On the Verge of Winter

Well, I was right about one thing: the bell buoy got stolen from right under my nose.  But today, as the sun shines brightly and the lake is calm, there is plenty of freighter action on the lake.  I saw three, and that's when I wasn't even trying!

That means winter is coming.  Sometimes, by now, we are already buried in snow.  Not this year!  Look what's on the ground in the woods on the last day of November!

Snow cover in the woods as of 11/30/2015

Not a whole lot.  But there are other signs of winter.  Just looky here at the frost I saw on my hike today.

Ground frosties!

And take a look over here at the potential first ice skating rink!

Clyde's pond icing over nicely

And wouldn't you know it, Donny K. Jr. is out in the park putting up Christmas lights so "we can have the best light display in the U.P."  Looks like he had some help from the big boys today.

Don sending lights to the top of that cedar

If you are up, feel free to help him out by decorating a tree.  He always needs volunteers.  We'll see how cheery things look this year.  Actually, you can see them too at Winter Wonderfest.  This year it's December 12th.  Crafts, gifts and goodies in the community building all day, then the park lights up at dark!  It's always a lovely time.

Know what else was a lovely time?  My parents came up two weekends ago.  One day my mom volunteered to watch Braeden (bless her heart), so my dad and I could get out for an adventure.  

On that blustery day,  we hiked the south shore of Hunter's Point.  Then we sat on the point for some time while we took it all in.  We hiked the north shore back, and each time we could jut out to the beach, we did.  We stood at each outlet and watched the waves crash.  It was neat because at each spot, the waves hit the shore differently.

Now I must say that my dad is really awesome because not everyone will stand there at each outlet on the beach and watch the waves crash on the shore and love every minute.  Thanks, Daddio.  We'll have to do it again sometime.

I also got to take my parents out to my new favorite rock.  That day was sunny and not as windy.  Though ice covered the stones up to the rock, and waves flooded the path between the icy stones, I timed it out, so I could sit up there and bask in the wonder of my spirit.  I just love that spot.  Here you can see my boots overlooking the eastern edge of Porter's Island in the distance.

The view from my rock

Now my goal is to get out there as much as possible this winter and take this photo. What will be different each time?  Lighting, ice, snow, my boots, my pants and whatever else will surprise us!  Now it may not be easy getting out there with little man and Duce through the blowing cold days, but I'll do my best.

So yeah.  I am pumped for winter.  Excited to see what it brings.  Hopefully I can show Brady Boy some ice skating moves before too much snow falls.  But I surely won't bet on that!

And want to know what's extra cool about this winter?  December 13th marks 10 years since Aaron and I moved up here.  Ten years!  I'm so excited, I just might have to celebrate!

Between a Rock and a Contest

Remember how I like to perch on intriguing boulders?  Well I found a new favorite one.  But I'm not going to tell you where it is; you have to guess.  I took a picture of it from an angle that you may only recognize if you've been there.

Where is this rock?

Do you know?  If so, leave a comment of where you think it is, and you could win a free signed copy of Touring the Tip!  The first person to enter the correct location of this rock wins.  Please bear in mind that you need to leave your name somewhere, and I must moderate all comments.  If you don't see your comment right away it's because I didn't get to publish it yet.  Okay, go!

Want to know something else really cool?  I got to go mountain biking -- true singletrack-ripping mountain biking for the first time in almost two years.  TWO YEARS!!!  That's a long time for a mountain biker.  But I am still learning how to give my son to someone else and say, "See you later.  I hope I come back in one piece!"

The weather has been lovely lately, though.  I think rain tomorrow, but we've had sunshine and sometimes no jacket weather!  We've had some clear night skies too.  I spent a couple evenings out watching shooting stars and constellations.  Man, it's great to be back.

Last I checked, the bell buoy was still out by the lighthouse.  But we know how quickly that gets swept out from under my nose.

