling through the streets and markets of Seoul near Dongnimmun. We even walked by Cheonggye Plaza where we saw the fountains at night on our second day in Seoul.

We walked by a lot of vendors on the streets, but it was interesting to see because each vendor had a very small storefront with their own specialty. The absence of big box was very apparent around here.

It didn't take long though for Scottie's parents to want a snack, so we stopped in a market area to find this whole in the wall restaurant that served only one item: Bindaetteok. It was made of ground mung beans with green onions, bean sprouts, and kimchi pancake. It was their specialty and I could taste why. We plowed through two large pancakes each and topped that off with a little homemade makgeolli.

After, we spent some time walking through this market area. Back on the streets, we found the above orange/yellow fruits called Chamwoae. It was a fruit that we ate almost everyday (if Scottie's Mom was willing to slice it up for us). It was a melon of some sort but seemed like a cross between the texture of a pear with the taste of a banana. We were told to eat the seeds in the middle as well.

We made a trip to the Korean grocery store inside the mall to pick up some "gifts" and then headed back near Scottie's parents condo for our last meal. The first round included some sort of pork Korean BBQ. Then we moved onto the Samgyeopsal. It is 3 layered thin sliced pork: meat, fat, meat. But I kind of think this is fat, meat, fat.

Our last breakfast included the last of our Starbucks coffee that we brought, the dduk we just purchased, fresh strawberries, pears, and rolls. It was a wonderful trip and experience of my lifetime, and I am already excited for the return visit. Thanks to the Lee's for such a wonderful time!

More pictures located here. A map of our trip located here.

Seoul - Day 12

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 03:59:00 +0000

Our day started with a trek up Nam-san ("South Mountain") where we aimed to climb the hill to the N Seoul Tower. 1,200 meters away. It rises 236 meters (774 feet) in the air. Completed in 1975 for television broadcasting, The Seoul Tower is still a communication as well as observation tower today. A second transmission tower is what you see to the right.

As we continued along our ascent, you couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the Cherry Blossoms. They were everywhere and on a beautiful day in Seoul, I was in photography heaven!

Now we're talking! I finally am able to see this grand city from above. Many people actually choose to go up Nam-san to the Seoul Tower. via cable car. We actually tried to go back that way but the line was lengthy.

And here's the view at the top of the climb to the tower. Of course, we couldn't have gone this far without paying the obligatory fee to ride the elevator to the very top. We waited in a few queues for the observatory elevator, but once aboard, it claimed to be one of the fastest elevators in the world racing 787ft per minute. And now some views from above...

For the evening entertainment, we decided to catch a baseball game since it was supposedly quite the experience. Prior to going up the Seoul Tower, we actually went down to the Jamsil Baseball Stadium to pick up some tickets in case the game were to sell out. However, when we got off the Metro, we noticed there were lines and lines of people so we weren't really sure what was going on. We thought maybe these were lines to get in, but that seemed a bit ridiculous especially since game time was another 4 hours or so.

Thus, we decided to scalp some really cheap seats and call it a day.

Jamsil is home to both Doosan Bears and the LG Twins; however, tonight's game was the LG Twins versus the Kia Tigers.

On the second trip back to Jamsil, we passed the Olympic Park.

It took us awhile to figure out where our seats were, but once we settled in, the entertainment was non-stop. There were the infamous thunder sticks making a whole lot of noise for both teams. There was also just a lot of people that were really into the game. They hardly left their seats because most of them have been around the stadium for awhile now bringing in their own food and drinks. They literally carried in 24 packs of beer.

Not only were there thunder sticks but there were cheerleaders, what seemed to be a head cheerleader or ring leader, and even coordinated chants for each player that stepped up to bat. There was always the default cheer that went something like "We want a home run"!

On our way back for some later dinner, we strategically passed the Dongdae-mun Gate ("Great East Gate") officially named Heunginjimun ("Gate of Flourishing Benevolence") was built in 1397, and reconstructed in 1869. Nine gates punctuate the Seoul City Walls (built as a defensive perimeter surrounding the city) including a main gate located in each of the 4 cardinal districts, while four secondary gates were place amongst them. The last gate was a water gate.

More pictures located here. A map of our trip located here.

Seoul - Day 11

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 03:44:00 +0000

As the days were ticking down, we headed back to Seoul once again to meet up with Scottie's cousin again and his other cousin still in the military for lunch and post-lunch tea. We dined at a very unique spot in Insadong called Balwoo Gongyang . The food was based off of Buddhist Temple cuisine, which included a 10-course meal. This website contains a good description of the type of food we ate during our meal. This time I opted for the daechu cha, a jujube tea.

And the tea was complimented with some dduk. Dduk is a Korean sweet cake made with glutinous rice flour by steaming. Some common ingredients for many kinds of tteok are mug bean, red bean, and sweet red bean paste, Korean mugwort, jujube and other dried fruits, sesame seeds and oil, sugar, and pine nuts.

After lunch, Scottie's cousin dropped us off near Dongnimmun ("Independence") Gate. Modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris (hooray!), Dongnimmun Gate was built in 1896 to celebrate the formal "independence" of Korea from China and the creation of the Great Han Empire. From there, we ended up walking around Seodae-mun Independence Park until we came across the Seodaemun Prison. Since we have a thing for prisons, we decided to walk around the grounds.

Seodaemun Prison represents the suffering of the Koreans under the Japanese and their efforts for independence for 80 years between 1908-1987. It was built in the late era of the Daehan Empire because of pressure by the Japanese. Before it was a prison, it was built with the aim of suppressing the Korean patriots who were fighting to regain national sovereignty.

I was pretty fired up to see this flag on the grounds. On the flag, the white symbolizes the land, the center circle represents its people, and the bars are for its balanced government and philosophical underpinning.

Nearby, we came across this Memorial Monument to Patriotic Martyrs. This monument was erected by Seoul Metropolitan Government on August 15, 1992, to pay tribute of anti-Japenese activists and patriotic figures who served their term in Seodaemun Prison and many other patriotic martyrs who fought against the Japanese imperialists for restoration of Korea at home and abroad.

For dinner, we met up with some friends from Taubman Asia! More pictures located here. A map of our trip located here.

Seoul - Day 10

noreply@blogger.com (LPL) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 03:59:00 +0000

We had a leisurely morning as took the subway downtown to Yonghui-Dong to meet up with Scottie's Aunts (the two younger sisters of Mrs. Lee)and cousin for a lengthy lunch at a Korean well-being restaurant. It was a 4 course meal starting with two different appetizer-like courses, a main course of scallops, fish, and some chiggers, and ending with a light dessert of ice cream and a rice drink. It was at least a 2-hour affair, but it was nice bonding time with some family.

Post-lunch, we spent some at the middle Aunt's house (who has a son that we met the following day currently serving in the South Korean military) for some tea, some fruit, and duk. While we were certainly pretty full from lunch, for some reason, we found room for the fruit, and well, the duk too because that stuff was tasty. I received the tour of the house and learned that this Aunt is an avid and quite good painter.

I told Scottie to ask these ladies where we might find what I suppose is a scroll with Korean characters on it that says something like "Welcome" or "Home". I was looking for more of Korean characters painted that I could frame. It was certainly amusing when Scottie was trying to explain this to his Aunts and Cousin. They performed various google searches to see if they could find a place nearby that sold something like this. Eventually, we just hit up the streets near Hongik University down the street that had a cluster of restaurants, shops, and bars. After a little shopping, they decided to throw in the towel to head to a bar.

