Pine Mountain and Mines

We are home from Michigan.

I really enjoyed my week exploring Iron Mountain.

I especially enjoyed having Courtney, Paul, and the girls up there with us for a few days.

It is always fun to share new discoveries with Tizita and Soliana.

Courtney and the girls drove home with John and I from Michigan while Paul went to Oshkosh to get a bit of work done.

Alissa and Nathan came to Watertown on Saturday.

We all enjoyed some Riverfest and each other.

Today (Tuesday) everyone goes home and my house will be too quiet, but life goes on.

Today is also the day that we all go to Jack's memorial, hope that goes okay.

 

Now back to some of the things that I really want to remember about our trip to Iron Mountain.

 

First off,

Pine Mountain Ski jump

 We began by climbing the 500 steps to the top of the mountain.

 The beautiful view from the top.

Proof of the 500 steps we all climbed.

 Paul decided to climb to the top of the actual ski jump.

He was the only one of all of us to actually make it to the top of the old ski jump.

Tizita almost made it to the top, but she listened to her mama and came back.

 Here is Paul checking things out from the top.

 And here is Tizita making her way up.

Both Courtney and Alissa, completely independent of one another, said this reminded them of the bridge scene in Annie.

 This picture sums up what was going on at the top of the mountain.

Courtney was a nervous wreck, she wanted at least one family member to make it down alive, so she was instructing me to go down the 500 steps with Soliana, she was waiting for Paul to either make it down safely or fall to his untimely death off of the rickety ski jump, and she was instructing Tiz to get off the old steps that led to no where.  John was taking the photo.

 Tiz ventured out on this old lookout and then finally we all made it down safely.

We enjoyed dinner in the restaurant at the bottom of the mountain.

It was a great adventure for all of us.

 

After the ski jump, we visited the spot at the Millie Bat Viewing Area and observation area that we had discovered on a walk that day.

Here are a few pictures from that walk:

 We started out at a fun park.

 After playing at the park, we walked up the mountain.  Tiz and I went on ahead, but Courtney had to push Soli up the hill in the stroller.  Good workout for her!

 It was at the top, that we found this cool observation deck that overlooked much of Iron Mountain.

Later that night after the ski jump, we took Paul and John back up to this deck so they could see the beautiful area, too.

 For lunch that day after our hike up the mountain, we enjoyed hot dogs from a little hot dog hut.  Paul took time off from his work to join us.

 We all enjoyed an ice cream treat, too.

 We took time out to splash around in a fountain in front of a church and

the girls enjoyed that cute little park I had discovered a few days before.

It was a busy, fun filled day.

 

On Friday morning, while Paul and John worked, Courtney, the girls, and I went to tour an iron ore mine.

 We had to wear helmets and raincoats for the tour.

 We took a train and went far down under the ground where we had to walk around the old mine.

We had a great tour guide and learned a lot.

There were many bats swooping around our heads, but despite those bats, we all agreed it was a great tour.

 On the way back to Iron Mountain from the mine, we found some pretty falls right off the highway.

Much taller than 12 feet, too.

We picked John up at work and left for Watertown.

The girls were quite worn out from their big adventure and slept most of the way home.

It was indeed a great week up in Michigan.

I will update on Riverfest in the next post.