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The Mackinac Bridge is a really nice looking suspension bridge with green railings. Fun facts: it is five miles long (the third longest suspension bridge in the world), the roadway is about 200 ft. above the water and apparently it can sway up to 35 feet back and forth in severe wind. Michigan is super smart and has several rest stops right past the bridge so that people can stop and see the scenic view.
The State Park where we camped had really nice tent spots. Fortunately for us there were not a ton of other crazies out camping in a tent during late September (however there were multiple campers right by our little tent) so we got a prime spot right next to the lake. Cliff and I heated our canned soup, fed the dog, and went to bed. Hunting is big in the U.P. so we heard shots first thing in the morning as there were already folks on the water looking for ducks. Rudy is very gun shy so he freaked out. He honestly sat between Cliff and I shaking for like a half an hour. He could never be a hunting dog. Oh- I failed to mention earlier that his barking in the car had almost stopped by this point. Ignoring works!
The next morning when we got out onto the road we kept seeing roadside stands selling Pastys and gas stations that sold smoked fish and fresh jerky. Obviously we stopped. While Cliff cleaned the bugs off our windshield I got to go into an awesome gas station with fresh meat sticks (regular and spicy), smoked whole fish (along with some very large smoked chunks), and pelts on the walls. I'm not saying pelts for decoration. These pets were for sale and by the dozen. Squirrels, foxes, racoons, pretty much any small/medium sized animal you could imagine was for sale. I got to overhear a conversation between a customer and the cashier about about their kids honing their hunting skills. I bought two meat sticks (one of each kind) and a few post cards. The meat sticks were super good. Cliff said they were the best meat sticks he ever had (I think they might have been maybe my second or third meat sticks ever). Sadly, I started to have some sort of allergic reaction after eating them so Cliff got to finish them all.In pure road trip fashion, once I decided that we were going to eat Pastys in Michigan we couldn't find a roadside stand to save our lives. It very much reminded me of driving through Arizona with the Andrea, Stephen, and Nicole looking for fresh buffalo jerky after we had already unknowingly passed the last stand. I pretty much had given up hope when we saw Colonel K's Pasty Shop in the last town before we crossed over into Wisconsin. Colonel K's tag line is "the friendly food shaped like a smile". Amazing. Cliff got the traditional beef and rutabaga and I got a chicken and broccoli. They were pretty wonderful little meat pockets. For dessert we got a custard cookie (see the photo over Cliff's shoulder below) which was blueberry custard between two thin waffle circles that sat in the deep freeze overnight. Another solid, hearty meal.
After lunch we finished our tour of the U.P. and crossed into Wisconsin. We pretty much just drove for the rest of the day. Cliff started to get a headache so we set up camp at Lake Wissota State Park and went to bed early. Fun fact: Lake Wissota is crawling with mosquitoes. It was awful. It has just rained so there was standing water all around us (I'm not just talking about the lake either) and they were everywhere. They were relentless. They even followed you into the bathroom. As soon as the sun got up I was ready to hightail it out of there as I was done with Lake Wissota.
Once we were well into Minnesota we could not find a rest stop anywhere that had food. We finally lucked out as we found a little town with an A&W/Subway at their gas station. We split a sub, fried cheese curds (amazing!), and a homemade dairy treat. Food is a wonderful thing on a road trip.
The upper Midwest is really flat with a ton of lakes. We both thought that the upper part of Minnesota and Wisconsin were prettier than the southern parts. We didn't really take any side trips so we only got to see what was to the side of I-94 but it was nice to drive through..
We crossed into North Dakota and I was so excited. The first trip across the country I had a minor panic attack in South Dakota because the landscape was so different from anything that I had ever seen before (especially after you cross the Missouri River and get into the black hills). I wanted to see if I had the same reaction five years later in the northern sister state. I did not. I loved North Dakota! It was so relaxing to drive through the prairie. I got homemade honey roasted soybeans at their welcome center, good postcards at their gas stations, and Cliff and I stopped at this really fun winery right off of I-94. The Maple River Winery is in the tiny town of Casselton, ND. Wikipedia reports that the town is 1.4 square miles. The winery only makes fruit wines. Honestly every type of local fruit wine imaginable. They had chokecherry, crabapple, apple and jalapeno, dandelion, lilac, pumpkin, two kinds of rhubarb, plus a ton more. Very fun. Also, they apparently now ship to Maryland (can we say Christmas presents anyone?). We saw their advertisement in the welcome center and got intrigued as we had never had rhubarb wine. We met Adam, the salesman, and he told us all about the town, the wine, and were to eat dinner that night. He also told us to camp before we got to Bismark as their was an oil boom in the western part of the state and all of the hotels and camp grounds filled up two days earlier (good tip!). We followed Adam's advice and ate at Corner Pizza in Valley City, ND. Valley City is a big college town in North Dakota (pop. of 6.585) and Corner Pizza is apparently so popular that they freeze their pizzas for distribution all around the state. Per Adam's recommendation, Cliff and I got a taco pizza. Good choice. Plus we lucked out as we got two free pops because it was a Monday and two free ice cream treats for dessert as we ate in the dining area. It was awesome. They might have been a little heavy handed on the dorrito chip topping, but who I am to say. Driving through North Dakota at sunset was so wonderful. I felt really content. We had Fleetwood Mac's Rumors on the radio and I was happy. The first two trips across I felt a lot of anxiety as we were always kinda rushed. With this trip we allowed ourselves to just take our time and soak it in. We are two lucky people.
That night we camped at a nice camp ground east of Bismark in Jamestowne, ND (we passed two white buffalo on the way) and once again we were the only tent set up in a field of campers. Lucky, we got the best spot an the site as we had an awesome view of the prairie sunset.
Rudy was now a traveling dog. No barking. He was sitting quietly and nicely in the back seat as we ate quickly at restaurants. Just generally being an awesome dog. Cliff and I decided to ease the reigns a bit as he seemed to have the hang of the whole traveling and camping thing.
I know that I have typed a ton so I am going to close with a pretty classic Kim and Cliff photo. I took it (as you can see by the reflection in Cliff's sunglasses) and like always I forgot to zoom back out after the last picture.
Good night!
Oh NO you missed lienenkugel's?!?! I guess it's alright... but you could have stopped at the lienie lodge. Who needs coffee to perk them up when beer can do the trick!? -Allen
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