Welcome to another new RD on the Run series: Savoring the Journey. In these posts, I will be sharing details of my adventures with my husband, friends, and family. From day trips to new places to travelling far from home, and everything in between. I’ll share my favorite moments and of course, my favorite meals. First up: a quick fall trip to Roger’s City, MI with my hubby!
The Road to Roger’s City
Kenny and I rarely have days off together. He often works on the weekends for his job and I work your typical Monday through Friday 9-5 type schedule. We looked ahead to October to pick out a time where we both could take a few days and head somewhere on an adventure. Fall is our favorite time of year, and it’s usually when the season is starting to wrap up at a lot of Up North destinations in Michigan. One of our requirements for our getaways is that there’s trails for hiking and biking. The Roger’s City area offers plenty of both, and it was forecasted to be perfect fall weather with beautiful fall colors.
The Adventure Chapter
Our road trips almost always include spontaneous stops at roadside parks and scenic overlooks, and this one was no exception. On our way to Roger’s City we saw a sign for a scenic overlook of the Au Sable River. We pulled down a single lane dirt road that twisted through the woods, with a lot of bumps along the way. I commented, “This better be worth this drive in to this place!” as I maneuvered the winding road. We arrived at a parking area and walked a short way down a trail to the overlook, and yep – it was definitely worth it.
Besides the stunning views of the Au Sable River and being able to see miles and miles, what stood out to me about this stop was how still and quiet it was. We explored the trails and even took a 165-step journey down to the river. It was a beautiful way to start our trip, and we were both glad we made the pit stop.
We continued to Roger’s City, making another stop just outside the city at the Calcite Quarry, the world’s largest limestone quarry. It was honestly breathtaking standing on top of the viewing platform and looking over 8,924 acres of quarry.
After leaving the quarry, we stopped for lunch (more about that in the next section) and then made our way to the South Shore Park trailhead of the Huron Sunrise Trail. The trail is paved, perfect for biking, and it winds through neighborhood streets, wooded areas, and along the shoreline of Lake Huron.
Our favorite parts of the trail were the fun downhills and the parts where we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, away from the real world. We rode 8.16 miles from South Shore Park, past Hoeft State Park, to the other end of the trail at 40 Mile Point Lighthouse.
We did a little bit of hiking to the Joseph S. Fay shipwreck site. A 150 foot piece of the ship’s side is buried in the sand on the beach with metal rods and spikes sticking up. From the shoreline, you can see a white buoy out in the lake, marking where the rest of the ship is laid to rest.
We hiked back to the lighthouse park and found a swing set. I jumped up on one of the swings and Kenny joined me. We stayed there for a while, swinging and laughing, feeling like we were kids again. That was one of my favorite moments of our trip.
We made the journey back to our car, but not before taking another moment to be kids again on the playground. Kenny tried out the zip line and we both played on the see-saw. Next we headed to our hotel to check in (more about that in another section). We decided to try Chi-Chi’s for dinner (read the next section for more about that) and then cozied up for the night in our room.
We woke up early the next morning to watch the sunrise, since our hotel had the perfect lakeside views, had breakfast at Chi-Chi’s (spoiler alert: we really liked that place) and then headed out of town to Ocqueoc Falls.
Ocqueoc Falls is the largest waterfall in the lower peninsula. You can walk right down to the river and there’s a nice trail you can hike down along the river. In warmer weather, you can even get in the waterfall and take a swim! The water is so clear, apparently you can see salmon swimming in the underground channels during spawning season. There are other trails in the park, but we didn’t explore any others besides the one along the river. The weather was absolutely perfect for our waterfall adventure and made for a lovely second to last adventure of our trip.
Our last stop before we headed home was Gaylord to check out Elk View Park. The elk herd is very active this time of year so we hoped we would get to see some. We stopped at a viewing area and got to see quite a few elk! Kenny even got a video of them making their calls to one another. We had been to this park before and didn’t get to see any elk, so this was the icing on the cake for us.
Flavors of Roger’s City
Alright, time to talk food! We had some great meals while we were in Roger’s City.
Kortman’s Restaurant: We had brunch here before we started our bike ride. Walking into the restaurant, I felt like I was transported back in time. I half expected to see ash trays on the tables because it reminded me of what restaurants looked like in the 90s when you could smoke in them. Our waitress was lovely and the food was great. The homemade white bread is delicious, and apparently Plath’s meats are a staple in the area. I can see why – my bacon was delicious! Heads up if you plan to try this place: they are a cash only establishment.
Chi-Chi’s: When I first saw this place come up in searches for restaurants in Roger’s City, I wondered if it was the Mexican chain restaurant that supposedly is being revived. It is not, although they do offer some Mexican menu items. The item that caught my eye, however, was the Gouda Mushroom Onion Grilled Cheese. Your girl loves a grilled cheese, and this sounded absolutely delicious. I am happy to report that it was – I wish Kenny would’ve caught that first cheese pull. It was epic! We also tried their deep fried mushrooms with homemade ranch (awesome – you can see in the picture that we polished them off), I had chili, and Kenny got his go-to olive burger with fries. We left happy with full bellies!
We enjoyed Chi-Chi’s so much that we went back for breakfast the next day. The highlights: perfectly cooked over easy eggs, American fries made with redskin potatoes, Plath’s bacon, homemade white toast and homemade raspberry jam. Once again we cleaned our plates.
Where We Stayed
We stayed at the Driftwood Motel. It is right off the shoreline of Lake Huron and the Huron Sunrise Trail runs right behind it. It has an indoor pool open year round and continental breakfast every morning, we didn’t utilize either one of these amenities though. The room was a typical inexpensive motel room, with one exception: every room has either a patio or balcony with a perfect view of Lake Huron. The bed was comfortable enough, but if we stay again we will bring our own pillows for sure. And we will know next time that we can just hop on the Huron Sunrise Trail right from the hotel!
Final Thoughts
I am so glad that we made this trip happen. We packed a lot of adventures into less than 48 hours and got some good quality couple time together. I would love to visit again – I’d definitely stay at the same hotel, ride or maybe run the trail, and eat every meal at Chi-Chi’s.
Until the next adventure… keep savoring the journey.
RD on the Run 