Where in the Copper Country Wednesday – #1
I thought it would be fun to post a picture on Wednesdays to let everyone guess where it was taken. It could be something somewhat well-known to something obscure. In any case, there is a past or present story about every picture…which I will share.
I won’t share where it is, however. That’s for everyone to guess until the next week when I give the answer :)
The very first photo is from a building I came across my very first year of college at Michigan Tech. My roommate was getting on my nerves and I decided to go out for a drive one early winter morning for some solitude. I didn’t know the Keweenaw all too well at that time, but I knew that if I was North of the bridge I’d eventually make it somewhere that looked familiar after driving long enough. I threw my sleeping bag in the car (just in case), filled up the gas tank and headed North.
I stayed on one particular side of the Keweenaw driving slow along the snow-covered roads. It was so peaceful driving the roads early in the morning. Quite a few times I would stop near the lake, turn off the car and open up my window to listen to the waves. Very relaxing.
I came across a few interesting things that morning, including this building. Here’s a picture of it taken not too long ago. It hasn’t changed much in the last 10 or so years. It even had the pay phone back then.
Where in the Copper Country is this picture taken?
Motorcycling in the Keweenaw
As soon as the snow melts, we start seeing quite a few motorcycles on the road. Come summer, we often see groups of motorcycles traveling the roads of the Keweenaw together. I’ve never been on a road bike but I think I can understand why the area is so attractive for motorcycle cruising…
The open road and the view. Here’s a pic I snapped of a motorcycle in Hancock:
I drove a dirt bike once when I was 15. It was almost an in-the-ditch disaster. I’m a little timid to try driving a motorcycle again, but after seeing the bikes around here I get a little itch to give it a try again. It seems like it would be a more intimate way to cruise the area.
I did a little digging, and found a site where a gentleman cruised the Copper Country on his motorcycle with his wife. It’s a very nice article about his adventure:
Maybe one of these days…
A Very Quick Visit to Haven’s Falls Park
No visit to the Eastern side of the Keweenaw is complete without a stop to Haven’s Falls Park. As the name suggests, there is a waterfall as well as picnic tables and we noticed a nice new addition this year – a large pavilion. On our way to Haven’s Falls, we saw a resident of Lac La Belle mowing her lawn while covered head to toe. I thought it was interesting because the bugs weren’t that bad at Bete Grise when we stopped there.
When we got out of the car at Haven’s Falls and found out exactly why she was in full bug gear, including head netting. There were mosquitoes galore!
That didn’t stop my son. There is something about a waterfall that makes a boy want to get as close as possible to it until his parents yell at him.
This was close enough for me…
You can’t tell in the pic, but he just threw a small stick at the waterfall. I think that is something else that little boys can’t resist doing. Okay, so maybe it’s something that some grown-ups can’t resist too. I guess it falls along the lines of throwing rocks into Lake Superior :-)
Visiting a Local Gem Called the Bete Grise Preserve
We have known about the Bete Grise Preserve for some time now, and even located the parking area. It wasn’t until this weekend until we decided to check it out. Boy, were sure were missing out!
The parking area can be a little hard to find if you aren’t looking for it. Brown signs often mark attractions in the Keweenaw, but not this one. If you are heading towards Lac La Belle coming from Gay, just keep an eye out for the Pt. Isabelle sign. A few miles from that, there is a primitive parking area on the right. There is also a metal gate in front of the trail.
We thought it would be a long trail to get to the beach, but it was very short. You do need to cross a stream so look for the planks (they can be a little hard to see when they are wet). When you emerge from the trail, all you see is the Lake and the fantastic view of “mountains.” Simply beautiful.
The Lake looked so inviting, and it looks like it was shallow for quite a ways. It could be a nice swimming hole come August. I wasn’t adventurous enough to wade in the water but a little girl there was content with going in up to her knees.
Here’s a picture of the sign you come across when you are in Bete Grise, near Mendota Lighthouse (click on picture for larger view). It gives more details about the preserve itself.
There used to be a sign in the parking area for the preserve, but it was missing when we went this past weekend. Perhaps it hasn’t been put back up yet after winter.
While we didn’t encounter any black flies during our visit, we were greeted by plenty of mosquitoes. I think we’ll visit the preserve more at the end of summer and definitely visit in October for the fall colors. I have a feeling the color display will be absolutely beautiful.
2008 Bridgefest Fireworks
The rain stayed away all day yesterday, and we ended up having a beautiful day in the Keweenaw. The Bridgefest activities were in full swing, but we ended up heading to the Eastern shore to check out a few places we haven’t been to yet (more about that later).
We did, however, make it to the fireworks display. We do not go down by the water because traffic gets really congested and with trying to take some pictures of the fireworks we wanted to find a place that wasn’t as busy.
In past years, we have set up viewing camp at the top of a poor rock pile on US 41. The last year we went there, they set off the fireworks too far down the canal for us to see them well from there. We had to find a new spot.
We ended up finding a nice spot near the old hospital in Hancock in a church parking lot. We couldn’t see the water because of the trees, but the fireworks shot up above the tree line. Besides us, there was only a few other people there. The paved parking lot was great for a tripod.
Most of my pictures didn’t come out quite right. I tried one setting and went with it throughout the show (I didn’t want to miss the action!). I did catch a few okay shots.
I will read up more on how to photograph fireworks so hopefully I can get some better pictures next time. I think a lot of it has to do with my timing since the pictures I took yesterday seemed to get better as the show went on.
