Day 11: Monday, June 21st
We checked out of Carla's Hotel around 10:00 and headed north. The weather was fine, low 70's, partly cloudy and breezy. And, just 10 miles north of the hotel, the temperature dropped 10 degrees as we drove along the lake on US Rt 41.
Our plan for the day was to head on up to the tip of the Keweenaw and stay in the town of Copper Harbor.
Click on the photos below for a larger image.
As we drove through Chassell we saw the now Chippewa Hotel - closed. Then we drove by the Northern Air Motel - closed. I swear we have seen more closed than open hotels on this trip. It is depressing.
We got to Houghton around noon and parked downtown. We had hoped to find a used bookstore to replace some of the books Betsy lost in the Great Flood at East Lake. But, the store was not open. We poked around and looked at the big lift bridge over Portage Lake. We also stopped in at The Bike Shop to get some info on local rail-trails and green ways. They were very helpful and gave us a couple of maps.
We then crossed the lift bridge over to Hancock and picked up SR 203 which heads northwest towards the shore. We picked this route because we knew it would be less busy and probably more scenic than taking US 41 which is a straight shot to Calumet out of Houghton/Hancock.
A little bit about Calumet courtesy of good old WikiPedia:
Calumet is a village in Calumet Township, Houghton County, in the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, that was once at the center of the mining industry of the Upper Peninsula. Also known as Red Jacket, the village includes the Calumet Downtown Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
The village may itself be included within the Calumet Historic District, a larger area which is NRHP-listed and which is a National Historic Landmark District. It is bordered on the north by Calumet Township, on the south by the unincorporated town of New Town and Blue Jacket[3][4] , on the east by Blue Jacket and Calumet Township, and on the west by Yellow Jacket and Calumet Township. The population was 879 at the 2000 census. Calumet's nickname is Copper Town U.S.A
Source: WikiPedia
Our greeting to downtown Calumet - the old Calumet Theater.
The village of Calumet was a prosperous community at the close of the nineteenth century, primarily due to the rich vein of copper mined by the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company, located just south and east of the village. In 1898, the community decided that an opera house was required to serve the people of Calumet. Local architect Charles K. Shand was chosen to design the building, and Chicago interior designer William Eckert developed a crimson, gold, and ivory color scheme for the interior.
The theater opened on March 20, 1900,with the operetta The Highwayman, by Reginald De Koven and Harry B. Smith, on tour from Broadway. The theater was one of the first municipal theaters in the country. It soon attracted attention from America's finest actors, actresses, and other theater greats, such as Frank Morgan (later famous for his roles in The Wizard of Oz), Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., Lon Chaney, Sr., John Philip Sousa, Sarah Bernhardt, and Madame Helena Modjeska among others.
Source: WikiPedia
There were guided tours available but we decided to wait until we could spend some time in the area. Maybe next trip up here.
The old Red Jacket Fire Station. Today, the historic Jacobsville sandstone structure is home to the Upper Peninsula Firefighters Memorial Museum. It is almost directly across from the Theater.
This is one of the many fine storefronts downtown. Like most of them it was built with the chocolate colored Jacobsville sandstone.
1883
The Jacobsville sandstone quarries were opened by John Henry Jacobs and Mr. Wolfe. The Furst, Jacobs, and Co. employed 80 to 90 men; work was only done in the summer to avoid freeze cracks. The Jacobsville and Arnheim sandstone quarries operated until 1914, with Jacobsville having a population of 750 at the turn of the century. During the lifetime of the red stone industry at Jacobsville, about ten million cubic feet of block stone was shipped, which is about 800 thousand tons, with a market value of about eight million dollars at the time.In addition, thousands of tons of rubble stone were used in building projects locally. During peak years of quarrying, between 500,000 and 700,000 cubic feet of stone were shipped out each year to places like Chicago, Boston, New York City and even London. The quarries were the third largest industry in the area after mining and lumbering. Many buildings in the Copper Country were built with Jacobsville sandstone as well as such notable buildings as the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York and the Carnegie Office Building in Pittsburgh, the YMCA and old Union Depot in Detroit plus many others were constructed of Portage Entry sandstone.
