'Zat You?: A Portrait Amongst the Apples by Anna Morales
My restlessness often gets the best of me in the fall. The
leaves are changing, the air’s getting colder, something on the wind is gently
whispering, “Get the hell out of here or forever hold your peace (at least
until six months from now when you finally thaw out of the ground again).”
So Anna and I took a few days off and headed up to the peak
of the Wisconsin
mitten. If you need a demonstration of said mitten, ask a Wisconsinite
where they live, they will hold up their hand like a mitten. Green Bay is in the
crook of the thumb and Minneapolis is just off the third knuckle of the pinkie.
Up just past the ring finger are the Apostle Islands, a group of 22 picturesque
islands, dotted with sea caves, jutting into the largest freshwater lake in the
world, Lake Superior.
We took off after work on Friday, stopping at the Farm in
Hayward (I’m an honorary ‘Sconnie since I married into about 40 acres just
outside of the Muskie capital of Wisconsin and therefore, arguably, the world)
to drop off our dog, Joon, with Anna’s parents. After a short trip up 63 and a
quick jump on 2 we reached one of my favorite of Wisconsin’s scenic byways,
beginning at Ashland’s Lakeshore Drive and becoming Highway 13.
Highway 13 runs up to Bayfield and around the tip of
Superior’s south shore and is chock full of scenic overlooks, campsites, state
parks and farms selling everything from homemade goat cheese to apple cider
doughnuts. Here are a few of my favorite things (in no particular order) that
we came across this time on our trip up Highway 13:
1. Bayfield Harbor – One of the most
popular mooring points for boats on the South Shore, Bayfield harbor faces east
toward Madeline Island and is a great place to hang out, catch some brilliant
colors of the sunset and see some truly gorgeous, vintage sailboats.
2. Whitefish Livers and Brandy Old
Fashioneds at Maggie’s – Whitefish
livers, breaded and fried. Yeah I said it. They’re delicious. I also gained new
appreciation for the timeless Wisconsin cocktail, the brandy Old Fashioned,
sweet. A friend of mine commented that her mother once ordered a brandy Old
Fashioned, sweet at a bar in Seattle and the waiter returned and asked her what
part of Wisconsin she was from. Classic!
3. Meyers Beach and Sea Caves – This
was a new one for us. We decided to head over to Meyers Beach, almost on the
other side of the point of the mitten, near Cornucopia, Wisconsin. Anticipating
a fairly short hike, Anna and I soon found ourselves on a moderately strenuous
one that was quite worth the walk once we reached some of the most incredible
sea caves we’d ever seen. A hidden gem, for sure.
4. Lunch on the Terrace of Blue Vista Farm – Blue Vista is known
for their Wisconsin Heritage Site stone farmhouse that has been lovingly
restored over the past few decades, their garden of plants that promote healthy
apiculture and their delicious blueberries, raspberries, apples and other
manner of incredible, homegrown organic fruits. We spent about an hour hanging
out on the terrace outside of the farmhouse and having some incredible
blueberry preserves and blueberry apple cider from their farm.
5. Raspberry Peach Pie from Egg Toss – Fruit pies are a big thing
in our family. My wife is, in fact, in the process of making an apple pie as I
write this. So when Anna waxes rhapsodic about the raspberry-peach pie from Egg
Toss, you know it’s good.
6. Apple Picking and Apple Cider
Doughnuts from Erickson
Orchards – It’s apple season on the South Shore. Next week thousands of
people will flock to Bayfield to pick apples, drink cider, eat pie and
participate in all of the nonsense that happens when thousands of people
descend on a town of 600 (getting drunk on Miller Lite, eating funnel cakes
from food trucks, etc.) Anna and I beat the rush and hit up Erickson Orchards
for a couple bags full of fresh-picked apples and some of their famous apple
cider doughnuts. We decided to just buy one doughnut and ended up buying six.
They are amazing.
7. The Madeline Island Ferry and Rock
Hopping in Big Bay State Park – The last time we were up on the South Shore,
Anna and I spent most of our time on Madeline Island, the largest of the
Apostle Islands and the only one with paved roads. The Madeline Island Ferry
Line (or MIFL if you want to go there, which I do) will take you, your car and
apparently most other things across on a bumpy 20-minute ride across the bay to
La Pointe, a town of a couple hundred permanent residents on Madeline Island.
It’s a fun way to get out on the open water and also get yourself, your car and
all of your camping gear over to Big Bay State Park. Once in Big Bay you can
either go up the Point Trail which is on the windward side of the island and
has some really incredible sea caves and promontories or take the Bay View
trail down the leeward side of the island and come across some beautiful stone
and sand beaches.
8. Chequamegon Books in Washburn – I’m
a big fan of used bookstores. Myopic
in Chicago, Magers & Quinn in
Minneapolis, the Red Wheelbarrow in
Paris (RIP). So it was surprising to find such a great used bookstore in the
small town of Washburn, Wisconsin. To me, a great used bookstore should be
stacked high with all manner of hardcover and paperback that lets you get lost
among the shelves. Situated in an old brownstone building on the main street of
Washburn, Chequamegon Books has just the right feel of book-lined austerity,
complete with two of those sliding ladders, and also of a place where used
books are both bought and sold (we stopped at another bookstore in Bayfield
where they were selling used paperbacks for $22, give me a break!). I always
come out of Chequamegon Books with my arms full of books I never knew existed.
9. Houghton Falls – I’m reluctant to
talk about Houghton Falls because I want to keep it for myself. It’s a little
over a half mile toward the coast from Highway 13, but this little nature walk
ends in one of the most incredible scenes I’ve ever laid eyes on. It’s hard to
explain, but if you go off the beaten path a little ways you will come across
scenery that looks as though it is straight out of a fantasy novel.
10. Sandwiches at Coco – We always try to stop at Coco on
our way back from the South Shore. They make great baked goods, brew great
coffee and have a dedication to doing things the right way. We picked up some
sandwiches on the way home and ate them at the campsite just north of Washburn.
Anna got a trout reuben (yes, trout)
and I got a smoked turkey and pickled apple sandwich. They were both
incredible. Also, remember that guy who
floated with his dog in Superior because the dog had arthritis? Well we saw
that guy in Coco. Bonus.
*If you want to read more about the Brandy Old Fashioned,
Jeffrey Morganthaler has a great
article on the merits of the Wisconsin classic.
|
Posts
