Wow. Each day, for the last 4 days, I have gotten up with the sun shining. By 10 am the air is warm enough to sit out in a long sleeve shirt. The wind has been calm from the south. I guess that would make this our 'Indian Summer.' Thank you, Indian Summer. You feel so nice.
The skies have been clear during the day and night. I've had the good fortune to lay under the stars. Thursday had a little surprise to the north -- the Northern Lights. The white lights shimmered across Porter's Island and dropped my jaw.
But where was the best place to look? At the Northern Lights or right above where 'shooting stars' dashed across the sky? To be fair, I took turns until the horizon show faded. Shooting stars kept my mind wandering and pondering until I fell asleep in the crisp air.
And then Friday, a whole day to myself Friday, was even better. A good friend and I rode our bikes east with a couple destinations in mind.
We saw the petroglyphs -- rumored to date back when Lake Fanny Hooe was Fanny Hooe Bay. The maples, birches and evergreens that blocked our view of the Great Lake that day were non-existent when those carvings were made in the rocks. It was a great place to imagine being thousands of years ago.
Our next stop was Schlatter Lake. Bathing in the sunshine, we enjoyed the peace and calm of the afternoon air. It was so relaxing that we had to move on so we didn't fall asleep!
Next stop was at High Rock Bay. Oh, High Rock, you sure know how to make me smile! I found my big meditation boulder and sat for a while. We checked out the old rocket blasting site. We ate lunch on the beach in the sunshine and pebbles, looking out at Manitou Island.
Just when I thought the day couldn't get any better, we headed back west. I have never been to Horseshoe Harbor before in the day time, so we trekked down there. Let me just say that I like big rocks. I love boulders that overlook the water and everything around. I am drawn to them like the flies love a sun-shiney window. What I saw at Horseshoe, I was not prepared for.
The whole west edge was a giant (30-40 foot high) barren ridge. Even though I had metal cleats on the bottom of my biking shoes, I b-lined it right to the top, scaling up the side. It was like the moon up there. And to the right, it gradually sank into the lake. We sat on top until the sun dropped and left us in the cool twilight.
That day was like a the other bookend from Isle Royale, with the summer of work sandwiched in between. Those bookends held me together through another busy summer.
And now, only 6 more books (days) of work for me to go! Better get your last Harbor Haus meal while you can!
What a great blog! I read the entire blog last night as I really like Copper Harbor area. I visit twice a year. My relatives are from Waupaca County as well. It's a small world. It's impressive you moved to small Copper Harbor and have made a go of it. I really want to see the petroglyphs on the next trip on a hike or on the bike. Could you tell me there location behind Lake Fanny Hooe? You make me want to return to Horseshoe Harbor now. I found your blog via Sharon Smith's blog and very glad she posted it. You're a very good writer. Thanks much! I was there for the big power outage btw. I thought it was pretty exciting to see the huge waves on M-26. I live for that sort of thing.
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