what to do in upper lower michigan

Up North selfies with the Pappy the 25 cent forture reader.

Last weekend I made a quick pilgrimage up the mitten to spend a few days in Upper Lower Michigan with one of my dearest friends (from Dallas!), Cat.  When I was younger, my relatives (mostly great aunts and uncles) owned a fully-functioning farm (crops, livestock, hay-baling season, barns, a grainery, breakfasts of eggs from our own chickens, dinners of milk from our own cows, potatoes from our own fields, and hamburger ground up from our own cows, wood burning stoves & million year old beds you had to clean the dead hornet bodies off of before you could sleep) up in Cheboygan, MI, which we used to go spend weeks at a time at - something I didn't appreciate at all as a child, and now would kill to be able to experience as an adult (isn't that how it always goes?).

As a tiny kid I loved spending all day outside chasing barn cats & catching the tiny kittens under the idea that I could domesticate them & someday talk my mother into letting me bring one home.  As I got older, I graduated to begging my dad to take me golfing with him (AKA he golfed while I drove the cart and ate candy bars, and then we went and played some riveting mini-golf afterward) I remember being so bored by the farm as a kid that I literally brought my little 13" TV set and video game console up there so I could plug it in on the dusty couch in the "living room" & play Suikoden III all day long.  Seriously.  I could kick myself now - but to be fair, 16 year old me had no idea I'd one day be more obsessed with the idea of homesteading than with console gaming.

So I hadn't been up to Upper Lower Michigan for a number of years, and god knows when I ever planned on going again, until Cat revealed she was going to be in Michigan visiting her family who run the Dam Site Inn (shameless plug: this place is THE LITERAL BEST family style chicken dinner type restaurant I have ever been to in my life, and this is coming from someone who's been going to Frankenmuth, both Bavarian Inn & Zehnders, for just about as long as I've been alive), which is only about 20 minutes from my family's digs, and thus began a yearly tradition of Upper Lower Michigan excursions.

Extra lovely Polish family luncheon at Legs Inn.

In my church jeans (forgot to pack a pair that weren't oversized comfy travel pants...) overlooking the gorgeous Michigan coast.

Polish platter - veggies, three kinds of pierogi, kielbasa, sauerkraut, & golabki with the world's best sauce ever.

After a few visits we've sussed out our very favorite spots - we spent this past weekend revisiting all of them.  I haven't been up north during the fall in quite a while, and it's absolutely beautiful this time of year.  The leaves had all turned gorgeous shades of orange and bright red, and other than a dreary, rainy early Saturday, it was absolutely beautiful.  There isn't a lot to do up north except eat, but there were surprisingly few tourists, so we really got to experience the slow, easy pace of the area, indulging in a whole lot of whiskey sours, a bar simply called, "BAR," about a million fudge and popcorn samples, rice krispie treat tea, and homemade Dam Site noodles (thanks to the seriously awesome generosity and hospitality of the owners - thanks again for being amazing!).

My dream, since my first time at the Dam Site meeting everybody, has been to see it during all of its Halloween glory.  This year I finally got my wish.

Nothing is cooler than Pam's hundreds (literally) of super intricately carved pumpkins. I can't even fathom gutting all of these - or how many seeds you'd go through.

I love the wolves!!

The best breakfast in Pellston (or anywhere thereabouts).

My usual - 2 eggs over easy, 2 sausage patties, and 2 blueberry pancakes with fresh local maple syrup.  I judge diner blueberry pancakes by how blue the berries turn the batter, and these ones rank exceptionally high.

This is what cider mills in Upper Lower Michigan get up to......so cute!!

It's a huge shame that the family farm isn't up and running anymore (though we do still own the land & it is still standing, just non-operational), but we still have lots of family in the area, and trips up there are so relaxing.  Cat and I got away from our yearly trips for a little while because life got in the way, but after remembering everything there is to love about Upper Lower Michigan this year we're planning on remedying that.  (Plus, there's a new brewery in Harbor Springs that I haven't made it to yet!!)