Category Archives: travel

Straits of Mackinac

November 19, 2014 emmapalova 2 Comments

Tale of three cities on the Straits of Mackinac

By Emma Palova

EW Emma’s Writings

Mackinaw City, MI -This is a story about three communities located on the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan. The Straits are a narrow waterway that separates Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas.

But the Straits connect two of the Great Lakes, and that is Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

The Mackinac Bridge swings over the Straits.

The USA’s longest suspension bridge the “Mighty Mac” spans the five miles over the Straits. The steel construction swings in the wind. It connects the communities of Mackinaw City on the south side and Saint Ignace on the north side.

The area is magnificent as it combines human skill with nature’s beauty. It is rich in history and folklore. It is the most visited tourist location, and a nature lover’s paradise.

There are forts on both the Mackinac Island and the Mackinaw City, and an abundance of romantic lighthouses.

Local specialties include pasties, smoked whitefish and fudge.

Mackinaw City downtown fudge and souvenir shops.

One day is not enough for the entire area. So, you have to make a decision about your base camp. Saint Ignace is cheaper, but you pay the $4 fee to cross the bridge.

The most expensive is the Mackinac Island, some seven miles from the peninsulas. Three ferries will whisk you to the island in season for $18. My preferred time to go is off-season, because of the availability and the price of hotels. And the crowds are smaller.

Off season is somewhere around mid October until April. The colors are still beautiful in October, and the weather is nice around 60s Fahrenheit.

For a story on the Mackinac Island in winter go to the travel page on EW Emma’s Writings.

The stay in the new Bridge Vista Beach hotel in Mackinaw City at the beginning of November cost $69. The hotel has magnificent vistas of the bridge, the Straits and the island.

However, many establishments do close for the winter. So, check ahead of time who is open.

A great restaurant open year round other than the mainstay Keyhole Bar in Mackinaw City is the Pancake Chef. The local specialty the northern pasty beef or chicken is tasty and hearty. They also have local brews.

Many souvenir and fudge shops stay open. Marshall’s Fudge offered some 60 flavors.

To be continued….

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travel, wines

Toast the Season

November 14, 2014 emmapalova 2 Comments

Leelanau wineries toast the season

By Sarah Harmon

EW Emma’s Writings

EW writer Sarah Harmon in Paris

Leelanau Peninsula, MI-Between family gatherings, shopping, holiday baking, this time of year can get extremely hectic. However, the first two weekends of November, the wineries of the Leelanau Peninsula have the perfect antidote for all that holiday stress. Toast the Season features tastings and pairings at 25 wineries throughout the area and showcases the incredible diversity among reds, whites, rose, and cherry wine, not to mention hard cider, all made in the same region. At $50 per person or $75 per couple, you can hardly afford not to embrace your inner sommelier. Tickets also include a bag with a Toast the Season glass to be used for sampling wines, a Christmas ornament, and other goodies.

Even on a dreary, wintery day, it’s impossible not to be charmed by the panoramic views of the hills, lakes, and fields of grapevines in picturesque Northern Michigan, though when it comes to aesthetic appeal, Aurora Cellars was one of the most unique.

The exterior beckons you to imagine that you are no longer outside Traverse City, but rather have been transported to a centuries old Tuscan villa. In addition to delicious wines, Aurora rents its facilities for weddings and other events. Of the dozen wineries I experienced over the weekend, one of the best whites had to be Blustone Vineyards two time gold medal winning Reisling. While most vineyards are known only for red or white, Blustone has both award winning Reisling and Pinot Noir. For lovers of rose, 45 North, named for the line of latitude on which it sits, has a delightful Rose of Cabernet Franc that is sweet and fruity while still maintaining an elegant sophistication.

As for reds and cherry wine, my personal favorite was Black Star Farms. Their Artisan Red has the richness of a red with the sweetness of a white so that lovers of both colors of wine can be satisfied. The Vinter’s Select is also excellent if you prefer something a bit more dry, and a cup of their hot mulled cherry wine is perfect on a chilly day. Black Star also doubles as a charming inn. For the eco-conscious wine lover, Good Neighbor features organic wines and ciders. Possibly their most unique offering were the coffee and chai flavored hard ciders. Sparkling wine lovers can’t go wrong with L Mawby/M Lawrence. Their tasting room has a fun, almost rock and roll feel to it that matches well with the creative names and luscious tastes available there.

Since not everyone is a wine connoisseur, many of the wineries offer a range of hard cider options as well. Verterra Winery’s apple pie flavored cider is just the thing for the adults’ table at Thanksgiving dinner. The notes of cinnamon and sugar are the perfect complement to turkey and stuffing. If you prefer something a bit more dry, Tandem Ciders is the place to be. Their ciders are vaguely reminiscent of what one could find in Normandy, France as opposed to the light sweetness of many of the other hard ciders available in the area. While you can get bottles of Tandem Cider in stores around Michigan, It is most definitely worth stopping in for a visit. In addition to the regularly available ciders, you can buy a custom blend of any or all of the options on tap.