After some drinks, we grabbed a quick dinner at nearby noodle house where I was fired up to finally get some Duk Boki, Korean Spicy Rice Cakes, but the noodle dish was quite tasty as well. Not to mention spicy. The amusement at this restaurant was that while Koreans are pretty much immune to hot spices, they all knew better when ordering. They would request "less spices" but the chef would yell out that that it's impossible, so everybody was slurping up their wee glasses of water at this joint.

Post-dinner, we took in some jazz at a club nearby where I sampled some Cafri, another Korean beer, and Scottie tried out the Cass Light! While these were certainly no Bell's or Founder's, they were Korean, so we felt like we were supporting the local country.

More pictures located here. A map of our trip located here.

Seoul - Day 9

noreply@blogger.com (LPL) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:39:00 +0000

Our routine returned much like our first days with Scottie's folks except we had to get on the bus (literally) earlier today as we were due into Seoul by 8am for our Korean DMZ (demilitarized zone) and Panmunjom/Joint Security Area (JSA) tour through Seoul City Tour.

For those of you that don't know, the Korean DMZ is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea (as they are still technically at "war". The DMZ, 243km in length and 4km wide, cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the 38th parallel on an angle. The DMZ consists of a central buffer zone (no mans land) with a north and south military demarcation line (MDL). Read more here.

The tour group met at the Lotte Hotel downtown Seoul, where we boarded a bus that drove us approximately 30 miles north towards the DMZ. Some Korean history facts I brushed up on as we made our way out of Seoul:

The Korean peninsula was ruled by Japan from 1910 until the end of World War II.
Following the war, in 1945, at Yalta Conference, US, China, and GB agreed that Korea shall be split at the 38th parallel with Japanese troops surrendering to the US and Soviet Armies.
In August 15 1948, the Republic of Korea was born with Syngman Rhee.
The following month, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was founded by Kim Il-Song.
By June 1950, both Soviet and US troops withdrew and 3 factors led to the Korean War: NK army was better equipped, there was a strong sentiment to unite the land, and US declared Korea out of the perimeter of US defense.
Within days Seoul fell, and troops pushed all the way to Busan Perimeter until September when UN troops (including many US troops) came to the aid of South Korea regaining most of the territory by November.
By Spring 1951, the war came to a stalemate at the 38th parallel. Negotiations in Panmunjom occurred until July 1953 when a cease-fire armistice was signed up the North Korea, Chinese, and UN. SK never signed.

Once we made it out of the heart of soul, about 20 minutes into the trip, we started to pass areas with barbed wires and military command posts which meant that we weren't in Kansas anymore! But it really set in for me that these countries are very much still at war. Of course, our tour guide made it pretty clear that we couldn't take pictures while in the bus so unfortunately, most of my photos will have to be words. Our first stop of the day was at Imjingak located on the banks of the Imjin River in the city of Paju about 7km from the DMZ line.

Since we were running late from some sort of tour mix-up, our tour guide only gave us 15 minutes at this stop. Nice. Of course, people couldn't handle that and were late to get back to the buses. This was a no-no though because the next parts of the tour when we crossed into the DMZ are not really open to the public unless you get on one of these organized tours.

Imjingak was built in 1972 with the hope that someday unification would be possible, but for now is to help console friends and families from the division of Korea. At Imjingak, we saw the Korean Peace Bell and the Steam Locomotive at Jangdan Station of the Gyeongui Line which was destroyed during the Korean Conflict in 1950. This steam locomotive is a symbol of the tragic history of the division into North and South Korea, having been left in the DMZ since it got derailed by bombs during the Korean War. More than 1,020 bullet holes of the locomotive. In addition, we walked up as far as we could to the Freedom Bridge.

The Freedom Bridge is the only bridge crossing the Imjin River and the only bridge connected between South and North Korea. And the hope is that one day, this bridge can be opened up for access. It was the location where 12,773 prisoners of war returned from North Korea in 1953. At the end of the bridge, we saw letters and paraphernalia left by family members divided by the war and now the DMZ.

Later (after lunch), there was another odd mix-up in our tour since there were only 5 of us doing both the DMZ and Panmunjom tour. For the Panmunjom part of the tour, we joined another tour group on a different bus, which ended up starting their afternoon at Imjingak. Thus, since we had more time at Imjingak, we walked around the other side of Imjingak where we found a Korea War Monument to the U.S. Forces. It consists of a stele surrounded by four triangles, which symbolizes the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. The connection of the four triangles at the top represent unity. The 50 flagpoles symbolize the 50 U.S. states and the monument symbolizes the desire of the Korean people that the American soldiers who died in battle will rest in peace. On July 5, 1950, the United States sent troops to Korea, becoming the first contingent of the U.N. forces to enter the Korean War. The United States also sent the largest number of troops of any nation.

Our next stop was at the Third Infiltration Tunnel (between North and South) within the DMZ discovered in October 1978. The South Korean military was informed of the third tunnel by a North Korean defector in September 1974. Thus, 107 PVC cylinder pipes 7.5cm in diameter, were then, filled with water and installed every 2 meters along the expected invasion route to the South. 3 years later, on June 10, 1978, one of the cylinder pipes exploded with water shooting up into the air. Hence, five more cylinder pipes were installed nearby and South Korea was finally able to penetrate their way into the tunnel that North Korea intended to use for military invasion. The Third Tunnel, lies 44km from Seoul, has a total length of 1,635 meters, lies 73 meters below the surface, and is 2 meters in height and width. This tunnel is capable of mobilizing 30,000 troops in one hour as well.

While in the tunnel, we saw the evidence that this tunnel was intended for invading the South. First, our guide mentioned the tunnel is sloped towards the North which causes water to be drained to the North. Secondly, the dynamite holes on the wall meant to explode base rock, face South. Lastly, although coal was never found in this area, traces were left upon the rock wall to disguise this tunnel as abandoned coal mine. After the walk through the tunnel, we spent some time in the DMZ Media Hall (offering the history of the divided country and flourishing ecosystem in the Demilitarized Zone), DMZ Exhibition Hall (displaying relics and documents related to the Demilitarized Zone), and by the sculptures outside.

After the tunnel, we stopped for lunch, switched tour buses (see my above comments), and returned to Imjingak. After Imjingak (part 2), our next stop was the Dora Observatory. Situated at the northernmost point of the MDL of the Western Front, the Dora Observatory allowed us to overlook North Korea, in particular, the propaganda village, Kijongdong.

The tour continued with a quick stop at the Dorasan Station, which is a railroad station situated on the Gyeongui Line, which once connected North and South Korea and has now been restored. The Dorasan train station hosts no trains or travelers, but was constructed in the hopes of a unified Korea and rail service. Dorasan Station has become well known as a place in an aspiration for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula and world peace. Now this Dorasan Station is the first station toward the North, not the last station from the South.

The last part of our tour and probably the most bang for our buck was the visit to Panmunjom/Joint Security Area (JSA), located within the DMZ. This area is most notably known for the peace talks that were held here on October 25, 1951 and was designated as the JSA on July 27, 1953 when the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed. The JSA is the only portion of the Korean DMZ where South and North Korean forces stand face-to-face and leaders can technically sit across the table from each other.

Here you can see the division between North (on the left, sandy pavement) and South (pebble pavement)

Our first stop was at Camp Bonifas, a United Nations Command military post, whose primary mission is to monitor and enforce the Korean Armistice Agreement of 1953 between North and South Korea. We received an official briefing on the JSA here before boarding another bus to enter the actual JSA. Our bus passed through a few checkpoints where we were able to see DMZ markers, Daeseong-dong (South Korea's Freedom Village), the world's highest flag tower flying the North Korean flag (at the entrance of their propaganda village, Gijeong-dong).

