Finally, the last post – Blog Post #18 Camping in Michigan

Yes, here it finally is – my last post from our camping trip in July, only three and a half months later. It seems like so much longer ago than that. 

Our last full day in Michigan’s UP, we drove around and then walked around the city of Crystal Falls. 

The Paint River Walkway on the east side of town. 

The Paint River at Lincoln Park, where the Riverwalk begins. 

Clark's Landing 

As much as I love the fall colors we've been enjoying the last few months, you can't beat the beauty of clear blue water.

Fairbanks Road Bridge just south of the Dam. 

The Iron County Courthouse in Crystal Falls can only be described as iconic. 

And nearly the same as when I was camping there exactly forty years ago. Except I see they have a new water tower. 

Above is July of 2021, below July of 1981. Crazy, huh? Maybe I should travel to new places. 

Speaking of seeing new things though, 

I get to see and photograph lots of old houses from the outside, but I finally got to tour inside this one. 

Harbour House

And even though we have many more modern conveniences than they did, it stills seems as if the work is never done. 

We all feel like we are spinning our wheels getting everything finished.

Like blogging about this week-long trip. But here I am, finally finished. 

For more information, click on these links:

            The Harbour House Museum – https://www.crystalfallsmuseum-harbourhouse.org/

            The River Walkway along the Paint River – https://www.crystalfalls.org/parks-recreation-river-walk.htm

            The Iron County Courthouse Story – https://crystalfalls.org/courthouse.htm

            Last year’s tour of Crystal Falls, in the rain – https://chrisloehmer.blogspot.com/2020/08/2020-camping-post-3-tour-of-single-city.html

Critters – Blog Post #17 Camping in Michigan

I had hoped, this week, to finish up sharing the pictures and stories from our camping trip to the UP in July. Life threw us a little snag last night, so I didn't have to time to delve into our last day in Michigan. But this morning, I decided to throw at you the many shots I got of the animals we saw. 

The usual array of chipmunks and squirrels. 

A few whitetail deer. 

A couple different fawns. 

This random rodent crossing the street. 

And one of his relatives . . .

Who I took way too many pictures of. 

Have a great day and stay on the look out for our friends in the wild. 

 

Where are we headed?

   As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24:37-39, New International Version

   For a very long time, I’ve wanted to write about our current state of affairs here in the USA. The chaos caused by COVID-19 has affected our lives, from how we do business and attend school and work, to how we stockpile toilet paper and raise a ruckus about our rights. It sure feels like Satan has his hand in all of this, turning a bad situation into an impossible one.

But that’s not all. As I mentioned in my September 12 blog, there are race riots, police violence, anger, hatred, and impatience.

Last night, I watched an episode of Pastor David Jeremiah’s TV show, Turning Point, which had originally been broadcast just over a month. He gave a list of some of the other things going on in our country.

• The destruction of our national monuments, which means the destruction of history, which means we will no longer remember our past.
• The concept of cancel culture, where there is no room for debate, it’s “my way or no way”.
• The tearing down of our family unit, where parents no longer have any say in their children’s education; our children in public schools are being taught things they shouldn’t be. What third grader needs to learn about homosexuality or any kind of sexuality at all?
• Defunding of our local police. Once we take away our local police, the national government will take care of law enforcement. What does Washington know about crime in your small, rural village?

All of these tenets point our country closer and closer to a socialist system of government.

An additional bullet point on David Jeremiah’s list was the redistribution of wealth. This is the one I remember from high school civics class.

What makes socialism sound so appealing on the surface is that it is based on the theory that everyone shares everything, owns everything, and controls everything. Education is free; health care is free; day care is free. You name it – everything is free. Sounds utopian – and total nonsense.

What ends up happening is that government turns around and says, “it’s obvious that everyone can’t take of everything, so we – the government representing the people – will take over everything for you.”

Which means we the people own nothing, run nothing, have nothing. The chasm between the classes grows huge, and we become a country controlled by the few “haves”. And the vast majority of the population are the “have nots”, living far below the poverty level.

