Somewhere there are Farmers Smiling – Day 117

Day 117 – July 26, 2003 – Saturday

Somewhere there are Farmers Smiling
 

Today did not turn out as planned! We had really looked forward to our visit to Mackinac Island. At 7 am, we awakened to heavy rain and reports for thunderstorms throughout the day and weekend. There are no cars allowed on Mackinac Island — only foot traffic and bicycles, so it isn’t a place to visit in the rain. Reluctantly, we packed our bags and headed out of town, knowing that we’ll return again someday, hopefully with better weather.

The beds at the Comfort Inn were terrible. Neither of us slept well; we got up with our backs hurting. This added insult to injury. We were so disappointed about Mackinac Island.

We saw Castle Rock in the rain and the Paul Bunyan and Babe sculptures there.

We’ve had VERY LITTLE rain on the trip. Only two rain-outs — today and the day I spent in Lexington, Kentucky. We hope the rain has some farmers smiling.

We drove across the Mackinac Bridge, and we decided to give Mackinac another try for fudge (since the area is known from having a million and one fudge shops, and the fudge we bought last night tasted like it had been around since 1887 when the shop originated). Eniko at the Fort Fudge Shop assured us that their fudge is made fresh every morning, so we bought some, and it was great! We enjoyed speaking with Eniko. She was born in Transylvania, now lives in Romania, and was in the US to work for the summer.

The drive on Highway 23 along the coast of Lake Huron was really boring. Nothing to see. Not very pretty. So, we decided we’d better photograph a lot of mailboxes as we might not see much else of interest. We saw some interesting ones. I hope the online traveler who emailed to ask us to take mailbox photos is checking the web site regularly, as we sure spent a lot of time on mailbox photography.

We saw the Forty Mile Lighthouse. It was built in 1896.

The Paul Bunyan made of car parts in Alpena was very nice. Much nicer than the painted cement ones we’ve seen everywhere else.

I was really pleased when Bozzie Jane spotted a sign advising that we were crossing the 45th Parallel — halfway between the Equator and the North Pole.

In Ossineke, we saw the life’s work of Paul Domke. Paul built approximately 30 dinosaur sculptures, and they are now on display in Dinosaur Gardens. Paul was also very religious, and a huge sculpture of Jesus holding the Earth is out front. Dinosaur Gardens was built in the 1930’s on a 40 acre tract of drained swampland. There are sculptures of dinosaurs, prehistoric birds, prehistoric mammals, and cavemen.

We had lunch at Connie’s Cafe in Ossineke. It was the only option in town. The bread was great, but the meat on our sandwiches was rubbery. Our waitress had the personality of a stick. The Raspberry Pie wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t even in the same league as the Raspberry Pie at Dutch Mother’s in Linden, Washington.

I repeatedly held doors open for people in Michigan — mainly women and children. I never had anyone say thank you or even acknowledge me.

There was supposed to be a statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe in Ossineke, but we drove up and down the road and never saw it. We saw the Paul Bunyan Kamp Ground, and I thought Paul might be hiding there, but nope. I finally decided it must be long gone. There was a sign at the city limits that said “the land of fun and sun.” We had no sun and not much fun.

We did find a Paul Bunyan in Oscoda later in the day.

Just outside the town of Black River, we saw a tree with some shows hanging from it. I stopped for a photo, because in Michigan, this is a major attraction.

Several towns down the road we came across the unique front yard of Gordon Clute. It seems Gordon has been creating cement sculptures of cartoon characters for some time, and close to 30 fill his front yard. Lots of folks were stopped taking photos, and we joined them. In his yard, Gordon has 29 sculptures ranging from Mickey Mouse to Winnie the Pooh to a farmer with a plow to Elmer Duck to a horse with an Indian chief. Gordon made them all himself, and they are just sitting in his front yard. There were signs that said “welcome to take pictures.” A lot of people were there. More people were there than at Dinosaur Land.

We decided to detour to see the Bavarian town of Frankenmuth. We saw a brochure about it at a Visitor Center, but we knew nothing about it. What a great surprise! Frankenmuth is a beautiful town with great restaurants and shops — all Bavarian themed. It was much bigger and nicer than the other themed towns we’ve seen.

The biggest attraction in Frankenmuth is Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland. It defies description. It is the World’s Largest Christmas Store. The store fills a space about the size of two football fields. Massive. But there are also displays outside that cover acre after acre — Christmas decorations of all types. They also have a replica of the Silent Night Chapel. My Mother would have absolutely loved it. Anyone who really loves Christmas decorations should make a point to visit Bronner’s in Frankenmuth! See www.bronners.com.

We could have bought a ton of stuff at Bronner’s, but we limited ourselves to one cherry pie-shaped Christmas ornament. Monica helped us as we walked in; they provide maps to help you find your way around, and you really need the maps as Bronner’s is one department and display after another — and no dull, boring straight aisles anywhere.

Frankenmuth is also known for two restaurants that serve over two million guests annually. We went to the best — Zehnder’s. It’s a huge place that specializes in chicken dinners. We were still fairly full from a late lunch, so we opted for dessert. Our waitress, Renea, was certainly one of the most entertaining we have encountered. She was a hoot and a half. We learned all about her children. When she learned about our trip, she was pulling pie from four or five of the Zehnder restaurants and shops. We had a very unique Peach Pie that we both loved. It was made with a very firm peach that didn’t get mushy — couldn’t have been cooked for long (if at all). The peach slices were huge and obviously fresh, and it was really, really good. We also had excellent Blueberry Streusel and Cherry Streusel.