Lucky for you (and me, of course), I am not moving away this winter.  You know, Arkansas just does not sound that appealing to me for four months.  Yeah I'll have to haul in wood and shovel and take care of a one year old and all that, but I can do it here!  I've had some unexpected adventures in the past, so I wonder what this winter will bring.  

I just love how outdoor activities depend on the weather.  Skating?  Parachuting?  Avalanche?  Okay, just kidding about the avalanche (I hope).  But life is full of surprises.

Otherwise, it's just nice and quiet here.  Oh, how I love it.  Well, I've seen some hunters up scouting lately, but other than that, just us.  What a gift.

Well, you're probably getting antsy to comment on where that rock it, so I'll let you get to it.  Good luck!  Maybe I'll see you out there sometime.

Back to Amanda!

Okay, maternity leave is over!  Braeden is one year old, in stable condition and all around amazing.  Time for me to be Amanda and do my writing stuff which I didn't even realize how much I missed until I got back into it.

When we were at Grammy and Grampy Rogers' house two weeks ago, I had a revelation about it.  I was walking down a dark, gravel road with only the twinkling stars as my light.  I thought, Hmm, when I walk down the road in da Harbor, the street lights are shining.  This is completely void of lights from civilization.  Awesome.

Then I noticed that I should be more grateful about where I am even though I can't be in my favorite place all the time.  I should appreciate where I am all the time.  Bam!  I got an idea for a book.  And when I thought of the memoir I am currently working on, I realized, Well, I better write that, so I can get this next one going!

All the sudden, ~zing~ across the sky.  A shooting star!  And at that moment I made a wish for myself for the first time since Braeden was born.  It's been a whole year since I wished something for myself!  So it's about darn time I get things rolling.

Here's a picture of the sunset from that night.  It's so lovely there.

A northwestern Wisconsin autumn sunset

Then our little family was reunited in Crosby, Minnesota.  Where the heck is that?  It's part of a little cluster of towns in north-central Minnesota in a rural, recreational setting.  Lots of lakes, trees and trails.  Plus history from iron ore mining.  Really cool, actually.  I've enjoyed my time here.

Just a few places to note.

The Spalding House is a historic bar/motel/apartment building recently renovated in the past year to cater to the trail enthusiasts and locals.  The bar has awesome drink specials that I think my own little town could add to its weekly routine.  $1.50 taps on Tuesday nights?  Try and keep me out of there!  Okay, so maybe my town shouldn't do that. Wink.

And here is a picture of their fabulous tapper selection!  Whatever makes the wheels go round!

20 draft beers at the Spalding House

Aaron, Braeden and I sleep above it in one of their cozy little rooms.  I thinks it's cool, and the owners are super sweet.  They recognize what's happening in their town, and they are progressive about what their visitors are looking for.

I also enjoyed my Americano and sandwich at Mixed Company.  Quaint, friendly atmosphere and cute crafty things on the walls.  The owner thought Braeden was adorable, but so far I haven't met anyone that doesn't.  KJ's Mini Mart was also perfect for me to set up an impromptu birthday party for my one year old!  Plus I even got him a nice second hand blazer for his Halloween costume.    It's an interesting combo of retail, but it worked for me!

Birthday bash with the Rock Solid crew!

Another place of note it the park at Serpent Lake.  The playground there is amazing!  It's decked out like a ship with things to crawl through and pretend drive and dig and swing and slide and hang.  Man, if Braeden was a little older, we would have been there all day.  Except poor Duce felt dejected tied up by the entrance.  Sorry buddy, no dogs allowed.

B under the Serpent at Serpent Lake

The lake there was lovely.  They had a skate park with actual people using it!  And camping and tennis courts and restrooms and all that.  It was really well kept up.  If I could have let my doggy run loose there, we would have gone back more often.

