Last Fall Photos

The last of the photos from the fall make their debut today, these were taken in Ironwood, Michigan.

I've been trying to search out those little hidden spots I may never have the chance to see again once we move to Canada.  These were taken at what I believe is Interstate Falls on the outskirts of Ironwood.

The light was fading fast and all I had was my iphone, but the shots turned out pretty good.

It was only a five minute walk from the parking area through the woods.

The next photos were taken near Gile Falls between Ironwood and the small town of Gile.

I only spent a few minutes hanging about, there was only a few small paths to explore.

Fall color is long gone everywhere, and yesterday they had more than 6 inches of snow on the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland!

At this moment I'm sitting in the Toronto airport waiting to board a flight to Halifax, so expect some wintry Newfoundland photos within a few days!

Miners Memorial trail Part 2 - Creativity and Serenity

It was a beautiful evening when I started my walk on the trail in Ironwood back in early July, but I didn't know I'd be getting an art show while I walked as a bonus.

Unfortunately I didn't find any information about this display that even had a wind chime.

The park was full of Lupine and other wildflowers, making it a butterfly haven.

So what would be more appropriate than a Butterfly Garden?  Not just for the butterflies, but full of art for the people too!

I could imagine how much young children would enjoy taking a walk and trying to see how many they could find.

The Miners Park Butterfly Garden is officially certified and registered by Monarch Watch, a University of Kansas nonprofit education, conservation, and research program focused on the monarch butterfly, its habitat, and its spectacular fall migration.

I'll have to check my calendar and see if I'll be up that way again during migration!

And with fall color on the way the Upper Peninsula of Michigan makes a great destination.

But I started my fall color watch yesterday in Tomahawk in northern Wisconsin..pictures tomorrow!

Miners Memorial Trail - The History

I always find new things to explore in places I've been before, and when I went to Ironwood, Michigan in July I took a walk on the trails at Miners Memorial Heritage Park.

The city exists due to the discovery of these mines, and the last ore mine closed in 1966.

Headframe on trail

The memorial is due to the mine collapse on September 24, 1926 when part of the hanging wall of the PABST "G" shaft collapsed.  Three men were killed and forty-three others trapped for five days which made the national news. 

After eating their lunches over the first day, the men had nothing to eat or drink for all the remainder of the time except water that dripped down from the ceiling. Some of them peeled pieces of birch bark off the mining timbers and made some nasty "birch bark tea".   If you'd like to learn more about this event a book is available called "Perfectly Safe: The Pabst Mine Disaster of 1926" and includes photographs and biographies of the men.

Informational signs and weather protected photographs are posted along the trail.

Artist Ivan Hellen spent many years collecting bricks from the area and created a display that features over 50 different bricks. These bricks are embossed with names or symbols of the companies that formed them.

This isn't the only art display in the park, more on that in the next post!

Things I do When Old Man Winter Comes Calling

Late in November I made sure to hit the far north, because they already had their fair share of snow I didn't want to be traversing those roads in December or January!

Just minutes over the border into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan I stopped for a few pictures in Ironwood since I crossed through a neighborhood I hadn't seen before.  The Miners Mural recognizes the Gogebic Range miners with 111 larger than life-size miners across a span of 60 feet in 4 rows deep. Each miner is depicted in period correct clothing telling his name and the local mine that he worked.

Oldest bar in Ironwood, established 1887!

Across the street was a great neon sign I couldn't resist!

Clock in Eagle River

December is the slow time for sales reps in the optical field.  I wasn't on the road much and after the first two weeks I was mostly home for a change which was great because Baby, it's cold outside!   I know it's cold everywhere lately, including Georgia and Florida, but it's been so cold here it literally steals your breath away, and I even had to go get a new car battery even though it is only 3 years old.  Thankfully this week the forecast finally shows an upward swing in temperatures, I'll probably be wearing shorts on Thursday as we go from below zero windchills this past weekend to a high of 52F!

Frosty morning in Crandon

If I were on the road I wouldn't have seen this fox in my neighbor's yard a week ago.  There is another one it travels around with, I wonder how often the cats have seen them as they stare out the window?

Our poor cats are going stir crazy, (as am I) since they are used to being outside and this sub zero weather we've experienced for weeks means we don't even crack open a window for them to smell the outdoors. I can't wait to take them outside again later this week!

