DAY 1:
What is with this weather? Of all things, the high today (May 14, 2016) was 46 and the low tonight will be record breaking 32! Then there was the wind to contend with. We were driving into a strong headwind all day. And what is with the SNOW storm and snow we kept driving through in the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan)? Oh, did I tell you people who live here are called Yoopers and people who live in the lower peninsula are called Trolls? Well now you know.
First we drive to Mackinac City to find the giant hot dog on a roof. We found it! After posing for a selfie with the giant hot dog over our heads, we ate lunch at one of our favorite restaurants near Lake Huron. Then it was off to cross the Mackinac Bridge.
Mackinac Bridge is a 5 mile long suspension bridge that connects the lower peninsula to the upper peninsula (UP) of Michigan. It is a really cool bridge and the center lanes are nothing but metal grates that if you look down, you can see the water far below you. That and the fact that while driving on the grates, your car fights you left and right leaves you hoping and praying that the grate doesn't just happen to fall through and send your car plummeting to the water below. It didn't and we didn't so we paid the toll keeper on the UP side ($4 for a car) and went on our merry way.
Next stop? Mystery Spot (now with zip lines)!
If you have ever traveled around Michigan, no doubt you have seen the signs for Mystery Spot. What is Mystery Spot? In the works of its web site "Famed gravity-defying area features interactive tours, a maze, mini golf, zip lines & a gift shop." Words cannot express how disappointed we were to find it "Closed". I guess it will open in a couple weeks so we took a selfie in front of the sign to the place.
Years ago on a trip to Oshkosh Airventure, I took a bunch of pictures of various outhouses that I found along the way for my Outhouses of America web site. I thought it would be fun to see how many I could find and take "now" pictures of them and then update the web page of the trip. I managed to find a few and will update my page where I have all the originals. Once that is done in a week or so, I'll add a link to it here.
On the way to Manistique, there is a tall radio tower. At the base of the tower is an outhouse. We found the tower and drove in to take pictures. Well the original outhouse is in bad shape. The roof has holes in it and it needs paint. I discovered they built a replacement in a different location so took pictures of that one too.
In Manistique, we found Paul Bunyan and had to take a selfie in front of it. That thing is huge! It towered above me quite a ways. They say that Manistique is the home of Paul Bunyan.
Next up: Foxy's Den gas station in Cook. They have an outhouse right next to the station and I took pictures of the front, back and inside.
Years ago I discovered very small old white church that had a 2-holer outhouse behind it. Imagine going to church in the winter and having to go outside to an outhouse when nature called during the service. Not a pleasant thought. The church is still there and so is the outhouse but there is a lot of growth built up around it.
One thing we couldn't find today was Ritch Branstrom's adhoc WORKshop. He is a metal works artist and takes scrap metal and turns it into works of art. His shop is in Rapid River, MI. On the way back, we will try and locate his shop again.
Near Escanaba is a paper mill and right near route 2 is a nice outhouse. We used this outhouse 3 years ago and used it again today. It still smells like new wood inside and the toilet seat is one of those slowly self lowering seats. That's kind of fun in an outhouse.
I was really mad on the way up to the UP. My car on trips normally gets over 50 MPG but today, it struggled to reach 42 MPG before the first fill up with the cold weather, wind and we were climbing most of the way. Once we crossed the bridge, we were still driving into the wind but there are lots of trees to slow down the wind so by the time we reached Wisconsin, my car got over 50 MPG when we filled it the second time. Ahhhhhh! We drove over 478 miles for under $25.
Once we got to Escanaba, we only had about 60 more miles to go and we would gain an hour when we hit the Central time zone. It was so cold that we did a quick visit to our dad's grave and then went to Mickey Lu's Bar-B-Q for the best hamburgers in the world. Chuck, the owner, was there tonight cooking the burgers on the charcoal. He still remembers me because I have had a web page featuring his burgers for many years and he told me tonight that I have steered a lot of business his way and he thanked me. Tonight I only ordered 4 burgers since I know we are coming through again in about a week so I'll eat more next week. They were the best as usual.
Here is the sign you see when you drive into Wisconsin from Menominee, MI.
And there is a logging museum in the same place. Here is a picture of how they used to move all the logs.
Our plans tomorrow are to try and visit the World's Largest Badger, see some cow sculptures, visit another Paul Bunyan and see Babe, the blue ox and then possibly visit a German brewery.
DAY 2:
Today we traveled around 375 miles and made it to Stillwater, Minnesota.
