Our First Delivery

The cement work is finished. 

The framing materials for our home construction are being delivered right now!

We're going to have another busy weekend, but I'll try to post a construction update soon.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.
(Scroll down for yesterday's blog post.)

Date Day

It has been a very busy month for us, and it will take me some time to get caught up on my blog posts. Sorry about that. We ordered the framing materials for our house from Menards at the end of July when they started their recent 11% rebate promotion. Many of the items we needed were also on sale, so we saved a bundle. We dislike paying full price for anything, so we were very happy at the end of that day. You can see the smile on Steve's face - despite the incredibly lengthy receipt and empty pockets!

We knew we were in for a busy August, so we decided to spend the beautiful day of August 2nd as a "date day." (It was Steve's idea, ladies! I'm so blessed!) What do we want to do on a date day? We want to go to our property and admire our basement floor, of course!

The contractor has applied a sealer since then, but the cement was drying nicely. The bump-out in the following photo is under the great room that will have two sets of sliding doors and huge trapezoid windows. This will give you an idea of the view we will have from the great room.

Love that Keweenaw Blue sky. I also took some shots of wildflowers (weeds?) on the property while we were there.

We continued on to Eagle Harbor

and spotted a freighter out on Lake Superior.

Great Sand Bay is always pretty.

There's that freighter again - or was it a different one?

We stopped at our favorite little falls along Hwy. 26 next.

I know we've shown you photos of this spot in the past, but we love it.

It's so peaceful. We could sit there for hours - smelling the pine and listening to the water gushing over the rocks. 

We didn't sit there for hours, however. We headed off to Copper Harbor for dinner at The Harbor Haus. The Harbor Haus is known as one of the best restaurants in the Keweenaw. Based upon the quality of their food and their prices, if it were located anywhere else other than Copper Harbor, one would be expected to "dress up." Since it's in Copper Harbor, the majority of diners are dressed in casual attire. After entering through their huge copper door, you find this display in the vestibule.

Here's a better shot of the bobcat. (Yes, we do have them here in the Keweenaw. We saw bobcat tracks on our property this afternoon.)

A better shot of the bear.

Do you think he's really the chef? Is he Finnish? The Harbor Haus is a German-themed restaurant - complete with waitresses in German attire. Confused? How about this? When the boat returns from Isle Royale each evening, the waitresses run outside and dance the can-can for the tourists. Since when is the can-can a German dance? No matter, your dining experience makes up for those inconsistencies.

The Harbor Haus sits right on Lake Superior with an entire wall of windows facing the water, so every table has a water view. What could be better than having a delicious meal while gazing at Lake Superior? I took the next two photos while seated at our table.

Your table will have a white tablecloth and white cloth napkins and coffee/tea cups with saucers. Again, it's in Copper Harbor, so you won't feel out of place if you're dressed casually. The food at the Harbor Haus is incredible! First, they give you a basket of rolls to dip in an herb/olive oil mixture. Mmmmm. Then, they bring out your lovely salad. If you're smart, you'll request the creamy bacon dressing.

We ordered our usual - the planked whitefish wrapped in bacon. It's an unforgettable dish.

We don't usually have room for dessert, but most of them need to be ordered at the start of your dining experience and are made especially for you. The Harbor Haus is definitely a restaurant you wouldn't expect to find in Copper Harbor, Michigan.

Now that our tummies were satisfied, we decided to head home, pick up Cocoa and take her to the beach with us. We made tracks for the one just 4 miles from our Calumet house. 

Cocoa runs ahead of us to the water.

She runs in and out of the water - sometimes swimming - sometimes sniffing the sand and running down the beach.

We laugh at her when she walks up and down the shoreline in the shallow water - looking into the water for fish - like she used to do at Draper's pond down in Saginaw. Of course, she never finds them that close to the shore in Lake Superior.

As we walked on the beach that evening, we found this in the sand.

It was probably created by some children that day, but it sums up how we feel about this place. We Y it here, too!

  

A perfect ending to our date day.

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday, Cocoa! You look terrific for an 8-year-old!

On your way to the beach!

At the beach!

All is well in the Keweenaw!

