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Monday, July 1, 2013

Plates, Plates,Plates!!!

It seems that the U.P. is a very good place to look for china plates! I've made sure to look up all the second hand/thrift stores in every town that we have visited while on our vacation to the U.P., and I have had some awesome finds!

I sent my friend Bonnie a couple emails and it looks like we are down to only needing 45 dinner plates and 25-30 more dessert plates!! Plus, I picked up a ton of flatware for a dime or less each piece-I'm too tired from a day of treasure hunting and driving to go back out to the garage to count it!!!

We went to Esanaba yesterday. We walked the beach looking for beach glass (my mom's favorite hobby), we had a great dinner at the Ludington Grill-which we all highly recommend! The food was really good, and it is beautiful inside.



 Beached pottery.

 Stones/shale.




We didn't really care for our rooms, we stayed at the Econo-Lodge (only place we could find that would let us bring Lucy in-who by the way, traveled like a trooper-she was awesome!). It was clean and quiet, but in our room the bed sagged to the middle, and in my parent's room, their air conditioner didn't cool off their room. So no one slept very well at all last night.

The gas is at least 40 cents a gallon cheaper in the western section of the U.P.-compared to the eastern side and lower peninsula. What are the gas prices like where you are?





This morning,we went to the Swedish Pantry for breakfast-YUM!!!! If you go to Escanaba, you HAVE to go to the Swedish Pantry to eat and to buy baked goods! It looks like a bakery only from the outside, but go in and walk past the counter-lots of tables and chairs, and LOTS of clocks!!!



The walls are covered in really neat chiming clocks that are set to go off at all different times, so about every 5-10 minutes you hear a clock chiming. It wasn't an annoying chime sound, but very delicate, and all kinds of different tunes. The clocks are all for sale, as well as a plethora of other fun little gadgets and trinket.









My mom and I got t-shirts that say "I wasn't born in the U.P. but I got here as fast as I could!", and I bought a giant cookie that was the size of a dinner plate! We all got something different and we all shared/sampled what everyone got. It was all very good, and there was LOTS of food. I would love to go back again some day.

We made a little trip to Menard's and then spent a few hours at an R.V. dealer. My parents are looking to buy a used travel trailer. After our visit today, they know what they want, and what they don't want-they just need to find it in their price range.

We drove around town for a while just enjoying the sites. We found 4 giant churches all within a 3 block radius of each other. One was vacant and for sale-it had trees growing out of the towers! There were a lot of neat looking buildings there as well.

























We stopped at a junk shop, two thrift stores and two knife stores before heading home. We took a quick trip through town in Manistique and grabbed a to-go lunch at Hardee's. We don't have any Hardee's left in lower Michigan, so it's a treat to see them in the U.P..

On Saturday, my mom and I and a friend's daughter stopped at a roadside perpetual junk sale/flea market in St. Ignace and I got a ton of plates and flatware for pennies on the dollar. I could have probably finished off the dessert plates for the wedding reception all in one fell swoop, but they would have all been the same, and I think Bonnie wanted a hodge podge mix and match kind of thing-so I only got 10.

We've been to Cheboygan, Gaylord, Sault Ste. Marie, St. Ignace, Detour, and Escanaba thrift shops and have been very successful in our hunt. Not so much for junk for me, or for me to sell, but for plates and flatware-I don't  think we could do much better!

The fog and rain have finally moved out, and we've been enjoying some lovely, sunny, warm weather. I think I am actually ready to go back to work-sick, I know...but there is only so much vegging out and thrifting you can do...especially when you are staying in someone else's home, and you need to haul everything over 300 miles to home.

Here are all the plates I've gotten along with a few things to sell/keep for me.








 The guy had about 50 of this pattern.



 I love the shape of these- I may have to buy them back from Bonnie after the wedding!




 I LOVE these too-only 2 in this pattern.













 The flash washed these out, but I love this pattern too.




I think this is going to be perfect for the black cake dome...

My mom wants to go to Gaylord to go shopping tomorrow, I'm kinda pooped, but I'll go because she wants to, and we need to do this while she can still see and enjoy it.

How is your summer treasure hunting going? 

1 comment:

  1. Looks like your trip is going well with lots of FUN! Nice plates for the wedding. My BFF is buried in the UP! I've never been there.
    Have a great time.
    Deb

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