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Great Lakes Mead Tasting

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David breaks out in song even though it's way too early in the day for this...

It's... da... second week o' deer camp, and all da guys are here. We drink, play cards, and shoot da bull, but never shoot no deer. Da only time we leave da camp is when we go for beer... Oh! Da second week o' deer camp is da greatest time o' year!

...back to your regularly scheduled reading...

If ever you get lost in Michigan's U.P. around Ishpeming, you really need to stop at Da Yoopers Tourist Trap.


David
 
Awrighty, David... I almost wet myself reading that. I need to break that ol' CD out...

My wife, incidentally, is an excellent cook. I got lucky, I suppose. We generally fight over who GETS to cook dinner! Great problem to have, no doubt...

I make a traditional Southern Italian manicotti that you guys would plotz over. It's fantastic, and I have no problem saying that. I've made it more times than I can remember, and I've had no complaints, thus far...
 
Umm... for the record, I'm a transplant. Not a stitch of plaid in my closet. No sir, I couldn't be a Yooper even if I wanted to. I'm disqualified.

1) I wasn't born a yooper. Even some people born in the U.P. don't qualify. If you're born in the big city (that's Marquette) you don't probably don't qualify as a Yooper because you've probably drank cappichino, eaten a bagel or a crossant, use deoderant and drive a car made after 1983.

2) I can't understand pidgeon English/Finnish. But I do know not to answer "gesundheit" when someone says "Heikei Lunta!"...now.

3) I have all my teeth. Little known fact; the "tooth brush" was invented in the UP. If it had been invented anywhere else it would have been called a "Teeth brush".

4) I call grouse, "Grouse", not partridge, pats or patty birds.

Although, I must confess. I do live 10 miles from the nearest paved road. I do have to shovel my roof 5 months a year. I have had to use ski's, snowshoes and a snowmobile to get to work from time to time. I've also caught myself saying things like, "I'm going up to Chicago this week", or "I just drove up to Minneapolis", or "For vacation this year we went up to Mexico". I have not idea why the local dialect refers to anywhere else as "up", but I've been saying it too.

It's not that I'm disrespecting the U.P., I'm not, it's just that the natives talk funny, eat weird shit and look at me funny because I don't. The Third Coast has a lot of great things going for it, once you get used to the very, very wierd natives that come with it.

Back to the topic at hand though, I think that we should pick a gawd awefull spot like the "Wisconsin Dells", or one of those 6 flags places and just have a meet and greet. If it turns into something yearly, then great. Trying to find a weekend that will suit everyone's schedule is neigh on impossible. It just takes someone (or a suitablly small committee) to pull the trigger and make the decision.
 
A yearly event would be great than everyone could plan for it.
I think this is a great idea that will probably have to be cultivated for a while and then maybe have an annual Great lakes GM fest! If we got near one of the tourist trap rivers we could go out tubing. If we could get Rex Halfpenny to show up we could get some publicity for GM!



BTW kash. I haven't been to the UP in years but I stayed in ST. Ignace this year and we went to the island. As soon as we crossed the bridge it was pasties for sale on every corner. Don't get me wrong I like pasties, But in the lower you just can't go into a resturant and buy one. Either you make them yourself or else you can sometimes find them in grocery stores.
 
Just say ya to da UP eh!!! Ya, it'll be a hoot!

I have some former business associates from da RANGE! ;D ;D ;D

Cheers,

Oskaar
 
I think an annual Great Lakes GM event would be a blast. To start the process, we should collect a list of where the mid-West GMers live so that we can start to find a center point that is the most convenient to reach for the most members. To start with, if not done already, update your member profile with city and state. This can then be mined to help in the selection of a meeting place.

Angus
 
Angus said:
I think an annual Great Lakes GM event would be a blast. To start the process, we should collect a list of where the mid-West GMers live so that we can start to find a center point that is the most convenient to reach for the most members. To start with, if not done already, update your member profile with city and state. This can then be mined to help in the selection of a meeting place.
Click to expand...

