August Update

So, I appear to do a lot of update posts lately. Maybe I'm having trouble with longer posts, or maybe its just a lot of little things are happening, as opposed to big things. that are good for writing long posts. Either way, I guess a short post is better than no post!

1) The weekend we got back from the UP, B-Nutt went on his annual camping sojourn with his buddies. I'm always glad when that's done for the year, because its such a hassle on our end. It shouldn't stress me out, because I have nothing to do with it, but it totally does. Brian cooks every year, and so there's always tons of food and drink laying around, we make numerous trips shopping, etc. Aack! The only reason I tolerate it is because he enjoys doing it so much.

2) The weekend after camping, we and the Meese's went to Chicago to visit the Fontana's. We went for the Air Show (which the girls ended up not going to anyway!), but mainly to attend Erica's "retirement" party. Haha! That made me laugh (Erica "retired" to being a stay at home mom). But it was really good to see John, Erica and the kids, and they are doing tons of great things to their house. And Dominic and Lia are about some of the cutest kids ever. Always a good time and loved the road trip with the Meese's. I think Candace was amazed at how funny Brian is in the car for long periods of time!

3) My work is in full swing again and so is Brian's. So, he's traveling a lot the last few weeks and coming up in the future. I've been in Saginaw a ton, so putting a ton of miles on my car (thank god for mileage reimbursement). But it looks like Thursday Candace and I will be hanging out and having fun, so that's good!

4) Finally, Brian and I are still figuring out what route we want to take, adoption wise. We have a pretty good idea what we'll be doing, but I'm not ready to make any official announcement yet. When I am, I will. :)

Later!

UP Trip Part Two

As the rain falls in buckets outside my window this morning, and before I go to yoga class, I decided to write up Part Two of the UP trip. Here goes!

On Saturday, as the rain was falling in Grand Marais, Brian and I took off to drive to the Keweenaw Peninsula. Drive time was about 4 and a half hours plus time to stop. We drove across US 41, through the edge of Munising, Marquette (looks pretty), Ishpeming and Nagaunee (both nice little towns on the water). We stopped in Ishpeming and had lunch at their brewery there and Brian bought a growler to bring home (of course). We got to our inn in Laurium/Calumet at about 2:30. We stayed at the Laurium Manor Inn, which is this huge old mansion built in 1908 by a copper baron. All the rooms are different, and you learn about the history of your room when you're there. We stayed in the Hecla room, which was the bedroom of the family's oldest son, Calvin. I picked this room out because of the mural of deer and elk on the walls. If you're interested, check it out.

http://www.laurium.info/

I would highly recommend if it you stay up in that area! It was so gorgeous and a full buffet breakfast was included every morning! They also have a B&B across the street, and two weekly rental cottages for groups that do not include breakfast. Totally awesome!

Saturday night, we drove back to Hancock and went to Mary and Ted's house. Brian got to meet them, as he never had before. And he also got to meet their little girl Elaine, who is still cute as a button. We hung out at their house for a while, chatting, and then went to dinner at a place in Houghton (just across the portage from Hancock) called the Library Pub. Again, a brew pub (does it sound like my husband likes beer?). We left Mary and Ted's and went back to the inn and collapsed. It was so nice sleeping in a real bed after sleeping in a tent for 3 days!

Sunday we decided to go to Copper Harbor and Eagle Harbor. We drove up US 41, a twisty, turny road in that area, and made it to Ft. Wilkins at Copper Harbor. Ft. Wilkins is a state park, an old army post from the 1840s that's all redone to be authentic with displays and things. They also have kids from Northern dress up and act the parts of servicemen, etc. It was really neat! After Ft. Wilkins, we headed into Copper Harbor itself and found the infamous Harbor House, which is a German restaurant right on the water where the ladies dress up in outfits and go dance on the dock if the boat from Isle Royale comes in. (We did not see this!) We took pictures of the lighthouse, but didn't actually go to it, because it was an expensive boat ride to get over there.

