Saturday, August 21, 2010

DH Takes Me to Paradise....

Paradise, Michigan, that is.

It's a tiny town in the upper peninsula. Not to be confused with Hell, Michigan, which is in the lower peninsula. Really...I don't make this stuff up....just google it if you are skeptical.

We have been on vacation for the past four days. (You probably did not even know I was gone since I had entries all set to automatically post)


Paradise was having its annual wild blueberry festival.
We found a parking spot about a block from the main entrance and walked down to this craft show,
which was right on the shores of Lake Superior.

While walking around, we spotted these cute little dogs being pushed in a baby stroller! Talk about the good life...
I remarked on their cuteness to the man pushing them. He told me how he had adopted them from a shelter. The cutie in the center is named Zoey! How cool is that? I asked him if I could take a picture and he was nice enough to allow me to do so.

We decided to find something to buy that we could use in the garden as a memento of the time we spent in Paradise.

DH was quite impressed with this booth featuring stainless steel whirligigs.

I decided to pick one in the same colors as the cannas that are now blooming.

It was our only purchase.

We were hoping they would have blueberry ice cream for sale, but we did not see any blueberry anything! The church across the street was advertising pasties for dinner...pasties are a UP speciality of beef and veggies in a sort of pie crust pastry...but what do they have to do with blueberries?
Photo credit and you can find the recipe for UP pasties here.


We were a little disappointed in the lack of blueberry culinary concoctions. Maybe they had some in a different part of town. We drove through the tiny town, but saw nothing to suggest that they did.

We decided we were thirsty and drove another dozen miles to a brewery at Tahquamenon Falls. We have been to this place a few times and know that they offer four different brews that change frequently. I was hoping they would have some blueberry ale to coincide with the festival.

This time I was not disappointed!

DH got a pint while I ordered just a 1/2 pint.
I was surprised that I drank the whole glass! I am not a beer lover, but this was delicious...the two blueberries at the bottom were an extra special treat.
On the way back, we stopped at this quaint little quilt shop. DH really liked the moose quilt on the back wall. If only we had a cottage up north--I could make a moose quilt for the bed.

10 comments:

  1. I enjoyed your trip :)
    We were in Ely, Minnesota one year during blueberry time and once we got settled in our cottage... kids who worked at the resort for the summer, came to the door with a fresh blueberry pie. All the cottages got blueberry pies hot out of the oven. Balisha

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Zoey, I have never been to Paradise, lol, but I'm glad you and your DH had the chance to visit! How odd they didn't have something, anything?! made from blueberries though. Love the pampered doggies riding in the stroller and the scenery, and the quilt shop; thanks for sharing this; I feel like I was on vacation now, too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Zoey. Oh, I love to go to craft shows. That part looks like a lot of fun. You would think that there would be Blueberry everything at a Blueberry Festival. You did pick out a pretty whirligig.
    I would have loved to get one of those doggies the man adopted. Love that breed. Have a wonderful week.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks like a lot of fun...jack and I are looking forward to vacation next month in the great smokey mountains of Tennessee.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It looks so weird in August to see people with coats on. That just doesn't happen in Missouri. We are in a sauna now.
    And another seperated at birth post, sister. Your whirligigs, See in your picture the cross one? Below it is a hummingbird? I HAVE that one.
    Too fun, thanks for the road trip.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gotta love the shot of DH with his wallet out! We call them 'spinners' in these parts. I got a copper one for about $8 last year and it isn't living up to it's name. I sure hope your pretty one is! Of course mine came flat and I had to figure out how much to open it up.
    We have a place around here (in my hometown and the town where I was born) called Iron Hill Brewery and they offer a brew sampling. Bri got it once and he was it was just ok. I really am not a beer drinker, but love Blue Moon Beer as the summer brew is made with orange and they even give you a twist of orange at the bars!
    You should make DH a pillow with a moose for Cmas! ; )

    ReplyDelete
  7. We have a Paradise, Pa close by in Lancaster County and it's a quaint town that sells lots of quilts-also has a neat general store. Need to go there soon!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have been to Hell but never Paradise.

    I've not been to Taquemenon, either, but it's on my list of things to do. So now I'm adding Paradise to that trip!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Looks like fun! What part of Michigna are you in? Northern your profile says? I'm from Grand Rapids, but live in Chicago now. And speaking of blueberry ice cream, did you have any of Hudsonville's limited edition flavor Blueberry Cobbler? It was really good!!

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate you taking the time and effort to leave a comment. I will try to answer any questions you have. Please note due to Blogger changing word verification so almost nobody can read it, I have had to change to no word verification and only allow registered users to comment.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...