We stopped at the Freedom House where we were able to view the border between North and South Korea (a concrete slab), the main North Korean building, Panmungak, and the blue buildings used as conference rooms by the UN. We even observed a North Korean soldier watching us. The ROK and UN guards led us into one of the conference rooms where we could actually walk into North Korea,

While our group was given 1 minute to take as many pictures outside as we wanted to while we were protected by the South Korean soldiers, this North Korean soldier watched us carefully. The U.N. soldiers stood at attention the whole time to protect us. They stood with their arms straight out to the side and hands in a fist so they would be ready for a fight. We were filed into this blue conference room building where the Korean Armistice Agreement of 1953 between North and South Korea was signed. Halfway across the room we were welcomed to North Korea

The bus drove us by the "Bridge of No Return", which crosses the MDL and was used to exchange prisoners at the end of the Korean War in 1953. The name originates from the claim that many POWs captured by the United States did not wish to return home. They were given the option to cross back to North Korea; however, if they chose to cross the bridge, they would never be allowed to return.

The MDL in the JSA is marked with 126 1 meter-high white stakes, along the boundary line at 10-meter intervals. In the rest of the DMZ, the boundary is marked with MDL markers as you can see above

We took a quick detour to the mall on our way home, but not for what you would expect. Apparently, at the malls, there is an extensive grocery section including some vendors preparing food to-go like these dumplings. Scottie said that his Dad had to go all over Seoul to find the best dumplings for Scottie's Mom when she was sick and these were the winners. They were certainly tasty. I cannot deny.

After, we also took a spin through Namdaemun Market, where Mr. Lee helped me make some gift purchases! Namdaemun was area of town with streets and alleys filled with vendors selling food, souvenirs, ready-made clothing, shoes, accessories, handbags, luggage, etc. I had to do a double-take when I saw these.

For dinner, we headed back up to meet Mrs. Lee at a local spot for a meal similar to the Dak Galbi. For this dish though, I actually used my chopsticking skills to pull the chicken off the bones Korean-style. Post-chicken, we had some bokeum bap (Korean version of Fried Rice).

More pictures located here. A map of our trip located here.

Seoul - Day 8 (Trip to Jeju)

noreply@blogger.com (LPL) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 03:56:00 +0000

Instead of messing around with Dunkin' Donuts, we opted for the hotel restaurant for brunch, the Terrace Cafe. It was one of the most interesting brunches with a combination of western-style foods with Korean. I was pretty fired up to get some cereal and milk along with some tasty multi-grain bread. I added some fruit and coffee. But the kicker was when Scottie returned with dumplings. I couldn't refuse those now could I?

After filling our bellies, we headed off for an 1.5 hour drive to the Seongsan Sunrise Peak or the Ilchulbong Tuff Cone! This drive took us to the east coast of Jeju-do. And we were finally excited to see the tuff cone literally appear out of nowhere along the shore. This is another UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site.

Seongsan Ilchulbong is a tuff cone that was formed around 5,000 years ago by a hydro-volcanic eruption in a shallow water seabed. We began the 15-minute walk or so up to the 182m peak. At our first stop, we have a nice view of the village of Seongsanpo. For the rest of hiking, we just had to weave our way through the families of tourists huffing and puffing their ascent. We didn't spend too much time photographing at this point as we had to press on.

At the peak, we were able to pear inside the tuff cone. It looks much plusher in the book photos, but nevertheless, a pretty neat site. I suppose it would be pretty sweet up here during sunrise which is highly recommended, but I suppose that will have to be the next trip.

Vertical and spiral-shaped pillar of rocks surround the climbing path of Seongsan Ilchulbong. These were formed by different erosion processes of unconsolidated tuff deposits. The above photo is of the Chogwanbawi (Third General Rock).

We headed down to where the famous Haenyeo ("sea women") women divers performed their traditional work of underwater fishing to see if we could catch them action. Unfortunately, their next performance was a few hours away, so we just checked out the items that they were selling, used their clean toilets, and caught glimpses of the side of the tuff cone, where volcanic ash and debris piled up and hardened.

Back on the road to one of the Geomunoreum Lava Tube Caves, another, UNESCO World Natural Heritage site, specifically to the Manjanggul. Geomunoreum Lava Tube System is a series of lava caves created by a number of lava eruptions. The Manjanggul Lava Tube is the largest of the tubes at 7.4km and 30m high at its highest point. Within, we passed lava flow lines, stalactites, a lava raft (stone turtle), a lava bench, and ropey lava.

Within the cave, we had our own self-guided tour where we passed the following highlights:

Lava Flowlines: strips of lava along the cave walls showing how much lava flowed through this cave
Lave Stalactites: lava formations like sharp teeth and icicles
Lave Raft (Stone Turtle): breakdowns of the ceiling that were carried away along the lava flow before they hardened to form a mass of rock
Lava Bench: lava that melted and washed off the cave floor or surface of the ceiling
Ropey Lava: surface of the lava flows were hardened before the inner part of the flows; meanwhile, lava continued to flow while pushing the earlier formation of the hardened lava
Lava Column: at the end of the 1km walk, we came upon this lava column (a stalagmite) formed from molten lava poured from a hole in the ceiling. It is the largest in the world at 7.6km.

On our way back to the airport, we had to follow the kT rental car bus for Hertz to get back to the station. Oops. And our amusement for the next hour or so was the face that Scottie carried this Max beer that we never drank through the airport security. Nice. They didn't care about our water, beer, or even the stench from our hiking!

Back at Gimpo Airport, as we waited for our "limousine" bus, we munched on some kimbap. Scottie had been looking for this in Jeju-do to take for our afternoon snacks. Essentially a vegetarian piece of sushi, it contained rice and vegetables rolled in seaweed.

Upon our arrival to the Lee's, we were welcomed with smiles and a warm, home-cooked meal of japchae and kimchi jjigae (upon my request via Scottie). Of course, we had to open a few bottles of makgeolli to celebrate our return!

Here's a nice article on CNN summarizing all the places we hit up in Jeju!

More pictures located here. A map of our trip located here.

Seoul - Day 7 (Trip to Jeju)

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:33:00 +0000

On Jeju-do, we stayed at the Hyatt Resort in the Jungmun Resort on the southern part of the island (opposite of the airport). We didn't take advantage of the spa or casino. And in fact, we barely saw the resort in the daylight. But here are a few views outside on the other side of the resort.

And from our hotel room, we caught a glimpse of Mt. Halla (Hallasan) and to the side of our porch, we snuck in an ocean view. Hooray!

Our morning started off on the later side for us 8:30ish as we had been waking up closer to 7am, so it was nice to get closer to normal Scottie and Lindsay hours! In an "attempt" to save some time, at about 9:30am, we departed for the Dunkin' Donuts around the corner from our hotel to grab a quick breakfast, but much to our surprise it was closed. Wow. Thus, we drove outside the Jungmun resort area to find a breakfast spot (with Western-style breakfast), but only really found a grocery market (which turned out to be convenient as we found some strawberries and trail mix for later that day). I didn't want to eat just bread or something light knowing we would be out all day, so we returned to the Hyatt to just do their brunch. On our way back, I told Scottie to check the DD again to see if it maybe opened at 10am. Sure enough, it was just opening. It was another cluster of confusion to try to put an order in. Goodness.

After that wasted time, we were finally on our way to the Cheonjeyeon Waterfall located near our resort. We couldn't quite understand why in our travel books, they mentioned that the waterfalls each cost about $1-$3 to enter until we realized that there were either multiple waterfalls or some sort of scenic views/parks along the way to the waterfall to experience. The Cheonjeyeon was located in a U-shaped valley made of lava and through sedimentation and uplift, it has subtropical evergreen forest within its gorge of 3-tier waterfalls.