Before starting out, we ate breakfast at Schloegel's Bay View Restaurant. They have potato pancakes on the menu. We have eaten there for years on every trip and we weren't disappointed. You get 3 potato pancakes and they are great! I also ordered a sticky bun in lieu of bacon. It was a good choice and really good but with all the maple syrup and then all the yummy sticky sugar, I had a tremendous sugar spike.
On the way we stopped at some real humdinger attractions as well as stopping at a few outhouses that we previously stopped at on our other trip. We also drove past the Schoolhouse Bar in Wisconsin. It has the following slogan written on the front in large letters..."It's time for recess..."!
The first and probably the best attraction that we stopped at was the World's Largest Badger located in Birnamwood, WI. The main thing that is too funny is that a local strip club bought the land where the badger is located and now houses Texas Jay's Gentlemen's Club featuring Exotic Dancers and a Full Liquor Bar. Weird! There is a large wooden privacy fence that surrounds the badger but they cut out a portion of it in front of the badger. As we were driving, all of a sudden I saw this huge black thing and immediately know it had to be the badger. Sure enough, it was.
After taking a lot of fun pictures of it, we left it to head to Thorp, WI to see the Cow Sculptures. I was thinking there would be on area with all of the sculptures but no. As we drove into town, it became apparent that they were scattered in front of many of the businesses. We also noticed one other thing; all the stores were closed and there was very little traffic. It was Sunday in a small Wisconsin town. There was a bar open on Main St. but that's about it. One funny thing did happen...at the first cow we stopped to photograph, it had a seat that you could sit on. My sister sat on it while I took her picture. When she got up, her butt was completely soaked. Embarrassing! I had to grab a towel to lay on the seat so we could drive.
By this time it was around 2:30 PM so we decided to stop at a restaurant and eat. We both ordered from the Senior menu and holy cow! The portions were huge! I guess the seniors there demand food!
Next up on our attraction list was to travel to Eau Claire, WI to see Paul Bunyan and the Babe the Blue Ox. We put the address into the GPS and about an hour later, we pulled into a parking lot and there they were. We took several pictures posing in front of Paul Bunyan but decided not to go through the Paul Bunyan museum. They charge $7 a person and we were on a tight schedule.
Now it was on to our final destination for the evening; Stillwater, MN. After checking into our hotel, we drove downtown. Stillwater streets are much like San Francisco streets. They go up and down steep hills. That means you walk up and down steep hills. We took a walk to the St. Croix River and it was such a beautiful day being sunny and 65. It seemed like everyone was out for walks and having fun playing soccer or flying kites. Heck, there is even a gondola that you can ride in complete with an Italian Gondolier guiding the gondola around the river.
Time for dinner! We chose to go back to Nacho Mama's Mexican restaurant and have a Margarita and some great Mexican food. They sure don't short you on food. My smothered burrito with chicken inside was almost 1.5 inches thick and full of really good chicken. I have to admit after all we ate today, I could not finish all the rice, refried beans, lettuce and guacamole dip but I sure finished that burrito! It's margarita time!
One funny thing happened with the GPS. It's a woman with a British accent and when we went through some construction that took us to the side of our route, she blurted out TURN!...and after a few seconds, she said TURN AROUND!!! It was so funny. I think she thought we went off the road and into a river that was nearby.
Tomorrow is another full day. We plan on seeing the Tin Man Family, visit with some relatives, stop to pay our respects to our family grave sites and see the world's largest peace pipe made out of pipestone.
DAY 3:
Today was another day of driving to various odd things to see and we ended up at our family grave sites to pay our respects.
First stop: The Tin Man family in Faribault, MN
The location was a bit obscure but the keen eye of the family saw them in the distance. They are located at a tin and welding shop? We took our fun photos and then I took a good look at the female member of the family. It turns out she has on a boustier with her boobs sticking out above the boustier. It's kind of racy for a tin woman!
Next on the list was the giant Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, MN. It truly is a giant! It is over 55 feet tall and towers above you when you stand at the base. They actually build steps up the back side so you can stand between it's legs. We took our pictures and moved on.
We actually did drive all this way for a reason; to visit our relatives and the graves of our family. We dropped in on one of our Aunts and had coffee and nice conversation. We caught up on when everyones birthday is and what was going on with everyone and then we left to go to the cemetery where many of our family members are buried.
The cemetery was in very nice shape and very quiet. The reason why we like them being there is that you can see the farm that my grandma lived on all her life from her grave site. My mom is buried there and so are my grandma and grandpa along with other people they used to know.
