Road Trip Report 11

Brief notes on the trip, state by state, with sights, places, and photographs.

Upper Peninsula, Michigan & Wisconsin

After leaving Mackinaw City, Michigan we drove over the Mackinac Bridge to the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan.  (In this post, the U.P. and Wisconsin are combined because it was a full day of driving for us.)

After we crossed the Mackinac Bridge.

Unfortunately it was a rather dreary day, though we were glad it was a planned driving day and not an outside sight seeing day.  We drove US-2 across the U.P. Along the way we saw many, many advertisements for pasties (pronoucned “pass-ties, I think) which are a signature U.P. breakfast.  It’s sort of like a handheld breakfast pie with sausage, bacon, cheese, eggs, and other meat depending on the recipe. Much of the route passed along Lake Michigan and through the Hiawatha and Ottawa National Forests. We passed many abandoned motor courts and through small crossroad towns. One of the biggest towns was Manistique, where we had breakfast at the Cedar Street Cafe.

Pasties everywhere in the U.P.

Although this picture doesn't offer much proof, it was a beautiful view, especially when the sun was shining.

Almost missed it. Wisconsin seems to hide its welcome signs (at least out of drive by photography range).

Wisconsin was just as dreary in terms of the weather, but we soon entered farm country where there are beautiful big, red barns everywhere. US-41 took us to WI-64, with our destination of Brunet Island State Park in Cornell, Wisconsin. We did enjoy the farm country, even with the rain. I could look at barns all day long. One of our favorite parts of the day was towards the end. We needed groceries for camping. Based on the size of the dot for the town on the map, it looked like Medford, WI was the biggest stop before Cornell. Hoping for the best we turned off WI-64 when we saw a “County Market” sign.  As it turns out, we stumbled upon a community owned supermarket! It was as big as normal (chain) grocery stores, clean, well stocked, organized, affordable. We were psyched, especially because we hadn’t found any local grocery stores on our travels yet.

Farm along WI-64.

As we approached Brunet Island State Park, the sun started to shine before setting for the day. And it was the perfect evening for a campfire!

Hooray for sun!

So it may not have been the most exciting road trip day, but we were still glad to see more of the Great Lakes region.

Next up: Minneapolis, MN!