Hard to believe, today is the twentieth March 2nd that we have spent together on the Pasty Cam. Looking back over the previous 19, there are so many great subjects to choose from. Two of the many creative people who have been a part of this journey are Steve Brimm and Brita Haapala.

Steve Brimm was one of the first professional photographers to take an interest in this new daily feature back in 1998. Along with pros like Dan Urbanski, Joe Kirkish, and Charlie Eshbach, Steve helped put the Pasty Cam "on the radar" with occasional select shots of beautiful Upper Michigan, in his unique style. These enhanced the growing archive of photos that were mainly taken in those days by my son Jonathan (and now-and-then an accidental one by myself :)

Some years later, other new arrivals began to step up, among them a creative young mother named Brita Haapala. I remember the first few pictures Brita sent our way, and how skillfully she captured the joy of the U.P., especially in scenes with her children.

My role is mainly on the technical side, which is why Mary let me step in these past couple days to tweak the new format. I'm excited about the year ahead, as we cap off two full decades of the Pasty Cam. There are so many people like Steve and Brita to whom we want to send a big 'Thank You'. We're still tweaking this format, so please let us know your thoughts and observations.

What awesome pictures and video. I love seeing the
fun being had on the lake in Copper Harbor. Would
love to spend some time up there during the winter.
Thanks for taking us along here. And thanks for
trying to change things up, Charlie. I think it's
going to be awesome!

Holy #@$%!!!! Has it been 20 years already? I first remember coming here in the summer of 1998 when Pasty.net was still just a bowl of ingredients and a lump of dough! Then in 2001 when I returned to the Keweenaw, I made the switch to use Pasty as my ISP/email provider, a service I still use today even here in SE Texas. So many changes over the past 20 years but one thing remains, Pasty is still my "go to" place for seeing daily life in the UP.

Here's to another 20 years of Pasty (and daily diversion from work!!) ;-)

Wow! Thank you Steve, Brita and Charlie! The Pasty
Cam is going strong at the 20 year mark! Thanks to
all, for all you do!

Excellent pix and video! I think I'm going to try that drone-thing when I retire. (Charlie?)
Chasing squirrels up trees is something every man dreams of after retiring. :-)

20 years....seems like yesterday. We found this
gem of a sight back in 1998 from JohnDee.com.
Because of these two sights we became so inspired
by the Copper Country in so many aspects mainly
awesome snowmobiling and the beautiful sights to
behold in the Spring, Summer, & Fall seasons.
Congratulations and thank you for bringing us here
when we can't jump in the car and get there
ourselves! Sincerely, Bob & Janie

Adding video to the format is a fantastic addition, Charlie! Wouldn't it be grand to live in the cabin featured in today's 'fly-over'?

I used to think we had been to a lot of places and done a lot of things in the UP before Pasty Cam became the way to start the day. Our eyes were opened to MORE places to go and things to do..... as well as being educated about the ones we had always enjoyed. Not to mention all the expertise and experiences shared by fellow Pasty Camers. I hope we're all around for another 20 years to enjoy the ride together.

Greetings Charlie:

Congratulations on your plan to retire in less than 365 days. Trust me on this one, make sure that you have a plan of what you want to do with ALL your free time.

Start and stay with a time to 'rise and shine' every morning. Don't sleep in. No matter how deep the snow outside is.

Pasty dot Com is a wonderful and informative website. I commend you on tweaking anything related to a website.

My only word of caution is to avoid giving away the Pasty dot Com website to FaceBook or MTU.

Keep the website in the 'da UP.

JT

Re: Format

Thanks for keeping the history for each day!

I especially enjoyed the video.

An observation on the new format. On the "cam" page when the "image" for a day is a picture (like they were historically), you can click the picture and "cam notes" opens. When the image is a video (like they have been since March 1), clicking the video causes the video to play, but doesn't open the "cam notes" page. You actually have to click the blue "cam notes" button to get the page to open (at least that's how it's working in Firefox). My preference would be that clicking whatever the "image" is would take you to the "cam notes" page, then you can watch the video there. But I completely understand that I may be in the minority on this one. :-)