We left them in peace and drove through the town they were from. The church that my grandma played the organ at is still there and still in great shape. The thing that is missing are all the people that used to be there walking around, shopping, etc. It is so sad to see the change that has happened in the last 50 years. Many of the old homes are now gone and they are farming right up to the town's city limits.
One other thing worth mentioning and the reason why farmers are farming as much property as they can is that corn is being used to produce ethanol and soybeans are being used to produce bio fuel. The railroads are doing well and there are lines of rail tanker cars at the ethanol and bio fuel refineries. When I was small, I used to help farm my grandmas farm. I drove a Case SC tractor and the other farmer who did all the work had an International Farmall tractor. Now the farmers are using HUGE tractors with air conditioned and heated cabs that have GPS units in them with autopilots. The farmers can sit back and the tractors drive themselves and put the rows of crops in perfectly. Farm implement companies are everywhere and we saw one sign on a huge tractor that said lease this for $18,500 per year. Yes sir, farming is now a BIG business. Many farmers now farm 1,000 or more acres. My grandmas farm was 155 acres.
We ended the evening by taking fun pictures by a buffalo and then eating at the Blue Stem restaurant attached to a Super 8 motel. Let me tell you...we had sirloin steaks with loaded mashed potatoes and green beans. All of it was the BEST I'm telling you. Meat has a different flavor in farm country.
Tomorrow we are off to see a tiny chapel and the world's largest peace pipe made out of pipestone and then we are off to see more relatives north of where we are now.
DAY 4:
Todays travels took us from Luverne, MN to New Ulm, MN.
First stop: the Wayside Chapel in Luverne. We have been traveling to Minnesota to my grandma's farm since we were small children. My mom always stopped at the Wayside Chapel to meditate for a short time. The chapel hasn't changed in over 50 years. The door in left unlocked and inside are free New Testament bibles along with tracts. There are pews where you can sit and pray and a guest book at the front. It has stained glass windows and it is probably only 10' x 15'.
Next we drove to North and along the way we saw the place that manufactures the wind turbine propellers. There were a lot of them laying down ready for shipment to various wind turbines that are being built. They are at Suzlon Rotor Corporation and the diameter where they attach at the generator are over 6 feet. They must be 100 feet long or so.
Pipestone was next on the agenda. There was quite a bit to see there. The first stop was at the Pipestone National Monument Visitor Center. There is a nice walking path there and you can see old pipestone quarries and pits where they used to mine the pipestone. There is also a very nice waterfall called Winniwissa Falls and you can climb up to the top and watch the water go over the top. Further on you come to The Old Stone Face. If you ever went to the White Mountains in New Hampshire, you know about the Old Man in the Mountain. Well this one looks kind of like it and it's a natural pipestone formation. There are a lot of other nature things to look at including Lake Hiawatha as well. One special note; During the summer they used to have the Hiawatha Pageant but it ended in 2012 after yearly performances for 60 years.
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| Old Man (Natural Pipestone Formation) |
Leaving there we went looking for a big metal burro and cart and there we would find the worlds largest peace pipe made out of pipestone. We found the burrow and the pipe. It is located at the old Pipestone Rock-Island Depot train station.
After that, we drove a few blocks and found the 132 foot water tower made out of cement. The restored tower also marks a welcome rest stop area, complete with picnicking and restroom facilities and R.V. dump station. It is located on 2nd St NE, only two blocks west of Highway 75. The 132-foot structure, designed by L.P. Wolff of St Paul, is one of only two in existence. A near twin is in Brainerd, MN. Today's lighting was PERFECT and we got some great pictures of it.
We then visited our cousins near Springfield, MN and also visited our Aunt who is in a nursing home. It's a nice nursing home and we enjoyed our visit.
Last up for today was a visit to the August Schell Brewery in New Ulm, MN. It is the 2nd oldest family owned brewery in the United States. They have a museum that is usually open on the weekends but the people were nice enough to turn all the lights on for us and we took a self-guided tour through the history of the August Schell Brewery. After that we drove into town and ate supper at a German Restaurant called the Kaiserhoff. They had Schell beer so I had a couple of samples. One interesting thing of note...while we ate, music was playing but it sure wasn't German music. It was a mix of 60's music including Johnny Cash and others. We found that very strange in a German restaurant. It wasn't very busy but in its hay day, they had all kinds of celebrities eat there. One wall is lined with autographed photos of all the celebrities.
Tomorrow we begin our long trek back home but first we will stop to see some more relatives and hopefully visit the Happy Chef restaurant and have some hot dutch apple pie with melting cinnamon ice cream on top.
