8/5/2022
After Torch Lake, we wanted to go to the Old Mission Peninsula. It's a half-hour drive.
The goal was to reach Mission Point Lighthouse at the very end of the peninsula. It is located in Old Mission State Park. The lighthouse was built in 1870 and operated for 67 years. It is famous for standing a few hundred meters south of the point we just visited, halfway between the North Pole and the equator. The lighthouse is located right on the waterfront, making it one of the best in our opinion that we saw during our trip.
It is in a beautiful setting. There is also a beach next door.
You can also climb the tower here, and there is a small museum in the building! Admission was $10 for both of us.
The lucky ones may see a snowy owl in winter!
More importantly, and we've seen the most evidence of this on this peninsula, Michigan is a famous wine region. There are almost 15K acres (6,000 hectares) of vineyards in the state.
The winemakers of the Old Mission peninsula say it is precisely on the 45th parallel, like the wine regions of France (Alsace, Burgundy, or Bordeaux).
Local winemakers are currently only selling their wines locally, but they hope that will change. The locals love it anyway. It attracts residents of large cities who seek tranquility.
You remember, at the very beginning, we talked about Gergő and Dagny, who helped us put the program together. It turned out that the winery where Gergő worked is right here on this peninsula. This is the Chateau Grand Traverse. Gergő also recommended this place to stay, which we looked at. Still, unfortunately, there was no room available when we were looking for accommodation. So we also looked at it from the outside. Anyway, the winery is in a lovely place.
We asked about Bernd, who was Gergő's supervisor at the time. We waited. When he came out, we explained that we wanted to convey Gergő's greetings and that we came up with Dagny's suggestion. It turned out that Dagny is her daughter, and Bernd was the winemaker himself…
From there, we went to a place that Bernd recommended for dinner. This is The Filling Station, a brewery next to the railroad.
We had to wait a long time, 35-40 minutes. (This restaurant is close to the hotel.) While we waited, we took a walk by the lake, so the time passed relatively quickly.
After that, we got a table, and we just had to wait a long time for the food again. We ordered a pizza and waited almost an hour.
After dinner, we just drove home because we still had to pack our bags.
We did that quickly and went to bed relatively early because we had to get up early the next day. After breakfast, we set off.
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