The Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Whenever I meet someone new in Florida, we can usually chat for a good 15 minutes, sometimes longer, before an accidental "ruff" (instead of roof) or "ya hey? betrays my origin and I'm asked with a suspicious glare: "Where are you from?"

That's when I usually get into the complicated explanation that yes I'm from Michigan but no it's not anywhere near Detroit. There is usually some demonstration with my hands but eventually I will give up and say with a sigh, "It's almost like I'm Canadian". "Ahhh..." they finally say with an understanding nod, "I have seen the movie Fargo."

Even for those who are from the Midwest, to say I'm from the Upper Peninsula or U.P. only draws blank stares and the "Is that by Detroit?" question. Very rarely, I meet someone who hears "Upper Peninsula" and says "Oh! You're a Yooper" and then I awkwardly hold back my initial desire to kiss them and usually just go with "Holy crap, how did you know that???" Then we reminisce about pasties, deer and the tree to people ratio of the Upper Peninsula.

Now that we've cleared all that up, let me tell you about Ryan's second journey to this magical forest land and my journey home...

Pioneer Days

Every year during the week following the 4th of July, hordes of ex-Negaunee residents migrate to Negaunee, MI for Pioneer Days. Pioneer Days is a time when Negaunee can enjoy the spotlight without the distraction of other holidays and can attract visitors from around the world (well, maybe just the country, depends on the year) for fireworks, nights out on the town, a parade and good old fashioned small town fun. It's during the month or so that the UP is not covered in snow and participants all around town can be heard saying how "muggy" it is while slapping at mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds.

We arrived just in time for the annual "Night on the Town" and I was excited because it was the first time I had been back during this event that I was over 21 and able to enjoy the festivities. Before we hit up the bars, we ate our weight in the best homemade pizza I have ever had at our host's mom's house. When we were confident that we could not fit another piece of mushroom/pesto/marinara or prosciutto/arugula/lemon pizza, we made the trek to Iron Street.

For this "Night on the Town" you have to walk down to Iron Street (yes, walk, no drinking and driving!) and choose from bars named "Barr's", "Rookies", "Chappers" or even "The Hard Rock". Barr's Bar was jam packed full of Negaunee-ans, so it was an excellent choice for our first stop. At Barr's Bar, you can buy a round for a sizeable group of people for around $20. That is both a bargain and a recipe for disaster! Luckily, we all managed to be reasonably responsible adults but I have heard more than a few tales of those who haven't! I made a point to introduce Ryan to absolutely everyone I have ever known so that when I tell him a story later on I can say, "Oh you remember so and so, you met them at Pioneer Days!" He will then nod and smile while thinking "You crazy Brandy, I have no idea who you're talking about"...our marriage is beautiful.

From Barr's we walked to a few other bars (they're all on the same street) and ended up at a place where our host abruptly handed us a bottle of Boone's Farm "wine" and told us to "Drink and pass". I can't say that I have ever been offered Boone's Farm outside of a 7-11 or from the inside of a paper bag from a bum on the street, but it makes for a good story and it tasted like kool aid. All in all, this little town was an excellent party host and we had a really good time....man, those Yoopers can drink!

Marquette and Republic

The next day, we went with my sister, her boyfriend and her friend (who is like my other little sister) and my grandmother to visit my grandfather at the Jacobetti Home for Veterans in Marquette, MI. He has Alzheimer's and while I was very nervous that he wouldn't remember me, he seemed to remember both me and my sister and maybe even Ryan from 3 years ago! It was hard to see him looking so fragile and his arthritis has made his body quite stiff and hard to move but I was so happy to see him and I hope that we helped to brighten his day!

After leaving the home, we had lunch at The Vierling, which is right next to Lake Superior and serves the best blueberry beer (according to Ryan) and whitefish (according to me). Whitefish is a Northern specialty that you won't find in Florida. It's a freshwater fish that is caught in Lake Superior and so I had to sample some while we were in town, even though I normally try to stay away from meat. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting and looking for something local. The breadsticks and cheese dip are really good too!

Another tourist tip that I have is to make sure to visit Presque Isle on Lake Superior. It is gorgeous 365 days a year, but if you go when it's cold, like we did in 2008, you may have to enjoy that beauty from the inside of your car :) On this day, it was a little windy but a local assured us that the wind was blowing in the warm top water and that the water was warmer than normal at McCarty's Cove. (Just outside of Presque Isle) I should have remembered that "warmer than normal" still means pretty darn cold when you're talking about Lake Superior whose annual average water temperature is 40 degrees! We dipped our feet in for about 2.5 seconds before jumping out and bravely stating that "it's not too cold, we just don't want to be in the water right now". We'd make terrible Yoopers.

From the cove we made our way to the breakwall which extends to an adorable lighthouse at the end and we then went to The Black Rocks and to various points around the park. Presque Isle is absolutely stunning and you could spend days there, but we wanted to get to my grandma's house in Republic (about 45 minutes-1 hr away) so we didn't spend as much time there as we could have.

Republic, MI (Population just under 1,000) is an even smaller town than Negaunee (Population around 4,400) but what it lacks in population and businesses, it more than makes up for in beautiful rivers and landscape. My two aunts share 3 acres on the Michigamme River and one lives in a house full time and my other aunt and her family use the smaller cabin for a vacation home. Both buildings are right on the water and make an excellent place to go swimming or to launch a kayak or paddle boat. My sister and co were staying at my aunt's cabin and they hosted us for some fire roasted hot dogs (humanely raised Applegate from the health food store!) and marshmallows. We stayed as long as the mosquitoes allowed us to, but eventually made our way into the safety of my grandma's house for the best night's sleep I had enjoyed in days.

