Do you want fries with that?

Spending my summers in Northern Michigan as a child, I came to the realization that one of the reasons for "summering" was to get away from it all. Bellaire, MI, the town closest to Torch Lake, always had a grocery store, two gas stations, a few ice cream shops, half a dozen restaurants, and that's about it. I remember quite clearly the summer that McDonald's opened up on the main street through Bellaire; everyone was immediately against it. "We will never eat there! It's destroying the culture of this little town!" people said. On the other hand, it brought much-needed jobs and some economic stability to the financially uneasy Antrim county. Personally, I've stopped at that McDonald's maybe twice in my life; I try to stay away from fast food in general, and when I'm Up North, it makes more sense to me to try and support the locally-owned businesses.

Anyhow, here's a really cool map of the United States that shows the location of every McDonald's in the country. It's pretty interesting. If you look closely, you can even see the singular dot of the McDonald's in Bellaire!

Gibraltar Airport

Whenever a plane lands at or takes off from Gibraltar airport (GIB), the city's main road must be closed. This is because the airport's runway intersects the street. Pretty crazy, if you ask me. It's kind of like a raising bridge in a sense; the bridge in Charlevoix, Michigan is the only way to get around or through the city, so when the bridge is up to let boat traffic through, cars are stuck on either side.

Check out a few pics of the Gibraltar airport and the raising bridge in Charlevoix below.

Gibraltar airport info and pics via JustWhatever and Wikipedia.

A funny thing happened on the way to Chicago...

Well, quite a few things, actually. I wish I had been able to take some pictures, but I was furiously driving a record-setting time from Bellaire to Chicago: five hours and 16 minutes. Fierce.

Anyhow, while on my drive, I saw quite a few funny things that I'd like to share.

1. A gypsy camp. I left Bellaire and followed my iPhone GPS to Kalkaska to pick up the highway. I was driving down dirt roads that I'd never seen before, and it was awesome. Lots of beautiful hills and valleys, creeks and ponds, all kinds of nature. But the best thing I saw was this gypsy camp... I came around a corner and there was a trailer home parked on the side of the road. After that, there was a cleared out section in the woods filled with run-down cars, grills, lawn furniture, and a few dogs. I've always heard stories about how there were gypsies in Northern Michigan: the kind that travel around but have a base camp and rob houses when you're at the grocery store, etc. Anyways, I honestly think I stumbled across one today, and it was pretty cool.

2. Just before passing the booming metropolis known as Cadillac, MI, I saw a turtle crossing the road. Seriously. He was almost to the berm on the left side of the road, so he was pretty much home safe. I was concerned, humored, confused, and worried all at once.

3. Down towards Grand Rapids, I passed a semi-truck with the following message inscribed in HUGE letters:

JESUS CHRIST IS LORD

Not a Swear Word

It was funny at first, but then I started thinking about who it was who was driving that truck... Where was he (she?) driving? What cargo was being carried? Maybe it was a cover-up for an illegal drug operation or a child porn ring, but I'm not really sure. It was curious, to say the least.

Skiing mishap. Funny.

Over the holidays I was in Northern Michigan where I hung out with my family, drank a lot of beer, and did some skiing.  I'm a big fan of wearing jeans under snow pants (or, as the case may be, without snow pants) because it adds another layer of warmth.  And, when you take your snow pants off to enjoy some food & drink in the lodge, you still look fashionable.

Anyways, some guy out in Vail should have learned one from me, because he got caught in an incredibly awkward situation.  Awkward for him but hilarious for the rest of us.  Check it out here, via D Listed.