That was Celia "helping" me when I made an ornament wreath, one of my many projects I tackled while on my holiday break.  Each wreath takes me about 2 hours, and I made one for my mother and a neighbor too so that was a whole day gone right there.  I made them for the kids 2 years ago as gifts, so now I am done.  They are cool, but very time consuming.  The remaining ornaments I bought on clearance last year I think I will use to make an ornament swag and some ornament garland next year because that looks a lot easier and I won't even need a glue gun!  I'd give you a link but I encourage you to google it yourself because the techniques and color combinations are endless.

I broke an ornament when I took it down,
just pop it out and glue in a new one!

In addition to making wreaths and fabulous yard art, I've been on a beautification kick in general and we've bought new curtains and cellular window shades for almost every room in the house.

Wondering what is in the corner? Display stands for frame shows!

Our spare room may not be fancy, but what a difference curtains make! I ordered a new headboard for our bedroom and plan on putting the old one in this room, and I also took a collage frame I haven't been using and filled in the openings with scrapbook paper and hung it over the bed.  I made a Word document of architectural terms in different fonts and printed it out, then I distressed it and the coordinating paper with some ink to create my own unique piece of wall art.

Obviously we all know I love architecture but it became my room theme since I had a framed enlargement in the room already from downtown Milwaukee and a canvas print of some detail from the Chicago Board of Trade.  I'm going to fill two more smaller collage frames with black and white photos of the Madison Capitol to finish off the theme.  I think the doorknob I found at Hobby Lobby is cool because it matches the colors in the print and is an architectural item!

My winter to-do list now includes stopping at some antique stores for some hunting for arts and crafts pottery (vases at the link are gorgeous but cost over $300 each!) and maybe some architectural pieces.  Why the sudden interest in home beautification?  If I haven't mentioned it before we've decided we are not going to sell our house and live on the road due to our need to stay close to Cory as he continues his life-long battle with mental illness. When we retire in 3 years we will keep the house as a home base and just go on month long vacations a few times a year most likely.  With this in mind we also refinanced the house a few weeks ago at a lower rate and will also pay it off now in 15 years instead of 18 years.

Another quick project I did in 15 minutes was a
scrapbook inspired collage mounted on wood.
Shown are pics of Cory and Katrina in Door County

In November Cory and I attended his hearing in Milwaukee where we gave testimony at his appeal hearing with the aid of our lawyer about his need for permanent social security disability benefits.  While we definitely have a better doctor now after 2 other failed attempts, his condition is unfortunately severe enough that all of his doctors have agreed that he is permanently incapable of the demands of working enough hours to support himself financially.  We don't have the results from the judge yet, but expect them sometime this month and I will give more details at that time in the spirit of mental illness public education.

The master and spare bedrooms aren't the only rooms in the midst of rejuvenation, our kitchen has received a new window, curtains, shades, silverware set and more.  A new light fixture, sink, kitchen table and buffet have been added in the past few months and I went on Etsy a few weeks ago and found some adorable herbal prints there.  They came in a set of six but I left out the cilantro since I never use it for cooking and a grouping of 5 was perfect for the spot.  Frames were less than $4 each at Hobby Lobby so the whole group cost under $100.  The ceramic knobs on the buffet are replacements I found online also since it came with silver ones.  I got the table and buffet at the JCPenney clearance center in Wauwatosa and with delivery both pieces were still under $600 total so I had no problem springing for new knobs!  I wish it wasn't so dark, but I couldn't pass up the bargain and it matched the chairs we already owned so I saved on chairs as well.


I'm running out of improvement projects, so I'm happy to be back in full swing for work this week.  I have time off coming up at the end of February and I'm considering a trip down to North Carolina with my mother to check out the Replacements Warehouse and look at vintage dishes. If anyone has been there let me know what you thought of your visit!

Easy and Breezy in Escanaba

The last stop that Wayne and I made when he was following me around the U.P. a few weeks ago was to J.W. Wells State Park.  Michigan state parks are not the sweet spots that Wisconsin parks are (sorry, but it's true!) and haphazard spots with shared hook-ups on grassy lawns are what you can expect.

Even though it isn't as wet in the U.P. as it has been this summer in Wisconsin it was wet enough that we made new friends when Wayne had to hook up and pull someone out of their muddy ruts and re-position them.  The strangest part of the whole experience was the folks in question were so grateful they gave Wayne free beer and me about 2 platefuls of homemade baked goods.  On top of that anyone who witnessed the scene felt compelled to come tell Wayne how kind it was of him to help.  We kept looking at each with confusion as this kind of helpfulness has been the "norm" in our experience on the road.  I don't know if I mentioned it on the blog but back at the beginning of summer I had a dead engine one morning in a deserted campground and had to flag down on a stranger for a ride to the gas station and then another stranger took me back to the campground and gave the car a jump.  They expected nothing in return and I told them I would pay their kindness forward.  Is this becoming less common?  Gee, I hope not!

