Smitten with the Mitten

 Bill and I decided to take the northern route home from Grand Rapids and we discovered that the state of Michigan is awfully beautiful.  Lush, green hardwood trees and they have jet black squirrels!



The Mackinaw Bridge was impressive too.  I didn't realize it is the longest suspended bridge in the Western Hemisphere.

Of course one can't travel through the U P without having a pastie!  I like dipping it in the gravy myself.

One place we stayed was Escanaba and had a room overlooking a bay of Lake Superior with a door out to our own little veranda.

They had a nice boardwalk along the lake.

Spent the last night in Duluth, did some window shopping at antique stores (like) and made a stop at the Amazing Bread Co and the Chocolate Factory of course (like, like:)

Walked down by the lake a little bit.

Lunch at Olive Garden~ YUM.  I had a parmesan crusted, cheese stuffed lasagna noodle thing topped with marina and it was delish.  Their breadsticks are heavenly.  Why oh why can't we have an Olive Garden in Bemidji??

And then home sweet home.  It was a long, long trip- we put over 1,600 miles on the van, but it was sure nice to just get away and spend some time together.