For those following along at home, here’s today’s path:

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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!

Today we spent the morning in charming Mackinaw City! The city (actually a village) is positioned at the northern end of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan just south of its famous bridge.

The name comes from a Native American word for turtle — Mackinac Island (just northeast of Mackinaw City in the Straits of Mackinac) is turtle-shaped. Nice!

In addition to the bridge, Mackinaw City is also famous for its fudge. Fudge seems to be a big deal in every beachy resort town, but this is what I learned about Mackinaw City’s traditional method that makes it special:

1. It’s made with cream instead of milk.
2. The fudge is formed on a marble slab and worked by hand into a loaf shape (rather than being shaped in a pan).
3. It is always hand made from an original, top secret recipe.

We went to Marshall’s Fudge (run by a dude who learned the top-secret info from descendants of the original Mackinac Island fudge dude, one Mr. Murdick, who started making fudge at Murdick’s Candy Kitchen in 1889) and were able to see the fudge being made, which was awesome.

First it is stirred by hand in a giant pot:

Then it is poured out onto a marble slab until it’s the right temperature (a steel frame keeps it from running off the slab):

Then it is hand shaped:

Then it is cooled and cut!

It really is exceptional. Way to go, Marshall’s Fudge.

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!

This pan was used to bake the World’s Largest Cherry Pie in 1987 (the sign there told us the pie was 28,350 pounds and 17′6″ in diameter!). Awesome!

Traverse City is also home to several cherry-themed stores, including our choice, The Cherry Stop:

…which is located in the charming downtown area:

…which is serviced by, I kid you not, the “Cherriot”:

Bwahaha! Awesome. Anyway, we got an array of cherry items at the Cherry Stop:

The cherry-mustard bbq sauce is totally delicious (they have everything open so you can taste it), and I also tried some cherry wine there that I quite enjoyed! We also got some cherry pie from the Great Traverse Pie Company today that was totally amazing and made me want to make pies constantly and own a pie shop.

Anyway, Traverse City also has this:

I had NO IDEA such a thing existed in the midwest. Seriously. But it is an absolutely beautiful beach (Traverse City sits on the Grand Traverse Bay, which flows out of Lake Michigan). Nicely done, Traverse City.

One thing I noticed about the beach was that it was kind of weird to have the sun behind me when facing what looked like the ocean at 5pm. I had the same feeling of disorientation the first time I went to the Pacific Ocean. It’s not bad, it’s just odd. I guess growing up on the east coast has oriented my body to a particular sun/water relationship without me realizing it!

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And Pennsylvania thanked us when we left:

Then we were in Ohio!

Like PA, Ohio boasts lots of pretty farmland:

But I think what I will remember the most about Ohio is seeing the service plazas off the Ohio Turnpike shaped like Ralph Wiggum’s head (Brian’s words):

Right? Incredible likeness:

The other thing I noticed in Ohio was that many farms had a private pond, often with a little dock and/or diving board. They were all pretty awesome, but they only seemed to come up when I put the camera down. Sorry!

We also drove near Toledo! This is the first city we’ve actually really been able to see well from the highway since we left Virginia:

Anyway, then we got to Michigan!

We made a quick stop in Ann Arbor so we could go to Zingerman’s:

For the uninitiated: Zingerman’s is kind of the Zabar’s of the midwest (sans housewares). It’s an awesome deli with a ton of local products, gourmet food, things made with care, etc. It’s also a really interesting company with (apparently) good core values. So I’m a big fan, and so is Brian (in fact, going there today was his idea). Hooray!

We did run into some rain tonight, plus we had a silly little detour due to… construction, I guess (it wasn’t clear), so we had to backtrack a bit. We’re staying at the Knights Inn in Saginaw, Michigan, which is about 3 hours from Traverse City (though the detour may be an issue). We got in quite a bit earlier than we did last night, so we’re hoping for an earlier start tomorrow…