Wine and cider loving Michiganders, forget flying out to the Napa Valley for tastings; you need go no further than your own backyard to Toast the Season at the spectacular Leelanau Peninsula.

history, travel

Historic Bowens Mills

November 11, 2014 emmapalova 1 Comment

Bowens Mills presents Civil War weekend

By Sarah Harmon

EW Emma’s Writings

EW writer Sarah Harmon in Paris

One hundred fifty years ago, life was much simpler. There was no television, no Internet, and the only kind of Apple you could buy in stores grew on a tree.

Visitors to Historic Bowens Mills on the last weekend of October are able to feel as if they’ve been transported back in time to experience what life was like during the Civil War era.

Children can sit in the antique desks in the oldest one room school in Barry County to be taught about American history by eighty-four year old Virginia Alles, dressed as Abraham Lincoln. Alles enjoys giving pennies to young visitors, telling them it’s a picture of her.

One of the highlights of the weekend for her this year was meeting a couple of descendants of actual Confederate soldiers. Next to the school-house, Dave Rowgo makes hairpins and honey dippers on a wood lathe fashioned from a 1920’s toy woodworking set and the treadle of an old Singer sewing machine.

Ladies spin wool into yarn and weave cloth outside the tiny Plank House where families lived as long ago as the 1840’s. Elizabeth Barker shows chemistry in action by making soaps in a variety of scents in the Bowens House, and music lovers can’t resist a stop to hear the live bluegrass in the Trading Post.

Abraham Lincoln impersonator at Bowens Mills

If you play an instrument, you can even join in! A couple of the best demonstrations in the village are the mills themselves. Fresh, sweet apple cider has been made on the press here since soldiers were going off to fight the real Johnny Reb instead of just reenactors. The delicious results of the press can be bought by the glass or by the gallon. A cup of their hot cider with a homemade doughnut is the perfect thing for a cool fall day.

As delightful as all the other diversions are, the highlight of the weekend is by far the battle. The Third Michigan Federal troops go up against Confederate forces from Virginia and North Carolina across the field, taking shelter behind trees and fences. They try to change the battle slightly each year for repeat visitors; the North may win one day while the South come out victors the next.

For true history buffs, the fact the Third Michigan uses a cannon whose barrel and fittings were made in 1861 and was actually used throughout the Civil War is especially exciting. From the homespun crafts to live combat, Bowens Mills’ Civil War Weekend can’t be beat for an old-fashioned good time.

celebration, ethnic, food, travel

In the spirit of Octoberfest

October 18, 2014 emmapalova Leave a comment

International union in the spirit of Octoberfest

By Emma Palova

Hastings, MI- In the spirit of the original Octoberfest that honored the marriage of crown prince Ludwig and princess of Saxony on Oct. 12, 1810, we invite all along to celebrate our upcoming international union.

Jakub Pala, born in former Czechoslovakia, will be marrying Maranda Ruegsegger of Saranac on Oct. 25th in the pioneer Saint Patrick Church in Parnell.

The guests, like birds, started to fly in to Gerald Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids as of yesterday. The first batch came from Dijon, France.

The second batch is arriving tonight from Czech Republic. The house will be full to the rafters with kids tweeting like the birdies on the patio.

To honor the international bond between the countries as well as between the couple, we are putting on a “Welcome dinner” celebration this Sunday. This is preceded by the baptism of Samuel Chavent, also at the Saint Patrick Church.

The dinner, catered by AdelineLeigh, reflects our love for our new homeland. We also wanted to introduce our Czech guests to American cuisine. So, barbeque is the theme: bbq chicken, bbq pork, au gratin potatoes, seven layer salad and baked beans. And of course a keg of Samuel Adams Boston lager.

Much like in Germany, home to Octoberfest, and Austria, no Czech celebration would be complete without beer. Most beers in these countries are high-quality and long-aged lagers made from Western Bohemian hops in small to mid-size breweries.

Czech immigrants carried this tradition with them to other countries.

“Beer is the Czech liquid gold,” according to an old saying.

However, communication between the Czech, American and French guests may be a challenge. So, many of us will serve as interpreters between the three different languages.

Pala, fully bilingual, hopes that his daughter Josephine Marie Palova will speak Czech as well.

“He speaks and reads to her in Czech,” said Maranda.

Pala is very proud of his Czech heritage. He came to the USA when he was 2.5 years old. During our stint in Montreal, Canada in the 1990s all of us were trilingual.

