Escapades.. mostly culinary

We got a late start on Saturday, but headed to White Oak Canyon to hike. It was a bit cooler in the mountains, and though the parking lot was packed, I don't feel like we really passed too many folks. Some stopped to swim in the waterfalls, we passed some folks coming down, and some folks passed us going up. The leaves were green, the water trickling, hiking was good.

White Oak Canyon is cool because there are so many waterfalls. The hike up is steep and rocky, but I think there are six or seven big falls and plenty of gurgling small ones along the way. We made a loop of it and crossed up a fire road and came down Cedar Run Trail. It took way longer than I remember so I suspect that the hike is actually longer than I think too. However I have not taken the time to look up the length yet.

It got dark and then I checked the time and it instantly got really dark. We had just enough light to finish the trail and make it out. When we got to the trailhead a voice called to us from the shadows - "can I ask you a weird question?" Apparently this lady had parked at the top, hiked down with her kids, couldn't find a flat place to camp, and wanted to know would we drive her back to her car - she'd pay us 30 bucks in gas money. She'd used the emergency phone, but the park service told her it would cost $100 (see the sign - we know she passed it!). I didn't mind terribly, I'll be a good neighbor, but she didn't want to leave her kids behind (understandable), didn't want to squish all four of them into my backseat, and she really had no idea how far around it was and how long it was going to take. It would be easier to hike back up then drive around. With the help of some other hikers, we suggested that she just camp there in the parking lot, hung her food from a tree, and told her to hike back up in the morning. She really wasn't that bad off, though I can see why a mom might be freaking out.

We got home around 10 and had decided to eat some mac n' cheese - but it was infested with bugs! Gross. So we had this spicy pilaf stuff Dad had gotten me that was awesome and went perfectly with the kielbasa I had heated up. Started gross, ended well.

This morning we knew we were going to make biscuits and gravy... we just needed a few things at the grocery store that we didn't get the day before because we got home so late. We got up and drank coffee and talked and sat around and realized we were both waiting for each other to be ready even though we were both ready. Surprisingly we were in and out of the food dog in good time and back home before we knew it.

I put Aaron in charge of browning the sausage while I made the biscuit dough. I was still rolling and cutting, so Aaron made the gravy and happily snacked on it as he was perfecting it. I don't have any round cutters so I made biscuits in the shapes of stars, pumpkins, ghosts, cats, bats, dolphins, fish, and penguins. :) They were tasty, but now I know to roll them a bit thicker. The gravy was fantastic and we both ate plenty. There wasn't really any left! Even though it was still morning, we both took a nap on the couch because of the sausage gravy-induced food coma.

Eventually we decided we needed to get up or we were going to be stranded on the couch all day. We decided to go to Carol's to see if there were any blackberries left. They had all dried up, but we did pick a few apples to I could make a pie. More will be ripe soon.

When we got home, Aaron started making the noodle dough while I dusted the noodle maker and attempted to put it together following the diagrams and trying to decipher Italian. Then I tried to read the Italian directions. The funny thing is that the noodle maker comes with recipe books for sauces, but none for noodles, no directions for the maker, and most of it is badly translated and proofread English. I think we got it figured out pretty well considering we translated every third or fifth word.

With the noodle maker, making noodles is easy. Just feed the dough through, progressively making it thinner and thinner and then through the slicer. We laid the noodles out on the racks to dry until we were ready to cook them. In the meantime Aaron worked on the sauce and I put together two apple pies. I was only going to make one but I had leftover apples that had been peeled and sliced, so I just picked out another that didn't require a crust and made that too. Ironically the second one turned out better than the first... mostly because the first tastes a bit too strongly of cloves...or maybe it had too much brandy in it.

photos

i haven't decided what to do with all the photos that were taken during the roadtrip. do i scrapbook them? or make a photobook? they've been online for others to enjoy. at the very least i don't want them languishing unlooked at on my computer's hard drive. i hadn't ever printed any of me & aaron and we took some great photos this summer so i decided i should at least hang some of the photos up. i liberated a bulletin board from dad's house, found some colorful pushpins, and printed the best photos from this summer- scenery, solos, & pics of the two of us. now that i have this monstrous collage i am worried it is a little over the top... but it was a big trip full of great memories and great photos. it is what it is. and i'm hoping that it will keep me motivated to get some photos organized in a book.

