Michigan Upper Peninsular

Great pictures Erich and thanks for taking the time to post them. Yes it is beautiful country. I really do need to get my passport sometime soon. I replaced my lost citizenship papers at the cost of $250 and over a year wait so I could get one. Now I'm nervous about leaving them with the passport application while it's processed.

Thanks for all the suggestions and will go through them with my wife. She is looking forward to some relaxation as she just retired from her RN job and will be starting a new one after we get back with a new hospital in the county this time. Maybe I can get her into some nice fish as she's only caught pan fish on her ultralite before.
I've heard of the Antlers restaurant before and does sound like a good place to try. We do love the local Whitefish too. We'll certainly be getting some pasties there as they do make the best ones. We can get them here but they aren't as good as in the UP.

I'll be sure we don't wind up in Canada as I'll be carrying my S&W Model 37 and likely other guns in the truck. They don't take kindly to entering Canada with guns without proper paperwork. I used to get nervous taking my 12 gauge flare gun on my sailboat into Canada as it can be considered a firearm there.
 
I'm of Cornish descent, and the pastie comment made me curious.

Does the UP have any history with say miners? Cornwall was famous for tin mining back in the day (1800s), and from what I understand of my heritage, my elders emigrated across the US along the northern area (e.g. Anaconda Copper Mine in MT?) before settlling in Oregon/Washington.

The UP is definetely on the bucket list when we retire in a few years.

I love the outdoors, could care less about touristy type areas.
 
Llando88 said:
I'm of Cornish descent, and the pastie comment made me curious.

Does the UP have any history with say miners? Cornwall was famous for tin mining back in the day (1800s), and from what I understand of my heritage, my elders emigrated across the US along the northern area (e.g. Anaconda Copper Mine in MT?) before settlling in Oregon/Washington.

The UP is definetely on the bucket list when we retire in a few years.

I love the outdoors, could care less about touristy type areas.
Click to expand...
There were a lot, and still some mining in the western part of the Upper Peninsula. I believe copper was one of the big commodities.
 
Copper was the biggest especially around and north of Hancock, Holton. If it wasnt for the mosquitoes and gnats I believe all of the north country would be as over populated as the rest of the country. Nice, but can be torture. I also recall being more miserable in the far north when it got hot and muggy than I ever felt on the Mohave desert at 112 degrees! The UP also gets the most snow in the country I believe.
 
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Lots of Finns, Norwegians, Danes, etc. in the UP. The two big industries were/are forestry and mining (copper, iron ore). Another group found up there, somewhat surprisingly, is Italians. Lots of Italians went to the UP to work the mines.
 
I forgot about the Mystery Spot and went there as a kid. I think I've seen signs a few years back so suspect it might still be around.

We went in a copper mine in Copper Harbor once on a guided tour and it was huge and dark too. I understood they came up with the pasties so the miners could have a warm meal and nourishing too. It must have been a grueling job down in those mines and a good meal would be welcomed.
Today there are lots of pasty shops and most restaurants serve them too.

They do get a lot of snow there and snowmobiling brings a lot of money into the UP winters when tourism would normally be off. I've been up there winters and have seen extensions added to poles along the road so the snowplow drivers could tell where the road is. My old buddy even shoveled his roof and one year had to add an extension to his sewer waste pipe the snow was so deep. I have a video somewhere of my Golden Retriever bounding through the snow at Jim's and he'd disappear in the snow only to jump back out of it and he was a big dog.
 
There was a attraction of a small supposedly "bottomless" pond. They had a glass bottom boat and it looked super clear and you could see fish etc. When I worked at the Soo (slang for Sault St Marie), a Indian Reservation was sort of a suberb. I have been all over the west on many reservations but I never seen worse poverty on one than I did there back in the early 1960`s. It was heart breaking. I trust its improved by now?
 
Brian, I'm sure you know about it, but for us when we jump across the bridge from our farm in the "northern lower," the official start of the trip is to go to Clyde's diner on US 2, just across the bridge, just west of Ste. Iggie.

Carhops and the famous "Big C." It's a winner.

At least black fly season is done...all you have to deal with is the mosquitos hauling small farm animals away in their beaks!!!!!

Have a fun trip!

Len
 
feralmerril said:
There was a attraction of a small supposedly "bottomless" pond. They had a glass bottom boat and it looked super clear and you could see fish etc. When I worked at the Soo (slang for Sault St Marie), a Indian Reservation was sort of a suberb. I have been all over the west on many reservations but I never seen worse poverty on one than I did there back in the early 1960`s. It was heart breaking. I trust its improved by now?
Click to expand...

I think the poverty among the Indians has eased somewhat since they've built some casinos. But overall the economy in the UP is not great. The mining industry is essentially gone and logging is not as big as it was--they're simply not cutting as much as they used to. Also, a crew of 2-3 men can do what it would have taken many more to do some time back. So that leaves casinos and tourism, although there is a small amount of manufacturing.

