Things that made me smile this week:
Tag Archives: travel
Weekly Smile
The reason it’s called the Copper Country
When I left you last you were exploring Calumet, a town built on copper mining money. So just how big were the mining operations, you ask?
These mining buildings have stood at the base of the mountain for more than a century.
Well, the reminders of those days dot the landscape everywhere in the Keweenaw Peninsula. When I lived there, a few decades ago, I got used to seeing historical stone buildings crumbling.
Once a part of a huge complex of buildings.
But I really didn’t see them as I scurried to and fro in my life. On the weekends I’d head out to Lake Superior or the mountains to take pictures but rarely stopped to consider the sad beauty of a world left behind.
Mostly it was all a curiosity to me. Like this stamping equipment. I never stopped to figure out what they were. I guess I considered them sculpture.
Imagine the noise these made when they were in operation! They’re right in the middle of a small group of houses.
These days there’s a sign posted there to explain some of it. They were used to crush rock in order to extradite the copper.
A reminder of what once was.
And then there’s the Quincy Mine. Called “Old Reliable,” it operated from 1846 to 1945.
Quincy # 2 was a reliable producer.
When I lived in Hancock, the Quincy mine shaft was just up the mountain from my house. I never explored it, there could have been deep holes hiding under the overgrown brush, the site was littered with mining equipment and sharp edges. Roofs were falling in. Walls were rusted or collapsing.
Early morning light shines on yesterday’s equipment.
It’s not that way anymore. Now it’s a tourist attraction complete with guided tours.
Still photogenic after all these years.
Though it was closed for the season, we were able to explore the grounds in safety this week on a pretty morning with the sun just coming up. There’s a beautiful building that housed the hoist that glowed in the morning light.
I always loved this building and I’m so glad it’s been saved.
There are a couple of old railway cars waiting for that next load of copper…
This might need a little work to haul anything away these days.
…and several walls of outbuildings that show the beautiful masonry.
Look at those corner stones!
I was thrilled to be able to wander the grounds without fear of falling into a mine shaft.
Looking back through history.
And to do it on the one day in the entire week with sunshine was doubly wonderful.
I loved that the sun was filling this empty building and glowing right out this side!
There are buildings and equipment everywhere. This dredge has been sitting stuck on the bottom of the canal for decades. It looked just like this when I lived there in the late 70s.
Sometimes it seems like nothing has changed at all.
And life is still hard way up north on the peninsula surrounded by Lake Superior.
More than 30 years ago I lived in the upstairs flat. Two of the four rooms didn’t have electricity. I think of it fondly.
Still.
There’s something magical about this place, something hard to explain, hard to put a finger on.
Magic in the morning.
The addictive combination of history and natural beauty gets into a person’s blood.
And it doesn’t ever let go.
Quincy stands tall.
Historic Calumet
Come along with us and we’ll take you on a quick trip through Calumet Michigan. What? You say you’ve never heard of Calumet? You didn’t know that at one time, long ago, it was on the short list of cities to be named as the capital for the new state of Michigan?
Downtown Calumet in 2018.
Well, let’s take a tour and I’ll explain more.
Back at the turn of the century (no, not the new century just 18 years old, but the century beginning one hundred and eighteen years ago) Calumet was a mining mecca and making big bucks. In 1900 there were just over 4600 people living in the village, copper was king, and the living was good. At least for some.
The Calumet Theatre was opulent, and still is today.
The opera house, city hall and today’s police department all housed in this historic structure.
The theater has been restored, and you can take a self guided tour for $4.00.
From the balcony, a hint of the beautiful interior.
Aside from theater, Calument also had (and still has)many bars. One of the most famous is Shutie’s. It’s been there a long, long time.
The old fire station reflected in Shutie’s window.
Inside you’ll find the original wooden bar, a giant and beautiful stained glass fixture hanging above, and a mirror that reflects a huge mural painted in recent years that stretches along the opposite wall.
Just think of all the people who have bellied up to the bar here over the years.
We stopped in to warm our toes and fingers with a drink. For old times sake.
Warming up for our next adventure!
Today there are just about 700 people living in the village, a steady decline in population over the years as mining activity dried up and people left to find work. Tourism is a main source of income now, but still the area struggles.
Only the pigeons live here now.
So much has been lost to disrepair.
These were once fancy apartments.
Still, much has been preserved too.
The park service works out of this building now. Beautiful stonework from the 1900s.
I have several images of the archeticture in Calumet to share, but I’m in a hotel with slow and unreliable internet. So I’ll save those for another post. We’ll be traveling tomorrow, on our way home. But when I can I’ll show you remnants of the copper mining industry itself.
And yes, you’ll get to see a few (or more) images of today’s trip up the Keweenaw Peninsula and Lake Superior too.
