June 2013 MICHIGAN Sault Ste. Marie 1 - On our Way to Yooper Heaven

We left home at 9:11am. At 9:38, we were already talking about how much we missed Bella, our cat.

At If you haven't been tagging along with us on this blog, you may not know that Mike was born in Sault Sainte Marie (SSM), Michigan. It is in the Upper Peninsula or the U.P. and that makes him an official Yooper (pronounced You-per). Anyway, last November we attended Cousin Chuck's birthday party up here and found out about SSM's Engineer's Day. We are headed Up North again today to check that out. Drove about 342 miles from home to SSM.

We had lunch at the south end of Houghton Lake at the Long Branch Saloon. It didn't look like much from the outside, but inside was nice, clean, and Up North-y with log cabin decor. Not many in the saloon at 1pm and that usually gives us another little scare, but the food (almost all meat-y) was very good. I had a special request quesadilla with mushrooms instead of meat and Mike had a 1/2 pound burger and fries (too big to finish). Mike was happy to get a Fat Tire (beer) here.


It is always a thrill to drive across the five mile, very high Mackinaw Bridge and today was no exception. Not sunny, but not raining (or snowing). Count your blessings where you can. 

We checked in about 4pm at the Ojibway Ramada, right in downtown SSM and in the middle of all the Engineer's Day action. Had a king bed in a decent room. No lock view though.

After getting settled in, we called Cousins Chuck and Dianne. Chuck is retired now, but is still famous in these parts for being a fantastic girls volleyball coach, leading the local high school team to many championships. Dianne was school librarian and a charmer herself.

On the way to their place in Brimley (about 16 miles), we drove through several violent rain squalls with heavy lightening. We had to get gas, as we were traveling on fumes and I was really clenching my teeth over the possibility of lightning hitting the gas station and blowing us all to pieces. But as you can tell, we're still here. Thank goodness. 

We met about 5pm at C&D's home for a fresh and fabulous walleye fish fry. The fish were not too long out of the cold waters of Lake Superior just down the road a bit. Green salad with soooo many good topping options, a low fat zucchini alfredo (what a way to use zuchs!!), and homemade baked beans. Cousins Don and Chris were there also, bringing the best potato salad I've ever had. C&D's son Doug was there, too, and his son Jaren.

After dinner, we caught up on the latest and Dianne presented two scrumptious homemade pies--one lemon meringue and one with wild-picked blueberries in a custardy, creamy whip. Mike went for the first and I went for the second. I'm a big crust fan and this was some of the best I've tasted. Great job, Dianne.

We continued chatting til almost 9pm. Then we followed Don and Chris to their house to pick up some literature for Engineer's Day activities and a little more chat. They loaned us a book about the history of the area. We made plans to meet them and their two grand-daughters the next day to join in our Engineer's Day fun.

Last stop was the fudge shop. We bought two 1/2 pounders and got one free--chocolate with walnuts, peanut butter, and butter pecan. All soooo tasty.