Expensive Ice Cream

The last 2 weeks have been very busy, but they were also enjoyable because they included spending time with Steve's daughter and granddaughter. Since Carrie and Grace were visiting us in the Keweenaw, we had a good excuse to drive to Ahmeek for ice cream cones after church last Wednesday.

Steve  -  1 scoop Butter Pecan on a Sugar Cone
Julie  -  1 scoop Mint Mackinac Island Fudge on a Sugar Cone
Carrie  -  1 scoop Butter Pecan on a Plain Cone
Grace  -  1 scoop Strawberry on a Plain Cone
Chevrolet Traverse  -  1 huge Whitetail Doe on Hwy. 41

Initial repair estimate on the Traverse:  $3,000. 

The Whitetail was totaled.

Those were some expensive ice cream cones!

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

Lots to tell you about, but for now. . .  All is well in the Keweenaw.

Sunday Reflections

All is well in the Keweenaw.

Daddy Dave's Weekend

I want to share some of the photos from Daddy Dave's weekend - the weekend of his memorial service in June in Traverse City. We took Cocoa to the kennel and got an early start that Friday. Unfortunately, it was raining when we left Calumet.

It was still raining in Baraga when we stopped for cheap gas.

It rained most of the way across the U.P. until right before we got to the Mackinac Bridge. 

When we were on the bridge, it started raining again,

and it continued to rain all the way to Petoskey. We finally drove out of it and had beautiful sunshine by the time we reached Traverse City.

We made a quick trip to the mall to look for new tennis shoes for Steve (as long as we were back in civilization) and then headed to the home of Steve's brother, Scott. We enjoyed some time with family before taking off to get a Jet's Pizza to take back to the motel.

The memorial service was the next day. It was a lovely, informal gathering with a great turnout. Steve's brother and his sister, Barb, shared some funny and loving words about Daddy Dave, and I don't believe there was a dry eye in the house when a young man played Amazing Grace on the bagpipes. We had a nice lunch and a good time swapping memories with family and friends. Daddy Dave would have been pleased. Here's a shot of Steve with his mom and siblings.

After that, Steve's son and daughter-in-law hopped in the vehicle with us, and we headed off to Honor to visit Steve's cousin, Jerry. Steve had asked him to do a taxidermy fish mount for a friend, and we needed to pick it up. We had a nice visit and headed back to Traverse City for dinner with Steve's mom. We had time for a brief goodbye the next morning before setting off for East Jordan. The pastor who married us in the U.P. in 2005 has started a church in East Jordan, and we wanted to surprise him by popping in for the morning service. He was surprised, and the service was a real blessing.

It was then time for the long drive home, and it wasn't long before we were entering Petoskey.

I snapped photos of some of the beautiful older homes there near Lake Michigan.

If you've never been to Petoskey, I highly recommend a visit. It's a lovely town.

I took a picture of one more home. This one was between Petoskey and I-75. It sticks out like a sore thumb.

Yes, it's a purple ranch house - with lots of junk in the yard - and it really draws your attention as you drive by. Not my cup of tea.

We hit some fog as we approached the Mackinac Bridge. It came in and out of view. See if you can find it in the next few shots.

We crossed the bridge and paid the $4 toll and commented on the good feeling we have when we see the sign on the toll plaza.

After exiting I-75, the speed limit is a maximum of 55 mph all the way across the U.P., and it is enforced. You can go about 4-6 mph over, but any more than that, and your risking a ticket. A "downstater" flew by us, and Steve mentioned that he was probably going to get stopped. Sure enough!

The clouds cleared away soon after that last shot, and we drove in sunshine and blue skies most of the way home.

It was a nice day to travel. It wasn't long before the hills of Hancock were in sight,

and we were crossing the Portage Bridge between Houghton and Hancock

and heading up the hill past the ruins of the Quincy Mine.

It was good to be home. Steve went to the kennel to pick up Cocoa early the next morning, and she received a good report card. Whew! We were a little worried about that, as she had tummy trouble when she was there in February.

All in all, it was an excellent weekend. It makes us a little sad to know that we can't share all our home construction details and photos with Daddy Dave, as we know he would have enjoyed that. The final goodbye is never easy, but it's not really final when you know you'll see them again in heaven! We praise the Lord for Daddy Dave's salvation.

All is well in the Keweenaw.