Anyone who has ever driven on US-2 five miles west of St. Ignace has seen the famous Mystery Spot sign. There’s no missing it, and there’s no missing which direction to go to find the Mystery Spot.

According to their website the story of the Mystery Spot goes as follows:

In the early 1950’s, 3 surveyors named Clarence, Fred and McCray came from California to explore the Upper Peninsula. They stumbled across an area of land where their surveying equipment didn’t seem to work properly. For instance, no matter how many times they tried to level their tripod, through the use of a plum-bob or level, the plum-bob would always be drawn far to the east, even as the level was reading level. As they continued their research of this land, they noticed a constant feeling of being light-headed. Later, realizing their queasiness and problems with the surveying equipment only occurred in an area about 300 feet in diameter, they felt they had discovered a “Mystery Spot”.

– mysteryspotstignace.com

During the last few weeks as we head into tourist season we took a poll asking “Have you been to the Mystery Spot in St. Ignace?” A couple of us at Yooper Steez have never been to the Mystery Spot, despite driving past it dozens and dozens of times. Bugsy claims that he and his brother begged their parents to take them there each time they drove by. But they have still never made it. So, have you been to the Mystery Spot? The results are in.

Of the readers at Yooper Steez, it was almost split down the middle. Essentially, half of the voters on Yooper Steez have been to the Mystery Spot, and the other half have not.

Perhaps you’re still wondering what the Mystery Spot is if you haven’t been there. One suggestion is checking out photos on Flickr to give you a good idea. When visiting the Mystery Spot don’t be fooled if you start to feel light-headed. Many people report the feeling after the visual illusion of gravity changing.

There are also other Mystery Spots in the United States, including one by the exact same name in Santa Cruz, California.

If you didn’t have a chance to vote while the poll was live, feel free to comment below, or let us know in general what you think of this famous Upper Peninsula roadside attraction.

And once again, with one poll closing, another poll has opened. Check out the latest poll.

Thanks again to James M. Phelps for another great photo.

The Detroit Red Wings are 2008 Stanley Cup Champions!

Two weeks ago we featured a blog post about Northern Michigan University alumni Dallas Drake. After over 1,000 games in 16 career seasons in the National Hockey League the NMU alum has won his first Stanley Cup.

As tradition has it the captain, Nick Lidstrom, received the Stanley Cup first. And in case you didn’t watch it, before the cup was handed to any of the all stars, the starting players, the famous names, it was handed to role player Dallas Drake first. It’s a testimony to his presence as a Detroit Red Wing and his dedication to 16 years in the NHL.

During the first round of the playoffs captain Nick Lidstrom decided he would pass the Stanley Cup to Dallas Drake first.

“I didn’t tell anyone about it. It felt natural to me to give it to him for all the effort and hours and everything he’s put into the game.”

– Nick Lidstrom

Later on during the celebration in the locker room Drake stated:

“It was a little heavier than I thought, and it didn’t help that my knees were shaking.”

– Dallas Drake

Dallas Drake has made Northern Michigan Alumni proud, as perhaps their most successful hockey alumni in history. Perhaps when Drake, a resident of Traverse City, has his day with the Stanley Cup he’ll bring it to Marquette.

A big congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings for winning their 4th Stanley Cup in 11 seasons. There are a lot of die-hard Red Wings fan in the U.P., and a lot of fans cheering for the wings.

For a while I’ve been wanting to share one of the greatest views of Michigan, from Michigan’s greatest icon.

Last September I had the rare opportunity to have a tour to the top of the Mackinac Bridge. It was the finale of a year-long 50 state tour, and probably the best finale you could have in Michigan. I was allowed to bring one guest, so I brought my father. These were taken on September 17th, 2007. You can read the full story at my 50-state tour website.

Leave a comment below and Let me know what you think, as a lot of people I’ve shown the photos too told me they wouldn’t be able to handle it.

After meeting our tour guide we were escorted to the south tower of the Mackinac Bridge where we had to cross to the other side of the bridge. There wasn’t much traffic at the time, but I had a feeling they didn’t want me standing in the middle of the bridge for a long time trying to compose the best photo. So I quickly snapped this view.

At this point I was introduced to the entrance of the Mackinac Bridge towers. In this next photo you can see a small oval hatch, and yes, it’s as small as it looks. That little hatch is the doorway.

