Wordy Wednesday 4/9

My top ten things that make the Upper Peninsula unique:

1. Residents of the U.P. are referred to as "Yoopers" and they have a pretty cool accent, eh?

2. Their police cars look like oversized toy cars. The light on top looks like the one below on all of the ones I've seen in this area - state and local.

Michigan State Police

3. There are separate lanes (usually separated from the road by a strip of grass or a guard rail) for bicycles and pedestrians on most main roads. 

4. The Michigan State Forest system covers over 3.8 million acres.  There are over 20 in the Upper Peninsula alone.  

The State Forest Land is colored in green

5. I STILL HAVEN'T HAD A PASTY, but they're kind of a thing here. (Pronounced: PAST-ee) From what I hear, they are essentially a meat pastry that became a popular staple among miners because of their convenience. There are six places in our town alone that specialize in pasties. 

Pasty from Dobber's Pasties in Iron Mountain

6. Only four of the 15 counties in the Upper Peninsula are on Central Time.  These counties (Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson - where we are, and Menominee) are those that border Wisconsin.

7. This area originally became populous because of the mining opportunities. The Chapin Mine closed in 1932, but from its discovery in 1880 to its closing, 27,506,868 tons of iron ore were produced. The ground in this area has a reddish color due to the iron. 

8. The mascot for all the schools in Kingsford is the "Flivver".  A Flivver is another word for an old car that doesn't ride smoothly - most often referring to a Model T Ford. 

Flivver Field, Kingsford High's football stadium

Kingford's mascot in their colors, blue and maize

9. The snowfall record in the Upper Peninsula is 355.9 inches....almost 30 feet! This winter, the record was only 186.25 inches, which is still over 15 feet.  The snowfall record in Caribou, Maine is 197 inches during the winter of 2007-2008. This year, Caribou had about 100 inches of snow.

10.  "The Big Ten" is a big deal in this area. There is even a sports bar in Quinnesec called The Big Ten. The Big Ten is the area's college sports conference that includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, and Wisconsin. Much to my dismay (and yours too if you counted correctly) there are actually TWELVE schools affiliated with the Big Ten and has been this way since 2011.