“You’re as many persons as the languages you speak,” according to an old Czech saying.

To be continued

history, travel

Grand Rogue Encampment

September 20, 2014 emmapalova Leave a comment

American history comes alive in the Grand Rogue Encampment

By Sarah Harmon

EW Emma’s Writings

EW writer Sarah Harmon in Paris

Anyone who says time travel is impossible has clearly never been to a living history event. This weekend was the 28th annual Grand Rogue Encampment in Belmont, MI where you could see American history come to life from 1755 through modern times. The focus was primarily military, although there were plenty of civilian re-enactors as well.

Each morning began with the unmistakable drone of bagpipes, followed by the deafening explosion of a British six pounder cannon fired by gentlemen dressed as Revolutionary War soldiers. After the smoke cleared and you regained your hearing, you could chat with one of Roger’s Rangers, a group that worked as scouts through the wilderness during the French and Indian War. They’re happy to explain exactly how our own George Washington’s mistake caused that war to ignite on this side of the Atlantic.

In between watching demonstrations of how rifles were loaded and fired during the Civil War, a stop at the French Voyageur’s tent was a must. While there, you could try on a real beaver fur top hat that cost a man six months’ wages in the 1800s. Next to the hat, you could find actual pipes used by Michigan fur traders 200 years ago. Similar artifacts were in a recent exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, although here, you are allowed to touch them instead of seeing them through glass.

If you’re a parent or a teacher, you’ve probably heard kids whining that history is boring and they don’t see why they need to learn about things that happened so long ago. Admittedly, in a text book, World War II is hardly exciting. However, a teen boy is certainly not going to tell you he doesn’t want to learn about the Allied forces when he’s able to sit in the driver’s seat of a WWII armored transport vehicle. For those who are less enthralled by watching old styles of rifles shot, they could watch the blacksmith heating coals with an enormous set of bellows and forming metal into functional works of art. The kids were also welcome to try their hands at a traditional Native American game or to help power the hand cranked wood lathe. Little girls loved watching brightly dyed wool spun into yarn on an old-fashioned spinning wheel and dancing to live Colonial era music.

No matter your age, if you were at the Grand Rogue Encampment last weekend, you learned a lot and had fun doing it. If you missed it this year, it is an annual event, so make sure to mark your calendars for next September!

travel

Final goodbye to Czech Republic

September 4, 2014 emmapalova Leave a comment

Dad heads home to bid farewell to family

United Airlines flight 974 with my dad Vaclav Konecny on board just landed in Geneva four and a half hours late due to maintenance on one of the Pratt & Whitney motors.

My dad is 80 and he flew home to Czech Republic to say final goodbye to the family. Dad has only one living sibling left, aunt Marta.

He is the founder of our immigration saga that started with the Soviet invasion in 1968. And it continues to evolve to this day with third generation.

That is basically what my memoir Greenwich Meridian is about.

To be continued

Note: This is my 150th post on EW Emma’s Writings on WordPress. The 15th new follower of EW will get a $25 gift certificate to Steak & Shake.

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food, travel

Coming soon

August 25, 2014 emmapalova 3 Comments

Stay tuned for the following stories:

Sarah Harmon: Supermom hosts exchange students on http://placeathome.wordpress.com

Emma Palova

Interview with the bride at http://ebridesandfashion.wordpress.com

canning, ethnic, food, travel, Uncategorized

Storefront preview

August 9, 2014 emmapalova 1 Comment

Hi to all,

I will soon be opening a brand new virtual storefront on all Emma Blogs. I will feature Czech-inspired products such as the Palinka (r) line of canned products.

The products such as the sweet and sour dill pickles are all home-made from an old family pickling recipe. The secret recipe has been handed down from generation to generation.

My mother Ella Konecny pictured in the featured photo started canning in the USA during her second immigration in the late 1970s. She didn’t like the sour taste of American pickles or the color.

She would stand up and imitate our grandpa Joseph making a grimace from the sour taste.

“See they twist your mouth,” she said. “We have to start making our own.”

Ella most likely learned how to can from her own mother Anna.

Mom and dad still grow their own cucumbers for pickling. But the weather hasn’t been great for pickles. Ella is also the woman behind the brand name “Palinka.”

My husband Ludek and I are the third generation canning these goodies in our outdoors kitchen.designed for this purpose. Because as the Czech saying goes, “Be prepared to answer when winter asks you what you did in the summer.”

We use only fresh pickling cucumbers sorted by size and cut to the favorite spears, slices or whole. We can other vegetables like red beets and gardiniera mix.

We also make salsa and marinara sauces with either Merlot and basil or Cabernet-Sauvignon with garlic, as well as barrel-aged sauerkraut.

We plan to add more products in the future.

