Reporting from Northport, MI
LAT 45 deg 7 min
LON 85 deg 36 min
After a quiet night at a chain hotel (where we wound up with two queen beds) and an onsite breakfast, we were off for the day.
Our first stop--Muskegon, where there were a number of interesting statues. An enterprising sculptor jumped on the memorial bandwagon, and had one of the first Pres. McKinley statues post-assassination. He happened to be making a McKinley bust when he was shot, and got a local lumber magnate to foot the bill to finish it off. Roadside America calls it the “least flattering” version of the President, although they might be stretching it a bit.
Muskegon is also the hometown of silent film comedian Buster Keaton aka "Old Stone Face", so there’s a statue (direct from Hollywood) in front of the local theater.
Onto Montague, and a supermarket parking lot that includes the world’s largest weather vane--48 feet tall. There’s a metal schooner on top with real sails that powers the vane. Mindy also found some coffee she was looking for inside.
Out in the hinterlands, we found the Cherry Point Farm (Michican is Cherry Central). Mindy was interested in the “Lavender Labyrinth” there (although it’s the off season).
Hart, MI has a 24 foot “Tin Man” sculpture (so he got a “hart”--get it?)
Lunch time in Scottville. Brenda’s Burgers is a hole in the wall, but the food is great. Local beef hand formed daily, homemade buns, and great service. I had a burger, and Mindy had a melt. Excellent!
Ludington (where we shall return to—aquatically—later) has an unassuming shoe store with a historic exhibit. Robert Wadlow was the world’s tallest man, and he visited the town for a parade. Complications from an injury there would result in his death. The store has a lifesize statue of Wadlow in the back, along with one of his shoes.
We then stopped by one of those infamous “gravity hills”, where an optical illusion makes you think your car is coasting uphill. It’s not something that translates to photos or video.
On the way to our lodging, we tried to drive thru the Sleeping Bear National Park--but the road was closed for construction. Still a pretty area, though.
Giant advertising sculptures are catnip to Roadside America, and there’s one in Northport--a “Uniroyal Gal” in a parking lot of a cannabis dispensary. Speaking of jazz cigarettes, Michigan is lousy with places to buy it, most of which are fancy brand-new buildings. No seedy-looking places in strip malls here.
The final attraction for the day was a road sign indicating the halfway point between the Equator and the North Pole (45 degrees latitude).
Mindy found a real winner for tonight’s lodging--an “inn” with a handful of rooms, basically self-administered. They text you a code for the door, and you let yourself in. The room is gorgeous, and we ate at a wood-fired pizza place in the same building. We had some burrata along with the pizza pie. Since we were literally steps from our room, we sampled some cider as well.
Enough for today--tomorrow is a shorter drive to a lodge.