3193. Go to the Wawatam Lighthouse in St. Ignace

 Last year when Stacy and I explored Two Rivers, I got a Lighthouse Passport and was hoping to add a few more stamps to my book on this trip. There are plenty of lighthouses in the Upper Peninsula and I made a list of the ones we might be able to see. One of them was in St. Ignace.

The Wawatam Lighthouse is in St. Ignace near the ferry docks. It is open year round 24 hours a day. It was a short walk from our hotel but there is plenty of parking around the ferry docks and Veterans Park.

The Wawatam Lighthouse is named for Chief Wawatam, railroad ferry that carried trains across the straits of Mackinac from 1911 to the 1980s. They literally loaded the train cars on a ferry and crossed the straits of Mackinac to Mackinaw City where freight and passengers would continue their journey south. The train ferry also ran 24 hours a day. Too bad that no longer exists. It would be something unique to add to the bucket list and beats crossing that dreaded bridge. Remnants of the dock are still there. 

You can ring the train bell.

There is a nice boardwalk that you can walk out to the lighthouse and see the old train tracks too. The lighthouse is still in use today. It is also part of the North Country trail. Not sure if the whole boardwalk is or the portion that leads towards Veterans Park but at least I was on part of it. 

From the end of the pier, you can see Mackinac Island. 

Unfortunately I did not get my stamp for Wawatam Lighthouse. It is at the visitor center which was closed when we were in St. Ignace. Maybe I'll write to them and try to get it. 

If you are in St. Ignace, definitely walk out to the lighthouse. It's free and a nice walk. 

3193. Eat at Clyde’s Drive-In in St. Ignace

We love trying new drive-ins and burger joints when traveling. When I found Clyde's Drive-In in St. Ignace, I knew it was the perfect place for dinner our first night. 

Clyde's Drive-In in St. Ignace is located on the edge of St. Ignace as you are coming into town off for Hwy 2 and west of I-75. It is open 7 days a week in the summer until 9 or 10 depending on the day.  Their season begins in April.

They have classic car hop spots as well as a parking lot. There is a smaller counter inside to eat at or picnic tables outside. If you get there at peak hours plan on waiting to get served and wait for your food but it is worth it. You can watch them cook the burgers while you wait to order inside. They only accept cash.

The menu was a bit hard to see from our car so we went inside to order, not knowing the process. While we were waiting to order, a car hop asked if our car was outside and we went back outside to have our order taken.

I ordered a bacon cheeseburger and a cherry milkshake. The hubby ordered the Big C which he thought was a double cheeseburger and a vanilla shake. We also got fries and cheese curds.

Each burger patty is a 1/4 pound which means the hubby got a 3/4 pound cheeseburger.

The burgers were very good.. made fresh to order and not burnt. 

The cheese curds were very good. The fries were fries. I didn't think they were anything special. 

My cherry shake was very cherry and almost had a door county cherry taste to it. It was scrumptious. And the small was Amy sized. 

 

We definitely will go back. It beats Big Boy all to heck. 

If you are ever in find yourself on the UP Side of the Mackinac Bridge, definitely stop for burgers at Clyde's. It is worth every penny. 

Burger Joint/Drive In State #8. 42 more to go. I wonder where will find one next. 

6116. Go to Forgotten Fire Winery in Peshtigo

 I've been wanting to go to Forgotten Fire Winery for a while now. I never found myself up in Marinette county with time to spare to stop by it. The one time I was close, I was by myself and I know me and alcohol so that wasn't going to a be a wise decision. I proposedly added it to vacation so I could finally get there. 

Forgotten Fire Winery is located in Peshtigo, about a mile off I-41. The address technically is Marinette. It is open 10-5 Daily. 

Forgotten Fire Winery is named after the Peshtigo Fire which happened the same night as the Chicago Fire but killed a lot more people. Since it was the same night, it made little news. 

