Off to the UP and the winner is…….

Wednesday June 11, 2014
Tahquamenon Falls State Park
Paradise, Michigan

 

 

 

We have really enjoyed our time at Sleeping Bear Dunes. 

 

It is definitely a place to return to and stay longer.  But now it is time to move on up into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It has turned out that the mosquitoes weren’t too bad here in fact most of what we thought were mosquitoes were midges.  Midges are bigger and more bothersome but the don’t bite.  A definite improvement over a mosquito.  Still when they are swarming around your face you tend to hustle away.

We are taking M 31 up and around the east side of the lake and over to I 75 across the Mackinaw Bridge.  Several people have told us not to miss Mackinac Island.  We were there on previous trips to Michigan and found it to be cute and quaint and too touristy for us so we don’t feel the desire to go back this time.

 

I must interrupt my narrative here to redress a rather great omission.

Some readers have been asking about the cherry pie. We have had two pieces of cherry pie thus far from two different bakeries. One from Grand Traverse Pie Company where we stopped in Traverse City near the end of our Leelanau circle drive and where we should have eaten dinner rather than at Don’s and one from The Cherry Republic the next day on our bike ride.

Cherry Republic’s pie was quite good but the Grand Traverse Pie was outstanding. So one place we do have a great desire to go back to is the Grand Traverse Pie Company.  But now we are driving Winnona.  We cannot drive through downtown Traverse City to go back for more of what was crowned the best cherry pie either of us have ever eaten other than David’s and my mother’s.  (She taught him).   The Grand Traverse cherry crumb pie is simply exquisite. And I think you can order one on line if you want to find out for yourself.

 

 

David really wants another piece of that pie.

 

As we drive on through the busy traffic of Traverse City, we are fairly bummed about this problem.  And then I get on line and find that Grand Traverse Pie Company has several locations throughout Michigan.  Most of them are in heavily populated areas in the southern part of the state BUT their northern most location is in Petoskey Michigan which just happens to be on our route today.   I begin doing google maps and good earth to see how we could possibly stop there.  It isn’t looking good since it is located in down town on a boulevard with parallel parking and a wide green divider strip even though its location is only 2 blocks off of M 31.   We to the street, look to our right and see that the first block has empty parallel parking spots.  David wheels Winnona in.  He’s amazing.  He REALLY does want another piece of that pie.

 

Since we are taking up 3 or 4 parking meters, David waits with Winnona and Ruby while I head off down the block to bring home the pie.  He thinks I’m going to get a couple of pieces but I’m actually going to surprise him with the whole pie.  $16 is a great price for a pie that good.   Cut into 8 pieces that’s $2 a slice.  You won’t get a slice of pie anywhere for that.

 

 

 

 

It’s a tough decision. 

 

They have  8 different cherry pie combinations.  See the list here. Our first two pieces were their Cherry Crumb which was fantastic.  They also make what they call an Old Mission Cherry pie which is a two crust.  Looks exactly like the one David makes except they make theirs with the standard white flour and he makes his Betty Crocker flaky crust with healthier spelt flour.  

There is only one of each left.   I’m actually tempted to buy them both but that’s just too gluttonous.  Since David isn’t there to ask I buy the crumb since it is the one he loved.  A good excuse to come back to Michigan to try the Old Mission.

 

That’s the Old Mission on the top and the empty spot where the Cherry Crumb I just bought used to be.  Whew, we got here just in time.

 

 

 

Winnona heads out to cross the five mile Mackinac Bridge.

 

Back in the rig with the pie safely riding on the fluffy bed comforter David takes Winnona, towing Ruby on a dolly, around the block and through a construction zone and back onto M 31.   He must have been a Greyhound driver in another life.  With everything together we are 58 feet long.

We cross over the beautiful bridge and into the unpopulated UP, or so it looks from the roads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A town named Paradise, that sounds good.

It’s 213 mile trip in total and we’re glad to see the sign for Paradise, the town closest to the park.  Paradise, sounds like a great place doesn’t it?

We enter the park, stop to take on water and then move on to our pull through site #14.  It’s a nice big site near the steps down to the river. 

 

We get out to begin the set up.  At this point it’s mid afternoon.  The mosquitoes are here, but not too bad.  We hook up the electric, level the coach, put out the slides.  The camp host is just across from us.  He says “Smart move to come during the best part of the day”.  He explains that the mosquitoes are the worst they have been here in 15 years due to the heavy snow and rain and the late thaw. 

David chats with him. It’s getting later, the mosquitoes are getting thicker.  We shortcut the rest of the set up and run inside to enjoy the pie.   We’ll put out the screen room, the mats, chairs and tables tomorrow.

And enjoy the pie we do .  Just look at it.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the real trouble starts.

The mosquitoes are inside the coach.  We are slapping them.  We are using our hands and fly swatters.  David goes out to ask the camp host.  He says “use deet, they come inside any opening they can”.

I’m allergic to deet and wouldn’t want to breathe it or having it on my skin even if I weren’t.  Obviously these Michiganders don’t have the same qualms.  We try dryer sheets.  No effect.  We go back to swatting.  After a while we decide to do a count for an hour.  We put the bodies that don’t end up on the floor onto the kitchen counter to see how many.   We are completely horrified at the number.    We bring in the slides in case they are coming in some way through the seals.

 

 

Given the number we killed in one hour, you can imagine how many we killed over the course of the evening.  There seems to be no end of them.

We keep at it until 10:00 at which time we have killed most of them or  perhaps they’ve given up coming in for the night. We sleep fairly well.  Only one or two are buzzing around.  David wears a hat.  I keep the sheets pulled up to my nose.