Keep the ghostlight burning!

I knew I would see a lot of cool things in\\ on our trip through the U.P., but I never thought I'd get to visit an historic theater... but that's just what we did!
Before our trip, my mom had told me about the beautiful Calumet Theatre...
So when we got to town we pulled up in front...
And raced inside to be greeted by one amazing site. The theatre was just spectacular!
Even while we were still at the back of the house, I couldn't help by notice the incredible detailing along the ceiling... all that gorgeous gold leaf!
What makes this theatre especially wonderful is that it's over 100 years old... can you believe it?
It's true- built in 1900 this stage featured some of the biggest names of the time, including John Phillip Sousa, Lillian Russell and Sarah Bernhardt, just to name a few! Calumet was a booming copper town at the turn of the century, boasting a population of over 100,000 people... and the Calumet Theatre was the place to see and be seen!
And if your main purpose at the theatre was to "be seen", then these were the seats you coveted! While the box seats didn't offer the viewer a great shot of the stage, it allowed the audience a great view of the folks seated in the box...
And would you believe that these wicker seats are the original seats of the theatre? I couldn't believe they've stood up so well over the years! Furthermore, the boxes are still in use... can you imagine how many people have sat in this chair? Amazing!
Unfortunately, the history of the theatre hasn't always been illustrious. When motion pictures were invented in the 1920's the the number of stage productions declined, and from the Great Depression through the 1950's the theatre was used almost exclusively to show movies. The theatre underwent restoration through the 1970's and 1980's, and is now returned to the beautiful gem that it once was.
As a musician, I loved seeing such a fantastic performance space! And my family even egged me on enough to jump on stage to sing a note or two... talk about great acoustics!
Nowadays the theatre is used for all sorts of performances- from jazz shows, to classical concerts, to folk bands... isn't that just as it should be?
I hope you're having a great day- thanks for stopping by!

Big Bad John

I loved visiting mines when I was a kid- so when our family was travelling through Michigan's upper peninsula we made a point to stop at as many as possible, including the Iron Mountain Iron Mine.
If you've ever driven US Highway 2, you might have passed this 10 foot tall caricature of Big John, which sits in the mine's parking lot. For those of you who don't know, Big John is a bit of a tall tale, made popular by Jimmy Dean's song Big Bad John. The song boasts of a mysterious miner of epic proportions ("He stood six foot six and weighed two forty-five") who saved 20 miners from a collapsed mine ceiling by holding up the timber supports. But the story goes that just before the miners could return with the proper tools to free him from the shaft, the tunnel collapsed completely and Big John was crushed at the bottom of the mine. It's a sad story, but a great song!

But I digress! The Iron Mountain Iron Mine was operational from 1870 to 1945 and produced 22 tons of iron ore during that time. Today the mine is accessible to visitors looking to catch a glimpse of the amazing sights that still lay underground!
While we waited for our tour to begin, we had some time to explore the Gift and Rock Shop.
Talk about a lot of things to look through- from gaudy trinkets to rare minerals, this shop had it all!
But after a few minutes of browsing it was time to don our hardhats...
Board our train...
And enter the Iron Mountain Iron Mine!
And yes, you read that sign correctly! The train took us 2600 feet into the side of the mine. On the way we were able to see ribbons of quartz, calcium and iron, along with various other minerals.
After our train had reached the end of the tracks, it was up to us to walk the rest of the way! I was especially glad that the tunnels had been run with electricity, but I couldn't help but imagine how incredibly dark it must have been for the miners who relied on the light of a single candle each day!
Our first stop of the tour was the smaller of the two stopes (which is "a step-like excavation made in a mine to extract ore").
Can you imagine drilling on an incline like that? I shudder to think what it must have been like to be the men working at the bottom when a large chunk of rock or iron came tumbling down!
As our tour progressed we were able to witness demonstrations of mining techniques over the years, from 2-person hand drills to electric single-man units. (The tools we saw were in fact original to the mine and had been left underground when the mine was closed.) After walking a bit further into the mine we reached the Big Stope.
As the name implies, this was a particularly large stope that the miners uncovered towards the end of the mine's time.
I wish I could remember the details of this incredible stope- the numbers were staggering! But since I can't, I'll simply tell you that the figure you see in the back of the picture... the little ball of light? That is an exact replica of the Big John figurine in the mine's parking lot that I showed you earlier. Yes- that little ball of light is actually 10 feet tall, which should give you an idea of how vast this stope really was!
After the mine had closed, the ceiling collapsed causing that interesting design in the ceiling.
The only people that get to cross the stope are people from the DNR (Department of Natural resources) for their yearly bat count... now wouldn't that be an interesting job?!