Balloon Fest

Aaron and I didn't really have plans for the weekend - some vague idea of both of us making a list of five things and then seeing what matched. I never made said list, but Aaron did, so I wonder if we did anything on it?

On Friday morning, I was talking to Mom, Karrie, and Aaron on chat while inputting grades into my online gradebook. Mom mentioned a balloon festival that she went to before and it was pretty close to where Aaron lives - so while I had him on chat decided to do that. I wasn't planning on heading to Aaron's before that (he was heading here) so after work I went home, packed a bag, and drove up to Culpeper.

We have eaten a lot of places in Culpeper, but there really are a lot to choose from and we have it seems, tons left to go. Mom had said there might be leftover bbq I could have, but there wasn't, and bbq still sounded good, so we headed to a sandwich-bbq-bar place on a side street we had parked near recently. I think it's called the Stable and it is definitely worth a visit. It is a nice bar with the biggest meatiest sandwiches ever. I don't know how we finished them because we both thought we were done after half, but there wasn't much left when we were finished. We went back to Aaron's and watched a BBC program about a dude who decides to build a real house out of legos where all the walls and everything in the house (including the sink and toilet) was made of legos (except the frame because in their time constraints they couldn't get a frame that would support a two story lego house).

Whatever time the alarm went off was too early and it was still dark. We poured to coffee into travel mugs and headed out the door. The balloon festival was about half an hour from Aaron's house and the sun came up while we were en route. We got there and there was nothing going on. Apparently balloons cannot go up in the fog? It is a mystery to me why this is so. But after the release of a ceremonial purple helium balloon business began. The website said they were to launch between 6 and 7, but I guess it is dependent on the conditions.

Around 8 things start to get going. People drive vehicles with trailers onto the field, unpack baskets, and start unfurling balloons into long bulky bundles. Two people set up right in front of our lawn chairs so we had an excellent view.

First they blow the balloons up with big fans and the balloons get bigger and bigger, but are still laying on the ground. People walk all around them and under them pulling them and making sure they fill properly. Then they gas it and heat these huge balloons for what seems like 15 seconds and the balloons pop upright. Look at this photo I got - if you look closely you can see the heat and you can tell the balloon is starting to lift. A little more heat and the balloons are in the air.

All told I think there were 14 or so balloons in the air when we left. Most launched there, but some were coming from other places nearby. Most were the kinds of balloons I imagine - wicker basket with big multi-colored balloon. Some of them were like ski lift chair backpacks and the burner was in the backpack. And we learned that some of the balloons were experimental in basket, burner, or fabric design. You couldn't ride in an experimental balloon, but you could pay 200 bucks to go up in one of the others (yeah right).

I'm not sure what time we left, but balloons were in the air, coming down, going back up, and all over the sky. There were also biplanes and some weird paragliding with a backpack engine things buzzing around. It was neat because they were kind of everywhere. We stopped by Aaron's school so he could get a few last minute things done before his first day of school on Monday and I checked out the clandestine photo of myself (he hung it up) in the lava tube hanging on the wall. Apparently this is what people will see if they ever ask Aaron if he has a girlfriend.

We went to Frost for breakfast and then went home. We were both asleep within minutes (I think this was around 10-1030am). Around 1:30 I woke up to go to the bathroom, told Aaron we should probably get up, Aaron agreed, and we both went back to sleep. At 300 I woke up. Aaron sort of woke up, but fell back asleep while I was talking to him. I knew it becuase I threatened him with a rasberry and he made no response.

Eventually we got up and got moving and headed to my apartment. I made pizzas for dinner and was going to make cobbler, but I couldn't find the recipe, so I made a blackberry pie instead. Aaron and I played cribbage and rummy and still went to bed early - even after napping for 5 hours in the middle of the day - we must have been tired.

Becoming a graduate student

So I've been taking graduate classes, but apparently I am not officially enrolled as a graduate student. While cleaning through things, I found this letter I received last September - in the midst of my very first online graduate class - that let me know I can take as many classes as I wish, but only the first 12 credits will apply towards an actual Master's degree if I am not enrolled.

Poop.
As of this summer, I have taken 12 credits, so unless I enroll NOW then the classes I have signed up for for the fall will not count. So I call and inquire to find out what I have to do.

I have already missed the deadline to enroll as a graduate student for the fall... it was sometime in March. So sure I can enroll, for January 2011. So does that mean my fall classes wouldn't count? Correct. Then I'm not taking them. The secretary I got, was not so helpful or positive or understanding. So I called the biology department, and being a little more helpful, Brian says I can probably get a waiver so that my fall classes will count.

