The 4th: The 3 F's

FREIGHTERS - FOOD - FIREWORKS

After the big parade, we chilled on the motel deck for a while. I had the camera, so I was snapping some photos now and then. We soon spotted our first ships of the day. 

 

We watched a small plane for a while, too. We go to church with a woman named Marilyn, and her husband, Frank, is a pilot. When we talked to them at the church picnic on the Sunday following the 4th, we told them about the couple in this cute little airplane. It just so happens that they know this couple.

 

Here's a shot to remind us what the 4th of July is all about.

It's pretty hard to feel stressed out about anything when we're in a place like this.

 

The Copper Harbor volunteer firemen were grilling dogs and brats in the park to raise funds for the department, so we walked to the park with Marty and Donna to have a quick hot dog lunch. Then, it was time to take the Corvette back home. Steve didn't feel comfortable leaving it in the motel parking lot all evening, as a lot of people would be in town - walking through our motel parking lot to get to the shoreline to view the fireworks. So, we headed back to Calumet - taking the shoreline route of Hwy. 26. This is Steve's absolute favorite Corvette road - hills and curves!

Oh no! There's a vehicle in front of us. Steve had to slow down - and he wasn't really thrilled about that!

Hey, there's another freighter.

We started thanking the Lord for the slower vehicle in front of us shortly after I took the next photo. There was a huge turtle on the road that we may have hit if we hadn't slowed down. That may not have been good for the Corvette, as it sits very low to the road.

Heading into Eagle Harbor.

We turned left in Eagle Harbor and made a quick stop at the property before heading back to Calumet. We grabbed a tiny BBQ grill and the food/supplies for our evening meal, switched vehicles and started back toward Copper Harbor.

Wow, traffic was thick on Hwy. 41!

Yes, that's considered thick! It's not often you see 4 vehicles ahead of you on that section of Hwy. 41. Next, was Lake Medora.

And. . . Lake Medora was busy, too!

We went past the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge again,

and made it back to Copper Harbor safely.The town was a hoppin'!

We visited a few gift shops, but the only thing we purchased was some candy at the Old Fashioned Candy Store. We found Marty and Donna back at the motel, and we all relaxed on the motel deck for the rest of the afternoon - people watching, freighter watching, sky watching and water watching. Look! What's that up in the sky? Is it a bird? No, it's the contrail from an airplane. It's very rare that we see one of those up here (not much air traffic).

Steve fired up the grill for our brats, and we enjoyed a typical July 4th meal of brats, BLT salad and chips. This concession stand is obviously very near our motel, so some of us enjoyed some cotton candy, too.

Another freighter!

As the evening progressed, the concession stand got busier, and people began gathering at the waterfront.

The last photo also showed the Isle Royale Queen IV leaving the dock for the sunset cruise. I have some pretty nice sunset shots from the evening of the 4th, but I'll share those with you in another post.

This guy looked like he was having fun.

The Queen made it back to the dock,

and the 35 minute fireworks show began about 11:00 p.m. As I said before, I used the fireworks setting on my new camera, and that's not the best setting to use when you're not using a tripod. I'll use a different setting for better photos next year.

We clapped and cheered after the Grand Finale and retired to our motel rooms as the town cleared out. About 30 minutes later, we heard more fireworks, so Steve and I stepped back out onto the deck to watch. It was another mini grand finale! We learned the next day that the guys on the island discovered an "unfired" box as they were cleaning up, so they figured they might as well set them off! 

That was it! Another nice day in da Harbor! We really LOVE spending the 4th in Copper Harbor, so we have our reservations made again for next year.

All is well in the Keweenaw.