Mike’s Introduction to the UP: Pasties, Parades, and Plates

After our time in Minnesota, Mike and I drove 6 hours to Grandma’s house in Hancock, Michigan.  I have many, many childhood memories of Grandma’s house playing, so I was really excited to show Mike my favorite spots and get to spend some time with Grandma.  We arrived on Friday evening and Grandma and The Nabbs (My sister’s family) were waiting for us on the porch.  I think my my niece and nephew were jumping up in the air and I found out later they were asking every five minutes when we would arrive!  Grandma also had pasties ready for us – my favorite food.  These are Finnish specialty and are a meat pie with a flaky crust.  Mike loves them too!

On Saturday, the whole family headed to a small town named Chassell for their annual Strawberry festival.  Mary and Brett ran the 15 miles to the town, while Mike and I drove Grandma and the kids.  We dropped  Grandma off to save a good spot to watch the parade and Mike and I parked the cars.  On the walk back to meet Grandma, Mike and I saw three new license plates for states that we needed including Nevada!  We were now up to 37!  The parade was a nice small town style and my favorite float was a group walking to advertise a local gym.  There was a women dressed up as Richard Simmons and she was leading a grouped in sweating to the oldies!  It was hilarious!  After the parade, we had hot dogs and strawberry shortcake.  Yummy!  After the parade, the ladies went to fancy tea at a local shop.  They serve little snacks and the tea in pretty tea cups.  The shop also has elegent hats and Kylie picked out one for each of us to wear.  We felt like we attended the Royal wedding!

Mike and I enjoyed playing with Kylie and Matthew and they had discovered all of my favorite play spots at Grandma’s house including the attic which has many old toys.  We also found Grandma’s hats from the 60’s!  Kylie and I did fashion shows and played hat store.  We named it “Attic Town” and played many fun games.

Sunday, the Nabbs left and we went to Church with Grandma and took one of her friends out to lunch at “The Hut.”  One of my favorite restaurants and we both had pasties again.  We went for a drive around the country and Mike got to see Lake Superior.  In the afternoon, we played scrabble with Grandma.  It was a nice afternoon to relax and hear stories about our family’s history.

On Monday, we took a road trip to the tip top of the UP, Copper Harbor.  The views were beautiful and we stopped a few times to site see.  Mike also got to have his picture taken in front of the famous snow thermometer.  Record year was in 1978 with 390″ of snow! 

We really, really enjoyed our visit to Grandma’s!  It was special to share the time with our niece and nephew and show them all of the fun things to do at Grandma’s house.  It was also very meaningful to spend so much time with Grandma too and have her get to know Mike who she now calls Mikey:)  My Grandma is so important to me so it was nice to hear her tell me at the end of our visit that Mike is the perfect partner for me!  I have to agree:)