We finally made it to Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, to the town of St. Ignace. Billboards everywhere in the area advertised “fudge, fish dip and pasties”. Our first thought was, what the heck is a “pasty”? We contacted our friends Debbie and Larry down in Kalamazoo, to find out the scoop on what a “pasty” was. Thankfully, we found out they are a pastry case traditionally filled with beef sirloin, potato, rutabaga and onion. And, they were actually quite tasty too! We loved the fish dip and could not resist the fudge available on practically every corner.
We then took the ferry to Mackinaw Island, which took us under the famous 5 mile long Mackinaw Bridge. Once on the island, we discovered that the main means of transportation was by horse and buggy or bicycle. There were no motorized vehicles anywhere to be seen. We took the Carriage Tour that passed by the Grand Hotel, somewhere Sallie had wanted to go to since watching the movie “Somewhere in Time”, released in 1980. The Grand Hotel was absolutely beautiful inside and out. The property was enormous and the views from the long wraparound porch were spectacular! The tour then took us to a halfway point stop, where Sallie and Ruth entered the Blacksmith Shop to “Forge a Memory” into their very own blade. They both worked with metal mallets and hammered a fired red hot piece of metal and railroad spike into knives. They were then grinded, shaped, sharpened, polished and sealed. A treasured gift forever!
We spent the night at the Lakeview Hotel, got up early the next day and rented bicycles to ride the 8.2 miles around the island. The views were fantastic and the color of the water, Lake Huron was the prettiest blues ever! Sallie visited Fort Mackinaw and enjoyed the firing of the canyons and muskets. After spoiling some of the horses with apples, we ferried back to St. Ignace. Our last day in the U.P., we found a beach and enjoyed some much needed relaxation.
Getting out there and seeing new places and doing new things will fond wonderful memories… live for the day!
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