Day 2: Leelanau Peninsula Wineries

This year we decided to do the vineyards along the Leelanau Peninsula since we did Old Mission Peninsula last year. I'm the type of person who finds something good at a restaurant and then proceeds to order the same thing for life.

So I was tempted to do Old Mission Peninsula again this year just because we had so much fun last year. But I'm glad I decided to get ca-razy and try something new. Leelanau Peninsula is just as beautiful! We used this wine trail map to guide us. We picked wineries to visit kinda randomly and found one or two along the way that weren't on the map.

Our first stop was Shady Lanes Cellars, which had a quaint little tasting room. I think we left with a bottle of Coop de Rouge.

The pictures are not really in order. But that's okay, you can't tell anyways.

This was Willow Vineyard, if I remember correctly. I think this was my favorite view of the day. Vineyards, with views of the bay. Can't be beat.

Everywhere we went, Gil declared that he was going to take a panorama. Cracked me up.

Figuring out where to go next.

Leelanau Cellars has amazing views of Grand Traverse bay. This was a fun winery to stop by because the tastings are free (plus!) and they kept recommending delicious things to try. They have a lot of delicious dessert and fruity type wines. We got a bottle of the white sangria and the raspberry dessert wine. I think we might have also gotten the pomegranate wine. Yum.

We had lunch in Suttons Bay at the 45th Parallel Cafe. Food was alright, but it was really nice to sit outside and enjoy the day. We were expecting stormy weather all day, but it ended up being quite nice outside!

45 North was a fun winery to visit. The tasting room had a nice, relaxed vibe. A little kid was selling fresh raspberries outside and they had a bocce ball court. Fun!

I believe this was the tasting room at Circa Estate Winery. This one wasn't on the map, but we saw a sign as we were turning out of 45 North and decided to stop. This tasting room was a bit more fancy shmancy than some of the others. There was only one other couple and we felt like we had to be quiet. Good wine though. We got a bottle of Improvisation here.

We stopped some other places too, but I got bored of taking pictures. Good Neighbor Organics had lots of yummy fruity wines. We got a bottle of peach and a bottle of cherry pie here. We sat and chatted with the owner and a newlywed couple from Nebraska.

We also stopped by L. Mawby winery. This place was hopping and busy and to be honest, a bit overwhelming after all the wine samples I'd had that day! But it was pretty funny because one of our old teachers from our high school served us our wine samples. I had him for geometry and then Gil and I both had his wife for french class. They both retired last year and moved to Traverse City, work at the winery part-time, and then live in Florida for the winter. Sounds good to me! We bought a bottle of the Detroit Sparkling Wine. I don't even know if we taste-tested this, but we thought we'd represent.

We ended the day by heading over to Leland, like we did last year. It was evening and we were hungry so we headed to the Village Cheese Shanty. The pretzel bread left an impression last year!

We decided to head to the beach to eat.

So delish and such a great view...I love the lake!!

I could've sat their all evening. Of course I was assuming Gil was thinking the same thing. We should've brought towels down to sit on because two seconds after we were done eating, Gil declared that he didn't like sitting in the sand. But I got enough beach goodness to satiate me for the evening.