Aging Cajuns Adventures

      The Upper Peninsula—or "the U.P." as locals call it—was the place we were most excited to visit. We spent twelve days taking it in, but twelve days wasn't nearly enough to see all that it has to offer.      Initially, we  mistook 'Yooper' for the name of a town we were passing through. Before long, though, it was showing up more frequently—on billboards, on local merch, and it was even built into a few business names.  It's got to have a special meaning, but what?      Finally, days later, we asked the local grocery store employee what the word meant when we saw it on a candy bar by her check-out register.  She said it's a nickname for the residents of the Upper Peninsula—they are "U.P.-ers," or "Yooper" (pronounced you-per) for short.  Aha!  Now, we know!     Speaking of that candy bar,  it is a solid chocolate candy bar that's called Sayklly's Yooper Bar, and it comes in milk or dark chocolate....

             Surprisingly, it has already been a month since we left our home base of Abbeville, Louisiana. We’ve already hit our goal of exploring six states we’d never visited together as a couple—Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Michigan—and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed every one of them, especially the ones that have provided us with much cooler temps!     Let's Talk About the Badger State      When planning a trip this long, you quickly realize you can't see it all—and we knew we’d have to pass on quite a few popular sights along the way.  If there’s one place we wish we had budgeted more time for, it’s definitely Wisconsin.     Finding an affordable and available place in the area we wanted to stay was a little challenging; amazingly, we found availability at a mom-and-pop-owned campground next to Iron Lake, located in the small community of Iron River, Wisconsin.      Our ...