So, for all you young people out there who have not studied history, who have not learned about what happens to countries who spiral into total socialism, who think it is possible to get everything for free – please wake up, search for the facts instead of believing what the media is telling you, get a work ethic, read your Bibles (buy one first before you are not able to!), go to church, turn your life over to Jesus. It looks like we are getting closer and closer to the second coming of Christ. I don’t want any of you to be left behind.

I wasn’t able to post the sermon by David Jeremiah, which I referred to here, so please click on this link: https://www.davidjeremiah.org/television/weekend?date=2021-09-19.

And lastly, I have to give God total and complete credit for the picture at the top of this post. I had no clue what photo I wanted to use today. So, with a totally blank mind, I opened the most recent file of pictures I’d taken, and this was one of the first ones to pop up. Hubby and I were at our state’s capital just last weekend, and even though I had been there many times before, I snapped another half dozen pictures. You know why? Because God is good, all the time.

A few other articles on socialism:

            https://www.compellingtruth.org/socialism-Christian.html

            https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/opinion/socialism-capitalism.html     

            https://economics21.org/how-socialism-destroyed-venezuela

  But you can do your own internet search for more. 

Hanka Finnish Homestead – Blog Post #16 Camping in Michigan

According to my family tree, I am 100% German. Which my husband would confirm based on my 100% bullheadedness. But I still have a full appreciation of any ancestral group in America.

Since we travel around Michigan’s UP often, Hubby and I are aware of the large Finnish population there. In fact, the UP has the largest concentration of Finnish Americans, and Finlandia University in Hancock was founded by Finns in 1896. 

On our camping trip in July, I led us to the Hanka Homestead, eighteen miles north of Baraga.

It was an interesting old Finnish homestead.

Two very friendly and knowledgeable Finlanders gave us the tour.

They let Dino walk along with us, even allowing him into the buildings.

I wish I had taken a picture of him lying on the kitchen rug, but I only got a few clips of his head.

One of our tour guides showed us this contraption.

They weren’t quite sure what it was. And I told them I would research it. Oops, I totally forgot until now. Anyone have any thoughts? 

For more information:

            On Hanka Homestead – https://www.hankahomesteadmuseum.org/about-us/

            On Finnish in Michigan’s UP – https://www.thoughtco.com/finnish-culture-of-michigans-upper-peninsula-1434523

            On Finlandia University – https://www.finlandia.edu/about/our-finnish-heritage/

 

Feels Like Going Home - Blog Post #15 Camping in Michigan

   It always feels like going home when I reach the shores of Lake Superior. Back in July, we took one day during our camping trip in the UP to drive up to the greatest of the great lakes.

 Here are just some random pictures from the day. 

At McLain State Park 

In the Keweenaw Bay

The Hancock City Hall

Dino just getting his feet wet

Reading that last line, I have to ask, do people really leave their pets behind at the park?

Roses outside the Jampot

More roses

 One of my favorite cities in the UP is Calumet. 

It is so full of history and the buildings are amazing vestiges of the past. I’ve blogged about many of them in the past.

Earlier this spring, however, fire destroyed some of those beloved buildings.  

From an article on the Village of Calumet Facebook page: The Village of Calumet experienced a devastating fire in the early morning hours of May 22nd, 2021. Three of our historic buildings were lost in the 100 block of Fifth Street. While these structures are considered a total loss, no lives were lost during the event. The Village is so grateful to the many firefighters from around the Copper Country who attended to our community. 

How very sad. 

For more information:

            McLain State Park – https://www2.dnr.state.mi.us/parksandtrails/Details.aspx?id=423&type=SPRK

            The Jampot – https://www.societystjohn.com/jampot

            Previous blog posts on Calumet – https://chrisloehmer.blogspot.com/2012/08/calumet.html

            The fire in Calumet in May – https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2021/05/22/large-fire-in-downtown-calumet/