Michigan, June 25...One Big Pie

Sunday, June 25, 2023

     Today was another drive day.  There was no real way around that.  So, it was back out on Hwy 2, headed east.  Google Maps said it should take five hours to get to Traverse City.  So, plenty of time to take the scenic route.

      Vulcan is the town just east of Norway.  It's kinda hard to miss Big John as you drive by the Iron Mountain Iron Mine.   They do tours of the old iron mine now.  It closed in 1945, but was reopened for tourists in 1956.  

     Across the street from the mine, Mama Bear Coffee...

     For some reason I felt the urge for a little side trip down Hwy 183 to what remains of the town of Fayette.  What was one a bustling industrial town of five hundred is now a state historic park.  

     Founded by Fayette Brown in 1866, the town was a perfect spot for an iron smelter.  It was right on the shores of Lake Michigan and the neighboring cliffs contained Dolamite, a necessary mineral for the smelting process.  Being on the edge of what would become the Shingleton State Forrest, there were even plenty of trees to fire the ovens.

     By 1891, the trees were all but gone.  A new and more efficient smelting process had been invented making the facility in Fayette obsolete.  After processing just shy of 230,000 tons of ore, everything shut down.

 

    It was noon as I drove through the small town of Cooks.  I really wasn't thinking about anything but the next state park.  Then I passed LaTulip Brewery.  The owner was just setting out the OPEN flag.  Ten seconds earlier, I would have been passed.  It felt like fate, so I went in.  

     Since they had JUST opened for the day, it was really quiet.  So, I had a nice chat with the owners.  They opened in the late summer of 2020 and LaTulip is the owner's family name.  Like most microbreweries, it has a small interior with a bar and a few tables.  There's also a good sized seating area outside.  One thing I had never seen was a playroom, so people can bring their kids.  When your business is in a town of six hundred, you've got to adapt.  If it wasn't right on Hwy 2, I would have missed it.  

    Near the town of Manistique is Palms Books State Park. The park's lake is fed by an underground spring at the rate of ten thousand gallons per minute.  No one knows exactly where the water comes from, but it's a constant forty-five degrees.  

      The best view is from the boat.  It's attached to a cable and the people on board are responsible for cranking the wheel to get it out and back.  Kids seem to find this fascinating and did it themselves.  The adults didn't seem to mind.

     The center of the boat is hollow, allowing an unobstructed view of the springs from above.  

     As quickly as the rain had begun, it ended.  Just in time for us to head back to the dock.

      Eventually, I did make it back to St. Ignace and the bridge back across to Mackinaw City.  It seemed a little bittersweet.  My adventures in the U.P. were officially over.

   On the other side of the bridge I picked up Hwy 31.  This would take me along the shore of Lake Michigan all the way to Traverse City.

     My first planned stop was Petosky State Park.  Petosky Stones are the state stone of Michigan and were first discovered in the area.  They're actually fossilized coral from 350-400 million years ago when Michigan was much closer to the equator and covered by a warm, shallow sea.  

     There were quite a few people wading just off the beach and picking up stones.  I thought about joining them.  But, I did have some more driving to do, and the thunder seemed to be getting closer.  

      I did make a quick stop in Charlevoix along the way. In 1976, the town came together to bake the World's Biggest Cherry Pie as part of the town's annual Cherry Festival and the nation's bicentennial. This involved creating the world's biggest pie tray, as well as building a special oven. The end product weighed 17, 420 pounds. The record held until 1987.

     Within a few minutes of leaving Charlevoix, the rain came in earnest.  At least I got the cherry pie shot first.

     I was grateful to finally be rolling into Traverse City, the self proclaimed Cherry Capital of the World. In 1976, they also had made plans for a giant cherry pie. Charlevoix beat them to it. In 1987, Traverse City took the title of World's Biggest Cherry Pie away from them. The folks at the city's Sara Lee bakery stepped up. Their pie was eighteen feet across and weighed in at 28,000 pounds.

     To commemorate, the pie tray is on display in a public park. But, the story doesn't end there.

     Three years later, the record fell. The Canadian town of Oliver, British Columbia baked one that weighed in at 37,700 pounds. That record still stands. But, since they didn't save the tray, Traverse City still has the World's Biggest Pie Tray.  I would have stopped for a photo, but I drove through this between Charlevoix and Traverse City...

       Through the worst of the rain, it was good to find the Blossom Hotel, unload my stuff and call it a day...