Renea introduced us to Martha Zehnder-Shelton, one of the Zehnder owners, and we really enjoyed meeting her and learning more about Zehnder’s and Frankenmuth. We learned that their busiest time of year is October (Octoberfest) and November – December (Christmas and a big snow festival). Zehnder’s is the second largest independent restaurant in the U.S., and America’s largest family restaurant. All-you-can-eat family-style chicken dinners are the most popular menu item. Zehnder’s serves about a million people a year, and guests consume 840,000 pounds of chicken; 628,000 pounds of cabbage; 110,000 pounds of vegetables, and 26,000 pounds of coffee. Zehnder’s originated in 1856 as the Exchange Hotel. The Zehnder family purchased the hotel in 1927, and the all-you-can-eat chicken dinners began in 1929.

I bought a Coke at a Mobil station on the way out of Frankenmuth, and it had that grass taste that I have run into several times on the trip.

Every motel room for miles around was taken as Frankenmuth is so popular, and we learned it was the 100th Anniversary Celebration for Buick in Flint, Michigan. We were EXTREMELY lucky to find one room available at a Marriott in Flint. The parking lot was filled with gorgeous classic Buicks!

Michigan has been a disappointing state — not much to see, not very pretty compared to the other states we’ve visited, and the people have not been as friendly here. Frankenmuth was a breath of fresh air.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Castle Rock — Mackinac Bridge — Paul Bunyan Made of Car Parts — 45th Parallel — Dinosaur Gardens — Gordon Clute’s Front Yard — Frankenmuth Michigan — Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland — Zehnder’s
 

Boring Michigan – Day 116

Boring Michigan

Day 116 – July 25, 2003 – Friday

Today was one of the most boring days we’ve had. We were both tired today. I’m sure we could have made the day more enjoyable if we had worked harder at it. The fatigue factor is certainly having an impact at this point.

When we left the beautiful Comfort Inn in Iron Wood, Michigan, it was 79 degrees, blue skies, and scattered white clouds. This was the best hotel buy for the money. It was a very nice room in the $40 range. It was, of course, very much appreciated because we were afraid we would have to sleep in the car last night.

We met two really nice folks at the Visitor Information Center in Iron Mountain — Lea and Curtis. They were extremely helpful, and we enjoyed speaking with them. They recommended B’s Country Cafe, and we had excellent breakfasts there followed by a good piece of Apple Pie. Wonderful home-baked bread, too. B’s is the epitome of the type of local cafe that we planned to visit throughout the trip. Diane was our waitress.

In Iron Mountain, we saw the Roosevelt Ski Jump. It’s a big, rickety-looking wooden ski jump. Skiers apparently climb up it some way carrying their skis. Scary idea. This 90-meter jump hosts annual international competitions in February, and is the site of the current U.S. distance record. Very scary idea.

We also saw the building that houses the World’s Largest Steam-Driven Pump at the Cornish Pump and Mining Museum, but the folks inside wanted $1 to see it and would not allow photographs. Billboards claim it is 55-feet tall and weighs over 700 tons, but the building seemed to be no more than 40-feet at the peak. We saved our dollar.

We saw the Piers Gorge. We had read that the raging whitewater of the Menominee River scraped out this fascinating, 70-foot-deep gorge on the border between Michigan and Wisconsin, but it appeared to be no big deal — just a little ripple in the water.

It was nice to be in Norway…Michigan.

We looked for Herman, but we were unable to find him in Hermansville.

We had to stop every quarter of a tank of gas in North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan to clean the bugs off the windshield.

We saw a 17-foot tall, 28-foot long, 30 ton bear on the side of the road in the town of Vulcan. Artist John Radlovic of Cedar Lake, Indiana did the sculpture.

In Hermansville, we saw a sign that we thought was promoting Woodstock. A closer look, and it was for the Woodtick Music Festival.

There are a lot of lighthouses along the Great Lakes, and we saw a few today. We saw a Paul Bunyan-like sculpture, and we saw some great moose sculptures — each one dressed differently. I took a photo of a moose wearing a tuxedo at a Comfort Inn in Manistique River, Michigan.

We got our first look at the Mackinac Bridge (Big Mac) — the World’s Largest Suspension Bridge (not counting one larger in Japan). And we saw both Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Unlike most lakes, the Great Lakes have shorelines and waves that look like calm ocean shorelines.

Joanne took care of us at the motel. We also met Sarah. We gave them beads, and they gave us free ferry tickets for Mackinac Island tomorrow. Nice trade!

We went to The Galley for dinner. It wasn’t bad — just not particularly good. We did meet two cute kids — Lizzie and Jimmy, and their dad, Gary. Lizzie came right up to me and told me how pretty she thought my beads were.

This area is known for fudge, so we visited Murdick’s Fudge for dessert. They’ve been in business since 1887. We were disappointed. The fudge seemed stale.

Just not a very good day. And tomorrow may be no better. The forecast is for thunderstorms. We have really looked forward to our day at Mackinac Island, but a ferry ride over to an island where the sole means of transportation are foot or bicycle may be out tomorrow. We will either spend the day in a motel room here, or head on down the road and visit Mackinac Island another time.

Today resulted in the fewest photos of any of our days on the road. Just not much to see, and highway construction caused it to be slow going. Boring Michigan.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Iron Mountain Michigan — Roosevelt Ski Jump — World’s Largest Steam-Driven Pump — Piers Gorge — Vulcan Bear — Mackinac Bridge — Murdick’s Fudge