Palinka (R) line of canned goods such as the sweet and sour dill pickles made from an old family pickling recipe. The prices will be $6 per pint and $9 per quart. The gift packages of three different varieties in a wooden carved Michigan box will be $39.99 Stay tuned for the official opening on all Emma Blogs soon. — Palinka (r) line of canned goods such as the sweet and sour dill pickles made from an old family pickling recipe.
The prices will be $6 per pint and $9 per quart.
The gift packages of three different varieties in a wooden carved Michigan box will be $39.99
Stay tuned for the official opening on all Emma Blogs soon.

I will also present my blog design and writing services in an app Emma Blogs format coming soon.

Let me know what you would like to see in this big marketplace by emailing me at emmapalova@yahoo.com

Or you can comment on any of the sites of Emma Blogs. These are:

http://farmcountryblog.wordpress.com

http://etravelandfood.wordpress.com

http://placeathome.wordpress.com

http://eheatlhandbeauty.wordpress.com

http://greatoutdoorsandgolf.wordpress.com

http://editionemma.wordpress.com

http://cjkarmaskova.wordpress.com

I am looking forward to this new venture.

Sincerely,

Emma Palova

http:// emmapalova.com

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dance, ethnic, food, travel, Uncategorized

Czech traditions in the US

July 30, 2014 emmapalova 1 Comment

Czech traditions continue in the US

By EMMA PALOVA

EW Emma’s Writings

Bannister, MI- Always held on the first Sunday in August, the Czech Harvest Festival in Bannister is by far the best kept secret around.

I discovered it while writing for the Ionia Sentinel-Standard, I received a press release from an insurance agency in Owosso about 13 years ago.

The one-paragraph press release was simple, but it did entice me to explore the “Dozinky” Harvest Midwest style.

Czech dances in Bannister, MI in traditional costumes custom made in Czech and Slovak republics.

“Come and sample traditional Czech fare of dumplings, pork and sauerkraut. Dance the afternoon away with polka. Watch the dancers in their colorful costumes,” the press release read.

Since then, we’ve been going to the festival at least every two years.

Following is a video interview by Brianna Prochaska with some of the younger participants of the “Dozinky” Harvest Festivals held all over the USA.

My personal favorite is the accordion music by mostly local people. As the old Czech saying goes, “There is a musician in all Czechs.”

What amazes me is that the language is the hardest to keep alive for more than 100 years of Czech immigration to the US. Most festival organizers and women chefs do not speak Czech. But other than that, a small group of people has preserved everything from costumes, dances, music to food.

The universal word here in Bannister is “kolacki.” Kolacki are traditional Czech, Slovak, and Lithuanian pastries filled with cottage cheese and raisins topped with plum butter. Kolacki are a festive dessert used at celebrations such as weddings.

The food is a complete Czech feast consisting of dumplings, sauerkraut, pork, ham and chicken. The ham and breaded chicken are American changes. But the cucumber salad with sour cream is as Czech as it gets.

Traditional Czech fare of pork, sauerkraut and dumplings

And as I watch the dancers in Bannister every year or so, listen to the accordions, enjoy Czech food, and check out the old paintings in ZCBJ Lodge in the middle of nowhere, I admire the people behind this event. Most of them have never been to Czech Republic let alone at a classic “veselka.”

The men carry ladies up in a traditional Czech dance.

What the Dozinky organizers have recreated, preserved and continue to pass on to next generations is almost a miracle. I can safely say that most people in the old country don’t know how to dance polka, czardas, or mazurka. The Czech Harvest in Bannister is a testimony that human spirit and determination will always prevail.

The lead dancers are Tom and Diane Bradley. Diane also teaches the youngest troop of dancers.

One of all time favorites for the little ones is the song, “Mela babka ctyri jabka a dedousek jen dve,” or in English: Grandma had four apples, while grandpa had only two. “Give me an apple, grandma, and we’ll be equal.”

According to the chairman of the festival Tom Bradley’s “Pamatnik” published for the 100th anniversary of the ZCBJ Lodge in 2011,the Czechs and Slovaks immigrated to Central Michigan around 1904 from Chicago and Cleveland. They were recruited to work the sugar beet fields. Eventually they worked on their own farms. And the recruiters had to look for different workers from big cities.

The Dozinky Harvest Festival will be held on Aug. 3, 2014 with dinner served from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. for $10 for adults and $3 for children. Get in early, the food does run out.

Authentic gifts such as garnet jewelry and Czech cookbooks are also available.

The program begins at 2:30 p.m. with Bill Nemanis. The dance starts at 4 p.m. at ZCBJ Lodge.

The dinner is preceded by a mass with polka arrangements at the Chuch of Cyril and Methodej.

For more information go to : http://www.czechevents.net/events

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