Eventually.
The old fire house.
North into snow country
If you’ve been complaining about the unseasonably cold weather, and you don’t like the snow you’ve received so early in the season, well, maybe you should skip this post.
Not so conducive to a picnic.
Because my husband and I are further north than normal. And my goodness there’s a bunch of snow up here.
And it’s cold too.
Hiking to Miners Falls, only half a mile but it felt longer.
Did I mention cold and windy? Perfect for a short trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
We spent our first night at Mackinaw City, at the tip of Michigan’s lower peninsula, just before the 5 mile long bridge that connects the two parts of our state.
The Mighty Mac bridge that connects the two parts of Michigan.
This morning we took a quick tour around town. Most everything is closed until next spring. It was sort of lonely. And really really cold, just 18 degrees (that’s -7.77 C).
The marina was protected from the wind.
The sky was so interesting, with a row of puffy clouds hanging right above the Straights…
That’s Mackinaw Island over there on the left, a pretty place to visit when it’s warmer.
…but both east and west of where we stood were ominous clouds, some dropping what looked like snow. That didn’t bode well for our drive west.
Looks like we’re going to get a little snow.
We headed over the bridge and started the long trek across the Upper Peninsula. We traveled along the shores of Lake Michigan for awhile, then headed north and drove along the shore of Lake Superior. Lots of boring grey skies on both sides of the Peninsula.
So we stopped to take a break in Munising, the home of Pictured Rocks, a beautiful park that celebrates cliffs and waterfalls in this wild part of our state.
Lucky for us there’s a parking lot not 800 feet from Munising Falls located right in town.
A beautiful waterfall and so easy to get to even on a snowy winter day.
Also lucky for us no one else was there so we got to enjoy the beauty of the frozen waterfall all by ourselves.
Then we got brave and decided we’d drive out to Miners Falls, even though we weren’t sure the roads would be plowed. And some of them were not.
But since a few other people had driven on the road beyond the point that the county kept them open, we decided to go for it. I won’t lie, this made me very nervous and I was grateful we didn’t meet anyone going the other way, so we could drive right down the middle of the road in the tracks of the car (or more likely the truck) that had gone before.
I made my husband stop in the middle of the road so I could take this picture.
Once again we saw no one out there. The woods were simply stunning.
The view out toward Lake Superior.
Out half a mile, then down multiple flights of stairs that hadn’t been cleared. But it was worth it.
Miners Falls was amazingly beautiful.
Definitely worth it, don’t you think?
Going up was easier than going down.
And then, after getting back to the car a bit tired and wet, instead of heading back to town my husband headed further out on the unmaintained road to go see Miners Castle, a rock formation out at the lake.
Nope, nobody out there but us.
Granted I had never been there and I had always wanted to see it, but I was stressing that the road wasn’t plowed and no one was out there and I was having flashbacks of being on this exact road in 1979 with a college friend when the water pump in my Chevette died. That was an adventure, and it had been a warm fall day with no snow!
But that’s another story.
Anyway…we got to the Miners Castle visitor center (which was of course closed) and waded through more snow out to the platform to see it. It, too, was beautiful.
Pretty amazing color for what was turning into a colorless afternoon.
And then we walked all the way down through fencing that reminded me of the security at the Atlanta airport, to see the formation from close up.
Have your boarding pass and ID ready please.
It was all fun, though I could no longer feel my toes. But it was beginning to seriously snow, and we had 3 hours to our destination on a good day.
So we headed back toward civilization, and crept over to Houghton, averaging about 40 miles per hour through increasing snow and decreasing visibility.
The road back into town.
Tomorrow we will explore a bit around here. Both of us used to live here, different years and different reasons, and we look forward to seeing what’s changed. I moved away 43 years ago. Lots will probably be different. But Lake Superior will always be Lake Superior and I look forward to seeing more of it again.
I just hope all the roads are plowed.
Also hope to not run into any bears!
We could all use a smile.
Reflecting on current events.
Trent, over at his blog trentsworldblog has decided that we could all use a smile, so he has resurrected his weekly smile post in which he invites us all to post each week about something that has made us smile, and then link back to him.
I think he’ll post a recap, but I need to go back and read the instructions (you’ll find those at his Weekly Smile blog).
There’s gold in the woods. And a bit of peace.
As I sit watching the horrific news out of Pittsburgh this morning I have to admit I was feeling guilty for feeling good after my short trip to northern Michigan.
Sometimes you just need to walk away.
For me going into the woods is like living on my own personal private island. No TV, no email, maybe a bit of blog producing, but that’s all about looking through images I’ve just taken and then letting the fingers do their thing.
No stress there. Usually no tears.
The logging museum shows life in a simpler time.
