Posted by ayersian
, August 07, 2009 10:48
Waking up in Escanaba, Michigan, we packed up quickly and went back into town to explore a few places we’d passed yesterday. As in Iron Mountain, Escanaba had a branch of Dobber’s Pasties, so we indulged in a scrumptious Breakfast Pasty, full of eggs, potatoes, and crumbled sausage. Amy declared this as her favorite pasty, but Chris loves them all. To stock up for the day’s drive, we also stopped at Gram’s Pasties for a meat pasty to go, and at Swedish Pantry for a bag of Scandinavian skorpa (biscotti-like cinnamon bread eaten with coffee or tea). Another friendly server made us laugh at the drive-thru at Jo to Go Coffee, where Amy grabbed an eye-opening iced coffee. With Lake Michigan on our starboard side, it was a long but scenic drive on our first 80-degree day in a week.
We must’ve passed thirty pasty shops on the road to St. Ignace, every one of them showing maximum Roadfood potential. Oh, how we long to be official Yoopers to sample them all! Crossing the Mackinac Bridge to Mackinaw City and the Lower Peninsula, we stopped for gas and gulped a Vernors Ginger Soda, a Michigan original and one of America’s oldest surviving soft drinks. Traverse City came and went while we were focused on reaching the small town of Beulah and the Cherry Hut. Recently featured in a Michael Stern article for USA Today, the Cherry Hut is the definitive place for cherry pie, though we made a meal of it by ordering cherry BBQ ribs, cherry chicken salad, a cherry muffin, and cherryade to drink. The pie was indeed the standout with its flaky crust and juicy cherries. Amy bought a bag of washed whole cherries from the adjoining market to eat in the car. Tomorrow we’ll investigate Bavarian eats in Frankenmuth, then on to Flint and Detroit Rock City!
