This fall Zach and I took a trip up north to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I label this under "nostalgia" because all along the UP there were these really fantastic old tourist traps - not new tourist traps like water parks, go-cart tracks, or miniature golf, but small little "mom and pop" stops that were created in the 1930s and 1940s when families began using the automobile as their newest vacation tool - thus began the road trip.
This phenomenon actually goes back much further, really it began almost immediately as the production of reliable cars did. One of my favorite stories in the whole wide world is about one of these early road trips and was published in Outdoor LifeMagazine in the nineteen-teens - although I don't have the article in front of me, so I don't remember the exact date. I do recall that the party of four toured the midwest in their Whiting Gasoline Tour Car.
Unfortunately, I was unable to locate a picture of the car, but these photographs give you an idea of what I'm referring to:
So mid-October Zach and I made the trip north and were lucky enough to stumble across some of these early roadside attractions that were largely in St. Ignace.
There was the Indian Village museum/trading post that once housed Father Marquette's (a Jesuit Priest) mission:
Now:
And then:
We also stopped by Castle Rock. I'm pretty sure that's the same structure that got people out to the rock in the 1920s.
Then:
And now:
On a safety scale of 1-10, I'm giving this one a 1.5
At the summit! We're such brave souls!
Zach is terrified of heights and could not be pried from the flag pole long enough for me to snap a photograph of him:
But it was well worth it. He got to visit Babe the Blue Ox and Paul Bunyon once again (he hadn't seen the two here since he was a young boy):
No comments:
Post a Comment