We started off at the first waterfall, but there wasn't much to see, so we made our way through the trails to the second waterfall where we were rewarded on our hike down by an actual waterfall. From there, we walked across the Seonim Bridge for some excellent views of the coast, Mt. Halla (Hallasan), and to the second waterfalls again. We also saw the Fountain of Five Blessings. Longevity represented by the tortoise, wealth by the boar, honor by the dragon, love by the mandarin duck, and sons by the carp.

On our way to the third falls, we passed the Seongcheondap Irrigation Monument. The Seongcheondap irrigation canal was completed in 1903 and the land was turned into fertile and profitable rice paddy fields thanks to this canal which extended 1889 meters in length.

We were quite happy to arrive at the third falls to see some spectacular views before hitting the road back to Mt. Halla (Hallasan) for our main event.

Our plan for the day was a long hike along the Yeongsil Trail, one of the five trails to the summit (Baeknokdam) where a crater lake can be found. The Yeongsil Trail is on the southwest of Mt. Halla (Hallasan) and is 3.7km (2.2miles) upward. It is said to take 3 hours roundtrip. I think we did about just that.

For the first half-hour, we hiked about .8km along snow-covered stairs and the air was cold and windy. We were certainly thankfully that we decided to change out of our shorts and into jeans before starting the trek.

We were headed for the Witse Oreum shelter, which was very close to the peak, but visitors weren't allowed to go further than this.

We passed what we assumed was the Obaek Nahan (the "500 Disciples" said to represent the followers of Buddha) but I don't think I captured them. I was too busy trying to photograph the clouds coming in across the Yeongsil Valley

We finally figured out what we were looking at in the Yeongsil Valley which was the Yeongsilgiam Rocks. They are one of the 10 most scenic view on Jeju Island. In the summer, showers create a scene of water flowing between the strangely shaped rocks and cliffs. It was a Winter Wonderland!

At the 1 hour point, I was thinking, "Are we there yet?" However, after 15 minutes of more hiking up, we finally hit a plateau where we had to cross these rocks.

The path opened up to about a 1km open air trek to the Witse Oreum shelter. We thought no problem until the wind came like nobody's business. It was fierce, biting, and probably the coldest I've ever been. My fingers and half my face were numb it seemed. I tried to protect my face and hands which were the only exposed body parts. Both Scottie and I were relieved to see the shelter ahead.

Scottie promptly purchased us some hot ramyeon and coffee. I was impressed they had food at the summit but wasn't complaining after the 15 minutes of walking through the biting wind.

After warming up in the shelter, we could take our summit pictures at Witse Oreum (1700meters). Unfortunately, there was no access to the very peak of Mt. Halla (Hallasan), which contained the Baeknokdam, the crater lake. It certainly was warmer and faster going back down!

After the hike, we headed to much warmer adventures, hitting up the remaining waterfalls on our list starting with Jeongbang Falls. We certainly started breaking off our layers of clothing. These falls plunged 23m from a cliff 10m wide to a pebble beach along the sea. Jeongbang Falls are one of the 10 Scenic Wonders of Jeju.

Last stop was the Cheonjiyeon Falls, located in a U-shaped valley made of lava and through sedimentation and uplift, it has subtropical evergreen forest. These waterfalls were hopping! I was lucky to get this picture squeezed between a bunch of tourists.

To continue our afternoon, we headed over to the Olle Route 7 to see the Oedolgae and the Subong-gyo (which we never found).

The Oedolgae Rock sits in the Sammaebong near Seougwipo City. It is 10 meters in circumference and 20 meters in height. There was a really cheesy story here of its origins that grandfather went to sea fishing but never came back. His wife cried and cried until she became this rock. See, cheesy. The more real story is that the rock was formed during volcanic activity as a geyser-like eruption spewed forth from beneath earth's surface and solidified.

Continuing along the Olle Route, we walked beyond these trees in the distance. We walked along he trail that passing the island of Seopseom (to the far left) and Munseom and Little Munseom. In the distance, I could get a good view of the Wimi Hang East Breakwater and West Breakwater Lighthouses. I think we even passed Beopseom Island. We took some stairs down to the rocks along the shore, but never quite made it to the Subong-gyo (bridge).

On the return trip, we stopped in Sammae-Bong Park for a quick work-out. Every park usually came equipped and this was no exception.

For dinner, we decided to just eat near our resort at the Jeju Mawon. After our long day outdoors, we were ravenous, and the menu didn't present too many options for Scottie's shellfish allergy, so we opted for the kalbi (Korean marinated short ribs). I wasn't going to complain as I could eat this meal every night especially after Scottie coined it the Korean taco.

We took a piece of lettuce, added some rice, onions, garlic, and dipped the kalbi in some soybean paste for flavor. Then, it was shoved into our mouth oh so graciously! That is the nice thing about Korean meals is that there is a lot of slurping and shoving, which is probably considered polite as long as you clear your plate.

Seoul - Day 6 (Trip to Jeju)

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:38:00 +0000

We took another "limousine" bus from Yangju to another airport outside of Seoul, Gimpo, for our 3-day excursion to the volcanic island of Jeju-do. Jeju-do (island) is located to the southwest of the South Korean peninsula situated along the Korea Strait (sea passage between Korea and Japan in the Pacific Ocean).Our on board entertainment during the flight was a group of what we presumed were a bunch of students on a school trip. They cheered during the lift-off and landing! And of course, chuckled as they walked by me saying "hi".

Our plane landed in Jeju, the capital of this only autonomous province of South Korea. We promptly deplaned, picked up some brochures, and grabbed our rental car to set out on our journey for the day. Scottie was brave enough to get an international license so we can do our own touring instead of going with a "driver" or crowds of other tourists on an organized tour. It turned out to be a good decision. We didn't end up covering as much of the island as wanted to; however, most people kept telling us it was small and we could do it in a few days. We probably needed the week like in Maui or Kauai. Oh well.

With that, we didn't waste any time as we headed straight for Mt. Halla (Hallasan) in the center of the island. Mt. Halla (Hallasan), a shield volcano, rises 1950m or close to 6400ft above sea level.We decided to take it easy to start with a short hike up the Eoseungsaengak Trail. At the visitors centers, we read a sign gave a little more background on the volcano. From the layering and formation of its rock, Mt. Halla (Hallasan) reveals several dozen periods volcanic activity (from as far back as 10 million years ago). It is generally considered an extinct volcano with the last eruption in 1007 It was listed as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site in 2007.

This trail up the scoria oreum will land us 1,169 meters above sea level. Oreum refers to a tiny volcanic zone that contains a volcanic cone. They say the Eoseungsaengak Trail should take 30 minutes to hike to the peak, 1.3km from the visitor's center, but it took us about 45-minute round trip!

Most of the trees were bare giving us some great views of Mt. Halla (Hallasan); however, the lush vegetation was widespread along the floor of the mountain. About 15 minutes into the hike, we found our first stop for a scenic view (and a breather as the first 10 minutes of the hike were steps straight up).Eoseunsaengak is what's called a scoria cone, which formed during a volcanic eruption when spurting scoria from the vent piled up around it, forming a small volcanic edifice. As magma rises from deep underground (where pressure is high) to the surface, the gas components in the magma rapidly expand and erupt, causing fragments of magma to spurt skyward. These fragments (scoria) are often tinged red and reddish black). Thanks Jeju signage!

At the peak, we had quite the view of Jeju, some of the surrounding islands, and inward to more volcanic mountains. I broke out our honker of a camera lens to get some up close views of the city and volcano. We couldn't tell if that was snow or just the color of the vegetation. We found out later.

