Four States Fall 2018 - 4 - U.P., MICHIGAN - Highway 2

In the morning we enjoyed a family breakfast. Then all went our separate ways toward home. Mike and I were the exception, as we continued north with the ultimate goal this day being Marquette, Michigan. As we traveled 100 miles north, the leaves on the trees got a little brighter with fall colors.

We drove toward the Mighty Mac(kinaw) Bridge that spans over the Straits of Mackinaw between the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. You've seen similar photos before on this blog, but we love this bridge and have to keep showing shots. This day it was foggy at the top of this 5-mile long suspension bridge.

On the next 164 miles, we had two stops in mind. The upper peninsula (U.P.) is known for its meat filled pies called pasties (their version of an Italian calzone). They are a half moon shaped pie crust style dough filled with variations of meat, potatoes, onion, and rutabaga, or just vegetables for veg heads.

The recipe was imported from Great Britain in the 1840s. Experienced miners from Cornwall, England immigrated to the U.P. to work the copper mines there. They brought pastie-making skills with them to make lunches to take down into the mines. No working mines exist these days, but this tasty treat lives on.

There are dozens of pastie shops along U.S. 2 which hugs the Lake Michigan coastline. We had tried many of them over the years, with mixed reviews. Our friend Dixie recommended Hiawatha, as she has a friend that owns it and knew for sure that theirs are baked to perfection. Our taste buds were watering, but alas, when we arrived at this first stop, it was closed. A huge disappointment.

We continued down the road to a little place we had frequented before in downtown Manistique.

Marley's is a quaint but hip little hole in the wall with a tiny kitchen. This is the entire kitchen.

Furniture is a conglomeration of old tables and chairs. Some have been modified to accommodate purse storage. I love it!

They also have many games to play on cold winter days. A scrabble game is set up vertically on the wall with magnetic letters. This way you can totally embarrass yourself in clear view of the entire bar. Again, love it!

We ordered lunch. I'm not sure what, at this point. But for all you old time Michiganders, Mike ordered a Stroh's. When is the last time you saw that label in a bar?

After a grab and gobble lunch we headed down the road to our second stop.