Never been to Shute's. The next normal summer, we'll have to poke around to some of those places.
Many memories of the Porkies. I remember when there were actually people and businesses in towns like Silver City, White Pine, Green. I feel bad, I really do, for the people up there. It's always struggled economically, but it's just grown worse and worse. Decades ago, we took a big family vacation up there and this is before they believed in guard rails. We were all out walking on the rock and my aunt started slipping. Quickly. My dad grabbed her just in time or she was about to go up to the clouds. My dad and uncle backpacked in the Porkies, too. They both drank untreated water right out of the streams. It took my dad three years to get rid of the bug in his GI afterwards.
I honestly believe the UP, at least the wester half, would've benefited economically if it had been part of Wisconsin. Most of the Chicago/Milwaukee/Madison folks go up to the extreme north of Wisconsin, but stop at the border. Not that you want the Illinois folks around, necessarily, but it would infuse more dollars into the economy. Plus, that half of the UP just identifies more with Wisconsin than Michigan.