Next, we headed to Eagle Harbor, but went the long way around. We drove to the top of Brockway Mountain and took awesome pictures of Copper Harbor from up there. On the mountain, we ran into Mary and Ted, a big coincidence and planned again to meet for dinner! Brian kept saying at the top of the mountain that it didn't seem to him we were in Michigan, and that this was as pretty as anything he'd seen in Europe. I agree.

We then went to Eagle Harbor, which has a lighthouse and a little museum, but all in all, we think it wasn't what it was cracked up to be. Then, we went to the old Quincy Copper Mine and did the full tour, including underground. The Keweenaw used to be big mining country, and there are tons of old mines that you can tour. It was really neat, but a little unnerving to be 374 feet underground, especially when the tour kid turned off the lights and showed us how the miners worked by candlelight. Yikes!

That night, we had dinner with Mary, Ted, and Elaine at the Hut Inn, a local landmark. A nice time was had by all, I think. Monday morning, we got up, had breakfast, and headed out at about 8:45. We got home at about 6:30 and stopped for only 45 minutes--a total of 9 hours of driving time! What a long day! But it was a great trip!

Here are some more pictures. This one is of the snow stick on the way to Copper Harbor. Yes, that does read a record snowfall of over 30 feet the year I was born. If you can read it, the average is about 20 feet! We get about an average of 4 feet and complain about it!

Next, we have a view of the Copper Harbor lighthouse. We took this from a scenic overlook that's part of the State Park. Maybe next time we'll take the boat ride over.

Finally, we have a pic of Brian on the top of Brockway Mountain. It is gorgeous up there, and you can see all the old growth forest below.

UP Trip Part One

So, we are back from our trip to the UP. We left last Wednesday and got home Monday night. We had so much to do yesterday to catch up! But today I have a few minutes to sit down and post some stuff here about the trip. I'll do the first part today and then the second part in the next few days!

Wednesday morning we left and headed up to Grand Marais to camp with my aunt and uncle, Marty and Margaret, and my cousins Nolan and Emma. Margaret's mom Jan was also there, and a whole bunch of friends of Marty and Margarets'. After a 6 hour drive (plus stopping time), we got to the campground late in the afternoon and set up the tent. It was my first time tent camping, and it was fine for 3 nights. I could maybe handle one more night and that's about it! And we were lucky not to have any true inclement weather! Anyway, the campground was right on Lake Superior, and the views were awesome. What a pretty place!

On Thursday, we traveled around with Margaret and the kids and her mom and friends to 4 different sets of falls in the area, and got great pictures. We also had pasties at Muldoon's in Munising. Pasties are good, but I've had my fill of them for awhile! Friday, Brian and I went on a trip to Whitefish Point/Paradise to go to the Shipwreck Museum. We saw the bell off the Edmund Fitzgerald and spoke to a man who was on board the Arthur Anderson (the ship right behind the Fitz) that day. He said it was the worst storms he's ever seen in his life, and talked a lot with Brian about that terrible day. Then, we had fish and chips lunch at the Fish Haus in Paradise. Best fish I've ever had, fresh caught out of the lake that day! Then, we headed to both Upper and Lower Tahquamenon Falls. Totally awesome! We had dinner that night at the brew pub in Grand Marais, which has good pizza and beer.

Here are some pics. The first one is of the sunset off the break wall in Grand Marais. Margaret took this picture with our camera. Amazing.



This picture is of Wagner Falls, outside of Munising. There are tons of neat falls in that general area if you go. Also, Pictured Rocks are there, which we were not able to see. So, we've decided we must go back!



Finally, we have a picture Brian took at Lower Tahquamenon Falls. Both the upper and lower are awesome and you can actually hike the 4 miles in between the two parks! Of course, you either have to then hike back to your car, have someone there to pick you up, or pay an outrageous $9 a person for a shuttle that takes you back. Someday!