Day 6 started with a very familiar sight, a few scattered paddle boarders getting in some early work on the sound.
Since we haven't really sampled much of the seafood (we've been too busy running up & down the islands playing in the waves, we haven't hit a restaurant yet), we decided we would pick someplace for a somewhat late lunch, then pack up and head to the waves again.
During our search, we stumbled on this place.
As you can see, it came highly recommended, but from the name alone we were immediately skeptical. All I could envision were lightly perched flat bills, bro-tanks, lots of white sunglasses and inane conversation. Essentially a restaurant full of Lochtes.
What we ended up getting was this.
The food was great, the place was clean, servers friendly, overall a great experience. Although they lost some of their hyper-targeted demographic when 4 uber-bros walked in, didn't immediately see that they sold beer, and walked out complaining that they didn't have beer (they did, I had just finished a spectacular People's Porter with my meal).
I felt guilty enough about my pre-judging (it's what I do) to buy a T-shirt and promote Bros in my everyday life. No hipster irony here, just a damn good seafood restaurant run by some Bros, bruh. Oh, and yes there was an intersection of hipster and bro culture - in their to go special.
Next up on the agenda - load up the boogie boards, head to the pool first, then ocean bound. First, we needed to make sure we had the proper amount of koozies to keep our beverages cold. As soon as Kim asked if I had one, I knew the one.
The next time you are in Grayling, MI you should see for yourself. Not just because of the phenomenal burger, but for their penchant for making sure every menu item passes through the deep fryer before reaching your plate. As for the atmosphere - the locals provide that, you will not be disappointed.
Ok, I'll fast forward through a bunch more pics of us, the Jeep, and the beach to save you the trouble. Although this time we decided since it was just down the road, we could run sans doors. Normally if Jordan is in the Jeep the doors stay on, but in this case we made an exception.
This time the winds were down, as were the waves. We still had some decent ones for boogie boarding, but after a few hours Jordan decided to have a shell hunting competition. I am always in for any form of competition, and I was feeling quite good about my chances to dominate the family, especially since the shells I was pulling out of the waves were 2-3 times bigger than anything Jordan was finding (yeah, I know she's 8. No concessions for age here, this is all about teaching her how to lose with class).
Yeah, then she dropped this on me.
My big shell is the one on the bottom. She let me run my mouth about how she tried hard, and it's not her fault that I'm just better at almost everything than anyone else, blah blah blah and then she smirked and held this thing up. So much for the WWE false bravado, she knew she had me beat and still let me talk. Once again, I am screwed.
Next up, let's examine the family's different skin tones based on the same amount of sun the past few days.
Kimberly:
Me:
Jordan:
As you can see from this pic,
not only does the salt water destroy your eyes (note - that may be why I look like Bob Costas in Sochi), it also causes Jordan to wipe away all semblance of sunscreen from her eyes every time she goes underwater, which is approximately eleventy billion times a day. If shes not careful, she may just find herself starring in Sharknado 11.
Having the doors off did have its perks, as there are few vehicles you can drive that make it feel like you are in a giant Power Wheels more than a Jeep.
On our way back to the campground, we stopped at a local mom & pop shop that we had stumbled upon the night before. They had a crazy selection of gourmet snacks, cheeses, etc - and then I found the beer aisle. I have never seen this before anywhere, and it is not for a lack of effort.
I am an avowed Belgian beer fan, and Kimberly and I used to have a local hangout by her apartment that we loved, and Delirium Tremens was second only to La Fin Du Monde as my favorite beer there. To find this in 4pks of cans was insane.
Finally, after a long day we pulled into the campground only to find the Flanders nearly fully packed up for their exit in the morning, essentially the same time we were leaving except of course they were ready a full 12 hours earlier than necessary.
What we did have during our next hour or so of packing was scenes like this:
Tomorrow - a full travel day, at least 12hrs to get close to Cuyahoga Valley and a potential surprise for Jordan, we will see if we can keep it a secret. More to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment