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Hunts' Guide to Michigan's UPPER PENINSULA

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IRON RIVER
POINTS
OF INTEREST

Iron County Museum. Multifaceted museum includes satisfying exhibits on the area's geology, musical and ethnic heritage, life in mines (great video), plus 24 outdoor buildings (10 old log barns, houses, outbuildings). Of special note: vast folk art logging camp, life in mines (great video), gallery of noted wildlife paintings, inventive décor in artist's home, intact Caspian Mine headframe (powerful!). ... more

Downtown Iron River. A trim, pleasant shopping district with an art supply/gift shop/book shop, a combination of shops in an big old department store, a mild-long trail along the Iron River ... more

Angeli's Central Market/Plaza Cinema. A terrific supermarket with quality, fresh produce, something hard to find in the U.P., as well as a good wine selection, meats, ethnic baked goods. ... more

Ski Brule winter and summer. In a scenic hilly setting is a resort with miles of cross-country skiing trails, two snowboard parks, Alpine skiing, and in summer mountain bike trails, horseback riding, canoeing and tubing ... more

Lake Ottawa Park/Ge Chi Ski Trail. This pleasant Ottawa National Forest park is on crystal-clear, 551-acre Lake Ottawa. It has hiking trails, a swimming beach, fishing pier, and a handsome CCC-era pavilion/bathhouse with fireplaces. ... more

Hiking path to "Treaty Tree" & Mile Post Zero. A short, secluded hike leads to the head of Brule River and the much-contested border between Michigan and Wisconsin ... more

George Young Recreational Complex. Open to the general public, this plush golf course and indoor swimming pool is sited on a 3,300-acre complex bordering 3 lakes. Foxes, deer, and eagles are not unusual sights for golfers here ... more

Wolf Track Nature Trail. A scenic 1.5-mile woodland nature trail with wonderful paintings and text to illuminate one's experience ... more

Pentoga Park. pened in 1922, this is one of Michigan's very first county parks, located at an Ojibwa burial ground. Take an old 3-mile Indian Lake to the Brule River, fish the deep, 1,100-acre Chicaugon Lake for walleye and muskie, or use the swimming beach and picnic area ... more

First Roadside Table. Michigan was a pioneer in providing pleasant rest stops for motorists, and this 1918 picnic spot may well be the very first ever ... more

IRON RIVER

Angeli's Central Market/Plaza Cinema

Vacationing campers stopping by this large and super-spiffy supermarket at Iron River's east entrance will be astonished by what it offers. In general one of the real drawbacks of everyday life in the Upper Peninsula is its supermarket produce, poor in quality and selection. Here the produce is fantastic by U.P. standards. All greens are organic. Ready-to-eat peaches and nectarines are in by mid May. Giant cherries come from a small grower in Washington. There's an excellent wine selection, certified Hereford beef, and organic baby food, among other things.

What's a place like this doing here in a county of only 15,000 year-round residents and an aging population loaded with thrifty Finns? Angeli's looks like a U.P. outpost of a sophisticated big-city chain. But it's actually a third-generation Iron River institution that grew out of one of the area's many neighborhood groceries. Owner-manager Fred Angeli is passionate about food. To spread his enthusiasm, he sends his department managers on trips to gastronomic hot spots like Zingerman's deli in Ann Arbor. His produce manager meets twice yearly with top produce people around the country. "If you don't get out and look around, how do you know what better is?" he says. "It's like raising the bar a little in high jumping." Some shoppers from Green Bay make special trips to the other Angeli's in Menominee.

Though the culinary exotica at Angeli's create a startling first impression, great attention has been paid to producing local home-cooking specialties. The store bakery's crusty Italian bread and cornetti (cross-shaped hard rolls designed to sop up sauces and juices) measure up to the most demanding local standards. Baking is basically from scratch, except for a very few things like croissant dough. Real butter is used whenever it makes a difference, as in the bread sticks. If you're heading home, you might put a frozen porketta in your ice chest so you can enjoy a home-cooked version of the area's outstanding spice-rubbed, garlicky slow-roasted pork.

Next door, Angeli's operates the Plaza Cinema (906-265-4070) because otherwise the county wouldn't have a movie theater at all. Riverside Plaza is a handy vacationers' stop because it also has a laundromat and pharmacy.

On U.S. 2 just east of Iron River in Riverside Plaza. (906) 265-5107. Open daily 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Central Time. Handicap accessible.

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