Then there's the Cuyuna Lakes State Trail.  It's a paved double-wide trail that snakes between the lakes and around the little towns.  It was perfect for me on my touring bike pulling B in the trailer.  Lots of great vistas heading west out of Crosby.  And it seemed like after every turn there was another lake!   And sometimes there were lakes on both sides!

A lake along Cuyuna Lakes State Trail

I liked the feel of this town.  Nothing classy, but functional.  I actually hope that Aaron has to come back and build more trails here.  I would hang out and adventure and cook and write.  I even got to take Braeden on his first singletrack ride in the trailer.  I think he liked it because he threw up on himself!

Aaron on the job in his mini-ex

Well, I've got a couple more stops in Wisconsin, then back to da Harbor for a month!  I hope... 

See you sooner rather then later!

Longing for Home

I snuck out on you again.  I was in Spokane, Washington for a week because my little brother got married.  So happy for him -- he found a keeper.  Wink.  And Braeden did great on his first plane rides.  Whew!

And now I am in Wisconsin en route to Cuyuna, Minnesota where Aaron is building trails for the month.  All I can give you is a guess at a color report.  I bet the leaves are lovely in da Harbor right now.  Good thing I have seen some glorious ones in past autumns, or I would be sad to miss this year.  The maples were electric on my way out of town.  Nice color in Northern Wisconsin right now, too.

My computer is mostly better.  Thanks for asking.

To be totally honest with you, I may only get to be in Copper Harbor for Halloween and November.  Then hopefully January and February, but even the winter is up in the air.  I think Aaron is booked pretty much all next year too.  Ah, the life of the wife of a traveling man.  Good thing I don't have a real job right now!  I told him, Well, at least we have a house to live in when we actually get to be there!  And he said, It will make it all that much better when we get to be there then.

Like I said in a previous post, I realized how much better my heart beats there after I've been away for so long.  But there are worse things in the world...

I really wish that I could provide you with substantial information and entertainment from da Harbor, but I guess that will be to come.  Heck, I wish I provide that for myself!  Don't have high expectations for me for the next few months.  Then hopefully I can surpass them!

Man, I don't even have a picture for you right now because they are on my camera at home.  Nice planning, Wais.  I can tell you that I got some cool pictures of the moon rise the night of the lunar eclipse.  That was the highlight of my fall.  That moon was sooooooo huge, and I caught it rising over East Bluff and Lake Superior.  Seriously made my day.

I would assume that things are starting to slow down in da Harbor during the week, but I bet leaves are pretty peak right now, so weekends are probably still a bit crazy.  Just a guess.  Correct me if I'm wrong.  I prefer to be corrected than to spew false information.  

If I keep typing to you, I would just be rambling and guessing at things, so I'll close.  Plus my little man is ready to get out in this nice fall air.  So am I.  Braeden is doing amazing, by the way.  He turns one year old on Thursday.  They say the first year is the hardest, and I hope they're right because we have been in lots of hospitals.  But his strength, joy, charm and love never ceases to amaze me.

A Brief Report

Oh no.  My computer pooped out on me, so I am scrapping to find you.  I guess I just have to stick with with basics for now.

Color Report

The Covered Stretch is around 20% turned.  The colors are quite bright and florescent because they're mostly maples, of course.  I haven't seen a whole lot on M-26 or Brockway yet, but it could go fast.  Looks like people are ready to see some bright, shiny leaves because town is filling up this weekend!

Sorry to be so brief, but technology is against me momentarily.  I really do think about you much more than I am able to communicate.  Thanks for still reading, though!  Be well!

Down Under the Bridge.

 Though I have travelled over 700 miles since I left Copper Harbor, I am still in Michigan.  Man this is a big state.  I did go the Wisconsin route, however.  I have to get my fresh cheese curd fix. 

So, I don't mean to get all sentimental on you again, but it was really hard to leave this last time. Probably because I knew how great I felt while I was here.  Even though the town was overrun with visitors, my spirit was overcome with peace and inspiration.

