Road Food

Food is one of the interesting aspects of our travel. We stumble upon some unique places and we plan ahead to find recommendations for some other places. A favorite place for research and planning is Roadfood.com. Dale will often explore the website before we leave Iowa to learn more about regional foods and diners or restaurants. I will usually find a few books at the library such as "Michigan Curiosities" or "Off the Beaten Path in Ohio." We have used these resources to find barbecue in Memphis and North Carolina as well as Hot Browns in Kentucky and purloo in South Carolina. We found tiny little locally owned establishments in many states and we also found the world's largest drive-in, The Varsity, in Atlanta. Food is part of the adventure.

We stumbled upon Butch's Beach Burritos across from the beach and lighthouse in Grand Haven, Michigan. Their photos showed long lines in the summer but we were fortunate to arrive in September just a week or so before they closed for the season.

We found Juilleret's and Don's on roadfood.com and found that they were very unique places well worth the stop. The atmosphere was quaint at Juilleret's but the food was even better. My pumpkin bread french toast was interesting and delicious. Don's sign and interior were very well preserved and it felt like we had stepped back a few decades. The waitresses even wore the traditional matching waitress dresses.

When in Michigan we knew that fudge and ice cream were a must-eat so we willingly enjoyed those specialties. When we reached the Upper Peninsula we knew we wanted to eat a pasty, which is their specialty. It's a Cornish tradition and we learned from a Cornish man in Madison Wisconsin that only the "Yoopers" think that they must include rutabaga. Wherever we find them it seems that the Cornish are passionate about their pasties. Dale and I enjoy the food and the tradition.

Finding these interesting places also leads us to some very interesting people. We love the opportunity to meet them and get to know a bit about the area. On this trip we found again that people are good. We met friendly, helpful people all along the way with one exception. The people that work for the Cleveland Browns football team were not friendly and not helpful. We did not go to their game!