Michigan and Canada

We made it through Michigan and into Canada.
Sunday night we hit Mackinaw City, and Monday took the ferry to Mackinac Island. It really does smell like horse manure and fudge all over this island.
We managed to find a geocache after much walking, and we were kicking ourselves for not renting bikes.
We then hit the Pink Pony for lunch, recommended by some friends. I had the BBQ pork sandwich, with a mustard-based sauce, accompanied by the cucumber salad. The pork was good but the salad was a little watery. I also had a creme brulee martini to wash things down with.
While waiting for our food, which took a while, we found out that a regatta race was headed to the island, which would pack the place, so we grabbed a slice of fudge from Ryba's and hit the ferry.
On the ride back, we got a better view of the Round Island lighthouse. What a pretty day!

Monday night we spent in Port Huron. Our hotel recommended the Quay Street Brewing Company, so we headed down there. We were seated on the deck, and enjoyed dinner there. I ordered the spinach pie, wrapped in phyllo dough. It was wonderful, filled with feta and ricotta cheese. StfRon ordered the fish and chips, two huge planks of fish. He could only eat part of one.
Nearby, we noticed a place called the Vintage Tavern. We went inside, and found a new bar, with an emphasis on wine. They feature flights of wine, small glasses of four wines set in a nice tiered rack for $7. The wine features change from time-to-time. I tried the red wine flight. All the wines were excellent. The food menu here also looked very interesting, but the kitchen was closed, and we had also just eaten.
We spoke to a guy seated at the bar who worked at the Coney Island in Port Huron. He said they have a great breakfast, so we checked it out Tuesday morning. StfRon liked the idea of hot dogs for breakfast. He had the coney dogs. I tried a bite, and it was very good, with a nice snap to the skin of the dog. I had a combo breakfast with eggs, sausage, ham, bacon, toast and potatoes. The prices were great and while we were there, the place really started bustling. The one waitress and cook were doing a bang up job.

After that, it was off to Ontario. A quick pass through at the border, and we were off.
We found a geocache near a park & ride parking lot to dump off the Canadian Jeep travel bug.
Lunch was crappy, Harvey's burgers. I'll have to check into them. Their slogan is It's a Beautiful Thing, which suspiciously reminded me of Blimpie. I did not like the meat in this burger at all.
Once we hit Niagara Falls in Ontario, StfRon was hooked. The falls were beautiful. And the tourist area abounds with haunted houses and wax museums and arcades and more (oh, my!). So, we decided to spend the night. We booked a room and noticed a cool looking German restaurant across from our hotel, the Happy Wanderer. We headed there for dinner. Our service was rather slow, and we were disappointed to see that they did not have a bar, though they did have alcohol. Our food was plentiful, good and hot.
After that, we went looking for someplace to have a drink near the hotel. This brought us into the casino attached to the Renaissance/Hilton. We walked through the casino, and StfRon said he had never been in a casino before. I said, "What about the Par-a-Dice" and he said that didn't count.
This casino was crystal clear — no smoking here. You can see from wall to wall with no haze blocking your view. I also noticed a hint of vanilla in the air, which I had heard will make you want to spend more money. We weren't interested in gambling, though. We headed to the 365 lounge in the back, and had a drink there.
The next morning, we went in search of breakfast. Our hotel had a restaurant that was advertising a $7.99 buffet, so we headed there. There was a line out the door.
Outside, we saw a restaurant with a banner for a $6.99 buffet. The buffet was outdoors and seagulls were flying around. The steam tables were covered, but StfRon balked at the idea that a seagull could crap on the food.
Across the street, we saw a Perkins advertising $5.99 breakfasts. We headed there, and sat outdoors. We found no sign of the $5.99 breakfasts, and ended up not even asking about it. The cheapest breakfast on the menu was close to $8. We ended up having eggs benedict and French toast with two tiny orange juices that cost us $35 before tip! WTF?? For that price, there'd better be some champagne in the OJ.
That pretty much cashed out Canada. New York, here we come!