Brockway Mountain Drive, Linda Buys Pasties, and Shopping At Swede's

Ahmeek, MI
58 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast today = high temp. 76 deg. partly cloudy with a 40% chance of rain this afternoon. W. wind @ 5 to 10 mph.

Sunday, Jim and Linda took CLT and headed for the Brockway Mountain Drive, which is a 9 mile scenic drive that runs atop the spine of Brockway Mountain.

The road and the stone walls along it were built by the Works Projects Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933.

The road is narrow and bumpy in places and there are a few steep grades with switch-backs, but the view from the top is really worth the drive.

The drive ends up just a little ways from Copper Harbor, so they drove into town and found a place where Linda could get some pasties.

No!! No!! Not that kind!!!!! ;-)

There pasties are pronounced past-ees, and are a pastry-dough pocket baked with a filling of coarsely ground meat, potatoes, onions, rutabagas, and sometimes carrots. They were originally made for the miners in the area to take into the mines to have for lunch. They are very popular in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and Lind had been wanting to try one for years, but had never had the chance.

So...... how did Linda and Jim like them? Well, Linda thought they were quite good, but Jim didn't think they were all that great. Anyway, if you get up to the U.P. of Michigan, you might want to try some. You'll have no trouble finding them up here.

Yesterday, Jim and Linda again took CLT and, after picking up their mail at the Post Office in Ahmeek, headed back up to Copper Harbor to do a little shopping. They went to a couple of places but found some really neat gift items at Swede's Gifts. Swede's has many items made by local craftsmen that are made out of copper or other items from the area.

After they were done shopping, they returned along the shore of Lake Superior on the Lakeshore Scenic Drive. This is a nice drive, but CLT says that it would be nicer if you could see more of the lake. Much of the time trees are blocking the view, but Jim and Linda both thought the drive was really nice, and would recommend it.

For dinner last night, they went back to Slim's Cafe in Mohawk. There were two reasons they went back there. First of all the food is good, and second, they have a great selection of bakery goods to choose from. After having the Hot Pork special for dinner, they stocked up on home made bread, peanut butter cookies and apple and blueberry turnovers, before coming back here to watch one of their VCR tapes on TV and play with the computers.

Oh, and I'm sorry to say that last night, we couldn't see the sunset at all. You see, yesterday afternoon, fog developed over the lake and blocked everything out. :-( 

Maybe tonight. :-)

Did you know that the Brockway Mountain Drive is the highest scenic roadway between the Rockies and the Alleghenies?