US Highway 2

Memories of my childhood.

US Route 2 was the route we always took from when we crossed the Mackinac Bridge into the Upper Peninsula to my grandmother's house. Back in those days I had no idea it was part of a route that essentially connected the East Coast with the West, albeit with a gap.

I also didn't know that it was based on old (early 20th century) "auto trails" (and I have also been on M-12) and before that, parts of it were trails used by Native people.

It's a really beautiful drive. For parts of it you are running alongside of Lake Michigan (near Brevort). There are some high bridges - I remember Cut River Bridge being kind of scary, especially on windy days.

At one time I knew all the towns from St. Ignace to Rapid River in order - I knew about how much farther it was by what town we had most recently passed - but that knowledge has mostly faded. (I still recognize the names, Naubinway and Seney and Manistique and Garden - but I don't remember the relationships between where they are any more.)

There was a place we very frequently stopped for a meal at near St. Ignace. I THINK it was called Miller's Crossing or something like that? My parents would get pasties, which are classic UP food, but I always insisted on a grilled cheese (and my brother on a hamburger) because we didn't like pasties when we were kids (I think my brother still does not). Much later, after my parents had moved to Illinois and we would go up the "opposite" way (through Wisconsin), we would stop at a place called Schloegel's (which still exists!) By then, I was old enough to appreciate pasties and so I often got one - or if we were going through at breakfast, Swedish pancakes with lingonberries.

(Oh, crikey. They sell 906 stickers for your car in their gift shop. 906 was the area code for most (all?) of the UP so it's nostalgic to me.)

But I remember the trip best during my grandmother's life, when we lived in Ohio and made the long, long trek up, first on the Ohio Turnpike (super boring, and you better hope you didn't get hungry or need a restroom), then on, I think it was 94? Or 75? Through the lower peninsula. Sometimes we swung over to Ann Arbor or Traverse City to see some of my dad's relatives (many years we stayed overnight in Traverse City). And then across the Mackinac Bridge, into the Upper Peninsula....and a couple more hours (? Maybe it was less than that but it seemed like a couple hours) to my grandmother's house.

Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Mystery Spot. This was one of those tourist-trap type places (you can see a little bit of it, along with the unmistakable sign, here.) We never went; I think my parents were way too skeptical and unwilling to part with their money but I admit it was pretty intriguing to kids. (My dad said, "they probably have some of those forced-perspective rooms where big stuff looks small and small stuff looks big, and one of those set ups where it appears water runs up hill" and he was probably right....but I still admit a tiny part of me wanted to have seen it.)

(Heh. Now having seen Gravity Falls, I realize that Mystery Spot was essentially a real-world Mystery Shack. And now, I think, if I were traveling myself in the UP as an adult? I'd consider stopping off there and maybe even buying a t-shirt, just for kicks and grins. Except that it's almost $10 to get in, not including minigolf or ziplining....)