David Multer

The old mill in Freda is always a fun place for exploring. Lots of busted up old buildings, old copper ore, a beach full of twisted wires, tons of beach glass. What’s not to love? It’s also a beautiful drive through the woods, and Lake Superior is always a treat. Charlotte’s all excited about our concert tonight at the old[Calumet Theatre] (https://www.calumettheatre.com). The [Marshall Tucker Band] (https://marshalltucker.com) is playing and George has joined us for the fun. The band is awesome, but it’s really hard to suffer through the vocals of the original lead singer. He’s had throat issues over the years, and clearly he’s lost the old magic. The rest of his band both sings and plays spectacularly. I’m not much of a MST fan, but it’s definitely a great band. ...

Today we’re heading over to Houghton via Portage lake and the channel. It’s a lot more enjoyable than the usual drive to Lake Linden and around. A whole lot shorter as well. The view of the old mining operations from the channel is a whole lot better as well. Time to tie the boat up and grab some lunch. The trip back is a great excuse for Gabe to show off his many goofy faces. ...

This is how you have a great day. Fishing with my buddy Gabe, chilling on the porch while getting work done, and enjoying our bald eagles. Nice.

Catching a nice size pike is a great way to start the day. Just ask Gabe and he’ll tell you all about it. For Monica, it’s the joy of photographing our local bald eagles. George has a few faces he wants to share with everyone. Annie does as well. It looks to me like Charlotte is pleading with Monica to stop taking her picture, or something like that. ...

I think there’s only one thing more fun than getting dumped off the tube out on the lake, and that’s probably driving the jet ski trying to dump people. It looks like everyone is really enjoying themselves. While everyone else is just chilling on the dock. They even managed to flip the jet ski. Looks like Gordon and the girls did a bit of exploring. Then its over to Bootjack Fire & Rescue for the stupendous annual chicken BBQ ritual. Monica enjoyed the burros we passed everytime we drove to town. ...

Charlotte and Monica drove down to Newberry to pickup Gordon and Annie. It’s a pretty long drive, but happy to have Gordy’s kids join the crew up in Bootjack for the week. They got back home just in time for another great sunset.

It’s a great morning to go exploring around Gay, home of the Gay Bar, the Gay Parade, and other sites. I often ride my bike through this tiny little town, that I suspect doesn’t have a single gay person in it. A few cute photos from Monica on the way back to the cabins. It’s been a really long day in the saddle, as you can see from the huge salt stains on my arm warmers. It was a great ride out to Copper City via Brockway Mountain Drive, and back through Lac La Belle and Gay. Can’t wait to put in some quality recovery time. ...

Today we’re heading into Houghton with the whole crew to check out the very cool rocks and minerals at the Seaman Mineral Museum at Michigan Tech (MTU). I like their funny shoplifting sign in the gift shop. I suspect lots of little kids are very tempted. They have an unbelievably large collection of specimens (over 5,000), and I hear that they have way more than what’s on display in the back rooms (over 26,000 in total). It’s hard to pick a favorite, but they are known for their copper and iron pieces. ...

Pouring over the rocks you’ve collected is almost as much fun as picking them at the beach. Everyone is working hard identifying all their little treasures. I guess playing with the rocks resulted in a few hungry stomachs. Nothing like a salty matzah ball or two to get your energy levels back up. I don’t think this is a typical U.P. treat, but I know my family loves them. Of course we also love the local pasties as well. ...

Good morning Bootjack! Let’s see what’s waiting for us out there today. One of our local bald eagles, some pretty flowers, grandma’s place in the garden, an evil squirrel, happy dancing Charlotte busy cleaning, and some of grandma’s artwork. We’re off to town today, specifically Calumet to play tourist with Ira and Karen. This place has plenty of old, cool buildings. A favorite place of ours has to be Copper World. What’s not to like, they’ve got copper, cool hats, cool signs, funny finger puppets, fudge, licorice pipes, and did I mention copper? ...