A Man, A Pan, and a Swan

The morning’s complimentary repast continued the Michigan theme of “Do It Yourself.” We crept into the dimly-lit office and filled Styrofoam cups with coffee beneath a sign reading, “Please do not fill Thermoses with coffee.” The pastry breakfast consisted of one’s choice of individually-wrapped pastries from a basket. The offerings included one (1) big cinnamon roll, one (1) “Breakfast Claw,” three “Berry Horns,” and three “Glazed Doughnuts.” The boys took a pass on these gustatory delights in favor of string cheese and cheese-flavored crackers from the snacks we had in the trunk.

We left the hotel 45 minutes ahead of schedule, which gave us time to photograph a large yellow dinosaur with creepy red eyes that we encountered along US-31. ().



Our first destination was the Guinness Book of World Records-certified World’s Largest Cherry Pie Pan in Traverse City, Michigan (). I should clarify, I think, that the record is actually for the World’s Largest Cherry Pie, but I guess that there’s only so long you can display pie without violating some health standards. Thus the display of the empty pan.





We felt that it just wasn’t right to visit Michigan and not photograph some of the spectacular wildlife, so we stopped to see a big swan in Elk Rapids ().



Katherine used the opportunity to demonstrate her excellent animal-handling skills.