Again, we continued not to waste our precious daylight in Jeju by driving to the beginning of Olle Trek 10 near Hwasungumorea Beach. "Olle" [Ole] is the Jeju word for a narrow pathway that is connected from the street to the front gate of a house. The olle treks, or walking paths, were made from the hidden, forgotten routes of Jeju Island, which cars often cannot access. The routes go through forests, mountains, beaches, and remote places and offer unrivalled views over Jeju’s unique, dramatic, volcanic landscape."Blue arrows are the route signs for Jeju Olle trails. We found the blue arrows on the stone walls of local villages, rocks near the seaside and on the road, and sometimes even knotted around trees.

Olle route 10 is a coastal trail, which is why we picked it! We started at Hwansun Beach passing some of the basalt rocks along the shore and looking ahead towards the Sangbang Mountain.

We climbed up these stairs to the smoke mount, which delivered messages as quickly as possible around the island to warn of enemy invasions and emergencies. We later hiked back around the cliffs at the end/far right of this photo, the Yongmeori Tuff Ring. From atop this mount, we had a nice view of the course ahead of us along the Yongmeori coast.

To the left of the above photo, we saw a gigantic replica of a ship. In 1653, the Netherlands ship, De Sperwer, was lost in a storm and landed on this coast with Hendrick Hamel and his shipmates aboard. After staying 13 years in Korea, Hamel returned to the Netherlands to write the first description of Korea ever published in the West.

After passing by the ship, we accidentally went off route lured by this cute little lighthouse, the Wimi Hang East Breakwater, at what we think was the Sagye Port. At this point, we were 4.64km (2.8miles) into the route. Looking back to the Sangbang Mountain, it was getting dark so we decided to head back to the start.

We decided to return via the Yongmeori Coast (dragon's head) hiking around the tuff ring. It is the oldest volcanic crater on Jeju and was created by hydro volcanic activity upon the continental shelf long before the formation of Mt. Halla.

We completed our 5+ mile round-trip and headed to dinner just as it started to get darker and rain. What timing! Dinner was at Joeungshikdang (sp?) near our hotel in the Jungman Resort-area. With the long line of shell-fish items, Scottie opted to order us some Korean BBQ-style pork. It was definitely on the fattier side for me, but I survived another pork dish! For dessert, we stopped at 7-eleven to pick up some makgeolli, which put us right to sleep!

More pictures located here. A map of our trip located here.

Seoul - Day 5

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 04:28:00 +0000

This morning started off with an extended bus ride out to see the Seo-Oreung, five Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. Scottie and I took a walk around the park that included the following tombs: Gyeongneung, Changneung, Ingneung, Myeongneung, and Hongneung.

The first tomb we passed was Ingneung, the tomb of Queen Ingyeong, first queen of King Sukjong, 19th monarch of Joseon. She passed away at the age of 20. The next burial grounds we saw were Sunchangwon, where Crown Prince Sunhoe, the eldest song of King Myeongjong, the 13th monarch of Joseon, and his wife, Lady Yun, were buried. He passed away at the age of 12.

The next burial grounds we hiked to were Gyeongnueng, the tomb of Deokjong and Queen Sohye (posthumous titles), son and daughter-in-law of King Sejo, the 7th monarch of Joseon. The red-spiked gate signified we were entering sacred territory. The road leading to the shrine was called Worship Road with two lanes (one for spirits and one for the King).

We also passed Daebinmyo, the burial place of Lady Jang, concubine to King Sukjong, the 19th monarch of Joseon. When she bore the King a son first, he removed Queen Inhyeon and elevated Lady Jang to queen. But he regretted it, and later restored Queen Inhyeon, and poisoned Lady Jang. These stone figures represent military and civil officials.

The last tomb we saw crossed was Hongneung, the tomb of Queen Jeongseong, the queen of King Yeongjo, the 21st monarch of Joseon. The T-shaped shrine ahead is where ancestral rites are held and the tablet of the deceased is enshrined during the rituals.

We spent the rest of the afternoon with Scottie's Mother's family including her brother and wife, her younger sister, husband, and daughter, and her mother. We ate a family style meal at a place known for its tofu. Everything was vegetarian (well except for the dishes with clams!), so I was excited. We started with the traditional banchan, the various side dishes including kimchi (fermented cabbage), fried tofu, bean sprouts, spinach, etc. For the main course, we saw more tofu dishes, stews or jjigaes, and more rice like in the bamboo stick. I think we had sundubu jjigae and/or dwen-jang jjigae, which are soup-based dishes that include tofu, soybean paste, a variety of vegetables (e.g., mushrooms, zucchinis, onions, red/green chili peppers), and random shellfish (e.g., mussels, clams, and shrimp).

I refrained from taking pictures here but probably should have plus I had to keep up with all the makgeolli flowing! I did remember to follow the Korean tradition that Scottie's father taught me that you were supposed to receive drinks with both hands, specifically, the left hand supporting the right hand. For dessert, we headed to Scottie's Grandma's house in Susaek, where we munched on strawberries, pears, and duk (tasty rice cakes).

After lunch, Scottie's parents took us downtown to walk around Yeouido Park for the Cherry Blossom Festival.

We also passed the National Assembly, the lawmaking body of government., and walked along the Han-Gang Riverside Park near Yeouido to kill some time before we headed on an evening boat ride tour of the Han River (forcing us to drink some Maxwell House…yeeesh). Scottie and I are laughed at the fact that this tour included "entertainment" as if the buildings and city lights weren't enough. But what we found even funnier was the fact that everyone kept going to the beverage and food section to get a hold of a corn dog. Scottie and I managed to refrain but we partake in an OB. To cap the boat ride, we saw some fireworks over with the city lights in the background.

For dinner, we stopped at Sanbong Hwarogui in Jongno for some Korean BBQ, pork-style.

More pictures located here. A map of our trip located here.

Seoul - Day 4

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 11:16:00 +0000

Same routine as yesterday this morning except we headed directly to the Seoul via the train in Yangju to meet up with Scottie's friends from U of M, Sung Hun and Dae Sung at Starbucks. It's about time I tried some Korean Starbucks. It seemed a little weaker and more expensive.

After walking through Insa-dong again, we headed to lunch at Chaiyagi, some restaurant they knew about in the back alleys of Seoul. I would learn that most places are not found using addresses, road signs, etc. It's just word of mouth since these places are small and tucked away. Again, we indulged in some Korean BBQ that included both kalbi and pork. This restaurant is famous for rice cooked in a hollow bamboo stick. When we were done with the rice, they suggested that we fill the hollow bamboo stick with some hot dunggeulle tea to eat the remaining rice. It was their version of dessert!

I discovered today that Koreans do not linger at meal times. They are served quickly, eat quickly, and depart quickly. However, they do like to linger at coffee, tea, and other drinking establishments. So we left for a a traditional Korean teahouse, or chatjip, called Dawon, which I noticed is repeatedly recommended as one of the top Korean teahouses. While the outside was enticing, we sat inside on the floor (in what I presume is a heated floor in the winter) to enjoy our tea (I ordered maeshil cha, a sweet and tasty plum tea while Scottie ordered daechu cha, a jujube tea) served with a sweet ricecake-like cracker.

The last palace we would tour was Changdeok-gung ("Palace of Illustrious Virtue"), the best-preserved palace in the city, constructed in 1405 as a secondary palace to Gyeongbok-gung. It gave balance to the capital as Gyeongbok-gung was to the west and this one was to the east. A unique feature of this palace was that it was laid out in harmony with the area's natural topography. It originally served as the seat of the government and royal residence. It was later used by King Sunjong, Korea's last king, until he was removed from power by the Japanese; however, he continued to live her until his death. The last crown prince of Korea died here in 1970 and the last royal family member lived here until her death in 1989!

