Food supplies were running short so we set out to find a real grocery store. We decided to drive east to Ontonagon, MI, about 13 miles down the road and see what it was like. The road followed the Lake Superior shoreline. There were lots of little cabins and beaches we could glimpse at through the trees along the way. We came upon a large factory and then crossed the bridge into town. It was more like a bridge into a time warp.

A trip back in time:

It really reminded me of a Mayberry kind-of-town. A lot of the houses in town looked neat and tidy but from by-gone years. The main street in town was small with signs in the window that told of short “open” hours. With the hours it appeared the one store would close and the cafe next door would open. Perhaps the same person ran both businesses.

We came upon the museum and a small hut that promised tourist information. We stepped into the small hut-like building to the sound of the Polka. An elderly gentleman reached for the radio knob and turned down the music. Even though I’m not a Polka fan, I kind of enjoyed it and was almost tapping my foot. When talking to him, you could tell the gentleman had lived in the area a long time. We somehow got onto the subject of something called pasties and how they are harder to find because of USDA regulations. I hadn’t tried a pastie and I didn’t even know what they were. He said they were a type of sandwich that the miners would put together and take with them into the mines in the old days. I made a note to myself to try one before we left Michigan.

We asked him if there was a charge to visit the museum. He said it was free. We thought, “Well, why not.” and headed for the museum a few steps away. He must have misunderstood what I asked him because there was a $3 charge each. Oh, well. That’s almost free considering the cost of things now days. It was a nice little museum. You could really get a feel for the town and its history in there. A lady walked in and asked to talk to someone about her relatives that were supposed to have lived in the area in the 1800s. The museum lady said, “Right this way, we’ll see what we can find about your relatives” and they went into a small room with large ledgers. Wow, I can’t see getting that kind of service in our town.

We left the museum and drove around the town a bit. Prehnite St, Epidote St, Iron St, Copper St, Mercury St, Quartz St, Brass St, Spar St, Lead St, Zinc St, Silver St, Gold St. Diamond St. It seems they have a real theme going on with the street names. I didn’t pay attention to see if the higher-class homes were on Gold St or Diamond St. I chuckled a bit thinking, who knew a drive through the town would teach me some new mineral names?

We came to the local grocery store. Wait…it was a hardware store…no, it was two stores in one! Yes, next to the potato chips was the paint brushes. Not kidding. The fresh fruit was in the aisle with the nails and screws. I believe the rice was in the aisle with the hoses. The food was all mixed in throughout with the hardware. Why wouldn’t they separate them? You could buy a wheel barrel and fill it with groceries and check out all at once. I have never seen anything like it! When we left, we still were chuckling.

It was a fun, unique experience visiting that little town. You surely don’t see one like it every day.

next….the bears.