And yet the world carries on even while I’m not noticing. Pipe bombs get mailed. Mass shootings happen. Candidates snipe at each other. No one tells a complete truth.
Is there really only one way?
Who even knows what the truth is anymore.
Sometimes a person needs the welcoming woods.
As Carol says in her latest post, we’re all probably overloaded. By everything.
So I think Trent’s idea is wonderful. Let’s look for at least one thing that has made us smile this week.
No television out here.
For me, it was being in the north wandering among the last bit of fading color. I was only there for a little more than one day, and it was drizzling rain most of the time.
Still. In the last few minutes before I climbed back in the car to head home the sun burned through a layer of cloud and the woods glowed.
It was just for a moment.
Glowing in between the raindrops.
But it made me smile.
Follow the path for soul renewal.
Nancy Merrill Photo Challenge: Reflection
When this week’s prompt showed up in my email on Thursday I knew exactly where I’d find my shot, luckily just a few miles up the road from my hotel room.
A mirror finish on this lake reflected the dock as well as the golden trees.
This is Glory Lake, one of two small lakes at Hartwick Pines. Though there was no sun Friday morning I still gasped as I turned the corner and saw the reflection.
Short and sweet
I’m on a quick ‘up north’ trip with a friend. We wanted to make a specific destination in time for sunset, figuring the lowering sun would enhance what remaining color was hanging on the trees.
It was sunny when I left home, but as I headed north more and more clouds accumulated. I wasn’t worried, I figured the sunset would be more interesting with clouds.
But as I pulled within four miles of our destination the sky turned a blank grey and it began to rain. Fog floated up between the trees.
Not looking good for finding color.
I figured trekking through a wet field to the top of a hill in the rain to see the nonexistent sunset was going to be a waste of time. But I’ve learned to never give up, especially when you’re so close. So we trekked.
And as we began to top the hill I knew we were right to make the trip; I could see color out there in the fog.
See what’s over the hill?
And when we got to the top?
Stunning, even in the rain.
Amazing.
It’s supposed to be sunny here tomorrow and we’ll have a few hours to explore before we head home.
Can’t wait to see what we find.
On the road again.
What’s down that path?
Dow Gardens was started in 1899 by Herbert Dow, founder of The Dow Chemical Company. The Gardens, originally developed on eight acres of flat, sandy land, provided a creative outlet for Herbert Dow and his interest in agriculture and design. He created gardens, ponds and hills according to a simple philosophy that we still follow to this day: “never reveal the gardens’ whole beauty at first glance.” –from the Dow Gardens website.
When I left you last, during our Walktober, we were about to explore a winding path in the Dow Gardens.
A curvy stroll.
Didn’t you wonder where it went? It’s just one of many secret garden rooms at the Dow Gardens in Midland Michigan.
The elevated walkway we visited for our Walktober sits in Whiting Forest, right next door to the gardens, and in fact the $5 ticket to the elevated walkway also got us into the gardens. So of course we went, even though by then we had already walked a lot, and it was getting colder and wetter.
Not letting a little cold rain stop us!
And we were not disappointed, not at all. The first frosts of the winter season had already done their damage and the formal flower gardens were just memories, but this place is designed to intrigue even when flowers are no longer blooming.
The original land was flat and only eight acres, but the garden now has all sorts of hills and knolls, with pathways, bridges and ponds tucked into the landscape covering one hundred and ten acres.
Even cement bridges end up looking interesting. Don’t you want to go see what’s up those steps?
There’s a definite Asian influence in parts of the park…
I loved these round steps, and the red bridges.
…and lovely old trees everywhere.
The big heavy limbs of this tree were their own art.
Though the flower gardens were gone to frost, there was still color just about anywhere you looked.
A big old maple tree next to the herb garden where I spent time smelling lemon verbena. Heavenly.
There were ponds reflecting beautiful landscape…
Even on a rainy day this was stunning.
…and stairs leading to the next hidden glade.
This just begged to be climbed. So we did.
And then, just to add to the whole experience, there’s the house.
This is just one angle of it, there’s a whole lot of house you can’t see from here.
We know we’ll be back to take the tour of the house. It looks fascinating.
I’ve only shown you a fraction of what there is to see in these gardens. And you’re seeing it on a dreary cold dank day. Imagine it when the sun is shining. Or in the spring when the flowering trees are in bloom, or in midsummer when the secret gardens are at peak. Or in winter when the trees hiding their secrets show off their profiles as a distraction.
It’s only an hour from me, but even if you’re further away, it’s worth a trip. Come on up and visit Michigan and while you’re here, stop for a few hours or an entire day at Dow Gardens!
No matter the season you, like us, won’t be disappointed.
There’s a few statutes too.
Cee’s black & white photo challenge: Steps
Descending lighthouse steps.
Change Is Hard 