Re: Lost (and not so lost) Attractions of the UP (8/11-8/19)

You may ask initally, "What is the 'UP'?" Well, I am here to answer
that. The UP is the Upper Penninsula of Michigan, and boy is it
something else. I guess that's one way to put it. It is, however, a
very quiet place where one can be away from technology by force, a
rarity virtually anywhere on this continent, and especially in this
country. Merely 6 hours or so from Grand Rapids/Lansing/Detroit and
you too can be in the middle of Yooperville, which looks like a
strange mix of the Red Green Show and the US south.

Mind you, the UP is a large place. It's roughly the same size as Denmark or
Maryland. From your description, you only hit the lowlands portion of it.
You skipped the entire Superior Uplands.

In this area, there are about 300,000 people. There are no cities of 20,000
permanent residents. (Marquette is over 20k most of the year, due to
Northern Michigan University.)

(Wolf, you better be reading this.)

I am.

-ATTRACTIONS:

-8/11: Mac Woods Dune Rides (Silver Lake, MI): A funky spot out south
of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore, heavily modified trucks
go on a sort of "safari", for lack of a better term, across the dunes.
The trucks are typically F-350s modified to have the cab and bed
removed for seating, usually about 5 rows deep. The tires are modified
to be grooved slicks, somewhat similar to what is seen on a modern
Formula 1 car. As is, there's some airtime (!) in the back, as well as
a surprising run taken right into Lake Michigan. Well worth the time.
Interesting note: No DVDs available of their promotional video, but
plenty of VHS copies.

Did you go to Sleeping Bear? The climb is worth it, just to see the ~300 ft
straight drop from the dune down to the lake.

-8/15: Haunted Theatre (Mackinaw Island, MI): I hadn't seen any
mention of this anywhere. It is a large, permanent walkthrough
attraction that to the best of my ability is entirely inhouse. Its is
very similar to the Bill Tracey style of walkthrough with lots of
darkness, changes in elevation and hallway width, tons of
prefabricated and motion activated scenes, though there was some
definite human element as well with a couple live actors (family of
the owner/operators). I really enjoyed it: Meredith, not being a fan
of the "stuff jumping out" attractions, not so much.

I went through this one about 10 years ago. Big building. It helps that it's
staged in a somewhat gothic house.

-8/16: Haunted Depot (Sault St. Marie, MI): Speaking of previously
unmentioned/"undiscovered" places, here's another. Its a permanent
walkthrough attraction located just across the street from the Soo
Locks. A large, fairly long (20 min) walkthrough that was about 50/50
for live actors and scenes. Lots of very tight and dark mazes in this
one, with the vast majority of scares coming from actors in costume.
The attraction is done by group with a tour guide who leads you to
various areas, then leaves you to go through the mazes, only to
reappear at the other side. The highlights are by far the tilted room
section and the "Dr. X" execution area, with a person from the group
chosen for death by guillotine. Can't recommend it as much as Haunted
Theatre, but close enough and so far out of the way/rarely visited
that its worth a look.

This one is new to me.
I've not been to the Sault, as I usually come up via Wisconsin or go south
along US-2.

-8/18: UP State Fair (Escanaba, MI): Run by Skerbeck Brothers, this
was a decent sized carnival that operates as Michigan's "other state
fair". Fairly good sized lineup which included a Dragon Wagon (on
topic!), Pirate Ship, Himalaya, Giant Slide, Wisdom Tornado, an odd
sort of suspended tea cup attraction which escapes me, a Fabbri drop
tower (I think...or it was an ARM), bumper cars, Chance Giant Wheel,
and a real live operating Tip Top! I used my tickets wisely and rode
only the drop tower and Tip Top, given my general disinterest in
riding kiddie coasters these days. The Tip Top, for those who've not
seen one in real life, is a sort of combination between the old
Twister ride that Williams Grove had and a tea cup ride. And then it
has a sort of pneumatic lift that puffs up, along with hydraulic
brakes controlled by the operator. I tried spinning early on, then
gave up after a little while and just let the operator do his thing.
It was pretty good...not the greatest thing ever, but fun and
comparatively unqiue.

I've always been curious what's at the UP state fair, as it always finished
just before we went up for classes. I also wish I could remember which show
company (small) played our spring festival.

