7/25/06

It was a good day to go underground. It got up to 87F that day, and the coolest place to be was an old copper mine. Delaware Copper Mine was partway up the Keweenaw peninsula, on our way to Copper Harbor.




We needed jackets for the tour, it got so cool. Above ground in the mine gift shop, the owner proudly showed off her two adorable pet skunks (descented, of course!). We walked around the ruins of the buildings from the mining operations, and slowly wilted in the heat.




How I wished we'd been armed with buckets, bags...anything. Instead, we only had our hands and mouths. The thimbleberries were in the middle of getting ripe, and they were as thick as weeds along the roadsides. They taste like a cross between a red raspberry and a wild strawberry. So tart and delicious. One of the best local souvenirs you can buy in the area is a jar of thimbleberry jam. We did that, and bought a whole lot more at the Jam Pot the next day. While we were there, I happened to see a man walk into a back kitchen door of the monks' bustling kitchen/bakehouse carrying plastic zip-loc bags filled with freshly picked brilliant red goodness, presumably bound for another batch of jam. "Why didn't ya tackle him?" was my brother Scott's only question when I shared my sighting.

After a 'lunch' of ice cream sundaes at one of many gift shops in Copper Harbor, we proceeded with the second part of our educational enrichment.



The keystone from the gunpowder storehouse at Fort Wilkins.



Niece Elise made such a cute pic sitting on one of the old cannons. The fort is now a state park, and is left over from the big copper mining days in the 19th century. What were all cannons and artillery for? Native Americans who didn't feel the need to go elsewhere. Go figure...



On the way back down the peninsula, we had to stop at Brockway Mountain and visit the top. They say on a clear day you can see Isle Royale. No such luck that day, but the view was still spectacular, and we got a great vista of forming thunderstorms to the south.

Too late for pasties that day, another terrific Upper Peninsula edible souvenir. The shop in Calumet closes at 5pm, and we got back to the campground way too late that evening. I had totally forgotten the distances involved in driving around the Keweenaw area. It was about 90 miles from the campground to the very tip of the peninsula. We whipped dinner together in about an hour and a half, biscuit-topped Sloppy Joes in the dutch oven.

The storms that didn't look like they'd hit us ended up hitting us after dark. It thundered and poured and everything that had dried the last day or two got wet again.