Ok. So I fill out the forms, send in my letter of intent, and get everything sent. I don't have to pay the fee, I don't have to take the GRE's bc my GPA is high, my LIU transcript is there because for some reason I sent it last year, I'm good. Except for the community college transcript. I took two classes at a community college to get certified to teach earth science - so they had nothing to do with my degree - but I still need to send an official transcript.

These people are in the stone ages. I cannot order one online or over the phone. I can go to the office in person - in New York - or I can mail them the form and they can mail the transcript. Is there anyway to speed up the process? Yes, send it overnight with an addressed overnight envelope inside... so I am paying 5 bucks for them to print a piece of paper and stick it in an envelope I am providing. Right. Ugh.

Do you know how much it costs to send express mail? 20 bucks. So it would have been 40 bucks to send an envelope to NY with an envelope inside to NE. YEAH RIGHT. I don't care that much. So I sent a regular envelope with a regular envelope inside and I am crossing my fingers that the crazies at the post office can get my mail around in a reasonable amount of time, that I can in fact get a waiver for my classes that start next week, and that maybe I might be eligible for financial aid.

Back to School

So begins another school year. This is my sixth year and the first year where I am teaching the exact same thing as I taught last year - though the number of sections is different. Hard to believe in six years that I haven't taught the same thing, but it is true. And the jury is still out on whether I have tenure since my time being a teacher has not been consecutive.

Mad numbers of kids apparently signed up for chemistry so I only get one marine ecology and get five chemistrys... the weird thing is that the two chemistry sections I have this semester are very small. In third I have twenty-ish, but in fourth we are having family time with only eleven. Those kids are going to know me real well by the end of the year. It's hard to believe there are none missing, but every day I have wondered where the people are - probably because I have 29 in second and it just transitions down every period. My sections for the spring are more normal sized.

I got a new lunchbox shaped like an elephant and it is AWESOME. One it is adorable (it even has a tail that pokes out) and two it's roomy and has a handle that goes over my shoulder... handy. Though I love the snail lunch box Kelley gave me, it has been 7 years, and it is now retired.

So far the year is going well. The kids seem cool, I still love being a teacher, and I like going to work. I am staying on top of things (I even have my gradebooks set up online with the first weeks of grades in them), leaving at reasonable times (before 5 every day!!!! sometimes before 430!), and finding that I have TONS of time in the afternoon that I do not really know how to fill. I have read three or four books since I got home two weeks ago, spent a lot of time on facebook (which is going to get cut down), and a little bit of time baking. I've got some ideas on how to spend my time, but we'll see what happens when my graduate classes start next week. I think the outlook for this year is good.

Plus things with Aaron are going well. We didn't kill each other this summer and still want to spend time together. We are still friends (more than friends) and are making cool plans for things to do this fall. Number one on the list is making pasta - like actually making noodles though I am not sure when exactly we will do that.

Michigan - the state you can imitate with your hand

So people in Michigan, when you ask them where something is, throw up their hand and point to a region to give you a better idea of where things are. I'm not sure if you have to use your left hand or your right hand, but this whole hand thing works fine for normal Michigan, but completely leaves out the UP (but after looking up this photo - you can make it too - plus here's a complete description of what's where). Thus I prefer making Alaska with my hand (make a gun with your right hand and then turn it so the top of your hand is facing you) which most people do not even realize you can do.

We were still in the UP but only for a little while longer. Our first stop of the morning was Castle Rock, a 1 dollar attraction (formerly 50 cents for about fifty years) that is loaded with Americana and kitsch. First, Castle Rock is home to Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox (my third sighting for this road trip). They were large, but blocked by a fence to protect them.

Castle Rock supposedly was an Indian lookout. What it is now is a long steep climb up slanty concrete stairs to the top of a hill, a walk across a metal gangplank topped with fake grass, to a higher rocky outcrop with a lookout. What can you see here? Interstate loops, one of those Great Lakes (Huron I think), and some of the islands in the lakes. Not a long stop, but necessary.

