Our spectacular view has been something that I always knew that I wanted to share.  I just never knew that I’d be able to share it with so many people. Thanks to technology, people from all over the world can now see what I have learned to sometimes take for granted. From the moment I first saw the Portage Lift Bridge and waterway, I fell in love with them.  I’ve traveled to almost 50 states and several foreign countries, but it’s still my favorite view. I’ll never tire of it.   

It was one giant step for us when we moved from Lower Michigan to Hancock in 1985, my husband and I didn’t mind not having a television for the first few weeks.  Every day was a flurry of activity reclaiming our house from years of neglect as a student rental.  Each evening we’d sit on the couch just looking out the window at the beautiful view of the Portage Lift Bridge.  We’d joke about how lucky we were to have such a view.  As the months went by I came to realize that looking out our window was one of our favorite past times. Sometimes it was like our private movie screen.  Each season was uniquely spectacular and so intense.  We felt sorry for our friends in Lower Michigan because they had so little snow and no lakes or rivers around for miles.  Our window became a picture perfect post card.  Every day was different.  Far away friends and family always remarked about how lucky we were to have such a beautiful view.  

Fourteen years ago I thought we had moved to the end of the world.  We were at least 200 miles from civilization, big cities, shopping malls, entertainment and cultural resources; or so I thought.  I’d look at "that bridge" and think how we lived on a remote island, cut off from the rest of the world, in the middle of Lake Superior.  Actually it’s the Keweenaw Peninsula and not an island at all. Without "that bridge" though, I did live on an island. I soon realized that I truly was living in paradise and knew why people call this area "God’s Country".  It’s not only because of the view, it’s because the people are friendlier here.  They actually smile at each other and say hello to total strangers on the streets.  Living here is like living in a small European city.  The architecture and setting look European.  The community has an international flavor because of the university and all of the ethnic groups that have settled here.  I found that many of my neighbors and new friends here have done a lot of traveling worldwide.  All in all, the people here were much more cosmopolitan than the people where I had grown up.

When I showed the Pasty Cam and the new Bridge Cam to a Hancock Rotary Exchange student that recently returned from Argentina, she said how great it was because now she could have her new friends back in Argentina really see what life was like where she lived.  I knew right then that I had reached my goal for sharing my beautiful view of the Portage Lift Bridge and waterway. It wasn’t even close to anything like taking the first step on the moon, but I was able to share my view, one of the most beautiful sites in the world, with the rest of the world. 

I don’t feel cut off from civilization any more, but more like I am in the center of it. This isn’t Silicon Valley in California or Silicon Alley in New York, but to me it is more unique. It’s bigger. It’s Silicon Country, also known as the Copper Country, and a small piece of it originates from my home.

Daryl Laitila
Customer/Sponsor Support
Pasty Central