DAY 5:
Today we drove back to New Ulm and the Schell brewery. I wanted to buy a souvenir but the gift shop didn't open until 11 and we got there about 10:15 so on we went to Mankato. Our first stop was the last remaining Happy Chef restaurant in the nation. They were known for the larger than life Happy Chef outside the front door so we had to take pictures of ourselves in front of it. The other thing they are known for is the hot dutch apple pie with cinnamon ice cream. Mmmmmmm Good!
Next stop was the Toyota dealer that I bought my car from last time we were in the area. Laurie is a saleswoman there and she is quite a hoot. We stopped in to say hello and pick up some more spices. When she sells a car, she gives out a bag of spices to her customers. She was featured in a magazine and also has a large bulletin board full of hand written cards sent to her from her customers.
We also spent time with a dear relative and her daughter. Years and years ago, we used to stop to see them when we passed through the area. The tradition continues. After chatting for a while, we all piled into her mini van and went to The Dam Store to eat chicken salad sandwiches. I also managed to eat a piece of Banana Cream Pie. Mmmmm Good! After eating we chatted for another hour or two and then had to say our good byes. It's always sad to say good bye to our relatives in Minnesota because we know that it may be another three years before we pass by again.
Day 6:
The wifi was really bad (useless) at tonight's motel. Let's start with tonight's motel. We stayed at the Black Hawk Motel in Wisconsin Dells, WI. The motel is spread out over a block with separate sections so that might explain the poor wifi. Our room was great other than that and the fact that the TV volume would not stabilize. The volume kept getting louder and louder and then softer and softer. We finally gave up. The room was very reasonably priced as well.
Today we traveled from Mankato, MN to Wisconsin Dells, WI. Having never stayed in the Dells, we thought it would be nice to see it.
On the way, we stopped in Nodine, MN to see Culvert Man. He was pretty cool and maybe 40 feet tall. The odd thing was that our GPS did not even have Nodine, MN in it so we had to navigate the old way with a map!
After getting to the Dells, we walked a little on the River Walk but part of it was closed for construction. Then we decided to take a drive to see some of the Dells. We drove to a local park and took a few pic's and then on the way back, we found some really odd cabins you could rent that had crooked windows everywhere. They also had the same tiny cabins on stilts like tree houses with a tree looking structure below them.
We hit the upside down White House too. That was close. There are tons of things to do and see in the Dells but "Warning Will Rogers..." choose wisely. Riding on one of the duck vehicles looked like fun but we had limited time.
We decided to take a drive to see the Merrimac Ferry, which is a free ferry across the Wisconsin River. It is a free car ferry service across the Wisconsin River on Hwy 113 just south of Merrimac. Trip time about 7 minutes, wait time may be longer. Carries up to 15 cars. Trailers, motorcycles, bicycles, hikers all welcome; no "semis."
We actually got on the ferry with our car and once we hit the other side, we did a U-turn and drove right back on the ferry for the trip back. It was fun!
For dinner, we stopped at Moose Jaw and had a pizza and sampled a couple of their microbrewed beers. For dessert, we stopped at Culvers and had salty caramel malts. Mmmmmm! They are great!
Day 7:
We are on our way home now so drove from the Dells to Marinette, WI. Along the way, we stopped at Oshkosh to go through the EAA Museum.
I was fortunate enough to actually fly three different private planes in Oshkosh during the summer Airventure. Oshkosh is the busiest airport in the world during that week. They are landing on both runways 9/27 and 18/36 and on the runway 36 taxiway AT THE SAME TIME. Also, they are landing 2 planes at a time on all of those as well. I was landing on runway 27 and had planes fly right over me that were landing on runway 18. It was quite unbelievable!
While at the EAA Museum, we got a special treat. During World War II, many of the bombers and fighters had nose art painted on them. Some nose art is very special. After the war, most of the remaining bombers and fighters were cut up for scrap. One guy who was doing the cutting decided to cut out the nose art and save all of the pieces in a warehouse. The pieces actually still have all the ribs, wiring and other piping attached to the other side of the aluminum skin. I don't know what happened to that guy but someone found all the pieces in the warehouse in Texas and put them on display. Apparently, that museum is being refurbished and the EAA asked if they could display them in the EAA Museum for a while and they were granted permission. We were fortunate enough to see all of them and take pictures.
Most nose art were pictures of scantily clad pretty women but some were of naked women. The pieces of the naked women are in a room away from all the rest. I found them! All were great except for one that had a women's body but what looked like a man's head on it. I'm not sure what that was about. Maybe I missed something!
