After leaving Mackinac Island we arrived at Mackinaw City, and we did a bit of wandering in the city, before the next leg of our drive.  We had to cross the “Mighty Mac” or the “Big Mac” or the Mackinac Bridge, the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the Wester Hemisphere and just shy of five miles long.  It is so scary to some, that there are drivers that will drive your vehicle for you across from Mackinaw City to St. Ignace or the opposite direction.  Originally envisioned in the 1880’s, it was completed in 1957.  We were on our way to Sault Ste. Marie, the home of another engineering feat the St. Marys’ Falls Canal or The Sault Locks (known regionally as the Soo Locks). They enable ships to travel the Great Lakes and they average about ten thousand ships in the nine months that they are open, because of ice.  The original was built in 1855 and transferred to the U.S. Army in 1881 and the Corps of Engineers are in the midst of more work.  You used to be able to just walk around the locks, but now you have to walk through metal detectors and checkpoints.

We stayed over night at the Hotel Ojibway, which is where we have always stayed, a nice stately hotel overlooking the locks.  Unfortunately, the Corps of Engineers have commandeered the dining facilities at the hotel for additional offices, so we missed a fine dinner at the hotel.  We ate at the Lockview Restaurant about two blocks from the hotel, and on the second floor, one could watch the shipping traffic. The restaurant began in 1945 and the original owner and the dishwasher according to legend used to go to the locks after breakfast to catch fish for the lunch and dinner and business.  My Bride had the Lake Superior Whitefish Dinner, which they offer six different ways and she had it broiled, she is a traditionalist.  I had the Fish and Chips; the fish was Whitefish and I substituted the chips for Onion Rings.  I mean, if I am going to have fried food, I may as well go all the way.

Since we were going with Whitefish, the finest white wine they had was an R Mond Chardonnay from California.  I was intrigued, as I had never heard of the brand, and I thought I had encountered most of the popular priced California wine brands between restaurants and catering companies.  We had a bottle of Robert Mondavi Winery Private Selection Buttery Chardonnay California 2019, and if I had put my thinking cap on, I could have deduced R Mond for what it was.  Robert Mondavi Winery is one of the most famous names and wine producers in Napa Valley. It was founded in 1966 after splitting from his family’s business, Charles Krug. They make from “cult wine” status to popular priced wines in his Woodbridge collection.  The Private Selection is listed as having wines from the Central Coast, but this wine carried a California AVA.  I couldn’t find any winemaker notes, but I will venture to say that the wine was probably done in large Stainless-Steel vats with oak chips added, this is a much affordable method of creating “buttery” wines without the major expense of oak barrels.  The wine had a nice golden color and offered notes of a buttery Chardonnay, and on the palate, one got the same tones.  The next day we were on the road again.