There have a variety of wines, meads, and ciders all made on site. They even have a homemade root beer. For $8, you get 4 samples.

I went with

Blackberry Burglar -- I am still in search of a good blackberry since I don't get to AZ enough to stock up on my favorite wine and who knows if they even carry it since it has now been sold and rebranded. This one was good... still not as good as Basil's but not too wine-y. It was good enough to bring home and try again. 

Mad Badger -- This is their cherry wine and it tasted like cough medicine. It was not my favorite. 

Hot Mess -- I tried this one just because I liked the name. It was too dry for me but still better than Mad Badger.

Walleye Oughta -- This was a lemon wine. I only tried it because it was sounded intriguing. I should have tried the Pink Hot Mess instead. It wasn't bad but it definitely could have been better. Lemon and grapes definitely didn't mix well for me. It was just a weird flavor combination.

Over all it was a good tasting. I would like to go back and try the root beer or at least stop and pick some up.

If you are headed to Michigan, I would recommend stopping for a some wine at Forgotten Fire and then head into town to check out the Fire Museum. 

5412. Splurge on a Mile of Music Candy Bar

 Every year Crazy Sweets, along with Mile of Music, sponsor a Golden Ticket Giveaway based on the candy bar contest in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. 

It is very simple, you buy a homemade candy bar and see if you won the golden ticket which is a  pair of Festival Only Music Maker Badges. Every candy bar is a winner though containing coupons to various downtown businesses. Each candy bar is $5.50 and you can get dark chocolate sea salt or milk chocolate. There are sold at various businesses downtown. A portion of the candy bar goes back to Mile of Music. So everyone wins.

I am not usually downtown much when these candy bars are on sale but I really wanted one. When Heather and I made plans to meet downtown to go to the Farmer's Market, I realized I was going to beat her downtown and suggested to meet at Copper Rock. I could get a beverage and wait. While I was in line, I saw the candy bars and decided to get one. 

Heather showed up and got her own candy bar (I'm such a bad influence). We decided to see if we got the golden ticket.

Neither of us were so lucky. We got many of the same coupons. We each got 7 or 8 coupons, many we will probably never use. My favorite was 50% off a drink at AmberLulu.. the Boba Tea shop I've been wanting to try. Heather got $5 off at the Blue Emporium which I needed to go to anyways so I got that one too.

The candy bar was delicious. I am not a sea salt fan but it was not very noticeable and did not distract from the candy bar at all. The hubby said his milk chocolate one was very good too. I picked him up one at the Blue Emporium.

Next I am definitely getting another. So what if I don't use many of the coupons. I just want the chocolate bar. 

I would recommend buying your own candy bar next year and maybe you will end up with the golden ticket or free ice cream. 

26 in 2026: Visit a New Ice Cream Place -- Creekside Creamery

 A Facebook poll rated Creekside Creamery the best ice cream in Valley. It beat out Leon's and Frogg's.  I figured that was a good enough reason to try it. When the smoke was going to be a potential issue for the T-Rats game, I suggested getting drinks at the game and then celebrating National Ice Cream Day with some ice cream. She readily agreed and suggested Creekside Creamery. 

Creekside Creamery is just off downtown Hortonville on Nash Street. It is open 7:30-8 Tue-Sat and 11-8 on Sundays. They are currently closed on Mondays. There is small parking lot in the back. 

Creekside Creamery features natural ice cream and coffee meaning no artificial colors or flavors. They have unique flavors of ice cream as well as dairy free ice cream. You can sample all 24 flavors if you want before making a decision. The rotation keeps changing so you never know what they have.

Some of the unique flavors they had was Lemon White Chocolate Scone, Quinoa Sweet Cream, Lemon Poppyseed, Strawberry Rhubarb, Mojito and Rum. They had basic flavor as well such as Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup, Birthday Cake, Orange Dreamsicle, Sweet Cream, and Chocolate. 