We waited around for the English-speaking tour guide for this palace, which was a treat for me. She was an interesting lady with a bit of an attitude to her, but it made the tour all the more fun. We peaked into the King's throne, the residences with some Western-style furniture, and the Seonjeong-jeon, "Hall of Disseminating Government", used by the king for everyday government affairs. Our tour guide pointed out that an unusual feature for this building was the blue tile roof. Only structures used by the king could have this feature.

Post-tour, Dae Sung departed, but Sung Hun stuck around with us waiting out an hour or so before the next tour of the Secret Garden, Biwon, a 78-acre woodland area within the palace grounds. Unfortunately, this tour was only in Korean, so I read the plaques and Scottie and Sung Hun filled me in on the rest of the details. This secluded area had multiple purposes: a place for composition of poems, a setting for contemplation, a venue for banquets, and an archery range. It was within these gardens that I learned that the Korean men often carried the purses for their girlfriends. You see this all over Seoul. Plus many of the men have their own man bags.

After the Secret Garden, we hopped in a taxi to the Namdaemun Market. It was an array of separate and interconnected buildings and alleys with retailers selling clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelry, luggage, bags, kitchenware, tourist gifts, and food. Apparently, the wholesalers drop off goods in the "wee" morning hours for the retailers to sell off to the general public during the day and evening.

From there, we walked over to Myeong-dong Market, which is where a lot of tourists and younger folks flock to at night. It is a concentrated area of narrow walkways surrounded by restaurants, clothing shops, coffee houses, and boutiques. It has more commercial offerings than the Namdaemun with less street vendor types and more established shops like Nike, Gap, North Face, etc.

We walked through a few streets before we stopped at Yoogane for a dinner of Dak Galbi, tangy chicken with scallions, cabbage, mushrooms, rice cakes, and potatoes stir-fried in flat pan in front of us. This dish contained a lot of the red pepper paste as our noses started to feel it and luckily they told us to put on aprons so the spices and smoke wouldn't get on our clothes.

We complimented the meal with a drink Sung Hun claimed was popular, beer and Sprite. It was about a quarter Sprite and three-quarters Hite beer. We couldn't believe that this would be anything close to tasty, but it actually was quite refreshing with the meal.

Once the meal was done, they came back out with an order of rice, some vegetables, and more red pepper paste to stir fry in the same pan as the left-over from the chicken. This creates bokkeumbap. Yummy!

After dinner, we strolled along Cheonggye Plaza/Stream, which contains a fountain, an artificial waterfall, and a miniature replica of Cheonggyecheon Stream, as well as a walking path. The area commemorates the Cheonggyecheon Stream Restoration Project, and also symbolizes gathering, harmony, peace, and unity.

Top Cloud Bar, located on top of the Jongro Tower Building. It is a tower with three "legs", and Top Cloud sits a top these three "legs", looking as if it is almost floating in the air. We saw some spectacular views of Seoul by night while sipping on a few beers and nibbling on some more fruit!

More pictures located here. A map of our trip located here.

Seoul - Day 3

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 03:50:00 +0000

While we awoke several times throughout the morning, we didn't actually get out of bed until sometime around 7:30am. After a cup of Starbucks (we brought our own bag!), a croissant, some scrambled eggs, fruit, and another shower, we started our day with a short walk to the end of the street where we picked up the bus at its first stop of the route. The sun was certainly trying to break through the somewhat overcast morning, the temperatures were on the cooler 50-60s side (South Korea is approximately the same latitude as Northern California), and the air seemed remarkably fresh and crisp to me (no sign of smog as one might have expected). Aboard the bus, I noticed immediately how mountainous South Korea actually is (approximately 70% mountainous, in fact).

We took the bus (as we typically did most mornings/evenings on route 79 or 82) for about a 20 minute ride through various local apartments until we ended up in Yangju. Scottie wanted to pick out some custom-made suits and shirts so we spent the morning there. This small shop (the shop really could only fit Scottie, his father, and myself) owner surely needed the business as he picked us up at the bus stop driving us to his shop. It seemed as if we were his only customers of the day, and maybe even the week.

After Scottie's purchases, we headed to the Yangju Train Station to catch the Seoul Metro Line 1 to downtown Seoul. We studied the map above often to try to figure out which lines we needed to take to get to places. Constructed started in 1974 along the Metropolitan Railway and today, there are 12 lines. Talk about efficiency! Aboard the train, I had my first true taste of what it's like to not only be among the minority, but to be around so many people. This was NYC gone crazy!

Our first real adventure of the day was to visit the smallest of the four ancient palaces in Seoul, Deoksu-gung ("Palace of Virtuous Longevity"), from the Joseon Dynasty, which lasted from 1392-1910 and established Seoul as the capital of Korea.

Originally constructed in the mid-1400s as the residence of the grandson of the King Sejo; however, when all the palaces in the capital were destroyed by fire during the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592, King Seonjo used these residential buildings as a temporary palace. In 1611, this palace became a secondary palace named Gyeongun-gung, but in 1897 King Gojung proclaimed the establishment of the Great Han Empire and this was the central palace of the empire. In efforts to modernize the country, he had some of the buildings built using Western styles. But in 1907, the Japanese forced him out, and King Sunjong renamed the palace Deoksu-gung.

And that's about all for the history lesson. We walked through the main gates passing Junghwa-jeon, the throne hall or "Hall of Central Harmony". Scottie's father explained that the military lined up on the left side and the civilians on the right side. The highest rank was the closest to the King, which sat in the throne. Only the King could walk down the middle where you see people breaking the rules!

We passed various other buildings peaking inside before heading off to coincidentally running into the reenactment of the Joseon Dynasty changing of the guards.

For lunch, we tried bibim naengmyeon: cold buckwheat noodles covered with meat strips, hard-boiled egg, vegetables, spices, and red-pepper paste. Hot as heck but tasty. I had to impress my father-in-law on the first day at least plus I cleared up the onset of my allergies. This is a favorite of Scottie's that doesn't taste good in the United States as well.

Next palace for the day was Gyeongbok-gung, "The Palace of Shining Happiness". General Yi Seong-gye ordered the construction of this Gyeongbok-gung in 1394 at the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty. It was the seat of government and the royal residence at the time with 500 buildings at one point. This palace along with Deoksu-gung were both burned at one point during the Japanese invasion in 1592

We passed through the main gate to the palace, Gwanghwamun, with Mt. Bukak in the background, to climb up the Geungjeong-jong, the throne hall for the King, or "Hall of Government Restraint", for a closer look. As we toured the other buildings, Scottie's father liked to point out the chimneys there were located offsite from the buildings while they heated the building from below. We passed Hyangwon-jeong, an island in the middle of a pond, and Gyeonghoe-ru, a two-story pavilion built on the island in the middle of a lotus pond, where banquets and festivals were held. This palace also included the National Folk Museum, which we breezed through.

Behind Gyeongbok-gung is Cheongwadae, the "Blue Tile Mansion" or the Blue House, the office of the President. While we wanted to tour it, you have to make reservations in advance apparently. Boo. Instead, we took a stroll through Samcheong Park, "Three Purities Park", on Bugak-san mountain. This is where I found the Korean gym, in the parks! I'm not sure that they have gyms like Americans but they can always go to a park and find equipment like this along their strolls.

