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.

Ungrounded

Cocoa had her follow-up appointment with the Vet this afternoon. Her cornea is much, much better. Steve has to put antibiotic drops in her eye for another 14 days, but she has been released from solitary confinement in the backyard and is now allowed to go to the property or to the beach.

In celebration of the good report, Steve stopped at the Calumet Waterworks Park and allowed Cocoa to swim in Lake Superior for a while. She thanked him after they got home by doing a bit more digging in the backyard. You can see her handiwork (or paw-work) in the background of the next photo.

I guess grass is overrated in her world. All is well in the Keweenaw.

Celebrating With Friends - Part 2

We awoke bright and early on the morning of July 4th bubbling with excitement about participating in the annual Copper Harbor Independence Day Parade. The first order of business was to decorate our float - better known as our golf cart.

Yes, I know Wannabes should have had just one "e." I didn't notice that I spelled it wrong when I ordered that personalized banner. Since we plan to use the banner every year, it's going to stay that way. I'm not sure anyone really cares that I spelled it wrong anyway. Wannabe is really a slang term - a phonetic shortening of want to be. The banner means we aspire to be Yoopers - an unattainable goal, since we were not born in the U.P. One of the locals once told Steve that we could consider ourselves Yooper Wannabes after we survived 2 Keweenaw winters. That explains the sign we put on the back of the golf cart.

Marty and Donna helped us decorate the golf cart. That last shot was the only photo I managed to take of them the whole week, and I only got half of Donna! Anyway, Steve and I hopped on the golf cart, lined up on 10th Street and waited for the parade to begin at 10:00 a.m. 

Here we come!

There we go!

We handed out 75 "God Bless America" mini flags to the kids, but we could have easily handed out 4-5 times that many. We'll be better prepared next year. The crowd looks pretty light where all these parade photos were snapped at the main intersection in Copper Harbor. The crowd was thicker as we traveled further down the street.

When you watch the parade, it takes 6 or 7 minutes. When you're in the parade, it takes about an hour and 5 minutes. We had no idea that the parade route was going to travel from 10th Street, down Hwy 41 through Copper Harbor, through the Lake Fanny Hooe Resort and Campground, and through both campgrounds at Fort Wilkins State Park. That was a round trip of about 5-1/2 miles. We were glad our golf cart batteries had a full charge!

More parade photos from Marty:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve thought his parade days were over after his boys were finished with Boy Scouts. Little did he know. We both thoroughly enjoyed our parade experience and already have more ideas for next year.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of Celebrating With Friends. All is well in the Keweenaw.

Celebrating With Friends - Part 1

This is the first in a series of posts about our July 4th week. Our friends, Marty & Donna Bonner, arrived for a visit in the Keweenaw on Tuesday, July 2nd. After taking us out for dinner at The Hut (!), we stopped for ice cream and drove to the Calumet Waterworks Park for the sunset. Is watching sunsets all there is to do in the Keweenaw? No, but we love sunsets; and Lake Superior gives us spectacular sunset-viewing opportunities.

Upon arrival at the park, we had some time to kill before the sunset magic was to begin, so we took a walk down the beach.

The big lake was very calm that evening. We noticed a group of 5 or 6 loons nearby - the first time we had ever seen loons at this park.

Finally. . .  the sunset.

 

 

 

The plan for the next day was to travel to Copper Harbor where we had motel reservations for the 3rd & 4th. 

With the Bonners in their Toyota behind us, we headed up Hwy 41,

cruised by the cliffs,

turned onto Hwy 26 toward Eagle River,

and stopped at The Jampot (bakery) to purchase some muffins and cookies. Next, we made a quick detour to our property to pick up the golf cart (for the parade) and started back up Hwy 26. Another freighter was spotted out on Lake Superior.

We checked in at the Bella Vista Motel and opened up our rooms. This is the idyllic view from the deck outside of our room. It was another calm day on the big lake.

After relaxing a bit and having a great meal at The Mariner, we headed back to Calumet for church that evening. Upon returning to Copper Harbor, we had time for more ice cream and made the drive up Brockway Mountain to view. . . yep, another sunset!

 

 

 

Steve noticed a new shack just off the parking area on top of Brockway Mountain. 

 

The sun was fading fast, so those last 2 shots weren't the best, but Steve couldn't resist getting inside for a photo opp.

The purpose of the shack was posted on the exterior.

The sign was smeared from exposure to the elements, but the shack was erected and used for the 2013 Brockway Mountain Hawk Watch. Here's some information from their site:

Brockway Mountain, over-looking Copper Harbor, is an unusually good location to view and survey the spring migration of birds of prey aka: Raptors, along the Central Migration Flyway. It has been recognized as an IBA (Important Bird Area) by the National Audubon Society due to the number of raptors and other migrating birds that take that path.

The current study is called the Brockway Mountain Hawk Watch, organized by Copper Harbor Birding and Copper Country Audubon. We are aspiring to continue the study over several consecutive years in order to obtain the long-term data necessary for comprehensive analysis.

The survey provides important information in the whole picture of current Raptor health and recovery from the deadly era of DDT usage when some species were headed for extinction, especially Eagles, Osprey, and Peregrine Falcons.

If you would like to read more about their project (with photos), click on the following link:

Brockway Mountain Hawk Watch

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Celebrating With Friends. All is well in the Keweenaw.

"Lab - Adore"

This pillow made me think of our Chocolate Labrador, Cocoa.

She had to go to the Vet last Monday with an eye infection. We believe she gouged her cornea with a stick in the woods while sniffing around on our property. Steve has to put drops and ointment in her eye 3 times a day until she sees the Vet again in 2 days. (He's a good dog daddy!) Cocoa's eye seems to be healing very well, but we'll see what the Vet says. In the meantime, she has been grounded from the property and from the beach (and she's not happy about that). 

All is well in the Keweenaw.

A Little Teaser

I'm running out of time tonight, but I wanted to let you know that we did participate in the July 4th parade in Copper Harbor. Here's a hint of things to come.

All is well in the Keweenaw.