After leaving the museum, we drove into Peshtigo, WI to see the fire museum. At the same time as the Chicago fire in the late 1800's, a fire tornado hit Peshtigo and every building in the town burned to the ground. Over 800 men, women and children perished. There is a cemetery where the remains of many of the victims are located and an old church houses the fire museum.
After that we made it to our hotel and then hit up MickeyLu Bar-B-Q for more of their world famous hamburgers grilled on charcoal.
Tomorrow, we will eat potato pancakes at Schloegel's Bay View restaurant and then head out to more adventures on the way to Mackinac City, MI.
Day 8:
Today we drove from Marinette, WI to Mackinac City, MI. The trip is beginning to get long! We're both glad that we will get back to our starting location tomorrow.
First stop today was Schloegels German Restaurant for our potato pancakes. I don't order any meat so I order a sticky bun as well. Talk about sugared out! I eat the middle out of it first and then eat the potato pancakes. Once I'm done with that, I finish off the sticky bun. It was great as usual.
Our first stop was supposed to be the metal shop with all the weird metal art works in Rapid River, MI. We couldn't find the shop on the way to MN but this time we found it. Unfortunately the shop was closed. We did take a few pictures through the window and then went on our way.
Next I wanted to find this outhouse in a boat launch area that I took pictures of over 15 years ago. We finally saw it and pulled into the parking lot. The outhouse looks ok from the road but when you go inside, you get grossed out. I won't go into details but it wasn't the best experience. Also, there are some kind of flying insects that hatched and there are hundreds of them flying around. They look like mosquitoes but I think they are some other species.
We finally got within sight of the Mackinac Bridge so pulled off in a scenic viewpoint area and took some pictures.
Right by the bridge, there is another area where you can take some great pictures of the bridge. There is also a bronze statue that honors the workers who lost their lives during the building of the bridge. I think there are five or more names there and it tells what their job was as well.
Then it was off to cross the bridge. $4 at the toll booth and we were on our way to cross it.
Our hotel is pretty nice and has a great view of the bridge as well as the Coast Guard ice breaker that is stationed there. We are right on the water of Lake Huron here and the waves flow in. On the beach, the hotel has 6 fire pits set up with chairs around them and they already lit the fires. If you want, you can cook hot dogs and roast marshmallows.
For supper we ate at a place I have eaten at before and we had whitefish. You can have it prepared four different ways. It was really good. They also have homemade pies but we were too full to order any.
Tomorrow we will head back the starting point and then on Monday, I'll take my sister to the airport for her trip back to Texas.
Day 9:
1st stop? Breakfast
The hotel had breakfast included so I like to drink my juice and take vitamins with it. This motel had a very small breakfast area. They didn't have a large selection of things to eat but they did have the waffle machine. Next to it was the dispenser for the waffle mix. If you have ever used the dispenser, it has PUSH etched on the handle and they also had a big paper sign that said "Push the handle. Do NOT pull."
I didn't have any problems but noticed that the waffle batter was rather runny. We sat down to eat and right away, I did not like the people sitting in the area. The men were having a 3 way conversation about the football draft, who was going to do well, how good the player was in college and how well they would do in the pro's. I could care less about the draft. I think professional sports players are way overpaid to play a game. Anyway, this heated and loud conversation was going on and we were just trying to eat. Meanwhile, my sister got up to get some coffee. While she was in the next room I heard some woman yell out "DO YOU WORK HERE" to my sister. Of course not! Guess what she did? She PULLED the handle and broke the whole darn thing. Waffle batter was pouring out of the machine and it was all over the floor and her hands.
The guy who did work there came running and while shaking his head, he removed the container of batter and took it in the back room. Batter continued to pour out of it while he carried it. He came back with a mop and cleaned up the floor.
We hightailed it out of there!
We did make a stop at the Westside Diner in Flint, MI to have one of their malt and hamburger specials. For about $8.50, you get a full malt in one of those old fashioned metal malt containers along with a hamburger (they grind their meat fresh every day) and fries. It was really good. At one point I went to take a drink of water and my sister stopped me. Oh yeah...Flint water has lead in it. It has been on the national news for weeks. I'm sure they filter their water but I bypassed the drink.
On a final note, I drove my Prius from Marinette, WI to Detroit, MI on only 8.3 gallons of gas! I didn't fill the tank on the whole trip to Detroit. Toyota has done something to their design to optimize the mileage of their hybrids. It really is quite remarkable and there is a lot of room in the car.
I hope you enjoyed this long winded post.
Until our next trip through memory land and beyond...be kind to your fellow man