After the park, we headed towards Gahoe Bukchon Hanok Village, an upper-class neighborhood that existed during the Joseon Dynasty. These traditional homes are made of stone with tile-roof structures.

Insa-dong, known for its traditional restaurants and teahouses, antique shops, upscale art galleries, craft shops, and of course, tourist shops. It is frequented by tourists and the wealthier population. Scottie's father kept waiting for me to go shopping!

For dinner, we met up with a friend of Scottie's father's and his son. The elders went off while us 3 headed to Mudeonbapsang (sp?) for the first traditional Korean BBQ dinner. We also enjoyed some mandoo (dumplings) and some sort of pancakes. To drink, we indulged in some makgeolli, a sweetish, milky-white fermented wine made from rice. It's a traditional drink that is making a comeback in South Korea. Post-dinner, we had drinks at Mon Lit (sp?). It was a fancy bar as they did not serve any Korean beer, only Guinness. That's the one time I'll boo Guinness.

More pictures located here. A map of our trip located here.

Seoul - Day 1 & 2

noreply@blogger.com (LPL) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 03:49:00 +0000

To prepare for our 2-week adventure in South Korea, Scottie and I made an unconventional trip to Wal-mart to buy some "gifts" for Scottie's folks: 7 cans American Spam, 4 cans Libby's Corned Beef, 4 containers of Orange Tang, 2 containers of Centrum multi-vitamins, and 1 tube of lotion. I just had to laugh as we pulled up our cart for check-out, but we certainly aimed to please!

On Tuesday evening (April 12), we put the finishing touches on the packing of our 2 traditional suitcases, our 2 big honker suitcases, our 2 backpacks, and 1 camera bag (for my big honker and wee cameras!). For our last meal, I cooked Mediterranean-style preparing lamb burgers in a pita with tomatoes, spinach, and a side of hummus. For drinks, we sipped on what I assume would be our last micro brew for 2 weeks, one of our favorites in the Spring, Bell's Oberon. I figured lamb and Bell's were pretty rare in South Korea. We managed to stay up as late as we could the last 3 nights in order to help ease my way into sleeping a little on our 14-hour flight and the 13-hour time difference from Detroit.

On Wednesday morning (April 13), we started off the morning with long showers and dined at Commonwealth Café, an independent coffeehouse by the same owners as Ronin in Royal Oak, in Birmingham for a quick egg sandwich and some strong, pour-over coffee. Read more about the atmosphere at this "unique" establishment in the freep.com review. It was actually my first time there and it worked out quite well since our refrigerator was looking a bit empty at the moment. I think the contents included beer, more beer, and various condiments. Not the most healthy breakfast!

At the Detroit Metro Airport, we parked in the long-term parking (Green Lot), which was new for us and cheaper. We checked our bags and made it to our gate with enough time for a round 2 of coffee from Starbucks (our last American Starbucks) and quick flip-thru of our left-over Wall Street Journals from the week.

Aboard our Delta B-777 direct flight to Seoul, Scottie and I were pleased to find our seats were almost exactly as planned using SeatGuru.com. Scottie found the Economy ones that included an outlet, were relatively close to the front of the plane, reclined, and near the bathroom (but not so near to smell and hear everything!). Initially, we were worried when we realized my seat (a middle) was not in the same aisle as his. Plus mine was close to the bathroom, did not recline, and with no outlet. Eventually, we figured that I could just sit in the seat we originally picked for me next to Scottie's aisle and we hoped that no one would come. Luck was in our favor. And we were off!

The plane was equipped with seat monitors that provided us with free movies, music, and games throughout the flight plus a flight moving map (that I enjoyed watching quite a bit!). Our flight was going to fly north across Canada and Alaska to the Pacific crossing over Japan and Russia before South Korea to land in Incheon in South Korea. We were lucky to have a direct flight to South Korea as opposed to the tradition flights that stopped in Japan. In addition to the monitors, we were pleased to find that beer (including Korean beer, Hite!) and wine were complimentary as well as a meal service (including a Korean meal choice of bulgogi, rice, cheese, bread, and fruit) to start and end (some sort of egg omelet with chicken sausage) the flight with snacks (peanuts, pretzels, and a sandwich, chocolate, and more bread) in-between. I can't to see what business class brings us next time! haha!

After watching The Social Network, reading half my book, watching Knight and Day, and reading another half of my book, we landed in Incheon! Passing through customs was a breeze and we met Scottie's Dad immediately after passing through immigration with our luggage in tow. Unfortunately, we just missed our bus ("airport limousine") out to where Scottie's folks lived, so we grabbed a cup of coffee and waited for only 20 minutes before the next ride out. The 1.5 hour bus ride was from Incheon to Uijeonbu where we picked up a taxi to the apartment complex where Scottie's parents lived outside of Yangju City, the GS Xii Apartments (or as pronounced by the bus drivers, the "Gi-e" apartments).

It was about 8pm local time before all was said and done, so we chatted a little over a home-cooked meal that included breaking out some Soju, clear potato liquor (like potent water!) to cheer our arrival. We unpacked and turned in early (for us!).

More pictures located here. A map of our trip located here.

Hunter House

noreply@blogger.com (LPL) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 05:17:00 +0000

I can't tell you how many times in the past 3+ years that Scottie and I have driven by the Hunter House Hamburger joint in downtown Birmingham, but we can finally say that we have now dined there. Established in 1952, Hunter's serves old-fashioned hamburgers with sauteed onions grilled with the burger itself.

While it does stick out like a sore thumb among restaurants like Zazio's, Phoenicia, Forté, Mitchell's Fish Market, Streetside, and Peabody's, Hunter's bring us all back down to reality or at least those of us under the age of 40. Scottie and I didn't quite entertain the full dining experience here as we only took out two double cheeseburgers and regular fries. The burgers come "topped with grilled onions, ketchup, mustard & dill pickles," but I opted to have mine without the mustard & dill pickles. And this is what they bagged up for us:

At first the burgers appeared a little soggy, but it was most likely due to the steam from within the bag because these burgers weren't exactly greasy as one might have thought. But we saw beyond the wetness of the burgers, digging into our tasty "his" and "hers" while watching the NCAA games. Beyond appearances, the juices from the burger mixed with the sauteed onions melting in our mouths. I wouldn't necessarily say these burgers are better than the ones we've had over at The Red Coat Tavern (which I realize that I must have forgot to review in this blog!), but I would say this is a must-try for anyone that has been living in Birmingham looking for a quick and satisfying bite to eat.

Detroit Restaurant Week: Da Edoardo Foxtown Grille

noreply@blogger.com (LPL) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 16:37:00 +0000

With Spring rapidly approaching (and yes, it really should already be here by now), the Detroit Restaurant Week reappears to offer Scottie and I some more affordable dining options in the city. This is the fourth time that the restaurant week deal (a 3-course dinner for $28) has been offered and Scottie and I have been around from the start back in the Fall 2009. We kicked off the inaugural Detroit Restaurant Week at Iridescence in the Motor City Casino, then we followed up last Spring with visits to one of our favorite Detroit spots, Opus One. In addition, we had a second outing last Spring to Andiamo Detroit Riverfront.

After previewing the menus on the DRW website, the leader of the pack (that we haven't tried before) ended up being the family-owned (3rd generation, which has a unique story behind them) and run Da Edoardo Foxtown Grille located in the historic Fox Theatre District. It is coincidental that they serve Northern Italian cuisine which I've grown to like quite a bit around here.