Since '01 I've spent two weeks bird hunting in the UP each October. It's a wild, wonderful place and I've logged a lot of miles on the ground. I've seen enormous deer, I've seen moose, bear and wolves (a few times the wolves were closer than I'd like considering I've got dogs on the ground). I've seen many eagles and added a lot of birds to my life list. I've seen a goshawk kill a grouse. I've encountered all manner of small critters we don't have around here. And I've been just flat lost in joy in some of the most rugged, remote, beautiful places in the lower 48 states. I love it.

And by the way, I've seen lots and lots of partridge and woodcock...

To top things off, Yoopers are some of the nicest and most generous people I've ever met. And I like pasties...

If it didn't snow a million feet a year I'd live there.
 
Up is beautiful people are nice fishing and hunting is good but be careful on your way up there if you get close to Ann Arbor motor hard the smell is terrible go buckeyes !


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Llando88 said:
I'm of Cornish descent, and the pastie comment made me curious.

Does the UP have any history with say miners? Cornwall was famous for tin mining back in the day (1800s), and from what I understand of my heritage, my elders emigrated across the US along the northern area (e.g. Anaconda Copper Mine in MT?) before settlling in Oregon/Washington.

The UP is definetely on the bucket list when we retire in a few years.

I love the outdoors, could care less about touristy type areas.
Click to expand...


Lots of "Cousin Jacks" worked the copper and iron mines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Pastie stands on every corner. (There are 17 corners in the entire UP)
 
Llando88:
The Keweenaw National Historic Park is all about the hard rock mining
days in the area.

The park has sites in Hancock, the Quincy Mine, for
instance. Also sites in the Calumet area and north into Keweenaw County. Fort Wilkins at Copper Harbor has some very old mine pits on the grounds.

The visitor center in Calumet has a whole lot of exhibits from the
mining boom days.

There's also an Iron Industry Museum in Negaunee, MI that has a lot
of things relating to iron mining. That is still being done by Cleveland
Cliffs not that far from the museum. There's a giant open pit iron
mine being worked.

As someone said earlier there are pasties everywhere. My favorite
are the ones my wife makes. She uses our old family recipe, of
course.
 
walter o said:
I am surprised no one has mentioned ISLE ROYAL NATIONAL PARK as a place to visit and spend some time . wild wolves ,moose and lots of nature to explore and see.
Click to expand...

Well, Isle Royal is just a little outside of the proposed 60-mile driving range. ;)

Of course, wolves have become common enough in some parts of the UP to cause problems, so the DNR is allowing limited hunting. Bear can be a bigger problem, especially if you're camping, so you need to follow proper bear protocols. It can be a little worrisome to wake up to hear bears just on the other side of a thin tent wall, as happened to us near Copper Harbor, and yes, all food and garbage was locked up and out of reach beyond the camp. :rolleyes:
 
Buford57 said:
Lots of "Cousin Jacks" worked the copper and iron mines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Pastie stands on every corner. (There are 17 corners in the entire UP)
Click to expand...


Very cool.

When I visited Cornwall once in the 90s for work, the Pastys there were yummy.

Meat, potatoes and veg in one dough / pastry wrapper.

Seems like I heard somewhere the wife would weave the dough uniquely so her miner husband could recognize 'his'? And the reason for the 'handle' was so he could eat it without a fork. Dunno if any of that is true, maybe just old family stories lol.

I found a pic of what I remember them looking like. Is that what ya'll mean when you say pasties?

165d4bbcb30a68fd2cb4400ddf3796ca.jpg
 
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Llando88 said:
Very cool.

When I visited Cornwall once in the 90s for work, the Pastys there were yummy.

Meat, potatoes and veg in one dough / pastry wrapper.

Seems like I heard somewhere the wife would weave the dough uniquely so her miner husband could recognize 'his'? And the reason for the 'handle' was so he could eat it without a fork. Dunno if any of that is true, maybe just old family stories lol.

I found a pic of what I remember them looking like. Is that what ya'll mean when you say pasties?

165d4bbcb30a68fd2cb4400ddf3796ca.jpg
Click to expand...

My wife was from northern Minnesota. They have, or more accurately, had, iron mines up there. Lots of Cousin Jacks (a somehwat perjorative term in northern Minnesota), Swedes, Finns and people from central Europe. Her best friend was a girl named Niemi, a Finnish name, and her family cow was Numa which I think means 'cutie'.

They had pasties, too. She said her mother would make them for her boys when they went hunting. they'd keep them in a jacket pocket and warm their hands on them. Deer hunting is almost a religion up there; the first day of deer season all the men are out in the woods. We were there once for the first day of the season; our motel had a fashion show, luncheon, etc, for the hunting widows.
 
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