After we'd seen the Big Stope it was time to re-board the train and make our way out of the mine.
We had such a great time in the mine! As it's quite unique, if you're ever in the area I urge you to visit... I promise that you'll find it at least a bit interesting!
Thank you for stopping by- I hope you have a wonderful day!

Looking at the lake....

When we were on vacation we spent some time at Lake Superior.
If you've ever visited Lake Superior, you know that it's quite impressive. The surface area of the lake is approximately the size of South Carolina (31,820 square miles). And even in the summer the average temperature of the lake is only 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Luckily the water is a bit warmer closer to shore and we had a blast swimming. But when we weren't frolicking in the waves, we spent our time searching for rocks.
Do you ever look for rocks? We often keep an eye out for something pretty and/or special- and this region of Michigan is a treasure trove of natural resources. From great big hunks of copper, granite, sandstone and calcite...
To tiny fragments of agates and greenstones... we searched for everything!
So when we got to this particular beach we kicked off our shoes, grabbed a bucket, and got to work.
We used all sorts of methods in our search for stones! Sometimes we searched the water's edge while sitting down...
And other times we strolled along, waiting for something to catch our eye!
And sometimes we just went for it and walked into the lake for a better view of the rocks under the water's surface!
But after all that searching, I got a little tired. So I smoothed out some sand and took a seat.
And from that spot on the beach I had one incredible view of Lake Superior! (That's my little brother in the water.)
Since it was such a beautiful evening, we decided to just stick around and watch the sunset.
While we waited for the sun to make it's decent my family had a blast chatting a laughing, and my uncle told us all about the "green flash".
Have you heard of this phenomenon? Supposedly if certain atmospheric conditions are met, the moment the sun sinks below the horizon a green "flash" can be seen. Of course we decided WE were going to see that gosh darn flash... so we waited... and waited...
And saw NOTHING! We all swore we didn't blink (and I took a tone of pictures just in case I accidentally did)... but we didn't see a green flash of any sort!
So while we might have failed failed at spotting the flash, we certainly succeeded in having a wonderful afternoon and evening!

Thank you for visiting my blog- I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

At home on the farm

About halfway through our family vacation we made it to Hancock, MI. Since we were going to spend several days with my aunt and uncle we were really looking forward to this portion of the trip! When we first arrived we headed to the farm:Though they live in town these days, my aunt and uncle used to live on this beautiful land a few miles from town. They built the house and outer buildings themselves- can you believe it? While we were visiting we stayed on the farm- I was particularly excited because I hadn't been there in ages!
As I said before, it's a beautiful tract of land! Just next to the house is a small pond...
Which looked especially magical a few moments after the sunrise!
(Sorry about the sun flare!)
I took a few minutes to capture a some of the native plants.
(Although I didn't stray too far off the beaten path...
And do you know why?
Because I'm a wimp and I was afraid of getting bit by a tick... pathetic, right?
But no matter- I was still able to see some beautiful flora!)
And since my uncle is a forester, there were all sorts of logs and lumber to check out- like this stack of tamarack logs:
We had a lot of fun at the farm! We spent hours laughing and talking... but more importantly we shot guns!
I know- I can hardly believe it myself! But we were sitting around the dinner table one evening, and after a bit of discussion it turned out that I was the only one in the room who had never shot a gun. So my uncle, being the good sport that he is, remedied the situation!
The next evening he brought over a .22 for me to try out! I was really nervous at first (it was a real gun for Pete's sake), but he was extremely patient with me and talked me through the whole thing.
And you know what? Shooting was really fun! I still don't think I could shoot at anything that was living, but I don't mind firing off a few rounds at a paper plate stapled to a log!
(Oh, and for the record I got 2 bull's eyes out of the first 9 bullets I ever fired... not too shabby!)
But when we weren't shooting guns, we were travelling all over the U.P. I still have loads of photos to share next week, but in the meantime I have to tell you about the Gay Bar we visited.
Gay, MI is located on the east side of the Keweenaw Peninsula and is home to the famous Gay Bar. Along with some interesting "Gay Bar" merchandise, the bar offers a yummy menu complete with over 20 different kinds of hot dogs! And after a long, fun day of sightseeing we were all looking forward to a hotdog and a can of Keweenaw Brewing Co. beer... and boy did it hit the spot!
I hope you are having a great Friday- thanks for stopping by!