Great Lakes Adventures Auroras, Beaches, Cherries and Ferries

by Bonna L. Nelson

All I can say is rich, aromatic and satisfying. I savored my Cherry Hard Cider, a blend of local tart Montmorency cherries and apples, at the Jolly Pumpkin Restaurant and Brewery as we toasted our arrival in Traverse City, Michigan. The upscale pub and brewery of oak-aged artisan ales is a local hotspot, rustic and comfy.

Being immersed for a day and night in Traverse City, the Cherry Capital of the World, I selected all things cherry for dinner at the pub on Old Mission Peninsula, north of the city. The cherry pecan salad in- cluded smoked chicken breast with local dried cherries, blue cheese and candy pecans on a bed of local lettuces and topped with a dried cherry vinaigrette. Cherry pie and cherry jam, not to be missed while in Traverse City, were on the menu for tomorrow.

A narrow, 20-mile-long finger of land extending into the center of Grand Traverse Bay, Old Mission Peninsula is home to fields of grapevines and orchards of trees drooping with red cherries and apples. Wineries pop up here and there between glimpses of the deep