• Friday-What'sUP August 7 - 11:27 am

Remember when you were just a kid and every new place you visited was an adventure? Brita Haapala has captured that on film with her children climbing the Sturgeon River Sloughs look-out deck, near Chassell. They bounded up those steps just to see what they could see from a higher elevation. That's what Brita's second image shows us--the sloughs seen through the eyes of youngsters. I'm sure their imaginations carried them away on those stagnant waters and grassy marshlands below.

From Pasty.NET: Thank you for your patience yesterday. A fiber optic line was cut in northern Wisconsin, leaving us with no long-distance, no cell phone service, and no Internet service. A disconnected day.

One more week to participate in the virtual silent auction to benefit Still Waters Assisted Living Community.

Lol yeah, and probably thinking how fun it would be to play in that stagnant water.......

Every time I drive past that look-out, I say to the family someday I am going to stop and climb, just to see what I can see. I must simply do it.

Brita's children will have many happy memories of growing up in the UP,and they will have some great photos to reinforce those memories!

There was a blue heron out there in the marsh. Can you see it? :)

Brita, Just love the pics of your kids in your gallery. The boys remind me of when we were kids. As soon as school let out for the summer, Dad would take us to Russell Lauren's barber shop in Ahmeek and we'd get our summer time "brush cut", which the kids today call a buzz cut. LOL Then we didn't need another hair cut until school started!! There's nothing like being a kid growing up in the Copper Country.

There's more to see than the stagnant water pond. If you keep hiking there's a small lake/big pond where we saw waterfowl. Pretty area if you walk back there. It was less than 10 years ago that I was able to do that, before arthritis.

Brita, do you have 6 or 7 of those little tow-headed beauties?

ALways enjoy Brita's pics of her kids enjoying life! And getting a beneficial education as well!

Thank you so much for all of the nice comments. There's 7 of them all together. Matthew, Claire, David, Sam, Sophia, Nathan, and the baby, Eddie.

Thanks. I remember when the baby was born, and I've enjoyed looking at your albums but never could be sure how many kids there were. They are all beautiful and always look like they are having so much fun. I don't know how you find time to take all those great photos but I'm glad you do.

I seem to remember from the 1960's something time when they set off dynamite to create those potholes out in the sloughs to make habitat for ducks. It was an amazing experience for kid to witness. Heck, I think I'd still enjoy it today. And that heron's name out in the marsh: might it be Waldo?

There was a time when marshes and swamps were viewed as "useless" land that needed to be drained for towns, roads, and farms. Glad to see we're not doing that anymore. In fact, we're restoring many of them back to their natural state. They are great homes for many insects, birds, bugs, mammals, etc and filter and store groundwater for us !!

I agree Brita's children are delightful...I am looking forward to seeing "Violet" tagging along with them.....it is fun watching them grow up in the UP.....reminds me of all the fun stuff we did as kids...... and also my own "delightful" children when they were kids.....good to know that things stay pretty much the same in the YOOP..

thankful you guys didn't run into any of those slough snakes while there. The largest ever seen was estimated to be about 15 feet long.

ah..WAIT !!! a true story. Back when I was about 17-19 or so, I used to drink a couple of beers. I was with a friend that lived down in the Portage Entry area...drinking beer at the Hiawatha Drive-in Theater...I had an old biege Ford Fairlaine convertible...maybe some of you guys saw me riding around back in the late 60s :)
Anyway, it was one of those beautiful Copper Country nights, so I had the top down. I drove my friend home after the movies...and was coming back by the sloughs...really really tired...so I pulled off to the side and put the top up...crawled into the back seat and fell asleep.
Woke up just about sun rise with this loud buzzing noise...and found myself covered with drunk mosquitos, and the entire car filled with them...I had left the rear zip up window down....

And believe me , there are a ton of mosguitos in the Sturgeon Slough area.
Its also why you hear the frogs around there doing the "bud" .... Weiser " chirp after eating all those drunk mosquitos

Can't see the heron, butlike so many others I vow to stop and toss my kayak into that area and explore "one of these days".Better do it next summer--days are running short to have the strength to partake in such activities--was just up there last weekend for our 46th Houghton High reunion.

Brita, I don't see the heron either. Where is it? Can you tell us?

When my son and I started the Pasty Cam back in '98, we began with a primary question about this part of the planet which we are blessed to call 'home': If we were not able to live here in the U.P., what would we want to see every day?

Over the years many capable amateur and professional photographers have joined in with us to bring daily pictures, which make this such a fun place to return every time I turn on the computer. I'm sure we all have our favorites among the hundreds of contributors to the Guest Gallery. I have to say that one of my all time favorites is Brita Haapala, who has such a unique way of taking us all right into the picture along with her little explorers.

Brita, thank you for making my day with your wonderful photos. And thank you to all of the visitors and contributors to this site who make it such a pleasant experience. I see Nancy Nelson's name above, too. Nancy was the originator of our "Shoebox Memory" feature, which I have the pleasure of hosting every Sunday. And thanks to all who continue to send us old photos which make that job so rewarding.

As the webmaster of Pasty Central, I have removed a thread of conversation from this page which we felt was better suited for some other forum. Thank you for your understanding as we pursue the goal of our acceptable use policy in "maintaining the integrity of a family friendly website."