This hatch is small. Next time you’re driving over the bridge look closely and you’ll be able to see it as long as you’re not driving too fast. You have to enter carefully, put in one leg, then crouch and tuck your head in, then bring in your other leg. When we exited we were specifically instructed to not step out into moving traffic, as people tend to forget that they’re just a foot away from oncoming traffic over the tiny white bar at ankle height.

Once inside you step directly into the elevator shaft that’s as old as the Mackinac Bridge (1957). The elevator is just big enough to fit three men snuggly, while the tour guide is propped up a little hire so we can all fit in. We were squeezed so tight that I didn’t have a room to move around my large camera. The elevator goes as high as the second cross-beam of the tower. At that point you can see down part of the cross beam where you can go through several cubby holes and pick which ladder to climb up.

This was our ladder.

The ladder continued to the top (notice in the photo above where it says “up!” with an arrow, just in case people don’t figure it out themselves since there is no other way to go) of the Mackinac Bridge, about 30-40 feet climbing straight up this ladder as my camera was strapped over my shoulder it added just enough width to my body that i had to lift it above my shoulders for it to fit through the holes, and my camera would clank off the iron several times on the way up and down. And yes, I hit my head on the steel a couple times as well.

Eventually, I made it to the top, where I climbed out of the final cubby hole.

There I was, on top of the south tower of the Mackinac Bridge, looking north to the Upper Peninsula with the greatest view I have ever seen in Michigan.

I was standing 552 feet above the water. The road itself is 199 feet above the water. At road level it was a littler windier than an average day. That meant at the top it was extremely windy. Our guide educated us on how the middle of the bridge can bow up to 10 feet in either direction. To our untrained eyes we weren’t able to tell, but he was sure to tell us that the bridge was bowing to the west (or to the left in this photo). I was fascinated with the traffic below as I have crossed the bridge dozens and dozens of times, now they looked like little match box cars.

My father, our guide, and I stood at the top level for probably 20-30 minutes as we chatted, enjoyed the view, and as I snapped well over 100 photos.

I was fortunate to see this last photo published in Issue 14 of JPG Magazine, for their theme titled “Birds-eye View”.

In my humble opinion, this is by far the single greatest spot to stand in all of Michigan. If only I had a Yooper Steez shirt at the time to wear to the very top. My bigger wish is that a freighter would be crossing below the bridge just as we were standing at the top. Luck wasn’t with us that day, but going to the top was all I needed.

“We camped in Union Bay of Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park for 2 nights. It was long way from Detroit Metro(10 hrs) but Porcupine Mountains area was very nice with big nature. Definetly it worth to stay there.”

–mtsn on Flickr

This should inspire you to take that trip to the Porcupine Mountains State Park this summer. The Porkies make a perfect setting to watch a sunset, facing to the west where you can watch the sun fall below the horizon. Most of the Upper Peninsula watches the sunset fall below the tree line, so head to the west shore for your best Lake Superior sunset photos.

(Photos courtesy of mtsn on Flickr)

On May 29th and 30th, 13-year-old Carl Torola, Jr. of Calumet will compete in the 81st Scripps National Spelling Bee. The competition will be held at the Grand Hyatt Washington hotel in Washington, D.C.

Each year the Upper Peninsula sends one student to the National Spelling Bee who wins the annual Upper Peninsula Community Education Association Spelling Bee Finals. This year’s Upper Peninsula spelling bee competition took place at the Negaunee High School in March.

A student at Calumet-Laurium-Keweenaw Public Schools, Torola is sponsored by Ogden News Publishing, the owner of local newspapers the Houghton Daily Gazette, Escanaba Daily, Mining Journal and Iron Mountain Daily News.

Carl Torola will be the 3rd member of his family to compete in the National Spelling Bee, following in the footsteps of his older sisters Pam and Mallory.

If Carl is able to make it to the semifinals you’ll be able to cheer him on by watching ESPN on Friday, May 30.

The Quarterfinals air live on ESPN360.com May 29 from 2:00 to 5:30 p.m. ET.
The Semifinals air live on ESPN May 30 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET.
The Championship Finals air live on ABC May 30 between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. ET.

This year’s competition will host 288 spellers from across the United States and U.S. Territories.

I better run spell checker for this post.

A few weeks ago we posted a blog entry about Jeff Finger, and our knowledge of him being the only Yooper to play in the NHL. We stand corrected! Since the NHL season is coming to a close soon we wanted to give you another Upper Peninsula hockey update. Here are six more Yooper NHL players, old-timers from the 1920-60s. And please if you know of more, let us know. Thanks Paul, for the tip on these NHL Yooper alums.

