Tuesday, 5/29

Wait—you guys had a hailstorm Saturday and I missed it?

Bummer.

First of all, hope you had a relatively pain-free holiday weekend, even if the people who were in Marquette County Saturday didn't. I wasn't here (more on that in a sec) but from the stories I've heard and the pictures I've seen it was quite the savage beast. Maybe not quite as bad as the one that single-handedly kept auto body shops and roof repair places in business for over a year back in 2007, but it seems like this weekend's rain-hailstorm was pretty nasty.

So glad I missed it!

Where was I Saturday, you ask? Well, I answer, I went to Ironwood for a couple of high school graduation parties. It was a glorious, sunny 90 degrees while were were there (but a dry 90 degrees), so when we got back to the hotel and read about the havoc that had been unleashed on the rest of the U.P. we were quite shocked. But like I said—we had no idea what was going on back home.

After the grad parties we took a walk around Ironwood. Except for driving through on the way to Duluth I don't think I've ever actually stopped to explore the place, and I can say I'm glad I did. There's a lot there for a history geek, like old sandstone buildings--

Weird art carved out of tree trunks--

And houses so cheap that you can apparently buy them for about the same price Loraine paid for her new car (and on Marquette Street, to boot)!

That's something I noticed abut Ironwood. They have an area of nicely preserved, well-kept buildings; in fact, a nice chunk of their walkable and picturesque downtown looks like this--

In my opinion, at least, I think it may be one of the better downtowns I've seen in the U.P. But then, just a block or two away from the “preserved” (for lack of a better term) area there's a whole other part of town where most of the buildings look like this--

I found the dichotomy between the two quite fascinating. I don't think I've ever noticed quite so stark a contrast as I did in Ironwood. But I understand it fully. When you're losing over 10 percent of your population every ten years, I guess you have to make choices of what to keep and what to let go. And at least they're making sure that the part that's still there and still viable is in great shape. Not every community would do that. So a big thumbs-up to the civic leaders of Ironwood for making the hard decisions. Hopefully, more people will discover what a cool little place it is and pay it a visit.

Speaking of discovering things, we discovered something else in downtown Ironwood, too. Like Marquette, they have a branch of Contrast Coffee, one of my new favorite places. Unlike the one in Marquette, they have a bakery in the back, a bakery that produced one of the most amazing things I've tasted recently.

Say “hello” to a Malted Milk Ball scone--

I don't know how to describe it, except to mention that the thing I said after taking the first bite was “wow”. And I kept repeating that word each and every time I took another bite until I (sadly) finished it. If you every see baked goods from “Yooper Delight” bakery you HAFTA check them out. Especially if you see a Malted Milk Ball scone.

You won't be sorry!

Then we returned home Sunday to find that there was something awaiting us--

And, well, that's pretty much what occupied me the rest of the weekend.

Yes, I know I need help. My name is Jim, and I'm a lilac-holic.

(jim@wmqt.com), lilac-holic.