Day 11: The Great Sibling Trip 2017

About Us

            We are a brother (Detroit, MI) and sister (Houston, TX) who love to travel together to parts unknown. This year my sister flew into Detroit and we began our journey West. Stops include Davenport, IA, the Amana Colonies in Amana, IA, Marengo, IA, Des Moines, IA, Omaha, NE, Grand Island, NE, Rapid City, SD, Sioux Falls, SD, several cities in MN including Mankato, MN, Wisconsin Dells, WI, Marinette, WI, Mackinaw City, MI and back to Detroit.

            We are also stopping for selfies and pictures along the way at some very interesting and unusual out of the way places that you will see in the blog. Enjoy!

Fun Facts:

• Total Miles Driven so far: 3,050 
• Average Miles Per Gallon for the entire trip so far: 56.5 MPG
• Average Miles Per Gallon today: 67.8 MPG
• Car being driven: 2016 Prius 4
• Miles Driven Today: 220 Miles
• Weather: Perfect with temps around 80 

     Today was another busy day filled with checking out the new Navy war ships being built in Marinette, WI, driving to a new location (our last before coming home), geocaching, taking pictures of the Mackinaw Bridge and eating whitefish and pie at a great restaurant.
     Marinette is the home of a factory that builds the Staten Island ferries and for the last several years, they are building the new generation of war ships. They are rumored to go as fast as 50 knots or more.

     There isn't too much to report about the drive other than driving along the Lake Michigan shoreline is beautiful. We had a stiff wind and I have to tell you that when your drive across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, you will experience all kinds of weather and temperatures. In our case today, we had temperatures ranging from a chilly 63 degrees to a high of 88 degrees. Unreal.

     On the way today, we turned over 3,000 miles of driving on our trip! As you can see, our average MPG during the entire 3,000 miles is 56.8 MPG.

Traveled over 3,000 miles on this trip

     We had some fun geocaching  but I managed to obtain in injury today (just a scratch but a bleeder).

Logging a geocache

Inside a geocache container

Logging a geocache

Blood on a napkin from the "scratch"

The scratch

     We then had some fun at a local Starbucks.

Bear wrestling

Sneaking up on a bear

     Ugh! One of the most frustrating things we have encountered is SLOW WIFI. Tonight is really bad. It was great before everyone checked in but now it is terrible.
     Due to the slow Internet, I'll just add a couple of pictures of the Mackinaw bridge.

Mackinaw Bridge

Mackinaw Bridge at night

Good night!

Retracing Our Past Through Travel - Day Nine

     On July 7, we drove all the way from Marinette, WI to Detroit, MI. Before leaving, we decided to eat once again at Schloegels. 

Potato Pancakes

      Driving was going great until we were about 1 mile from the Mackinac Bridge in the UP. Stop and Go! The traffic was backed up for a long ways. We finally made it to the lower peninsula and promptly exited to eat in Mackinac City.

Chef in a Melon

     We ate at the same restaurant that we ate breakfast in a week before. I ordered the Fish and Chips plate. Let me tell you, the fish was fresh and I got 3 huge pieces for under $10. At the salad bar, they had the carved melon shown above.
      After eating, we entered the freeway only to find stop and go driving all the way down to where I-75 and US-23 branches off just south of Flint. What a long drive that was. The good thing is that I averaged 62.8 MPG all the way! More on that in my next blog.



      By the time we got to Flint it was 8 PM so we decided to stop at the Westside Diner on Balenger Highway. They have a burger, malt and fries special so we ordered that. They make the best malts and you get the entire metal cup that they make it in. We ordered one malt and split it. The waitress really outdid herself! That is REAL whipped cream on top.

Our Burgers

     After we got back on the freeway and entered the split, most of the traffice went down US 23 so it was free sailing after that.  We arrived at home around 10:30 PM and we were dead tired.
     So as a recap, we left Detroit on June 30 and hit Mackinac City, Marinette, WI, the cemetery in Marinette, WI, Stillwater, MN, Worthington, MN, the cemetery near Adrian, MN, Sioux Falls, SD, Lamberton, MN, Mankato, MN and then back to Marinette, Mackinac City and Detroit on July 7. Along the way, we buried our Mom, saw many of our relatives, and Retraced Our Past Through Travel.



    

Retracing Our Past Through Travel - Day One

     In May, my mom died at the ripe old age of 99 years. She was a marvelous woman far ahead of her time and she lived life to the fullest. She passed away in Pennsylvania but she needed to be buried in Minnesota. She told us she wanted to be cremated and then taken to where she was born in Minnesota to be buried next to her parents.
     This first installment on my blog follows the trip that my sister and I are taking to take our mother's cremains to their final resting place. This trip is retracing a trip that we took countless times to our grandma's farm in Minnesota when we were children.
     So...we begin with my sister calling me a few days before she was to arrive telling me she traded in her gas guzzling mini van for a gas sipping Toyota Prius. Well, I thought to myself, there goes my packing list. You see, I take after my mother and take everything but the kitchen sink with me when I travel. So now I had to repack everything into a smaller sized load. Let's see...slide projector and slides to show to relatives along the way, computer in my Swiss backpack, good camera in my Lowepro backpack, suitcase, survival bag and cooler for drinks. Check!
     I looked out the window as she drove in the driveway and almost fell off my chair. An ORANGE car and a small one at that! Oh No!!! It's a clown car from the circus! Everyone is going to laugh at us!

Here it is!

     I'm thinking to myself "another yuppy car..." but little did I know what the future held for me.

     We packed the car and...well, you better take a look at it...

The full car

     Yes my friends, it is packed to the gills with all our things along with Mom and the back seats are even down. I thought to myself, "Man, the mileage is going to go to hell with all this weight."

     Our first stop on the trip while retracing the drive we took so many times was to Mackinac City, MI to take in the 5 mile long Mackinac Bridge. It's a suspension bridge over Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. 

Here's me in front of the bridge

     Next, you will soon find out that FOOD is at the top of my list so you will most always see pictures of food. We looked up a good restaurant and while on the way, I hit the brakes pretty hard. We heard a loud BANG! when something slammed into the center console. I said "What was that!". My sister calmly said "That was Mom." We had a good laugh. Here's a picture of my fresh Michigan Whitefish dinner.

Whitefish

     After dinner we walked to a local fudge shop and bought 4 slices of fresh Michigan fudge. Boy was it good. 

Fudge

     Last thing I did for the day was venture into a local saloon for something to cool off with. I was enjoying my brew and when I looked up, I saw something familiar; a toilet seat with some writing on it.

1st Place

     The bar entered the 1st annual Outhouse Race in Mackinac City in 2013 and they took first place. Apparently 1st Place was awarded a toilet seat! I should know something about Outhouse Races. They are built on skis and pushed 500 feet on hard-packed snow. I should know; I was the official photographer of the Trenary Outhouse Races for ten years. The races are held every year in Trenary, MI. 

     End of Day One