AMERICA the Beautiful! - Part 1

This is a panorama photo of the beautiful view we had from our motel room in Copper Harbor last week.

When we were visiting here last year during July 4th week, we made reservations at the Bella Vista Motel in Copper Harbor for a full week again this year.  Even though we now live in the Keweenaw, we decided to keep the reservation for two of those nights - July 3 & 4.  That may sound strange considering we live nearby, but we really enjoy the entire Independence Day experience in Copper Harbor, and we didn't want to miss a thing.  We also didn't want to wrestle with parking, traffic or weather-related issues.

We were excited about our mini vacation, even though each day we live here still feels a bit like a vacation.  We packed some clothes, homemade sub sandwiches, tuna macaroni salad, chips, dip, a cherry dessert, some pop and bottled water and headed up to "da Harbor" on Tuesday, July 3rd.  We decided to take Hwy. 26, the road with the Lake Superior view.  The main reason we took that road was because we planned a pit stop at The Jampot for some muffins to eat for breakfast on the 4th and 5th.  Of course, the water view always thrills us, too.

We pulled into Copper Harbor and paused briefly as we turned left at Keweenaw County's ONLY traffic light.  Did you get that?  The only traffic light in the entire county!  It's at the intersection of Hwy. 26 and Hwy. 41.

Wow, what a traffic jam!  The Bella Vista is just one block down on the left.  The Bella Vista has 8 cottages and 27 motel rooms in two buildings.  13 of those rooms are in the lakefront motel building where we stayed.  If you've never been to Copper Harbor, you must understand that this small village is a bit rustic.  Believe me, the Bella Vista is nothing fancy, but it's the nicest waterfront motel in town.  They've spent some money on updates in the last 6 or 7 years.  The newest motel in Copper Harbor doesn't have a water view, so the Bella Vista is really the choice spot in our opinion.

See, nothing fancy, but the room was clean and we had a refrigerator and two channels on the cable TV!  Who needs TV in Copper Harbor anyway?  Here's Steve sitting on the deck outside our room within minutes of our arrival.

The deck isn't very deep, but it's lined with chairs for relaxing.

The deck is also a perfect spot for viewing the fireworks that are shot toward Copper Harbor from Porter's Island - the small island across the harbor in the following photo.

You can see Porter's Island in the next photo, too.  It's the land mass on the right near the small boat in the foreground.  Oh, look!  Another Lake Freighter in the background.  As you're probably beginning to realize if you're a regular reader of this blog, we see lots of those around here.

After sitting on the deck for a few minutes, we noticed the traffic on the water.

We were going to get a few visitors.

These geese are smart.  People = Food.

That goose came right up to the bottom step of the deck and looked at us when we were eating our dinner.  We didn't share.

From our seats on the deck, we could see the Copper Harbor Lighthouse in the distance.  I've shown you photos of it from a different perspective in previous posts.

As we were relaxing on the deck, we spotted the Isle Royale Queen IV coming into Copper Harbor.

The Isle Royale Queen IV is a passenger ferry that runs between Copper Harbor and Isle Royale, the second largest island in the Great Lakes.  We haven't been there yet, but it's definitely on our bucket list.  The Queen enters the harbor on the right side of Porter's Island.

She turns around in front of the Bella Vista Motel.

Then, she docks at the waterfront in Copper Harbor.

If you would like to read more about Isle Royale and the Isle Royale Queen IV, click on the following link:

Isle Royale Line

After the Queen docked, we decided to walk to a couple of the gift shops.  One of the shops has a huge variety of kitchen gadgets, and we are happy to report that we did buy a new gadget to add to the gadget drawer.  As long as we were out and about, we walked down to The Berry Patch for an ice cream cone.  I didn't have the camera with me at the time, so I don't have a photo.  The Berry Patch is a tiny ice cream & jam shop - emphasis on tiny.  There's usually quite a line outside the building waiting to get in.  No seating inside - just enough room to get your ice cream and hand them your money!  We ate our cones on the walk back to our motel.  Steve had his usual - butter pecan.  I had my usual - mint chocolate chip.  Yes, they do have 31 flavors, but we both prefer order over chaos.

It wasn't quite late enough to take our drive up Brockway Mountain for the sunset, so we sat on our deck for a while longer.  We noticed a seagull on the street light.  He stayed up there for long time until another seagull chased him off.

Here's another photo of the Harbor as the sun was getting lower in the sky.

OK, time to drive up Brockway Mountain to watch the sun disappear.  A considerable number of people had gathered by the time we made it to the top.  Most of the residents and workers in Copper Harbor are good at recommending the experience to the tourists.  The next series of photos will show you why we made the drive.

Yes, that was another Lake Freighter in the last photo!  As we turned around to begin our way down the mountain, we saw this.

We were so mesmerized by the sunset that we hadn't noticed the moon!

As we enjoyed the beauty surrounding us, the following lyrics from "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" came to my mind:

I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture fills
Like that above.

We really do love the scenic beauty of this area.  It's almost impossible for us to drive down these roads without thinking and talking about the Lord and the beauty of His creation.  We feel very, very blessed to live here.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our July 4th experiences in Copper Harbor to be posted within a day or two.  All is well in the Keweenaw!