Back in the Keweenaw!
A short break from the Finland journey recap to catch you up on current happenings in the Keweenaw! We returned a week ago this past Thursday night after getting up at 3 a.m. on Thursday (9 p.m. back home), flying back to Minneapolis with a change of flights at Charles de Gaulle in Paris. Returning to Minneapolis just after 2 p.m. central time, getting through customs, then back to the hotel where the truck was parked, we hit the road for the Keweenaw by quarter to 4 p.m. local time. Fortunately, we encountered excellent driving weather all the way back home and got to bed by midnight. Outside of a power nap between “A Fish Called Wanda” and “Hidden Figures” on the flight back, I was effectively up for twenty-seven consecutive hours after only sleeping three hours the night before.
Effectively waking up at noon Finland time on Friday, we went ahead and put in our swim at MTU. Aside from all the things you normally do to get re-situated after a long vacation, we got over to Houghton High School that Saturday for the Superior Maker Fest put on by the Superior Fab Lab. We would run into a number of friends there but would also see a lot of cool things that are being created here in the Keweenaw. I will have to admit a bit of a personal bias toward the Lego creations and had a nice chat Dennis Livesay the Dean of MTU’s College of Computing about his creation below as well as individuals who had entries in the makers’ competition.
Sunday, we went for a 4.54-mile hike at McLain State Park with our hiking group which started out along Bear Lake.
We would cross over M-203 and follow along the Lake Superior shore to the breakwater and lighthouse. Along the way we saw other hikers who had ventured out onto the Lake Superior ice.
We got out on some of the near shore ice which was intermixed with a good deal of sand and rocks.
You can see my GoPro video from this adventure on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:
The week would be packed with activities as I had a Chassell Historical Organization board meeting to chair on Monday night, followed by turning out Hancock Trails Club board meeting minutes for that board meeting on Tuesday night, and then turning out a grant proposal for a bicycle skills park here in Chassell that I submitted to Visit Keweenaw. Wednesday evening we would get in a walk from MTU with part of the Keweenaw Running Group and Thursday night Julie and I would attend the Keweenaw Chamber’s Spark Plug Awards dinner at the MTU union. I had nominated Jim Tervo as a community contributor of the year in recognition of his 43 years as a volunteer caring for the Chassell Classic Ski Trails and the super job he has done transitioning that responsibility to Steve Spahn, Jim Vaught, and me. Jim and his wife Chris attended as our guests. I had also nominated the Hancock Trails Club Bridge and Boardwalk Project as project of the year. This project involved 638 hours of volunteer effort of a number of individuals under the direction of the project’s director, our Hancock Trails Club board Vice-President Mark Roberts. The Spark Plug event provides awesome recognition to the people and organizations doing great things here in the Keweenaw.
Along with all of this, Julie and I got over to MTU to swim on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings and I put in two 3,000-yard swims and one at 2,600 yards.
Saturday, Julie and I would go for a snowshoe to Hungarian Falls with our friend Sue. It was a bright sunny day with very little wind which made for a pleasurable hike and great photographs!
You can see my GoPro video from this snowshoe adventure on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:
On Sunday, Julie and I would get out for a 2.84-mile snowshoe on the Chassell Snowshoe Trails.
A snowstorm was just starting to move in as we were finishing up our hike, but more about that the next time I report on the Keweenaw! You can see my GoPro video from the snowshoe hike at this link to the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube Channel:
Next time I will be back in Finland!