Monday June 17, cont'd and Tuesday June 18, 2013, Day 57
We are turning north. John started looking at the map and realized that, since we left Maine, we have been on a southern trajectory rather than heading West. For example, Bar Harbor Maine is above Seattle, latitudinally when we thought we were really far north. We are on a par with Eugene Oregon here in the middle of Michigan.
When we reach the upper most part of Minnesota, we will be on a par once again with Seattle. Longitudinally right now we are with Marysville and Chattanooga, TN. In fact, if we went south on
I-75 we would go toTampa, Florida! It's funny how perception does not match reality!
Looking at the sandy soil here, it reinforces the fact that this was once part of a huge inland sea.
The topography is starting to change, becoming more hilly and wooded.
We stopped at a rest stop and a short distance through the woods, saw this little river Everything is muddy here too, from the rain.
It is looking peaceful though, and very pretty.
We are on the AuSable River. It is 138 miles long and runs east into Lake Huron. I have seen signs to this river before, and maybe there are two such rivers. The name in French means "with sand." Sometimes it is written ausable. I looked u that word and couldnt find anything, so I was glad to learn how it is really written.
So, for you canoeing fans, the Au Sable and Grayling, MI is home to the Au Sable River International Canoe Marathon. Run annually, it goes 120 miles. It is the oldest (1947) longest, non-stop canoe-only race in North America. It has also been billed as "The World's Toughest Spectator Race" since many of the spectators follow the racers overnight down the full 120 miles to the finish. The race is always held the last full weekend in July. To determine the order of racers, there is a sprint held the night of the marathon for which team is fastest, which slowest. There are also three days of sprint trials.
The marathon starts at 9 pm at Grayling, when the canoers must carry their canoes four blocks through the town of Grayling to the river. In addition to paddling 14-19 hours non-stop overnight, they must portage six dams!
Anybody game?
By the way, Grayling was named for the over abundance of Grayling fish, which are now extinct. I'm beginning to see a pattern here.
We passed Cheboygan, MI. I looked it up to see why it was so familiar, and found that it wasn't famous for anything! Vaudeville acts years ago used to have this name in their monologues, I guess because it's fun to say.
And we also passed the town of Vanderbilt. Population 672, it was owned by the Vanderbilt family when the Michigan Central Railroad came through (also owned by the Vanderbilts.) The other claim to fame for Vanderbilt is the coldest ever recorded temperature for Michigan -51 degrees (Feb. 1934) A town nearby, MIO, has the highest recorded temperature for Michigan, 112 (July 1936.)
We drove into Mackinac (pronounced Mac-in-naw). The name is short for an Indian word, Michilimackinac which means big turtle. This is the jumping off point for Mackinac Island, where there are no cars, and a foot path around the island. It is a fun place, and people grab the ferry in Mackinac to get there.
We had something to mail, but the post office was closed for two hours in the middle of the day (fiscal cliff, you know). So with time to kill, we took a look at the Dixie Saloon
and went into a hardware store, where we marveled at this Red Ryder Daisy Carbine. Anyone else like The Christmas Story movie?
Mackinac Island is famous for its fudge. A company called Murdicks has been making it on the island since 1887. They have over fifteen flavors. You can also buy wedding fudge and have it shipped anywhere in the world. There area a few knock off stores as well.
And another Michigan favorite is the Pasty, pronounced Pass-Tee. It is kind of like a calzone, and is filled with meat, vegetables like carrots and rutabagas, carrots, etc. And potatoes. It was made for the miners to take in their lunch pails. I'm sure they had a way to keep it warm. It is kind of dry inside, so it doesn't get soggy. And it's eaten with lots of catsup, which they pronounce '"cat sup" (not ketchup).
We are not going out to the Island, but rather to the upper Peninsula, so we take the Mackinac Bridge. On the right is Lake Huron, and to the left is Lake Michigan.
From the bridge, you can see Mackinac Island and the famous Grand Hotel. It is an old wooden hotel, a la the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego.
Early on in our association careers in Washington D.C., John had a huge convention at this hotel. I attended as well, and we had to fly in to Mackinac from Detroit on Shorter Airlines, whose motto was "Longer than Some, Shorter than Most." John was taking flying lessons at the time, and so the pilot treated us to a few rolls and low dives, much to my discomfort.
This is where I also remember vividly leaning on the sink in the bathroom of our hotel room and having it fall off the wall. Water squirted everywhere. It was early in the morning and very difficult to get the front desk to understand what I was telling them! But it was a lovely place.
That's the island off in the distance. The picture above I got with my wonderful zoom!
And here is the gateway to the Upper Peninsula.
Once again, we are in a sandy area. In fact there are signs warning of sand on the road. this berm separates us from Lake Michigan.
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