Clarence “Taffy” Abel

From Sault Ste. Marie played for the Rangers and Blackhawks from 1926-34
Clarence “Taffy” Abel is the most notable of these six players. In addition to eight NHL seasons he won a Stanley Cup in 1928 with the New York Rangers and won a silver medal in the 1924 Winter Olympics. He has been enducted in the the United States Hockey Hall of Fame and Lake Superior State University named their hockey arena after Abel, which was built in 1976.

John Sherf

From Calumet played for the Redwings from 1935-44

Ike Klingbeil

From Hancock played for the Blackhawks in 1936-37

Bernie Ruelle

From Hancock played for the Redwings in 1943-44

Rudy Zunich

From Calumet played for the Redwings from 1943-44

Tony Bukovich

From Painesdale played for the Red Wings in 1943-45

Of course there are several NHL players who have come through the Upper Peninsula to play hockey at Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, and Lake Superior State. But for those who actually grew up in the Upper Peninsula, it is a pretty exclusive club.

Looking for some Memorial Day weekend site-seeing? If you can spare a day, or a few hours if you live closer, make a trip the Scott Falls. You’ll find Scott Falls about 7 miles west of Munising, just to the east of Au Train, conveniently located right off highway M-28.

This type of waterfall is known as a “curtain waterfall” meaning the following water does not make contact with the surface, the water falls off a ledge, and it’s taller than it is wide.

You can explore more photos in the Au Train and Munising area on Flickr.

Photo courtesy of James M. Phelps Photography

As commented in an earlier post about Jeff Finger, Corey suggested that Dallas Drake should be considered an Honorary Yooper. We couldn’t agree more!

Dallas Drake has become a household name in the Upper Peninsula, at least for any hockey household. For the first time in his NHL career (over 1,000 games spanning 16 years) he will be playing in the Stanley Cup finals.

Drake, who is from Trail, British Comlumbia, played his college hockey at Northern Michigan University from 1988 through 1992. Under longtime coach Rick Comley (another honorary Yooper) Dallas Drake and the Wildcats went on to win the 1991 NCAA National Hockey Championship. It still holds as NMU’s only national hockey championship.

The Detroit Red Wings drafted Drake in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, but after just two season with the Red Wings Drake went on to play Winnipeg Jets, Phoenix Coyotes, and St. Louis Blues where he was the captain for two seasons.

Dallas Drake signed a contract with the Red Wings for the 2007-2008 season in the hopes of chasing the Stanley Cup.

Traverse City is where Dallas Drake calls him in the off-season, but he still makes time to take trips to Marquette and worth with youth hockey programs.

If Dallas Drake and company play some good hockey in the next two weeks his next trip to Marquette and NMU might include a Stanley Cup.

Photo courtesy of Dan on Flickr

Naturally, there is going to be a bell curve on this graph. Those who live in Ironwood aren’t going to make nearly as many trips across the bridge as those living in St. Ignace or Sault Ste Marie. Though it looks like most people average between 2 to 5 round trips across the bridge in a year.

If you’re new to the site and didn’t get a chance to vote, feel free to comment below and let us know how frequent you cross the Mighty Mackinac.

To go along with this question, please elaborate below and let us know why you cross the bridge as frequently or infrequently as you do. Is it for family? Business? College? Vacation? Or other reasons.

(view larger image)

Don’t forget, with the closing of one poll there is always a new poll to answer. So check out and vote on the latest poll.

The Portage Canal is somewhere I’ve driven past hundreds of times in my life, but never have I seen it like this. This snow falling in the photo gives it a second effect of it being a grainy photo, adding that to the tone gives it a fantastic vintage look as if this photo was taken in the early 1900s. However, it was snapped just two weeks prior on May 3rd, 2008.

“Although beautiful, I couldn’t believe it was snowing at the beginning of May.”

– DailyInvention on Flickr

A Brief History of the Portage Canal

• The only road across the Portage Canal is the Portage Lift Bridge
• Also known as the Keweenaw Waterway, Lily Pond, Portage River, and Portage Lake
• Connects Lake Superior at both North and South entries (see map below)
• The primary tributary to Portage Lake is the Sturgeon River
• Originally a small river, it was dredged in the 1960s for mining industry and allowing freighters in
• The area north of the Portage Canal is known as Copper Island

Photo courtesy of DailyInvention on Flickr.