ROAD TRIP!
starlingthefool and i are holed up in a hotel in Manastique, in the Upper Peninsula, right on the north shore of Lake Michigan. And when i say right on, i mean right on; we could hear waves when we unloaded the car, and had we been any more awake (or had it not been so chilly) we would have wandered across the highway to check out the lake. As it is, we've got a room with a lake view, once the sun comes up, and we've each got our own ginormous bed. Also, we managed to both see all the random stuff we wanted to see (including the CHEESE & WINE MOCCASINS roadside store--the sign was poorly punctuated, they didn't have moccasins made out of either cheese or wine, although we could have bought cheese in the shape of either Wisconsin or a cow had we so desired--and we almost did) and also make some really good time, getting exactly as far as i was hoping to get tonight. We're within literal spitting distance of the lake, and a little more than an hour from Lake Superior and from Mackinac/St Ignace, which means that we have the time tomorrow to dip our toes into three separate Great Lakes (Michigan, Superior, and Huron) if we so desire, as well as watch boats go under the Mackinac Bridge or through the Soo Locks and then get a tent set up in daylight tomorrow, if that's what we decide.
This trip has been pretty darn fabulous, and exactly what both of us needed. starlingthefool and i make pretty fantastic road trip partners--we sing along at the top of our lungs to the same songs, want to stop and look at similarly kitchy/ridiculous things, have named several inanimate objects after either Roy Orbison or characters from Inception (look, the moose statue in front of our hotel is wearing a tuxedo, of course we named him Arthur), and have decreed that each day in the car will start with a rousing, ear-shattering, windows-down, belting-at-the-top-of-our-lungs rendition of Meatloaf's "I Will Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)," a tradition that started in Oshkosh.
Today has included: The awesomest bus stop ever (Milwaukee), surprise dragonboat races (Oshkosh), a sign pointing the way to Freedom (US 41), smashed pennies and mugs with our names on them (Peshtigo), trees! that are different colors! (the whole way up, gloriously), whiskey (in aforementioned mugs), Lake Winnebago (big enough to disappear over the horizon, and yet the smallest lake we're likely to encounter on our trip; Fond du Lac) and a moose in a tuxedo (Manistique). Tomorrow will almost certainly include a Big Boy (the restaurant), pasties (um, the tasty tasty food, not the nipple covers), the Mackinac Bridge, more trees that change colors, and the now-traditional Yodeling Of The Meatloaf. And, as always, our constant companion Lake Michigan, and the decision to go north, and then keep turning right until we make it back home.
This was an amazingly good idea, and i'm glad we're here. I've tossed a few pictures up on Twitter, and i'll try to post more to Facebook and flickr so people can see what sort of shenanigans we're getting up to. (Answer: Lots.)
But first... more whiskey. (Hat tip to dividedbyzero for introducing me to Wild Turkey's American Honey, which is our whiskey of choice for this trip.)
This trip has been pretty darn fabulous, and exactly what both of us needed. starlingthefool and i make pretty fantastic road trip partners--we sing along at the top of our lungs to the same songs, want to stop and look at similarly kitchy/ridiculous things, have named several inanimate objects after either Roy Orbison or characters from Inception (look, the moose statue in front of our hotel is wearing a tuxedo, of course we named him Arthur), and have decreed that each day in the car will start with a rousing, ear-shattering, windows-down, belting-at-the-top-of-our-lungs rendition of Meatloaf's "I Will Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)," a tradition that started in Oshkosh.
Today has included: The awesomest bus stop ever (Milwaukee), surprise dragonboat races (Oshkosh), a sign pointing the way to Freedom (US 41), smashed pennies and mugs with our names on them (Peshtigo), trees! that are different colors! (the whole way up, gloriously), whiskey (in aforementioned mugs), Lake Winnebago (big enough to disappear over the horizon, and yet the smallest lake we're likely to encounter on our trip; Fond du Lac) and a moose in a tuxedo (Manistique). Tomorrow will almost certainly include a Big Boy (the restaurant), pasties (um, the tasty tasty food, not the nipple covers), the Mackinac Bridge, more trees that change colors, and the now-traditional Yodeling Of The Meatloaf. And, as always, our constant companion Lake Michigan, and the decision to go north, and then keep turning right until we make it back home.
This was an amazingly good idea, and i'm glad we're here. I've tossed a few pictures up on Twitter, and i'll try to post more to Facebook and flickr so people can see what sort of shenanigans we're getting up to. (Answer: Lots.)
But first... more whiskey. (Hat tip to dividedbyzero for introducing me to Wild Turkey's American Honey, which is our whiskey of choice for this trip.)