Today is supposed to be wandering around Bayfield, but the weather is not supposed to be good, so we’ll see.
After breakfast, we decided to go out to see the town, as the promised rain appears to be holding off, even though it is overcast and dull. It’s the fruit harvest season, and in fact the annual Applefest celebration in Bayfield is happening this coming weekend (we’ll just miss it). Based on Sharon’s recommendation, we are going to Erickson’s orchard and miscellaneous shop first, then to Hauser’s Orchard, and finally to All Sister’s Winery. We didn’t want to buy much, as we are not even half way through our trip, and anything we buy at this point we’ll have to carry for the rest of the way. Erickson’s turns out to be a good (and interesting) shop. They have (as does Hauser’s) a variety of fruit-based jams, jellies, and dips. The nice thing was they had bowls of some of these products available for tasting. A couple of the sauces were good enough to entice us to buy them (admittedly they were the ones at Hauser’s). In addition to the products of the season, Erickson’s had on offer a variety of apples, and an antiques store. While we enjoy looking, there is nothing we found that we convinced ourselves to buy. We left there, and headed to Hauser’s. This place has a similar variety of offerings, including the antiques. They also have wines for tasting, but they are apple-based, so we elect not to do so.
On to All Sisters, and this turns out to be a bit of a hidden gem. They have a variety of grape-based wines, which we are happy to sample We find that some of their products (especially two of the whites) are very good indeed. We bought a dozen bottles, and I’m sure we will be hearing from them about more as they mature (they are only a year old now). We later found out (from Sharon) that All Sisters is run by Hauser family members, even though the winery is financially independent of the Hauser Orchard.
We decide to stop in town on our way back to the B&B and see how the preparations for Applefest are coming along. There’s an excellent used-book store which Gwen kindly let me spend an hour in. We then go to the mercantile – cooking store on the main street. They have even greater variety of fruit-based sauces, jellies, jams, etc., and they also (salesmanship be praised!) offer the opportunity to sample some of them. Like the good customers we are learning to be, we take advantage of the ability to taste, and buy those we really like. It’s then back to the B&B with our bounty before we venture back out to find dinner.
Dinner is at the Portside restaurant, right on the Bayfield docks. This place was recommended by Sharon, and with her help, we got a free glass of wine each. Of course we had to celebrate our anniversary a bit early, but what the heck! Gwen had the steak, and I had blackened lake whitefish (excellent, both of them). After dinner, we got dessert from Sharon (mint-flavored, walnut-topped, fudge brownies – delicious!). The B&B had internet connection, but no TV, so we spent the evening reading. A much better day than we anticipated.
Not a very bright day for picture taking, so here’s a few more from the trip to Agawa Canyon.
Bearded Wonders 