Heather and I had lemon white chocolate scone. The hubby went with Birthday Cake. Her hubby had Lemon Poppyseed. I almost went with chocolate peanut butter cup but realized I wanted to try new ice cream flavors this year. I also almost got the quinoa but opted with the lemon white chocolate scone. 

My sample was fantastic. I was excited to get a scoop of it. I found the actual scoop disappointing. It lack lemon flavor through out. There was one or two burst of lemon flavor other than that, I felt it didn't have much flavor. The hubby said his birthday cake tasted like sprinkles and no real cake flavor. I think since it's natural flavor, it's not going to stand out as much as artificial flavors.

Overall I was kind of disappointed. I would go back but I'm not racing out to Hortonville when I get an ice cream craving. 

If you want to avoid artificial flavors/colors or need dairy free ice cream, this is the place for you. I definitely would recommend trying it. It is a popular place and I hope they make it. I would also like to try their coffee drinks. 

26 in 2026 -- Try at least one new beer, cider, or cocktail -- First Base-Fizz

 The Timber Rattlers always have specialty cocktails for their games. I try to get at least one a year. Heather mentioned it was definitely a day-drinking kind of game. We decided to head to Leinie's Lodge for some cocktails.

Today's drink of the game was The Buzzer Beater. The grape vodka and cranberry juice were a turn off. However, they had other vodka flavored drinks. One of them was First Pitch Fizz which Heather and I got.

First Pitch Fizz has Cotton Candy Vodka by Game On Spirits, Lemonade, and Starry. It sounded perfect for me. It was $8 in a plastic cup or $12 in a souvenir cup which is reasonable for a baseball game. 

The First Pitch Fizz was perfect. It was sweet, but not too sweet, and refreshing. I just wish there was some cotton candy add to the top. That would be so much fun. 

I hope we can indulge in another specialty cocktail before the season is over. Stay tuned to what else we may drink this year. 

6416. Go to the Railroad Depot History Museum in Waupaca

Last year Mom said Our Wisconsin magazine has an article about the train museum in Waupaca. I'm thinking there is no train museum in Waupaca and she must have been mistaken. But when I got our copy of the magazine, sure even there was an article about a train museum in Waupaca. Even the hubby didn't know it existed. I knew we needed to check it out.

Railroad Depot is part of the Waupaca Historical Society. It is open Memorial Day Weekend though Labor Day Weekend on Saturday and Sundays 12-5 which makes it difficult for us to visit. It is located by the Waupaca Foundry and if you weren't looking for it, you probably wouldn't even notice it was there as it's off of downtown. It is free to visit. 

When we arrived, a volunteer asked us to sign the guest book and suggested we start downstairs with the model railroad. There really wasn't much upstairs in the depot to see to be honest. 

In the basement, there is a model 6 scale train of Waupaca and surrounding area in the 1950-1960s (I believe). Another volunteer told us all about his work on the model railroad and stories how the railroad depot came to be in the hands of the historical society. He also mentioned how their acquired their extensive library collection. 

We headed back upstairs to view the train cars outside but first our volunteer showed us the tracks and explained how it looked in the hey day. A train was going to be coming through in about 10 minutes according to the digital scanner.

We headed over to the caboose. Someone turned it into a man cave. It was very cool to see.

Then we saw the Soo Line Potato Car. I didn't even know Potato cars were a thing but it make sense that they needed to haul tons of potatoes before the days of the semi. It was smaller than a regular box car. 

We thanked the volunteer and drove down the hill to check out the car barn. Our volunteer met us there. He explained about the baggage car from the Waupaca Trolley, the horse drawn cart, and the old Model T. He bought (or assisted in acquiring) all of it. 

Our volunteer made our visit into a personal tour. 

Before heading home, we drove across the street to the another caboose and old Soo Line Building. 

If you are into train, the Railroad Depot in Waupaca is definitely worth checking out. Then go check out the Red Mill and Grand House as well. The Grand House is on my bucket list yet.