At the Ramada in Houghton, MI. I have just notes on the past couple days of the trip…

– The baby was big, and he was born two weeks late. They called him Mitchell. We visited the hospital twice, and I got to hold him a few times. His head has a coat of fine black hair. His wee nose is speckled with teeny whiteheads. He frequently squints, and his long fingers frequently free themselves from their protective mittens. He is terribly soft and makes squawking and mumbling sounds.

– We drove three hours north and reached Mackinaw City, where we left the car and took a little ferry over windy waters to a small island in Lake Huron. Mackinac Island is a bit of a tourist trap, but there are worse tourist traps (Disneyworld). This small green island is just famous for its fudge and its carlessness, which to me was very refreshing. We got off the boat and walked our luggage down Main Street to the inn where a few nights before I had secured us a room for an end-of-season rate.

– No TV in our room at the inn = nice.

– The service employees on the island are almost exclusively Jamaican. One of those things that makes you go, “Huh.” They work summers here in remote northern Michigan, then in the fall, head back to sunny Jamaica with their earnings. No different than what folks in the lower 48 do every year on the Alaskan salmon-canning camps. Except more classist, because most of the tourists on this island are pretty rich. The Grand Hotel is so exclusive that people are made to pay just to enter the lobby.

– The modes of transport on the island: bicycle and horse taxi. The horses are all big draught beasts who hang their heads sadly and dream of the barn all day.

– After one night on the island, we drove for about six hours northwest into the Upper Peninsula. Saw quite a few Kerry signs as we passed through deeply rural areas. Stopped in Marquette, a college town, and saw even more Kerry signs. Are the working classes really not falling for the GOP folksy bullshit? I am slightly heartened.

– Now we’re in Houghton, and it’s cold. Trevor’s wedding is tomorrow afternoon. It is remote and beautiful up here, though a bit of a ghost town. We visited the local mall to get Brian a fleece top and me some hand lotion, and the mall was kind of empty and sad, probably due to the Wal-Mart right next door. Wal-Mart ruins local economies and they will never see a dime of my money. Just my opinion 🙂

The battery is running low on the laptop… until next time, signing off!