Plus, the choke cherries were amazing.  For a wino, ahem, winemaker, choke cherries are a prime fruit.  Imagine bunches of cherry red grapes hanging from the trees -- almost ready to pick.  Sooooo close to being ready to shuck off those branches.  And I had to leave.  Choke is some of the best wine I have ever made.  Well, next year, I hope.  Just look at these babies.

Whopping bunches of chokes... for the birds

As odd as it may sound, this picture was in my mind as I turned up the hill on Highway 41.  Then I looked back at Lake Superior in my rearview mirror, and said See you later beautiful lake.  Sniff a tear.  Oh, she is such a beauty.  My heart longs to be there still.  Probably much like yours if you are not there right now.

Do you want to know where I am 700 miles away still in Michigan?  Sitting in a hotel in Ann Arbor.  It's not so bad.  I'd be a bit more adventurous if I wasn't so afraid to drive in cities with actual lines of traffic and stop lights.  We're here for Braeden anyway, my mother and I.  Don't worry.  He's doing fine.  Just needs some check-ups and testing, and Mott's is worth the drive.

I've been longing to tell you about something that I've seen lately.  Maybe others have seen them more too, but I haven't really heard anything.  

Wolves.  

Okay, so two wolves on two separate occasions.  That's really more wolves than I've seen in my whole entire life.  And what they were doing is what gives me that goosebumpy feeling.  Both times were in the U.P.  Both were while I was driving with my little boy in the back seat.  And BOTH times the wolf came out of the woods and stayed there, staring.  

The first time I was driving south just south of South Range.  I thought it was a deer at first because, well, that's what usually jumps out of the woods.  Then I saw that it looked more like a dog.  A huge prancing dog with no collar.  Oh my gosh, that's a wolf, Braeden!  He was probably sleeping by that time.  But the wolf, in it's tall tan and gray glory frolicked across the road, made a U-turn back across the road, stopped on the yellow line and stared at me.  Not a glare or anything scary, but a gaze as if to say, "I am here for you."  Then it trapsed off back into the woods where it came out.  Has this ever happened to you?  I think it's pretty strange behavior for such a beast, and though I thought it a bit incredible, it instantly put my mind at ease, and I knew everything was going to be all right.  Kind of like a sign of good luck.

The second time was less than two months later.  I was cruising north just north of Mohawk.  I noticed brake lights on the car ahead of me.  Slightly annoyed because this is where we get to speed up, I saw why they slowed down.  A wolf stood on the driver's left side of the road just looking around calmly.  You know, it watched us as we went by.  That same calming feeling filled me as we passed, and I hoped the car behind me got to bask in its majesty as well.

Now, when I think of wolves in the wild, I would be a bit more scared.  Especially if I was walking on a trail somewhere and there it was -- looking at me.  Yeah, I know I was in a car, but this was really different.  I think Braeden's energy is behind it.  Call me a kook if you want, but I try to listen to my intuition, and that's what it said.  That sweet little boy has already led me on quite a journey.  We'll see where this one goes!

Happy September, by the way.  I know you're probably biting your fingernails because I'm way far away from the Keweenaw, and I can't give you a good color report.  Oh, I bet you have other resources, who am I kidding?  But, if you like my report, I should be back by September 13th or so.  I am excited to show Braeden the colors in the trees.  When he was born, they were already brown on the ground.

Well, I'll see you when I'm back up Nort, eh!

Back to Myself

Last week I drove back to Copper Harbor.  After 5 weeks of somewhere else, I was eager to return.  But I didn't realize how much I missed it until I got back.  I'm sure you can relate to this.  It may sound cliche, but it's true.  Here it goes.

Once I got just south of Houghton, and I crested that hill, I got goosebumps.  I felt like I was truly back in the Keweenaw.  Coming over the hill into Copper Harbor, though, wow.  I saw the sign and the lake, and I cried.  Real tears trickled down my face.  I didn't even care as long as I could still see the road.

