Aug. 12th: Pasties in my mouth!

I love pasties!  So does everyone in and around the Upper Peninsula.  They are an ongoing tradition going back generations with several businesses in the area dedicated to the making and selling of pasties.  And everyone here at the lodge just can't get enough of them.  And tonight we had our first pasty feast of the trip, and were they ever good!

Pasties are, of course, the huge dumplings filled with beef, potatoes, and onions.  They became a staple food of the U.P. because the miners could take them for lunches and heat them on the hot mining equipment and eat them with one hand.  Pretty convenient little packets of awesome is what they are.  And so they have become a staple meal of Wisconsin vacations.  In fact they might be one of the reasons I keep coming back here.  I guess the family, the years of history, the seclusion, and the general relaxation is pretty good too - but I can't ingest those.

FYI - we generally eat Joe's Pasties (a little shop in Ironwood) while we are vacationing here.  Up until today those were the only pasties I ever had, but today we went with a shop that is a little more local and owned by a guy name Randall.  Once I had tasted one without carrots and rutabaga, it was pretty good. Some might argue even better than Joe's.  But because I'm a sentimentalist I think I'll always be convinced that Joe's are better.  So I feel a little dirty posting a picture of a Randall pasty instead of the one I know and love.  Fortunately my Dad had his pasty-eating shirt on so you can see what a Joe pasty would look like.