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Published: July 16th 2008
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The Mackinac Bridge
The 5 mile bridge that connects lower Michigan to the Upper Peninsula. It's the 3rd longest suspension bridge in the world. Sunday, July 6-Tuesday, July 7, 2008 We didn't know which way to go...head south and stop back by Rothbury to see John Mayer and Colbie Callat, then back through Chicago on our way towards South Dakota...or north through the upper Peninsula of Michigan where neither of us had been before then down through Wisconsin and Minnesota towards South Dakota. In the end, we decided on the new route and we headed north. It was kinda sad to miss the concerts, but we were excited to see some new places.
Our destination was Montana, but if we were willing to drive an extra 200 miles, we could go through South Dakota on the way and see the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore. In all it would be 2000 miles from Glen Arbor, Mi to Big Fork, Montana; six states in 30 hours: Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, but we were excited at the prospect of seeing so much in such a short time.
Our journey began as we headed north over the Mackinac Bridge into the upper peninsula. The unofficial food of the upper peninsula seems to be Pasties (pronounced pass-teas), something Jen had never heard of before,
Pasties - the U.P. treat
You've got to eat a Pasty (pronounced pass-tea) when you're passing through the upper peninsula of Michigan so we couldn't possibly drive through without tasting them. They're kinda like pot-pies shaped like a half-moon and stuffed with meat, cheese and potatoes. We ended up splitting a beef pasty and a vegie pasty for dinner. They were actually pretty tasty.
Our next stop was Green Bay, Wisconsin. You can't possibly pass through Green Bay without stopping at Lambeau Field can you? It's too bad it was already dark when we got there because the stadium is a sight to see. We got out and took some pictures and even went inside the new addition to the stadium. How appropriate that Rob just happened to be wearing his Michigan shirt while we posed outside the Packer Stadium.
Jen drove the next shift through Wisconsin into Minnesota while Rob slept, then Rob drove from Minnesota into South Dakota while Jen slept. Finally, at 9am we pulled up at the entrance to The Badlands in South Dakota. Although we stopped to spend the day seeing sights in South Dakota, our six state journey continued on afterwards.
We uneventfully passed through the NE corner of Wyoming just before hitting our last state, Montana, at 8pm. Having previously spent the
Lambeau Field
our only stop in Wisconsin last night taking turns sleeping in the car, we weren't too excited at the prospect of spending another night in the car, but our destination was still another 6 or so hours away. Montana's dark and extremely populated with deer and other animals, and we decided that it wasn't worth pushing through the night just to get there sometime around 3 in the morning, so we pulled into a rest stop, got into our sleeping bags, and spent yet another night sleeping in the car.
Early the next morning we continued on our way from just west of Billings to our destination of Flathead Lake. Along the way we decided to stop in Butte, Montana for breakfast at a greasy spoon diner to tide us over until we got to our destination. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into in this old mining town. While trying to find a good place to eat we discovered Butte is quite an interesting town, particularly because of all of its casinos and the unique personalities of people who were clearly regulars at this little diner. Butte is loaded with casinos and we don't mean Vegas-style casinos, but rather little
whole-in-the-wall casinos attached to all the restaurants and shops. We found a little diner that seemed quiet, cheap, and looked like they had good food; we were sold. We chinned up to the counter and placed our order. Shortly after ordering, a gentlemen came through the door, went behind the counter, poured himself a cup of coffee, warmed our coffees, and offered us his own personal creamer that he keeps in the fridge behind the counter. I don't know about you, but in Phoenix, people don't just make themselves at home at every little restaurant. (Another cool tidbit about this restaurant that we later found out is that until just recently, patrons of the restaurant paid their own bill at the register and made their own change! Only in small town USA could this happen) Immediately, he instigated a conversation with us; he asked us about ourselves, and then in a very proud manner told us all about the history of Butte and Montana. He was a very charismatic guy who entertained us through our entire meal. Butte was one of those cool little surprises along the way!
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