This decrepit, but imposing structure used to house a heating and cooling company. The side wall is called a "rubble wall" and we saw them everywhere. It was cheaper to build this way than use uniformly cut and finished blocks. U
There were some interesting colors and patterns in the wall.
Here the difference between the rubble and finished stone can be clearly seen.
Unfortunately the roof had collapsed on this building and I wish now I had taken a photo of the front as it may not be there the next time we are.
We saw a number of structures with these corner towers.
The stone is fine, but the tower was a bit the worse for wear.
I am not sure why, but Betsy said this photo reminded her of me.
Can you guess why the parking meters are where they are?
BTW - the "meter maids" were out in force and handing out lots of citations. Considering the placement of the meters, I bet most out-of-towners don't even see them - until it's too late.
The magnificent St Anne's Church.
The National Park Service oversaw restoration of this amazing building.
That is a lot of sandstone!
Another restoration in progress.
The stone and brick work were first rate.
As far as I am concerned there is no better use for our tax dollars than preserving both natural and man-made wonders.
In 1999, the National Park Service purchased the Union Building with the long-range goal of making it a visitor facility. Keweenaw National Historical Park completed the first phase of the building�s rehabilitation by stabilizing and restoring its exterior in 2005. In 2008, the park received an initial allocation of funding to begin planning the interior rehabilitation.
An old Woolworth's store which was recycled.
Someone really butchered this store front!
By now we had worked up an appetite and really needed to eat.
We had seen several places:
Carmelitas - "A Southwestern Grill" no thanks, we will wait for the trip to AZ and TX
Jim's Pizza - Nope. Too common for us!
Michigan House Cafe & Brew Pub - sounds good to us!
So, into the brew pub we did go. They were pretty busy and we waited a while until someone came out to seat us - so we thought. She hurriedly said "I'll be right with you!". Ha! We waited. And waited and finally got disgusted and left. Too bad.
Now what? Carmelitas sounded too trendy so it was up to the Pizza joint where as luck would have it Monday is Pasty day! We ordered up and they came in a pizza box which we did not open until we got to our dining area.
Oh, boy - REAL pasties!!
Unlike the tourist pasties we had earlier in the trip, these were meal sized and the Real McCoy.
Of course Betsy could not finish hers, but I managed to polish mine off and ear her leftovers the next day.
Nice lunch spot - no?
This was at Eagle River at a county park, of which there were many. Directly adjacent was a newish, boxy motel called the Eagle River Inn which faced the water. Betsy wanted a place on the water so she checked the place out.
Too pricey ($85 - 115) and no place private to sit out and enjoy the scenery. In an effort to coax her into a room the clerk told her she would find no other places on the water. This turned out to be a BIG FAT LIE! What an ass hole.
NOTE: We saw two more closed hotels in the Calumet area:
The Elms - downtown Calumet
The North Gate - north of Calumet city limits.
We continued on up the coast via SR 26 and saw many nice views of Lake Superior.
The were many lovely and secluded beaches.
One of the many fine rest areas with scenic views. At this one we met the Brits we had run into at Pictured Rocks. They were heading up to Copper Harbor in their motor home which was now their only residence.
The rocks were covered with Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi).
Betsy found a quiet place to sit for a few moments and then it was on to Copper Harbor via Eagle Harbor. Here we found the Shoreline Resort. It was small and quiet with a nice beach and the rates were good. But, no WiFi - rats.
So on to Copper Harbor. There were plenty of hotels there, all with WiFi. But none were as nice and quiet and private as the Shoreline in Eagle Harbor. Betsy wanted me to be happy and I her. After much discussion I finally asked Betsy -"If I weren't with you, where would you stay?". Without hesitation she answered: "The Shoreline". THAT settled THAT and we headed back south.
We took the scenic, mountain route back, the Brockway Mountain Drive and got this nice view of Lake Fanny Hooe.
Ahh... relaxing at the Shoreline Hotel. Perfect!
The Shoreline is to the left in this photo. The beach was private and quiet.
After getting settled in, we walked over to the Eagle Harbor Inn.
We passed this nice clump of white birch along the way.
We both had the Lake Trout with mixed, grilled veggies. Again, the fillets were huge!
Nothing like a big plate of tasty food (and a cold beer) to make a girl happy!
Later, back at our room we listened as a gentle rain started and lulled us off to sleep.