Next we went to St. Ignace to catch a ferry to Mackinack (Mack-i-naw) Island. This island has a varied history - it was a British fort, an American fort, I am sure Indians went there, a playground for rich people, still, and a tourist destination. There were 3 ferry companies operating from St. Ignace and two from a more southern town. That's a lot of ferries to a little island and as such, Main Street was more crowded than Times Square in NYC. There are no motorized vehicles allowed (there are 5) so the traffic is all on foot, people on bicycles who haven't ridden them in years, and horse-drawn carriages that expect the right of way. There are actually five motorized vehicles on the island - an ambulance, a firetruck, a garbage truck. a police car, and something else, but we never saw them - just heard about it from a boy scout stationed at the fort earning a badge in something.

We got off Main Street as quickly as we could to escape the crowds, restuarants, and more than seven fudge shops. We spent a lot of time at Fort Mackinack learning about the history of the fort and the life the people had there. I think all of the original buildings are there and preserved and I think you can go in almost all of them. From the fort we walked some of the paths towards Arch Rock. There are paths, bike trails, and horse trails on the whole island, and if you wanted to rent a bike or a horse you could go anywhere quickly. We walked and enjoyed the forest and after seeing Arch Rock, took another wooded path to one of the streets lined in expensive cottages. It's nice to look and the houses are beautiful, but I cannot imagine living in them 1. in the winter when it's cold and snowy, 2. in the summer with all the idiots all over the place, 3. having to take a boat to get to anything you need. There are only 600 year round residents, but over a million people visit each year.

There is a yacht race each year from Chicago to Mackinack Island and it must have just concluded because there were a thousand yachts in the harbor, lots of signs, bbqs everywhere, and teams walking around in matching shirts. It would have been neat to see the boats sail in.

We walked along the streets to the Grand Hotel. The Grand Hotel is indeed grand - it's huge. It was built in the late 1880s, has over three hundred rooms, and the longest front porch in the world. It is slightly outside of town and if you want to walk past a certain sign to get a closer look, you have to pay ten dollars (it used to be 5). But still 10 dollars - just to get a closer look - and that includes if you want to get a drink or eat lunch there. You cannot eat dinner there unless you are staying in the hotel and Aaron had checked - the cheapest room, an inside room with no windows was around four hundred bucks! And after 5 pm, men bust be wearing a coat and tie and women must not be wearing slacks. I think it's a little too uppity for me.

We took the ferry back to St. Ignace and then crossed the Mackinac Bridge, third longest suspension bridge in the world (longest in the United States) to the lower part of Michigan. We stopped for lunch and I had my first pasty - pronounced past-ee, not paste-ee - a meat pie with onions, rutabegas, and other veggies. Quite tasty.

Next we went to Hartwick Pines State Park. Hartwick Pines is the only old growth white pine forest in the state of Michigan (and probably anywhere). I've never seen white pines that big... and there were plenty of other big trees there as well. Because the trees are old, a lot of them are naturally dying so there are a surprising number of trees on the ground. What's different about this forest is how open the understory is - we could race through it as long as we successfully hurdled the fallen logs.

Our final destination for the day was Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We did not have a campsite lined up and thought we could get one in the park (but there wasn't one). We drove the scenic drive and the ranger there was super-excited to see us and tell us all about where we could find available campsites. Score. Most of the scenic drive was through the woods with no view of the lake which was odd (you can take a virtual tour here). One place was recomended as a good place to watch the sunset and it was the steepest sand dune I have ever seen. I like this photo of Aaron bc you can see the little person (idiot) who went down to the lake and then had to climb the steep sand hill back up. It was very difficult to capture the steepness of this hill in a photo. We were early for the sunset and we decided not to wait. We finished the scenic drive and Aaron attempted to call his friends to confirm something. He asked me to park when he got good service so I parked at the pizza place - a subtle hint that worked into a pizza dinner! I also had an Oberon beer, a summer only brew made by Bell's Brewery. Aaron had a black label something - some ultra cheap beer he used to drink in college. The pizza was AMAZING and we should have ordered a bigger one. After dinner, we attempted to find the town campground that the ranger directed us to. It was a little off the beaten path and next to the airport (probably smaller than the Louisa airport), but it was the most wooded campground we had and the one where they may have filmed something like the Blair Witch Project. I set up the tent while Aaron went to go pay and he confused the man by walking up and not driving and the dude seemed to think the place was full and it was definitely not.