In typical fashion, Scottie and I rolled down to Detroit walking up to the restaurant in time for what we assumed would be the second turn around 8pm. And this is what makes our story complete because as we strolled by the windows of Foxtown Grille along Woodward Avenue, we both commented that it looked like quite a nice restaurant; however, starkly empty. When we walked in the front doors, stark certainly describes it. We were literally the only diners in the spot as the two other guests there seemed to pulling away from the bar as our table was sat. Our waitress reassured us though that we just missed the "big crowd" that was there before the concert at the Fox and that there were "several" more reservations coming in that evening (we noted three other couples that sat after us).

After hesitating on the wine vs. beer decision, when our waitress returned with their new beer list that included mostly your standard domestic and import beers, Scottie and I mutually agreed that we would venture into the wine list selecting something off our beaten path: Maestro Sanguineti Nessun Dorma Super Tuscan. And it was absolutely fantastic. It was a red wine on the sweet and fruity side, yet with right balance. To compliment the wine, we started with Caprese Salads and some warm bread.

While we waited for our main entree, I couldn't help but notice the impeccable view that this location presented (while impeccable might be an exaggeration) with Comerica in the background and the city lights aglow. For a few minutes, I could picture us being in a real (big) city. But reality set back in as our Chilean Sea Bass dinners arrived! While the fish was a little overly basted in olive oil, complimented with some mashed potatoes and green beans, it was certainly well worth the $28. We capped off the meal by choosing separate desserts as I chose the standard Italian dish, Tiramisù (which was layered with a little more mascarpone than I like) and Scottie opted for the Chocolate Decadence (a molten lava cake). The chocolate lave cake was hands down the best of the lot.

What another great experience at DRW and another great restaurant find in the city. We highly recommend it as a pre-theatre spot or just another night on the town. With the Detroit Restaurant Week lasting until the 10th, I'm sure Scottie and I will try to make a reappearance to one of the other 17 restaurants on their list.

Post-dinner, we dropped in at Bookies Bar & Grill for a nightcap.

2011 Bell's Oberon Ale Release Day

noreply@blogger.com (LPL) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:37:00 +0000

Today marks the official day of Spring in Michigan as Bell's Brewery in Kalamazoo releases its fermented wheat ale, Oberon. This is one of our favorite beers in Michigan and in the United States. We equate this beer with Spring/Summer, outdoor concerts/festivals, and sporting events like Detroit Tigers baseball. We even managed to spring for a few cases to have at our wedding.

This year, according to a video on MLive.com, Bell's will produce at least 200 barrels of Oberon filling 2500 cases of bottles. In addition, they will produce 300 barrels to fill 540 kegs to be distributed to a fourteen state region and the District of Columbia.

Cheers! And don't forget the orange.

The Stout Challenge IV

noreply@blogger.com (LPL) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 03:44:00 +0000

The one thing Scottie and I always looked forward to in Chicago during the winters was St. Patty's Day. It was our favorite holiday because people came out of their winter depression/hibernation and drank one of our favorite beers, the stouts. For one weekend, the city effortlessly lit up with parties, revelry, Irish car bombs, and pure happiness.

In an attempt to recreate the mood here in Birmingham, three years ago, Scottie and I started our very first official "Stout Challenge". It was born out of sheer curiosity during our trip to Ireland, and Scottie actually recounts the first challenge in his very first and only guest post (I should have him help me back post!). To summarize, the challenge is a blind taste of Guinness, Murphy's and Beamish. We each poured 1 can of each beer (see Scottie's commentary on the can size in his post) into a pint glass for the other person. After tasting each one, we had to guess which was which.

The first year, Scottie scored a 3 out of 3, while I mixed up the Murphy's and Beamish. The second year, we reenacted the challenge, and sadly even with practice, we both retreated. I mixed them all up, and Scottie went 1 for 3 mixing up the Guinness and Murphy's. In 2010, I think we hit rock bottom. We spent St. Patty's Day in Providence with Coach and AG, whom of all our friends could really appreciate this event; however, on the scheduled night of the challenge (thank to Coach and AG for hosting our Challenge III), I fell ill, but that didn't stop Scottie, Coach, AG, and Coach's parents from hitting for the cycle (or "challenge"). I can't remember too many of the particulars because my head was fuzzy so I'm hoping one of them can fill in the gaps. I remember it was a rough challenge with very few correct guesses and maybe even AG scoring the best of the team? Or maybe that was me dreaming?

For Stout Challenge IV, Scottie and I upped our game. While I was out traveling all week, Scottie took on the "challenge" of hunting for the ceremonial 4-pack cans of Guinness, Murphy's and Beamish; however, this year, he was thrown for a loop when Beamish was nowhere to be found in the Metro area. Apparently, Heineken decided to stop distribution of Beamish outside Ireland to re-focus on the local market. Of course, that disrupted our challenge quite a bit, and Scottie settled for a pitch hitter in the Young's Double Chocolate Stout. While this is another one of our favorite stouts and we could hardly complain about having it join our challenge, we almost didn't even need to taste this stout to pick it out from the crowd. Oh well, what can you do.

In addition to the new beer, we also classed up the challenge with our Guinness serving tray, a glass of water (to rinse! afterall, we were serious about this challenge), and a piece of Hershey's chocolate (a kiss) to compliment the Young's, of course.

I am thrilled to report after just one sip (and rinse) of each beer, both Scottie and I aced the challenge (and brought honor back to our challenge). We could easily pinpoint the Young's with its heavenly chocolate scent and over time (and with much practice) the Guinness has become much easier to pick out with its smooth taste and quick finish. I found that in comparison to the Guinness, Murphy's has a much more robust flavor and thickness to it with a very distinct aftertaste. It was really a shame that the Beamish couldn't compete this year because I think that's the one beer that throws off the other two stouts. Nevertheless, a tasty challenge IV.

One thing I failed to mention in the other challenge posts is that once we finish the "challenge", we dust off the remaining beer poured from the 3 stouts. Let's just say that the night ended with us slowly passing out on the couch. Oh yea, and my phone might have taken a bath in the Guinness as well. Oops.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Snowpocalypse 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Lifeinbirmingham Michigan) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 23:13:00 +0000

With forecasts for extreme blizzard conditions and about a foot of snow along with an icy mix, employers across the Metro Detroit area closed offices early in anticipation of some rough driving conditions. Luckily, Volkswagen was one of those companies so I had my first official snow day in over 10 years it seems! I couldn't have been more excited to get home, kick up my feet, and watch the snow pile up.

However, when I awoke to only about 8 inches of snow outside, I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. Apparently, we missed out on the madness that hit Chicago and St. Louis, but I still had a little fun playing outside...for like a minute.

Where did 2010 Go?

noreply@blogger.com (LPL) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:33:00 +0000

Welcome back to Life in Birmingham, Michigan 2011-style. 9 months since my last post and I think several of my dedicated readers (2) have given up on me, but I'm still rolling strong in Birmingham and many places beyond the boundaries of I-94, I-75, and I-275. In fact, Scottie and I have torn up Michigan, Chicago, St. Louis, New Jersey, Boston, Providence, San Francisco/Portland, and Dallas since I've last posted so I have a large task of doing the undo-able: back-blogging or back-posting or something like that.

I'm fine with that though because this was always meant to be a fun place for me to capture all of our crazy travel adventures within and beyond Michigan as well as our daily encounters with the suburban lifestyle in Metro Detroit. It has become handy when making recommendations to others!

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that yes, I'm still open and there will be a flurry of posts coming soon. My goal is to be back to real-time blogging after this April when Scottie takes me on an adventure outside of the United States. Stay tuned for more on that...

As always, thanks for reading, if there is anyone else out there besides Scottie, my Mom, my sister, and Rob who gave me a friendly reminder just a few weeks ago about my lack of posting. Good times. Let's hope 2011 keeps me just as busy as 2010 did!