I'll go first. Kankakee, Illinois. Some years back we were lampooned on the David Letterman show when a survey listed us as one of the worst places in the USA to live. We made his top ten list. ;D ;D ;D

Letterman was nice about it. Afterwards he presented the city with twin gazebos, a gift to show us no hard feelings, all in the line of comedy and humor. ;D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kankakee,_Illinois
 
I hightailed it out of the midwest as soon as I could, but maybe I can offer a suggestion for locale. Never been there, but I always liked the sign for "Bong State Recreational Area". I think it's somewhere off of I-94 near Kenosha, maybe Racine. Bonus stop on the way: the Mars Cheese Castle.
 
Richard Bong State Recreation Area
Multi-use recreation area. 4,515 acres. Features 215 campsites, 53 electric sites, winter camping, showers, a dumping station, handicap- accessible picnic area and campsites, nature center, naturalist programs, vistas, shoreline with marked beach area, canoeing, boating (electric motors only), fishing, 1.7 miles of nature trails, 14.7 miles of hiking trails, 13.2 miles of horseback trails (State Trail Pass required), 11 miles of off- road bicycle trails (State Trail Pass required), 13.2 miles of snowmobile trails, 14.7 miles of cross- country ski trails.
Click to expand...

I drive by that sign twice a day, 5 days a week. Too far north for most as it brings in the whole Lake Michigan barrier. Mars Cheese Castle is a nice store though.

Angus
 
Well I have my first batch of mead working so I don't think I am qualified to get in on this tasting thing since I have never tasted any mead EVER! 38 and stil a mead virgin :)

Anyway with that said for the record I am in Winchester WI which is about half way from the third coast and the Windy City. Since I wouldn't be going, my vote shouldn't count, but having been to both places and most places between them, I just have to say the UP is the palace to have it.

FTR A place called the Red Fox Inn in Gwinn (Old KI Sawyer AFB) has 4b houses for rent and they get like $175 a night for that. We use them in the winter when we go snowmobiling (snow machine for Kash). Great area and a damn good party place.
 
I was thinking about this last night at work. Lake Michigan is a great big barrier. But there are ferries that cross the lake and with the price of gas I would assume anyone coming from WI. would just about be breaking even with less milage on their vehicle.
I am not that familiar with the south westren part of the state so I really can't make any suggestions. But with the ferry option somewhere maybe near Grand Rapids could be a great place. Plus Founder's Brewing company is there >:D

Like I said I think a campground would be a great option.
1. cheaper than hotels
2. initiate unwitting campers into the greatness of mead.
3. CAMPFIRE! A great place to tell stories.

But a hotel could offer us some kind of conference room to have a tasting.

I am getting excited about this prospect. I am thinking maybe we could plan something in June maybe? Weather is generally good. No major holidays to work around and a good long while to work out logistics. I could probably provide a place for everyone to camp, but it would be a long haul for most. So probably out of the question. Plus no running water or electricity there.

Generally I have been thinking something close to the Indiana border from the looks of people interested in this.
Maybe even just in Illinois somewhere.

DAHOLE, meadless mead virign? I see no reason at all why you shouldn't come. A little mead goes a long ways and I would imagine there will be plenty of mead to go around.
 
As far as long drives are concerned, my wife and I don't much care, one way or the other. We're pretty easy to please.

Also, it should be noted that "camping" OFTEN includes a decided lack of AC/DC, water, etc... If you have those things, you are not really camping, but are, instead, "staying somewhere."

I am up for just about anything. Might I suggest a bit earlier in the summer, though? Early May is typically a bit less buggy... I am a mosquito magnet, so I have to say something...
 
Pleasant Prairie, WI 53158

I would be interested as well, pretty much anywhere mentioned already is fine with me. Sounds like a great event...

seeGarzz
 
My only concern with May is the weather. There is a saying here in Michigan. If you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes.
This May we had a 70 degree day that turned into 45 degrees next day. We had a 65 degree stretch of days in January.
You just can't count on the weather here. In fact most of this summer you could only count on the weather report for the day that you saw it on. Sure they try to predict what the weather will be like tommorow but it is quite a roll of the dice. I gave up looking at the extended forecast.
Memorial Day is an even bigger gamble. If you go away on Memorial Day weekend you can almost count on bad weather. If you stay home it will be nice.
 
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