June 1st arrived quicker than anticipated; ready or not…here we go!
Our goal was to leave at 5:00am and we actually left the driveway at 5:30am…not too bad. Hopefully we haven’t forgotten anything truly important…anything trivial can be picked up on the way. One item I did forget was a yellow highlighter to mark my Atlas as we travel, I may have to wait until we arrive at our destination to pick one up.
Our first leg we drove 322 miles in 4.5 hours arriving in Mackinaw City, Michigan. This is an area we know very well having stayed many times here over the years. We filled up the tank, the car as well as our bellies! There’s a wonderful bakery cafe in town that we stop at whenever we’re here; on this visit we grabbed breakfast bagel sandwiches, coffee and a frosted cinnamon roll and had lunch at a nearby lakeside park.
The “Mighty Mac”, which us Michiganders affectionately call the Mackinac Bridge, was built between 1954 and 1957. It is 5 miles long, connecting Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas, at mid-span the bridge’s roadway is 199 feet above the water. This is also the location where Lake Michigan on the west side of the bridge meets the waters of Lake Huron on the east side of the bridge.
During the 2nd leg of our journey, we covered 303 miles in 5 hours; stopping briefly in Wittenberg, Wisconsin for more fuel and a restroom break. We did roll up to a McDonald’s drive-thru at lunch time.
How do we pass the time long road trips? Besides our favorite music we love to listen to podcasts. We found two new ones on this trip that were really great. The first one is called Total Michigan which focuses on the people, places and things that make Michigan great. We listened to the episode titled, Wrapped in Yooper tradition: The Yooper Pasty Company which showcased how Heidi and Jeff Ritter started a Pasty restaurant in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. A Pasty (pronounced pass-tee) is a flaky baked pastry stuffed with beef, potato, onion and spices. You can listen to this podcast here…https://totalmichigan.com/the-yooper-pasty-company/
The second podcast we found on this trip was right on target because it focused on exactly what we will be doing during the first week after arriving at our destination…hiking in the Pacific Northwest! This podcast is called Exploring the National Parks by Dirt in My Shoes. Podcast hosts Ash, a former Park Ranger and her husband John share their love and knowledge of the many National Parks throughout the United States that they have visited. The episode we listened to today highlighted parks in the Pacific-Northwest and there was a lot of great information on the Redwood National Park that we will be visiting. We also got some tips on other parks and cities to visit in the area too. You can listen to this podcast here…https://www.dirtinmyshoes.com/episode-21-pacific-northwest-road-trip-california-oregon-and-washington-national-parks/
The last leg for this day consisted of 169 miles, arriving at the Baymont Inn in Baldwin, Wisconsin at 7:00pm. The total miles driven for the day, 769.
Day 1 is in the books!
The Wallace Adventure! 