McLain State Park and Home

 We just returned home and I have the wifi connection I need to upload a few final pictures. Spending time in this region would be a good experience for those politicians doubting the need for Internet infrastructure improvements. A good part of the time we had no phone reception. These were taken in the during our stay at McClain State Park (Michigan). Perhaps the nicest park as for as accommodations go, but not the nearby attractions of Door County.

We took advantage of our opportunity to eat fish. I guess that is what you do around the lakes. The fish shown is perch - I ended up not being as big a fan of white fish. I do like smoked fish and we purchased some to bring home. I took the image of a guy stoking the smoking tent. He seemed the perfect image for this work and this region. A few minutes after this picture was taken a pickup loaded with wood used by the smokers was rear ended right in front of us. No brakes so the driver must have been distracted and did not see the truck stopped to turn in. Driver of the pickup hit the steering wheel and was taken away by ambulance,

The Bridge

 It is claimed that the Mackinac Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the world at 8614 feet. In comparison, the Golden Gate is 6450 feet.  The bridge opened to traffic in 1957 replacing ferry traffic between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace (our camping site). The deck is built to move from side to side up to 35 feet in high winds. The bridge has its own website providing bridge conditions, warnings to high-profile vehicles, and live video. https://www.mackinacbridge.org/  The website provides monthly traffic stats and offers an insight into just how much the tourist industry in this region has been affected by the pandemic. 

Michigan's Upper Peninsula

 This peninsula is just across the lake, but very different from Door County. There is less of a touristy feel to the general area, but the State Parks are more crowded. Today we did some shopping and what we purchased was a combination of local cuisine and traditional tourist goodies.

Pasties

We get pasties when we are in this part of the country. If you have not tasted a pastie, it reminds me of a Swanson Chicken Pot Pie, but handmade and more expensive. You pay for the ambience, but Bessie's Pasties are the real deal. Only the chicken was available, but I prefer it to beef anyway. 

Smoked Stuff

We visited a smoked fish store and purchased smoked white fish and lake trout, smoked jerky. and some really great stuff to spread on crackers. 

Fudge

Fudge is the tourist's staple, but it is still a must buy.

Time to sample the fudge and then a nap. 

Green Bay Packers

 We are transitioning from our location in Wisconsin to a location in Michigan. We are in St. Ignace which most probably know as the place you board the ferry for Mackinac Island.  In doing so, we drove around Green Bay and through the city of Green Bay (without any confusion this time). This got me thinking about the Packers. Were they named for the City or for the bay or was it a matter of the city being named for the bay and then the Packers for the city. I searched for the history of the Packers, but did not find an easy answer. The Packers were named for the Indian Packing plant and the appropriate decision was made to name the team the Packers after considering the Indians. 

Go Vikings.

Door County

 Door County, Wisconsin, strikes me as one of those places that decided the big money was in tourism. The original revenue sources - probably lumber, fishing, and maybe specialized agriculture - became the base for coffee shops, lots of camping areas, boat tours, fancy dining facilities and guest accommodations, some golf, fudge shops, and wineries. The limitations of the land translates as scenic beauty and the lack of industry allowed the other original sources of income to become tourist attractions.

Door County seems to encourage the development of cherry orchards and wineries often on the same farms. I did not inquire regarding this combination, but diversification is good. I tend to think of the type of cherry being harvested while we are here as the main ingredient for cherry pies (with ice cream if possible). Too tart of the tree. I did really like the cherry donuts and the cherry salsa with chips. I am not a wine snob so whatever tastes good to me I will drink. We sampled the summer wines and purchased a couple of bottles. I make the effort to explore good coffees, but while I have had great wines in great locations (e.g., South Africa) I have just not made the same effort to evaluate what I am drinking. 

One more thing. Tourist destinations are just that because they attract lots of people. This seems to be the way things are everywhere this year. 

Eagle Tower

This is one of the more ambitious projects I have encountered in our time in State Parks. This is the new Eagle Tower. It was built to replace the original Eagle Tower that had to be taken down in 2016. The friends of Peninsula State Park decided they would replace the tower that had to be removed with a tower that was more accessible. I suppose they decided an elevator missed the point of an outdoor experience so they came up with this design - a long ramp allowing those in wheel chairs or using walkers to reach the top. We did see one lady with a walker coming down on our way up. The view from the top was impressive especially when captured as a panorama, but the structure itself was what captured my attention. I wonder just how much money was required to purchase the wood columns required in the construction. 

Note to self and others - update maps

Our trip to Wisconsin’s Peninsula State Park was supposed to take 6.5 hours. I was driving pulling the rPod so 7.5 would have been more realistic. Everything went well - we loaded up and departed without incident. The only problem we encountered was getting through Green Bay. I thought I had mastered traffic circles, but these had two circle lanes and one continuation lane. The extra circle lane was intimidating. It is bad enough if you are using the continuation lane to watch for someone coming from one circle lane, but the additional lane was more than I could process safely. We did navigate the many roundabouts without a problem. The difficulty was that the sections of the intersecting highways must have been redone since our car GPS system was loaded and we made multiple passes without finding how to get to where we wanted to go. An hour lost and much stress. Cindy came up with a solution - turn on avoid expressways. This left us with older roads and a longer route with many stoplights, but a workable solution. Update your maps,

No wifi in the campground except at the concession stand which I have yet to locate. I also can’t get a cell signal which kind of makes the emergency phone number in the camp brochure of little value. Cindy has one bar and gets text messages. Maybe she can send a text if we have an emergency. 

Desperate wifi people