Posts Tagged “bridges”

We woke up in Mackinaw City, ate fudge, and enjoyed the charming “downtown” for a bit this morning. Then it was time to drive over the crazy Mackinac Bridge — our second XL Big Mac of the trip –- that would be Michigan’s nickname for the bridge, not mine!!

Then we were in the UP!

The Upper Peninsula is a whole different scene. It was kind of like being transported back in time to like… the 50s, I think. Or the 70s. I don’t know. It was weird. Anyway:

“Pasties” (they appear to be a savory pie involving root veggies and meat in a pie crust and folded over like a turnover) and smoked fish jerky are both a really big deal on the UP. We didn’t partake of the local cuisine, but we saw pasties signs every few feet in the more populated areas. We did, however, go to this:

At the Mystery Spot, we got to experience unexplained physics-defying optical illusions, and Brian climbed the wall:

We had a beautiful, scenic drive along Lake Michigan:

Oh, would you like a closer look at that lighthouse? We wanted one, too, and we weren’t deterred by this:

Or even this:

Hooray:

It’s the Manistique Lighthouse, by the way.

Anyway, we drove and drove and then we were in Wisconsin!

And I’m sorry to report that the rest of the day was pretty visually uninteresting. Sorry, Wisconsin. To be fair, a lot of the Wisconsin driving happened in the dark, so I’m hoping to get a couple more photos tomorrow, and they better involve cows. We’re in Wausau, Wisconsin, at the Super 8. Tomorrow the goal is to get to Minneapolis (not far, so shouldn’t be an issue) and regroup for a day or two before moving on to leg 2: South Dakota. Whee!

This is my third trip to Michigan, and I kind of feel like I went to a different state each visit. Today’s journey took us up from Saginaw (which, incidentally, we left and then had to return to because I left something in the room… d’oh) through Midland, Clare (holla!), Cadillac, and, eventually, to Traverse City. Our route was fraught with road construction, which is apparently going on all over Michigan at all times. (Seriously, it was a little out of hand.)

Then we went to Traverse City and it was awesome and I’ve already talked about it.

Anyway, then we drove north (along the coast for some of the time, which was lovely) and arrived in Mackinaw City just in time to catch the last few seconds of sunset behind the Mackinac Bridge:

Hooray for tripods! We’ll get some more photos of that for you in the daylight tomorrow. We’re staying at the glorious Rainbow Motel in Mackinaw City and it’s pretty awesome so far, but internet is a bit dicey. Mackinaw City looks pretty fun, so we may hang out here a bit before heading up to the Upper Peninsula!