It was warm that evening so I suggested we leave the flaps of the tent open, unless it was going to rain. Aaron loves to check the weather on his phone (its the internet site that works the best for his phone I think) and we were shocked by the RED line of weather heading our way - not green, RED. So we shut the flaps and went to sleep for a bit. We were woken by the crash bang boom of a violent thunderstorm. Probably the closest and loudest I have ever experienced. I felt like the lightning was striking next to the tent even though there were trees all around. The tent kept us dry, but what other protection could it offer? What would we do if a tree fell on us? Aaron, sleepy and amused, said there was nothing we could do. Everything looked normal in the morning and the tent was only slightly damp.

We stopped at the coffee shop (that was the other half of the pizza-bar building) in the morning and I got a giant chocolate chip cherry cookie with my coffee for breakfast. We were off to the giant dune to climb up it. First of all I cannot believe they let people do this. Dune climbing erodes the dune and doubly erodes the dune because people's traffic kills the vegetation that holds the dune together. Yet, the parking lot was already half full when we got there and the dune face was littered in people of all ages climbing up, rolling down, etc.

Aaron and I set off up the dune and it didn't take long for us to crest... the first ridge. (In this photo I am smiling and hopeful because I have no idea what's in store) Aaron had done this with his dad years ago and that's as far as they got. Aaron and I set off for the the real ridge top and at the top were surprised to see yet another dune. We should have brought our coffee cups. Down and up - yet another dune. Down and up. I am not sure when it became apparent that Lake Michigan was much further than we thought, when we decided we were going to the lake, or when I told Aaron that I had walked this far and I was going to the lake. There were tons of people doing this - most only slightly more prepared than us. Really we should have put on sunscreen and worn our camelbacks. We were hiking through the sand with no sunscreen and no water. At some point I realized it was much more fun and and energy efficient to run or lope down the hills, extending my stride as far as I could. Aaron said he could not match my stride and said it was like 7 feet. I always waited for him at the bottom. Each time we crested a hill we were hopeful it was the last because it's hard work walking uphill in sand, but there were many many sand dunes. Eventually we did make it to Lake Michigan and I promptly put my feet in to cool off, then started looking at all the cool rocks littering the lakeshore. The waves were big - small for the ocean - but way bigger than I expected. I found a rock with banded iron that Aaron thought was pretty awesome so we looked til we found one for him too (He likes metals and iron a lot). We also looked for Petoskey stones - the state rock of Michigan which is actually fossilized coral. Away from the crowd we found plenty of them as well as some other rocks I could not live without. With our pockets loaded we began the long trek back. At some point, Aaron found a post with a label letting us know we were 1/2 mile from the lake and 1 1/2 mile from the parking lot! That's when we found out it was a 4 mile hike. There was nothing to do but keep going slightly loaded down with rocks.

Now if you think I'm complaining, I probably seem like I am, but in fact, I really did enjoy the hike and thought the whole thing was rather beautiful. I just wish I had some sunscreen on to prevent the sunburn I got and had taken some water. I downed a bottle when we got back to the car and then finished my coffee. :)

We stopped at the gas station to get ice cold drinks, at a little gift shop to pick out some polished petoskey stones (there's some good photos there of polished and unpolished), and then hit the road to Novi to stay with some of Aaron's friends Ryan and Jen. We took turns driving and while Aaron was driving I worked on my final that was due that day. I got as much done as I could without the internet and put the finishing touches on it at Ryan and Jen. I felt bad not hanging out with them because they seem like the nicest people ever, but I had my last practical to take (I got a B) and my final to finish (I got a 95A on that). Besides Aaron got to hang out with them and that's important.

The next day we went to the Detroit Zoo which has a fabulous Amphibian House, a super awesome polar bear exhibit, lots of penguins, and a good selection of other animals. I enjoyed the hippo and the rhinoceroses. I like zoos and it was an enjoyable way to spend the morning. For the afternoon, I got an overview of Detroit, where Aaron lived, where he got his masters, all the abandoned run down places, and we went to the Detroit Institute of Arts. Aaron really likes the suits of armor, but we both enjoyed perusing the galleries. After the art museum, we had dinner at Woodward Avenue Brewery, one of Aaron's favorite bars when he lived in Detroit.

For the evening we went to Ann Arbor to stay with Brad and Lisa. I followed Aaron there and we drove right by the Michigan Stadium - I was IN Michigan - as in the navy and gold M. We went out for a night on the town and started at ABC - Arbor Brewing Company, then to an Irish bar, and then somewhere sort of upscale because Courtney Cox was hanging outside and Neve Campbell and David Arquette were inside. Plus Aaron's friend Tony had just shown up. Brad and Lisa and Tony were star stuck, but Aaron and I didn't really care... who are those people? We just enjoyed our beers.

