Superior Adventure

Thanks to LL's reminder, PW, LP and the pirate mutt walked down to the abandoned copper mine right behind our property to watch the night skies. In a matter of minutes we saw maybe 10 Perseids and a satellite. After walking back, PW went to bed, so LP and I walked down the hill a ways and lay in the road. This time the two of us saw no less than 4 satellites, a dozen Perseids and making an appearance as icing on the cake, the International Space Station, closely followed by what we thought was the Space Shuttle as it caught up to the ISS. I've checked the human space flight and STS 118 mission update pages and see that I'm a bit behind in the mission-they have already docked and even completed a space walk.

Well, it seems that one of those two satellites was the ISS/STS 118 docked and the other must be a satellite that keeps an eye on the ISS, because it held the same heading/speed and was less than an inch away, in the sky. Funny though, it isn't shown on any of the real-time tracking tools NASA offers, including the J-pass ones.

Anyway, it was a wonderful end to a great day. We drove North, up the Keweenaw Peninsula, along the Lake Superior shoreline, today.
It was a gorgeous drive along Cliff Drive, below the basalt cliffs


and Eagle River, of course stopping by the historic courthouse where PW and I were married.

Then we hit the Jampot, run by the Byzantine monks who live on the shore up there. PW and LP each got a giant muffin and we brought back a jar of one of their KILLER jams.

We kept going along Great Sand Bay and up past Cat Harbor, before turning back and opting not to head up Brockway Mnt.

We stopped back at Great Sand Bay
and walked the beach for a while, finding a bunch of teenagers who had damned up a small creek flowing into the lake for a few minutes, then quickly built an impressive sand castle city. On our return walk they let the creek go and watched it fill their man-made rivers, moats and lakes. Just as quickly it overran their city and wiped everything away. Mother Nature is the same on any scale and people who live along large rivers just don't seem to get this were my thoughts as we walked away. Before leaving, I took a picture to tease the Queen:)

Driving back South, we stopped to visit something I have passed by a million times, but never stopped to explore-the lookout tower on the cliffs above the Phoenix Mine. I didn't get a picture of it from below, so this will have to do:

However, I did take a few from the tower and the view was awesome.



I was surprised to find that it is like a little house some dude built for everyone to enjoy. It has two floors inside and a platform on top. It's equiped with stove, sink, fridge, lights, one futon bed and is trimmed completely in wood. The lights and fridge are powered by a little windmill on the very top. We signed a small guestbook laying on the counter, before leaving. It was a long hike up the cliff, but worth it once we reached this little hideaway. I am tempted to hike up and camp there one night.