Pre-4th: The Day Before

As I wrote on Saturday, we had a great time celebrating the 4th of July with friends (Marty and Donna) in Copper Harbor. We all drove up to "da Harbor" on the 3rd.

We took the Corvette, as we wanted to use it for the parade this year.

It was another lovely day for a drive in the Keweenaw.

We passed by the cliffs

 

and through Phoenix.

Steve elected to save some time and miles by staying on Hwy. 41 instead of taking the shoreline route on Hwy. 26 to Copper Harbor,

so it wasn't long before we were going past Lake Medora

and the golf course at the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge.

Just a little further up another hill

and around one more curve,

and we came down into da Harbor.

There it is - the only traffic light in Keweenaw County - at the intersection of Hwy. 41 and Hwy. 26 in the heart of Copper Harbor.

We continued through the intersection to get to the Bella Vista Motel on the left. The office is located at the front of the owner's summer home in the foreground.

The Bella Vista has lodging available in 2 motel buildings and 8 cottages. We choose to stay in the lakefront motel strip parallel to the water for the best view of the fireworks. You can see the end of that motel building in the background in the above photo.

We checked in, unloaded our bags, and I stepped outside of our room to take some of my usual photos from the deck.

Yep, that looks and feels like America to me!

We came to the group decision to eat dinner at the historic Keweenaw Mountain Lodge, as they were having a BBQ special. Duh, why didn't I take photos of our meal? The special included both pork and chicken, but the most unusual item on our plates was the grilled corn on the cob. Why was that unusual? It was coated with butter or oil and dipped in coconut before grilling. Yes! Normal sweetened flaked coconut! None of us had ever tasted anything like it, but it was really good. We'll have to try making it at home sometime.

After a short stop to check out the Copper Harbor cemetery, we went back to the motel for a relaxing evening. We could see some rain in the distance over Lake Superior,

and I snapped a few cloud photos. . .

from our motel room.

None of the motel rooms or cabins available in Copper Harbor are fancy or top-of-the-line. Our room at the Bella Vista is very simple and basic, but clean. We don't have a coffee pot, but we do have a refrigerator. (Coffee is available in the office.)

 

The selling point is the atmosphere of Copper Harbor and the view - very quiet and relaxing.

 

We had a few bugs on the windshield of the Vette and some road dust, so Steve did a little detailing. 

It had to look good for the parade, right?

Just a few more shots while the sun was setting,

and it was time to retire for the evening. We left our chairs on the deck - ready and waiting for the fireworks the next night, but I'll write more on that later. 

All is well in the Keweenaw.