The coolest thing about Ann Arbor are the fairy doors. There are more than twenty of them I think and the little doors are probably invisible to most people passing by. I think they are awesome and Brad was happy to point me in the direction of some of them so I could check them out. It would have been cool to search them all.

The next morning, we had no plans during the day so we went out for a day around Ann Arbor. Brad and Aaron spent (and had spent) most of their time reliving memories from the fraternity some of which were very funny. We stopped on State Street so Aaron could get some new Michigan shirts and I was AMAZED by the number of available Michigan shirts, the number of stores selling them, and the fact that each store had slightly different shirts. Brad said that Michigan is the leader in selling licensed clothing and that there are over a million living alumni or something. I looked for something Michigan that was funny or ironic, but had no luck. We also walked around a little bit around campus and through the Arb, a large arboretum that borders the campus.

For the evening, we were off to Detroit to the casino to play craps and then to the Old Shillelagh (she-lay-lee) for authentic Irish music. Brad, Tony, and Aaron love playing craps, and Aaron did his best to explain it to me, but I still only marginally understand it. Plus I don't like losing money so I didn't want to bet (even though Aaron offered his cash for me to bet). I think Aaron broke even and everyone else had lost money by the time we left for the Shillelagh. We were early, but it the Irish guys were awesome. The band is called Black Mist and they have played the Old Shillelagh on Fridays and Saturdays for the last fourteen years. The songs were interesting, but the commentary between songs about everyone in the room was hilarious and I do not think most people really caught most of what they were saying. After a while the boys decided they wanted to go back to the casino to play more craps. Lisa and I got pretty bored, but didn't complain too loudly. Let's just say it was a late night, I really do not like cigarette smoke, and we got home at 4am!

The next day after sleeping in, breakfast at Angelo's, and loading some of Aaron's things into my car, I followed Aaron to Cleveland to meet Aunt Pat. Then we went over to his other Uncle and Aunt's for dinner and I got to meet one of his cousins. They were very nice and apparently did not lay it on too thick, though there was plenty of banter. The next morning we all met again for breakfast (where they were all astonished that Aaron eats and likes eggs) and then I hit the road for Virginia. It was a long drive, but not terrible, and I made good time. Plus it was good to be home.

Minnesota, Wisconisn and into the UP

We were up early and out the door. We grabbed some coffee and hit the road across Minnesota. Initially we had thought we might have some stops in that state, but the cool things I had found were much farther south and we kind of just wanted to get to Michigan so we decided to just drive across the tops of both Minnesota and Wisconsin and get to the UP (Upper Peninsula).

I saw on the map that there was a pier place in Duluth and something that said brewery so we decided to check it out for lunch. The place was a traffic nightmare and loaded with tourists, but Aaron was very patient and found a parking spot. We walked toward the water to see Lake Superior and the lifting bridge (was not a regular drawbridge) that had been up moments before (probably creating the traffic nightmare). There was a visitor center there so I popped in and asked the lady if she knew of the brewery. She did, recommended it, gave me a map, and helped with directions. It was just along the lake a little ways, but too far to walk.

Fitger's has been around since the late 1800s and is a maze-like mega complex with shops and many restaurant options. We went for the straight brewery ordered a hefe for Aaron and a sampler of 7 for me and lunch. It was quite delicious. Then we got in the car to drive to Wisconsin and I slept practically the whole way across (mind you Wisconsin is not very wide across the top). Aaron laughed when he told me this story. "Are you going to take a nap?" Me: "No, I don't think so." Asleep.

I conveniently woke up a little before we crossed into Michigan so I was pepped and ready to go for the Welcome to Michigan sign. Aaron was appalled that the only experience I had in Michigan was getting off I80, crossing the border, taking my photo with the welcome sign and then turning around and getting back on the highway. That and it was no longer a welcome sign, it now says: Pure Michigan.