Notice the ruts behind the picnic table

After my appointments we went strolling around Escanaba, where we basked in the sun but didn't break a sweat.  We even saw what looked like a mink run across the lawn near the lighthouse right after I took the picture below.

Escanaba has a great little marina, and the locals told us that the Michigan harbors charge less than half what you would pay in Wisconsin.  The harbors are run by the State of Michigan and therefore must be non-profit.

We even spotted a sea plane, which generated much discussion with our new friends on the boardwalk who offered cherries to us along with marina slip rental advice.

They had just bought a boat but it sat unused in its slip due to some mechanical issues.  I laughed at the name, but the new owners had to be clued in on the joke, if you can believe that!  Who knows what TV show this made me think of?

The Regal Beagle was the name of the pub where the gang from "Three's Company" used to hang out!  Since the owners were older than us I couldn't believe they didn't know this...maybe they weren't the Jack Tripper fans that I was in my youth.

Even better, the sea plane left harbor the same time we did so we got to see it go over, though unfortunately not the take-off.

Miss Jewel and Miss Celia enjoyed some shenanigans on the lakefront, including a long session of "Stare Down the Crazy Chipmunk".  The one time I didn't bring my iphone is when a chipmunk stood within 6 feet of Jewel and inched up and down a tree trunk chattering at her and taunting her.

Our site may have been ugly but the view was pretty good, I must admit.

I'm going to try to catch up the next few days because Cory and I are taking to the road!!  We are off to Pennsylvania to meet friends of his.  I'm going to spend some time at the museums in Philadelphia if anyone knows of any "can't miss" finds (especially murals, chocolate, and boutiques!) while I'm there besides the usual museums which I plan to visit please comment below.  I'm really interested in the Rodin Museum, I hope it meets my expectations!

Born From Iron - Iron Mountain Weekend

From Eagle River it's less than an hour and a half to Iron Mountain in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and a beautiful drive through National Forest the whole way!

We stayed at Summer Breeze Campground, not very outdoorsy, but one of our neighbors had an Airstream with Rosie the Riveter on the side and that was pretty awesome! Michigan campgrounds tend to be set up oddly wherever we have been, with no rhyme or reason to where the water or electric are located and nothing but grass parking whether it is a state park or private campground.  And closer quarters than what we are used to in Wisconsin, but livable.

My appointments were done for the area before Wayne even arrived with the RV in tow, so we had lots of time to do the tourist thing.  The city park in Iron Mountain was actually really nice with everything from tennis courts, disc golf and hiking paths to a deer enclosure.  We settled for a stroll around the deer enclosure and inspecting a little bit of the disc golf course which was partially in the woods.

While looking for Fumee Lake Natural Area we found a replica of what appears to be the Mackinac Bridge complete with cars and a man on top.

Needing more exercise than Wayne did I explored nearby ATV/snowmobile trails on foot, and even picked a handful of early blackberries.  I looked all over for blueberries, but no luck!

Located right off the main highway in town is Fumee Falls, easily accessed from a wayside parking area.  The lower falls is pictured above, the upper falls is pictured below.

Iron Mountain went from an iron ore mining site with only handful of tents in 1879 to a boom town with a population well over 5000 by 1888 and by 1900 stood at 9,242 citizens.

Kingsford was the head of Henry Ford's operation, and the
neighboring Village of Kingsford is named for him.

Iron Mountain was also prized for its lumber, and Henry Ford even built a hydroelectic plant to process wood for his automobile parts here in the 1920's.  The population was up to 11,000 by 1930, but soon after that the area was hit hard by the Depression.

If you're looking for something to do outdoors, I recommend heading over to Piers Gorge, though you do have to pay $9 day use fee if you don't have the Michigan State Park sticker.

The Menominee River goes over a series of short drops and a walking path goes along the river with views all along the way.  We even got to watch a rafting group go over them.

It didn't look too bad as they dropped over the little ledge into the choppy water.

But everybody got pretty wet!

And then they bounced off the rock wall before heading on down the river.

One of the things we've noticed when we've visited the UP is that it is hard to get information on things to do in the area on the fly.  My advice is to plan ahead if you're passing through and want to make the most of things.  I can recommend eating meals at Holiday Kitchen, it doesn't look like much but the soup and bread were homemade and delicious.  And of course the Bakery Shoppe right in downtown has amazing treats!