As we mentionened in the posting from yesterday, we found a wonderful little hotel in the quaint lake town of Manistique on the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan. A former Holiday Inn Express, it was bought out by a guy who remodelled the place, adding all sorts of homey touches, including a piano, popcorn maker, coffee (Seattle's Best!!!!) and homemade cookies 24/7, great service, everything in the room WORKS, right across from the lake, and all for $79/night. They had CHOICES of pillows on each bed: soft or firm. It's full of little touches like that, so it's on the top of our hotel list.
The sitting area in the lobby of the Peninsula Pointe Hotel
Before we left the town, Deb and I went for a peaceful walk along the beach and boardwalk across the street.
Lake Huron
Looking at the map, we decided that the Michigan town of Pinconning would be a great place for us to easily get to the shores of Lake Huron. Great Lake No. 3 out of 5 coming up! We got off I-75 and headed east. We drove down a small town road for about three miles, not really knowing whether the road would take us to the lake. Soon enough, we saw a dead-end sign and the entrance to the town park with a boat ramp to Lake Huron! Amazingly, no one was there and we had the whole park to ourselves.
Little did we know at the time that Pinconning is "The Cheese Capital of Michigan" because it is the home of a cheese called .... Pinconning. According to Wikipedia, "Pinconning Cheese is an aged yellow colby-style, semi-soft whole cow's milk cheese. It was developed by Dan Horn in 1915 as an aged version of Colby. Currently, Pinconning Cheese is produced at several plants around Michigan and the United States. Pinconning's flavor and texture are unusual, rich and creamy with an open texture. It is typically eaten instead of cheddar and Colby, and serves well in macaroni and cheese or in souffles. Other products made from Pinconning Cheese are cheese spreads in many flavors."
Mackinaw or Mackinac?
We know it's a question on everyone's mind, and we're proud to be able to give you the definitive answer. Regardless of spelling (Mackinaw or Mackinac) it's always pronounced mack-i-naw. It's an old Native American word that the French pronounced "aw" but spelled "ac." The British heard it pronounced "aw" so they spelled it that way. So just take the easy way out and pronounce it all the same. C'est la vie.
The Cross in the Woods Shrine
Driving south on I-75, we read in one of our AAA tour books about a shrine in Indian River, Michigan, that purports to have the largest crucifix in the world and a museum of nun and priest dolls representing every religious order around the globe. Steve & I looked at each other and said, "We're going there!"
Well, we couldn't find the museum, which totally bummed me out. The cross, however, did not disappoint. It is gigantic!
The cross is made out of a redwood from Oregon, and it is definitely the biggest one we have ever seen. The figure of Christ is a bronze sculpture that was cast in Norway. There is a wonderful history with photos of the installation online at http://www.crossinthewoods.com/
There is a gift shop at the shrine where you can buy all kinds of Catholic religious items. Now, I don't know who came up with the idea for this item: a shot glass with a picture of the cross on it! When I saw it, I couldn't help but giggle. I pointed it out to Steve and he started laughing, too. Of course, he had to buy one! When the clerk rang up the sale, she asked Steve if he wanted a bag, and he said, "No, thank you. I am going to start drinking now." I laughed quietly. The clerk didn't seem to get the
humor.
No caption is necessary.
Chillermania!
We saw billboards along the road advertising this tourist destination, not thinking much about it. However, on our side jaunt to The Cross thingie, we stumbled upon this, uh, um, 'unique' attraction. That last word is also written with some degree of rhetoric. It was a private home decorated with an abundance of horror/macabre/monstery illustrations, on the house, the barn, the RV, and any other surface on the property. The big sign said 'World Headquarters for Books By Jonathan Rand!' Deb and I exchanged puzzled looks. There's an author we don't know? Eager to learn more, we Googled Mr. Rand, finding that we had missed his book signing at a local bookstore the day before. As it turns out he writes very entertaining children's books, from what we can tell on the website: http://www.americanchillers.com/
Has anyone ever heard of him? Is he just a local phenomenon? Certainly, his local advertising guru knows how to plug him. Take a look at the website, though, and download the first few chapters. Let us know what you think!
Pasties
What is a pastie? We saw shops selling them all over the northern Great Lakes region. We decided it was time to stop and find out at Suzy's Pasties on U.S. 2 just west of the Mackinac Bridge that connects Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas.
A pastie is a meat-and-vegetable pie with a very thick crust to keep the filling hot for quite a long time. We bought a turkey pastie and didn't eat it for a couple of hours and it was still warm when we ate it. Amazing! The filling was a hearty mix of turkey and potatoes and only a little sauce, making the pasty kind of dry. The crust was very thick, which added to the dryness. This pastie tasted good, although bland. Both of us thought it could have used some spicier filling.
Has anyone else out there eaten one? Are they always kind of bland?
The clerk in the pastie shop told us that this food originated in the mining region of Cornwall, England. Pasties allowed miners to take a hot meal with them into the mines. In the upper Great Lakes region, there is a lot of mining, and the pastie became a popular food with miners in America, too.
P.S. Do NOT call it a 'pay-stee,' which is something else entirely (you can check on that yourselves). We do know that spelling it pasty always refers to the food. Spelling it pastie can refer to the food or the other definition.Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs
-- Birdbath & Beyond (business selling outdoor statuary)
-- Three Seasons Cafe (this says it all for when they are open)
Billboards with clever & weird Web addresses
-- www.poopycredit.com (car-loan business)
-- www.dumpmyspouse.com (a divorce lawyer)
(These made us laugh while driving on I-75)
Weird town names
Zilwaukee
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