-8/19: Mystery Spot (St. Ignace, MI): Ahhh, the Mystery Spot. Fairly
unimpressive mystery house that has lots of advertisements and flyers,
but is really outdone by several other similar leaning houses in the
country, including ones in Sandusky and Idlewild. The facility also
has a wax museum, hedge maze, and mini golf, all of which we skipped
over.

I remember the Mystery Spot. Man, what a tourist trap.


You did one serious circle tour. Why the stretch from Whitefish to
Escanaba/Manistique? There's just about nothing in that stretch, even though
you missed the 40 Miler.

BTW -- much trouble w/ RVs?

So back to Disney. On this trip, I paid through the nose for 2 nights
at one hotel. We all did. It was the Grand Hotel. It was the
PRESIDENTIAL SUITE. It was $1500 a night. Yes. $1500. The amount of
money my entire trip to Europe cost for one night in a hotel for the 4
of us. Hey, its a little easier when you think that your end is just a
quarter of that, right? Now, at $1500 a night, it would have to be
really good to live up to that. $1500! A night! ***, man! And you
think staying at the Westin for a single night is really living it up!

So how was it? Stupendous. I'd do it again in a second...well, when I
had the money again. It would have to be the exact same group of
people, and it probably wouldn't have the magic of that first night's
stay, but god almighty, it was beyond all expectations. The balcony
was larger in square footage than many Red Roof rooms I've stayed in.
There was museum quality artifacts from every president from Grover
Cleveland going forwards. The dress code of jackets and ties (and
dresses only for women) was strictly enforced after 6PM, per all
instructions. The food, which included a full 5 course dinner and
multi course breakfast, was exquisite. So was the free bar, free
fudge, and tons of other bonuses in the room. I didn't even dare leave
the hotel because the view from my room was just that nice. This was a
fullblown 5 star hotel in the nicest room with all the amenities, and
hot damn, it was great.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Hotel_%28Mackinac_Island%29

Mind you, this is likely the best hotel in Michigan. As a structure, I think
it's larger than the fort. I think you're unlikely to see this kind of hotel
anywhere near an amusement park.

Brief reviews of other hotels/motels/etc:

-Lighthouse Motel (Luddington, MI): The least impressive of the trip.
Hilariously, the owner didn't even know he no longer had HBO in the
rooms. Generic motel in a seaside (???) town.

Lakeside. Seas are generally salty.

-Whitefish Point Lighthouse (Whitefish Point, MI): The middle of
nowhere. The phone's 1 and 3 buttons did not work, making calling out
virtually impossible. Also, no cell reception (not even on roam), no
local TV channels, and no office to call after 7PM. No proper town for
7 miles. Nearest hospital was a long drive away. And that's part of
why this was such a cool choice. Only downside is that the "room
theming" was essentially just the pictures on the wall. The downstairs
common areas were nice, with the continental breakfast being whatever
you took from the fridge and a small library with a piano. Plus,
blissful solitude, when not fearing for one's life from ocelots or
Leatherface. I went out at 11PM and saw the Milky Way for the first
time in eons. FUIUD with that being awesome.

Whitefish is the absolute boonies.
There are boonier places, but not many. You were also 4 miles from Canada.

(Boonier)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=powell,+mi&ie=UTF8&ll=46.796299,-87.793808&spn=0.338922,0.641327&z=11&iwloc=addr&om=1

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=gay+bar,+gay,+mi&ie=UTF8&ll=47.224232,-88.170176&spn=0.042027,0.080166&z=14&iwloc=A&om=1

If you want really dark skies, visit in winter. The lack of moisture helps.

-Royal Rose B&B (Manistique, MI): A depressed old town in the middle
of nowhere where I purchased a tape of 17 year old muay thai
kickboxing from a generic video store named "VIDEO". The bed and
breakfast here was really nice, with cherry covered pancakes and
apricot scones being our morning meal, close proximity to Pizza Hut,
good channel selection, an endearing owner/operator, and of course a
balcony, from which the strains of a bluegrass band playing "House Of
The Rising Sun" could be heard from a marina's wine tasting a block
away.

You came from Whitefish Point and then said Manistique was in the middle of
nowhere. Brother, in the UP, Manistique is *somewhere*.

--
|\-/|
<0 0>
=(o)=
-Wolf


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