One Stickney, Two Stickney, and Yoopers

Yooper’s are a unique breed of Americans. Some would call them more Canadian; geographically they should be Wisconsinites, and they like being Michiganders. Although some would prefer to become the 51st state of Superior.

Look at this map, and see if you can come up with any logical reason that the Upper Peninsula is part of Michigan. Its only connection to southern Michigan is the man-made Mackinac Bridge.

There once was a man named Benjamin Stickney who had two sons: One Stickney and Two Stickney. They lived in a disputed stretch of land between Michigan and Ohio, and Two Stickney stabbed a Michigan sheriff who was attempting to arrest him for voting in an Ohio election. That’s part of the story of why the Upper Peninsula belongs to Michigan. Read more about it here, but the dispute is called the Toledo War - a fight between Michigan and Ohio, and the Michigan sheriff was its only casualty.

In 2019 we spent about three weeks in the U.P. (hence the term “Yoopers”) and here’s what we learned:

The U.P. was given to Michigan as a consolation prize for losing a disputed 5- to 8-mile-wide strip of the southern border between Michigan and Ohio. In return, Ohio stopped blocking the statehood of Michigan.
You don’t make fun of Yoopers, eh? That’s the way they talk; it’s normal, and just like “ya’ll” or “you guys” or “youins”, it’s a local colloquialism that is really pretty cool.
Yoopers usually don’t like the Michigan thing about raising your right hand and showing where you live in Michigan, because, as far as they’re concerned, it’s inaccurate. It doesn’t include the Yoopers.
You don’t ask them why they would ever want to live there. Yoopers love and live for the winter. They celebrate with ice fishing, snowmobiling, cross country skiing, and just about anything else you can do in the white, frigid cold. Their attitude: “If you don’t like it, go south. We love it up here.”
You don’t refer to the Lake Michigan shores of Traverse City, Petosky, Mackinaw City, Cheboygan and Alpena as “Northern Michigan.” The U.P. is Northern Michigan, and everybody who lives south of the Mackinac Bridge is called a “troll”. Because everyone knows the trolls live under the bridge.
It’s PAS-tee, not PAY-stee.

Here are some of the things we found in the U.P., and highly recommend a visit to this relaxed, layed-back and beautiful part of the country:

Soo Locks, Sault St. Marie, MI

The Soo Locks, located at the U.S./Canadian border on the St. Marys River in Sault St. Marie, create the navigable shipping channel between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. About 10,000 ships a year pass through the locks even though they close because of ice in the winter. The Locks are a major sightseeing attraction in Sault St. Marie.

Pasties

It’s pronounced “PAS-tee”, not “PAY-stee”, and I’m still not sure exactly what it is. We were hungry, and we kept seeing the signs for pasties, so we stopped at this shop in Munising and, my goodness, what an education.

We learned the correct pronunciation (unless you want to sound like an outsider), we learned that this particular shop makes pasties with their grandmother’s recipe, their origins are from the U.K., and they were absolutely delicious. It’s a bread pastry filled with a bunch of meat and vegetables, and we thought they were outstanding.

Soo Line Engine 730, Gladstone, MI

Built in 1911, this steam locomotive is located on U.S. 2/U.S. 41 in the town of Gladstone just north of Escanaba. The engine was retired about 1958 and traveled a total of 3,612,000 miles exclusively in passenger service.

Can you imagine the stories this engine could tell? There’s just something awesome about these old steam locomotives.

Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, Whitefish Point, MI

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point preserves a fascinating part of the history of shipwrecks, mostly on Lake Superior.

We humans have a knack for naming things that end up being not-so-prophetic, like the first documented commercial shipwreck on Lake Superior of the “Invincible” in 1816. There are several other shipwrecks whose stories and relics are preserved in this museum - some a testimony of the power of nature; some a testimony to the stupidity or arrogance of man.

The Shipwreck Museum is probably most well known for its involvement in studying and preserving the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and displays many of its artifacts.

Pictured Rocks National Seashore

Certainly one of the most beautiful and picturesque seashores in North America, and probably the least visited. There are several view points accessible by driving, but the best viewing is done from Lake Superior on one of the tour boats or guided kayak trips from Munising.

The U.P. has much more to offer and is really worthwhile exploring. If your experience is like ours, you’ll find Yoopers friendly, talkative, engaging, not in a hurry, and in general really glad to meetchya, eh?