Michigan looks a lot like Virginia. So it was not the most interesting of car views, but it is pleasant. We headed pretty far across the UP, scored a decent hotel room, and went to Big Boy for dinner. I had never been (obviously look where they are located - 90% of them are in Michigan) and it was good diner food. We used our hotel time as internet time and made some progress plus enjoyed another evening sleeping with a mattress and sheets. :)

The next morning we did some free funny interesting things in the UP. Our first destination was the Michigan Iron Industry Museum in Negaunee (Ni-gone-eee Aaron laughed at me as I tried to pronounce all the ridiculous-don't-follow-any-rules-names of the UP). What an awesome place. This is a stellar little museum packed with interesting displays and information and probably only like 10 retired people go to a day (we had everyone there beat by thirty years). Iron mining is big business and before Minnesota got in the game, Michigan was the United States leader and probably beat out other nations. This is my favorite bit of information and I'm going to quote it. Think on it.

In the 150 years since 1833, the California gold rush produced less than a billion dollars of minerals. Michigan forests produced almost $4.5 billion of timber. The Keweenaw copper range generated about twice that amount. But these are dwarfed by the riches from iron, worth some $48 billion.

After that I convinced Aaron that we needed to backtrack and visit Da Yooper's Tourist Trap is Ishpeming, home of the largest running chainsaw (its powered by a car engine). People from the UP are known as Yoopers (apparently they picked that nickname). Apparently Da Yoopers are like a band or a comedy troupe or something... they sold the cds at the store, but Aaron says he has them on MP3 so I'll listen to it eventually. The place was hysterical and obviously someone spent a lot of time thinking of hilarious things to just throw together. A lot of it was these weird people in masks in silly scenes with deer and making jokes about how much snow they get in the UP. We giggled quite a lot and it was worth the stop. Say ya to the UP, eh! (I should have gotten the bumper sticker)

Next we went to the US National Ski Hall of Fame and Museum. The people were overly attentive because we were their first visitor of the day and maybe in a couple days (I always sign the guest book and no one else had for days). There were walls and walls of biographies of people inducted into the Hall of Fame, but presented in such a way that there was no way I was going to read any of them. The displays about the history of skiing and the changes in poles and skis were much more interesting. They even had a section in the changes on lifts and how people get up the mountain in the first place.

After that we went to Pictured Rocks National Seashore along Lake Superior. We stopped at a waterfall and did the supershort hike up to it. Pictured Rocks is known for its colorful banded cliffs, which we discovered, you can really only see well if you are on a boat. You could see a little, but apparently the views are better from the water. We went to a few overlooks and peeked around and then decided on a whim to hike down to the beach and check it out. It was a nice walk through the woods, but not the most level, so wearing sandals was not the wisest choice, but I made it. The water felt great and I enjoyed looking at the colorful pebbles. The sand on the beach was super fine and when I looked closely, round. I wanted some to take back for my class, but was unprepared. Aaron told me to just put some in my pockets, but I don't really like sand that much (Posse girls you know what I'm talking about), so Aaron volunteered to carry some sand for me. I loaded his pocket and back up the hill we went. Apparently I overloaded his pocket... oops, so I promised him a pepsi to thank him. :) But now I have plenty of sand.

At the gas station I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of soda choices (as well as specialty beers, liquor, snacks, etc). I got a Dr. Pepper and a Pepsi, but what I really wanted was a cherry 7-Up. Aaron smacked his forehead and told me I should have gotten a Vernor's. At some point, he did get me one, I just can't place when. Vernor's ginger ale is America's oldest surviving soft drink and had a very intense ginger flavor. In my mind it does not beat a Bundaberg Ginger Beer, but it's pretty close.

We still had a lot of the UP to cross so we drove through wooded areas, wetlands, and along Lake Michigan. We were looking for a particular campground and missed it, but found it when we turned around. Luckily for us, there were a few open spots, and we scored a campsite less than a hundred feet from Lake Michigan. I set up the tent while Aaron went back around to pay for the site and check out the bathroom situation (sometimes peeing next to the tent is not the best choice). Then Aaron prepared a camp dinner and we toted our chairs down to Lake Michigan to watch the sunset.

There were kids swimming, and Aaron decided we should go for a swim too. I was sort of against it, but Aaron said the water was pretty warm (I thought it would be ice cold), so begrudgingly I agreed. The funny thing is that when it came to getting in (after we changed into our suits), I was the one who was gungho, and Aaron timid. So I of course used this as an opportunity to splash a lot of water at him, tackle him, and drop him in the water. His retaliation was not that great because I was already wet. The water was refreshing and I felt cleaner and cooler after a swim. Though this was a small thing, this was one of my favorite memories of our trip.

Aaron posted Michigan photos - look here!