When I pulled into my driveway, I opened my car door, hit the ground on my knees and kissed the rocks and sand.  If I would have kissed it the way I really felt, I would have had a mouth full of dirt, and that didn't seem like fun to wash out, so I just kissed it with my lips.  When I looked up, I saw my thimbleberry plants bursting with magenta orbs of tang.  I ate as many as I could one right after the other until I remembered I had a sleeping baby in the car.  He was still sleeping, so I looked out at my little town and took a deep breath.

That's when it hit me.

I felt two feelings at that moment.  One was like someone inserted my "missing piece" somewhere in my body and soul.  A piece I didn't even realize was gone until it got put back.  I felt whole again.  The other feeling was like someone plugged me back into life.  I didn't realize I was unplugged until the electricity of the air energized me and made me feel alive.  Hello, Amanda!!!  There you are!!!  I missed you!!!

I am not exaggerating this.  I bet you believe me.  

I know that most people come here and feel like a weight is lifted off their shoulders and peace fills their soul.  That is wonderful too.  I would feel that way if my life away from here was stressful, but it's not.  It's just, well, to be polite, not here.

So there I was.  Completely Amanda again.  I jumped and cheered and Braeden woke up.  I tried celebrating with him, but I don't know if he fully understood my elation.  I showed him around the house and checked his reaction.  He was more observant than reacting.  Pretty typical for him.  He takes it all in, that wise little man.

Like at Hunter's Point.  He loves to sit in the rocks and chew on them.  Here he is picking out a tasty one.

B finding his next chew toy

That boy is tough, I tell you.  And just darling.  

We've gone quite a few places since we've been home.  Great Sand Bay where he took his first dip in Lake Superior and ate his first fist-fulls of sand.  Up and down Paul's Plunge.  Along the first part of the Keweenaw Point Trail.  Lake Manganese and Fanny Hooe.  Through Fort Wilkins campground on a busy weekend in August.  Atop Brockway Mountain for his first time.  Clyde's field.  Docks along the harbor shore.  Brickside Brewery where the bartenders always give him free beer.  Kisses!  I mean they give him kisses and hugs.  

So here is a picture of the beginning of the Keweenaw Point Trail.  I have told you this before, but this trail is destined to loop around the tip of the Keweenaw (hence the name) and Phase I is now complete.  It starts on Manganese Road just above the falls and comes out just east of Lake Fanny Hooe by the Mandan Loop near the beginning of Highway 41.  Got that?

KPT Trailhead!

I was intrigued by the suspended rock at the beginning.  Cool, huh?

And here is a part of the seasons that you may not have fully compared in your head.  The difference between the bottom of Manganese Falls in the spring and late summer.  Can you guess which is which below?  Hint: it's the same order I just mentioned.

Can you believe it?  It hardly looks like the same spot!  But it is.  I am not a liar.

The berries are pretty amazing right now.  Yeah.  What a tease this year.  I mean, here I am, actually here with all day to pick, and someone won't sit still in the bushes for hours at a time.  I don't blame him, though.  When he's ready to pick with me, I'll have him make up for it.  Tee hee!

So here is a bit of blatant truth into my life.  Raw Amanda.  I can't get out to pick berries to make, um, wine, so I just bought rice to make sake!  Ha!  I will find a way to make wine!  I think it will be a nice experiment.  I'm all about  fermentation experimentation.   See also: I like to make and drink wine.  

Guess what.  It's Art in the Park this weekend in da Harbor!  If you're coming up and you don't have a place to sleep, you'll be sleeping in your car.  Or on some nice person's beach, I don't know.  Sleeping on a pebbly beach is quite wonderful, actually.  Even if you don't have a tent.  Unless the bugs are out...

So, if you come up this weekend, stop by the bake sale.  That's where Braeden and I will be!  I'm running it again this year.  Bring some baked goods or buy some!  If we get to talking and I like you, maybe you can try my wine sometime.  See you in September!