Prior to me coming up to Wisconsin, Jake had mentioned taking a road trip to Copper Harbor, Michigan. I had went there prior to moving down to Texas. I described how it was there and he wanted to go. We decided we'd go the day after Christmas since it was a weekend and Jake was off. Jake's sister Caitlyn also came along with us.
Because we were going to go past Eagle River, Michigan, we decided to also go through Eagle River, Wisconsin.
The UP was supposed to get a lot of snow. Throughout Wisconsin, the drive was not too bad. At the Michigan border, the roads were also good.
That changed fast.
In a lot of areas it was pretty desolate and there weren't many radio stations. We did find one playing some polka so we knew we were in the “Nort'†Woods. We kept driving through the snow and finally got to Houghton. We crossed the bridge over into Hancock. From there, we fought the snow and hills to try to find a place that sold pasties, a local UP delicacy. We couldn't find the original place we were looking for and we all had to go to the bathroom, so we ended up at a grocery store called Pat's Foods.
Lo and behold, their deli had pasties!
The pasties were big, so I just got one. I also got quart of milk to wash it down. Jake, on the other hand, got 2 and he was stuffed shortly after starting the second one.
We decided to sit on the bench in the front of the grocery store and eat them. With the defroster not working in my car, all that steam would have not been good as well as it would have been difficult to eat the pasty while driving in the crappy weather. It was definitely very good.
After that we hit the road and headed further north. Eventually we saw the sign for Eagle River, Michigan.
It was snowing hard enough that it covered the roads completely and it was like offroading on a snowy trail. After driving and watching the roads accumulate more snow, we finally made it to Copper Harbor!
I got out of the car and took a picture by the empty hotels. My car definitely had a lot of snow caked in the wheel wells from that driving.
The weather itself was pretty windy and nasty. Since my defroster no longer works and it is stuck on vent, I do have to crank the heat to let it rise enough to keep the windshield defrosted. It definitely did get toasty warm in the car. I only wore my T-shirt and was warm enough to walk around outside a while in just my T-shirt.
The road next to the bay was unplowed. It was hard getting up the hill on an adjacent road.
On the way back, I noticed there were these sticks standing up alongside the road. This went on for miles so I am assuming they are used as reference points for the plows or people driving to know where the road is.
Talking about the plows, they were out in full force the whole time I was driving.
We decided to stay at the AmericInn in Calumet. That's where I stayed last time. The parking lot was full of snow.
There was also snow plowed literally up to the door.
The room was a standard 2 bed room.
My boots were soaked from walking in all the snow but being in the room allowed me to kick them off.
We were a bit hungry and decided to go to this brewpub in town. There ended up being a half hour or longer wait, so we opted for Jim's Pizza.
I got the combination fish and shrimp fish fry. It was very good. The one thing about the Upper Midwest is they know how to do their fish fries.
We decided we were going to drink a little. Jake and I had that some beer left from the carryout we bought at Lindsey Bar.
After eating, we stopped at Bucko's Party store so Caitlyn could pick up something.
I decided to additionally get a big bottle of Red Stripe and a small bottle of Canadian Hunter.
We sat in the room and had a few.
It snowed all night. When we woke up around 8am, it was still dark outside since Calumet is on the fringe of the Eastern Time Zone.
They had a nice complimentary breakfast comparable to the La Quinta's I stay at for work.
My car had a bunch of snow on it from it snowing all night.
There were also some snowmobiles on a trailer in the parking lot.
I knew there were some trails nearby, but honestly you'd see snowmobiles everywhere on the drive.
On the way up, I noticed that a school's mascot was the Nimrod. On the way back I had to take a picture of this, as this school must get a ton of crap for being the Nimrods.
The roads in the UP were almost as crappy as they were the day before. The further south we went, the better it got. When we finally made it a bit into Wisconsin, the sun started peeking out of the clouds.
Eventually, about 30 miles out of Marshfield, it got sunnier.
When I got home, my car definitely had a lot of salt caked on.
It was fun taking the trip with Jake and Caitlyn. The nice thing about this trip was splitting expenses. It was definitely a lot cheaper than if I went myself and it was definitely a good time hanging out with old friends. I have another week and a half in Wisconsin, so there will definitely be more adventures on the way.