In the morning, we were greeted by the songs of crows. Some may argue that it's more like the God awful squawking of crows, but these are the sounds of my childhood! Let me have this. We made a stop at the Republic Historical Museum where my grandma volunteers a lot of her time before heading to "The Restaurant" for breakfast. The museum is a house from the 1800's that has been restored and filled with all sorts of information and is currently set up to educate visitors about the Great Depression era. It was special for me because many of the old photos were of people that my grandma knew personally and even a few that I knew (it was so weird to see my great grandma Helmi as a young 20 something!) My favorite items were a dress made out of a flour sack and the basketball uniform that they wore back then...who wears short shorts? Republic High School basketball players during the Great Depression!>
When we finally walked into "The Restaurant" (actually named The Summer Place, but we all call it The Restaurant because it's really the only one in Republic) we were greeted by my grandma's brother and sister-in-law as well as a few other Republic residents. I have been going with my grandma to the restaurant since I was little, so I already knew I'd be getting french toast and Ryan bravely ordered the cudighi. Cudighi is another Yooper specific item that is essentially a spicy Italian sausage. It has been said that you know a good cudighi if you burp it up several days later. That is disgusting.

Back to Pioneer Days

Breakfast was lovely but it was now time for one of my favorite things: a parade! We made the drive back to Negaunee just in time to see the honorees of the parade: the fireworks crew of the Negaunee fireworks...they take their fireworks pretty seriously. We had a great spot to watch the parade in front of my friend's cousin's house with the rest of her family. Ryan and I resisted the urge to grab the candy being thrown from the floats and instead gave it to the small children seated near us, plus or minus a few Airheads or Frooties (I cannot find those things anywhere but parades! Maybe that is the entire reason I like parades?)

When the last float in the parade had passed, we hopped into a car with our host to her aunt and uncle's cabin on the Dead River where we were again presented with more food than we could ever eat (Yoopers are very hospitable!) and then led to a boat for some wakeboarding. Ryan did pretty well considering he hasn't been that often and I haven't been wakeboarding in at least 5 years, so I shouldn't have been surprised when the rope was yanked out of my hands rather than pulling me up out of the water...I did feel like a 90 lb weakling, but at least I didn't have the threat of a Florida gator ripping my leg off while I waited in the water with a wakeboard strapped to my feet. UP Pros and Cons- Pro: No gators or really anything poisonous and there are loads of friendly people, Con: 97% of the year is freezing. Perfect for gator phobic, gregarious Eskimos, bad for Brandy's who get cold in 70 degree weather with a sweater on. Sigh.

After a full day of The Restaurant, a parade, food, drink, and boating, it was time for the fireworks. The crew of which had just been honored with the entire theme of the Pioneer Days parade! We climbed up a ladder onto a rooftop and watched the whole show from a birds eye view...pretty cool.

The next morning, with our host hours away from waking up, Ryan and I borrowed her car and drove to Irontown Pasties for the most Yooper-centric item of all: the pasty. Pronounced "pass-tee" not "pace-tee", this culinary delight is a blend of straight up lard, potatoes, rutabaga, onion and ground beef. This hearty, football shaped meat pie was a favorite of early Yoopers who spent long hours in the mine and needed something warm to keep them going. If you're lucky, you'll find them at an English pub since they originated in Cornwall, England as early as 1510 but more than likely, you have not ever heard of them and will only be pitied if you bring it up. "What? You've never heard of pasties?? I swear it's a real thing!"
With a pasty in our bellies, we decided to make the hike out to "Swede", a cliff overlooking Teal Lake in Negaunee. People have been going out to Swede for as long as anyone can remember and at times it even has a dock built onto the rocks for swimmers to jump off of into the lake. Since I hadn't been out there in about 10 years, I should have known that I would get us lost but the important thing is that we eventually made it and it totally didn't live up to the stories I had told Ryan. When you're little, everything seems HUGE, so I think I overexaggerated the height of the rocks that you jump from and when we finally got there, I was in a bit of denial. "No, this can't be it...it was super scary and a million feet high"...after I realized that I had been lying to my husband for years, I took my first jump in the freezing but shockingly refreshing water. I only jumped in twice, which just means I'm getting old because I remember jumping in over and over as a smaller person. Poor old lady. If you can avoid getting lost like I did, maybe by asking a local for directions, Swede offers a beautiful hike and view of the lake, even if the jump isn't a million feet down :)

To summarize: the Upper Peninsula of Michigan has more trees than people, many strange and wonderful foods, interesting accents that are confused with everything from Canadian to Irish accents, lovely people, unspoiled wilderness (I think I stole that from National Geographic somehow) and above all, unless you are a gregarious Eskimo: IS BEST VISITED IN JULY OR AUGUST.

Note: One of my very best friends in the whole wide world hosted us while we were in Negaunee but to respect her privacy, I'm not using her name and "very best friend ever" takes too long to type, so I'm calling her our host. Another very best friend ever drove me from Chicago to the UP and back to Chicago, but unless you're interested in our stop at Maria's Mexican Restaurant in Suamico, WI or how I tried to bribe her dog with dog treats so that he'd love me, our drive was mostly uneventful and just a good chance for us to catch up! I also left out a few other things that were meaningful to me, but I didn't think anyone else would really care about!