Mile 870: Minnesota nice and stepping on snakes
Since all of the Minnesotans I know went to college in Wisconsin, I’ve been wondering for a while if maybe there is something inherently wrong with the state of Minnesota? I mean really…why would so many residents defect for a different state if their own was so fabulous? Puzzling…especially considering how great a time there is to be had in the Twin Cities…
Though I was departing a day late and probably a few dollars short, I made it to St. Paul in time to go with my friend Danielle for dinner on East Lake Street in Minneapolis at the Town Talk Diner. Since D knows the bartenders, we were mixed very special drinks including one made from a green tea liquor. I am quite sure that Friday night met my sugar quota for the year but not to worry…the sugar high was counteracted by, quite possibly, the best thing I’ve ever eaten…Town Talk’s garlic parsley french fries. Yum. Afterwards we headed to the Triple Rock to see New York’s Robbers on High Street.
On Saturday afternoon I was off to the house party of several of the aforementioned Minnesota defectors (who have since returned to MN) in the trendy Uptown area of Minneapolis. Sorry for the lack of pictures…I was feeling a little lazy with the camera over the weekend. With perfect weather and lots of food, a good time was had by all on Girard Street well into the early morning hours. Breakfast was a struggle the next morning but was brightened by a coincidental encounter with my old Madison friend John Terry.
Minneapolis Skyline
A quick dash though northern Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon doubled as a flashback to my youth…Minocqua (on the lake with Julie’s grandparents), Rhinelander (what the hell’s a Hodag?) and Tomahawk (4th of July at Alyssa’s grandma’s house). Considering the minimal sleep I got on Saturday night, an early-to-bed Sunday in Iron Mountain, Michigan proved to be just what was needed for an early start this morning.
First stop for lunch…Fayette State Historical Park. Fayette is a restored historic town which was once one of the most productive iron-smelting operations in the Upper Peninsula. There were huge furnaces, an extensive dock and several kilns in operation here. Nearly 500 people lived and worked here for 20+ years in a town that existed just to produce pig iron. The town is very well-preserved and renovations are ongoing by local archaeologists and university students. A recent find included the discovery of a significant quantity of morphine hidden in the walls of one of the buildings they’re excavating…likely the stash of a 19th century addict. It was here that I had the first “heart-attack moment” of the trip when I rounded the corner of the giant furnace and stepped on a 
rather lengthy snake. To say that was a shock would be an understatement but I can report that I survived despite the temporary spike in my blood pressure. I unfortunately cannot report the same for the snake as I didn’t stick around to find out how it fared.
The next two hours were spent wandering through some very scenic coastline as I approached the famed Mackinac Bridge. The northern route through the UP is reported to be more scenic than the quicker southern route that I took. It’s true that patches of trees often block the beautiful view of the shoreline but for the last 15 miles before St. Ignace one almost forgets they’re in Michigan and not Florida. Almost. I said almost.
And speaking of the Mackinac Bridge (which I will have the pleasure of driving over tomorrow morning)…here’s a shot from the new Bridge View Park:
Since we here at the Extravaganza blog are devoted to informing, amusing and educating (and by “we” I’m referring to myself and the Civvy), I’ve compiled a list of interesting tidbits garnered from the UP.
1. Henry Ford invented the charcoal briquette in 1920 from the scraps and remnants of wood from his Model T production plants. The charcoal plant was established by E.G. Kingsford in the UP near the Wisconsin border.
2. The Mackinac Bridge is the 3rd longest suspension bridge in the world with a total length of 5 miles.
3. A pasty (rhymes with “nasty”, not “tasty”) in the UP is not the more traditional use of the word but rather a meat and potato-filled pie of Cornish origin.
4. Upper Peninsula is home to 328,000 people—only about 3% of the state’s population—living in almost one-third of the state’s land area.
5. UP seagulls rival European pigeons in levels of both idiocy and annoyance…plus they’re louder.
Tags: 2 - MN/MI/Niagara Falls, mackinac island, michigan
Stacey
July 18th, 2007 at 8:20 am
I am trying this again; I replied to “mile 0”, but after my reply went to “mediation”, it never got posted. I guess I don’t know how to read the little floating letters and numbers…? Anyway, I am extremely jealous of you today, as I was abruptly awoken this morning at 4 am by a screaming toddler (after getting to bed at 11:30pm and then waking up at 12:30 to feed the baby….the fun of motherhood is limitless!). I would love to sleep in a hotel room by myself, no toddler, no baby monitor by my head, no snoring husband. Enjoy your current lot in life…
A
July 19th, 2007 at 9:51 am
Hi Stacey,
Love the updates. I have wondered myself why so many MN types head to Wis for school…hmmm. Glad you are having a great trip, thanks for the awesome pictures of us posted on the web, really liked that a lot.
Jenny