The last time I visited Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (PIRO) was May 2019. Andy has been pulling this Memorial Day Weekend trip together for upwards of 20 years and visiting PIRO longer than that. Since Andy met Elwira she has been on the vast majority of these trips too; far more than I though I must have been over a dozen times now. The group has varied in size over the years and over the years it has gotten tougher to get things sorted out starting with getting permits at the start of the year for both individual sites and a group site. Park rules allow up to six people per campsite but spread out amongst 2 shelters. This strikes us as rather limiting and really should be, we feel, 3 shelters. tack on the rules about cancellation policy and changing permits and the fees they tack on because they can and you get a sense of how irksome the system can be. Toss in the fact that it seems frequently broken and you can see how problem arise. They did for me. We got things sorted out as best as could be hoped for but I really hope someday the park service takes a serious look at the IT behind their disparate systems (each park can have its own) and improves them.
On Wednesday Andy and El got themselves sorted out after some, after the fact amusing but at the time vastly annoying, trials focused mostly around Mickey (the dog). We soon were leaving the rain behind heading north towards the Upper Peninsula. It’s an easy enough drive. When we crossed the Mackinac Bridge it was a bright sunny day and Lake Michigan was a lovely shade of deep blue with occasional whitecaps ruffling the surface.
After the crossing we had to stop for a traditional visit to Lehto’s for pasties. Pasties from the UP definitely taste better than the ones I have sometimes bought here downstate. I am not sure how much of that is psychological as opposed to actual physical, that is actual taste, conditioning at work here. The pasties from Lehto’s are definitely better.
I think it is fair to say we stop at Lehto’s Pasties in St. Ignace on every trip into the Upper Peninsula. Andy is certainly enjoying his pastie. El and I enjoyed ours.
--May 26, 2021 at 2:33 PM. 301–305 Reagon St, Saint Ignace, MI, United States
We pulled into Munising mid-afternoon and found Tim and Nancy already there. We settled into the Air B&B Andy had rented and soon were deciding what to do about dinner and get ourselves set up for the start of the backpacking trip.
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