Celebrating With Friends - Part 3

After the 2013 Copper Harbor Independence Day Parade was finished, Marty and Donna opted to relax in Copper Harbor while Steve and I drove back to Calumet. We needed to pick up the food we had planned for dinner, and we also needed to feed Cocoa. It wasn't long before we were back on the covered road to Copper Harbor. 

I captured a portion of Steve's cap in the photo as we whizzed by Lake Medora.

We were near the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge in no time at all,

and we began our descent into Copper Harbor.

The town was buzzing (by Copper Harbor standards)!

They had already blocked off the road along the shore in preparation for the evening fireworks.

We stopped by the motel to pick up Marty and Donna, and we all walked down to the park in the middle of town. The volunteer firemen were cooking hot dogs and brats in the park as a fundraiser, so we all had a bite to eat - an inexpensive lunch for a good cause. 

Copper Harbor has quite a few gift shops, and it was necessary to visit a few of them on the way back to the motel. We were further obligated to sample some items at the tiny new bakery, too. The old-fashioned doughnuts and the raised doughnuts with thimbleberry icing were just incredible. Nice and heavy - like doughnuts used to be when we were kids - Yummy!

On the corner by our motel, we noticed that a food vendor was beginning to set up his booth for the evening. Steve was beyond excited, as the vendor has been absent from the July 4th waterfront for the last 2 years. Steve has great memories of that vendor and past purchases of gyros, nachos, brats, snow cones and cotton candy. I reminded him that we had lots of food waiting for us in our motel refrigerator, but he was certain he was going to leave some funds with that vendor before the night was over.

We separated from Marty and Donna at the motel again, and Steve and I took the golf cart to a few more gift shops. I'm happy to report that I bought a new coffee cup (to replace the old friend I lost recently). It's not the perfect coffee cup, but it will do. 

After a little more sightseeing, it was back to the motel. Steve and Marty did a little sightseeing on the golf cart, too. We all talked on the deck of the motel for a time and watched the Isle Royale Queen IV come back into port about 6:30 p.m.

Did you notice the vendor's booth in that last shot? You can see the pink cotton candy hanging under the tent roof.

Next, it was time for din-din! Steve got the charcoal going in the small BBQ grill we brought along, and we were soon eating cheeseburgers, tuna macaroni salad and chips. Some of us also had 1 or 2 chocolate chip bars. I'm not sure if it was the second cheeseburger or the second large helping of tuna macaroni salad, but Steve's stomach finally decided to protest. He had to stretch out on the bed with the cool breeze blowing on him, but he recovered pretty quickly. Needless to say, he never did pay a visit to that food vendor!

I didn't get any shots of the Isle Royale Queen IV leaving the dock on the sunset cruise, but I did get 2 shots of it returning again at dusk.

Food vendor alert - lower right corner of that last photo! I wonder if they speculated about what happened to Steve. He had sounded like such an enthusiastic potential customer when talking to them earlier.

Now, fireworks time!

The fireworks are shot from Porter's Island across the water toward the town of Copper Harbor. The show lasted about 40 minutes - not bad, huh? The grand finale lasted almost 2 minutes, and it was captured on video. If you would like to see it, click on the following Vimeo video:

Copper Harbor Fireworks

Stay tuned for Part 4 of Celebrating With Friends. All is well in the Keweenaw.