• Friday-What'sUP February 2 - 09:10 am

Welcome to February, a month for Valentines and Winter Carnival. We're coming down the home stretch to complete 10 full years of this daily journey, and we'll be doing LOTS of reminiscing. In case you missed it on the main Pasty Cam page, click on the "Pasty Cameo" for a presentation unlike anything we've had before. Be sure your sound is turned on! We hope to present an installment each day, as a complete documentary of the past decade.

Michigan Tech's Winter Carnival started in 1922, and has grown every year. You might say the Pasty Cam itself was a spinoff of the festivities, as that's where we had our start back in 1998. Today's shot reminds us that the all-night is less than a week away (next Wednesday). "Frightful Creatures with Chilling Features" is this year's theme.

By the way, Mary Drew has a well deserved vacation for the first half of this month, so I'm back in the saddle, just like old times. Welcome if you are a new visitor, and I hope you come back often :o)

Love the video and am looking forward to seeing more! Hard to believe the little one in that picture would be 10 years old now and probably in fifth grade. Even the Pasty Cam is gettin' old!

Amazing what these young folks come up with! Hi Martha, we are 25 mile neighbors. No snow here yet and I am not disappointed!!!!

We've gotten about 3 inches of snow so far, I'd say.

Great video, Charlie. Just goes to show your site continues to evolve for the enjoyment of many. Thank you.

I actually teared up Charlie. So very nice to hear how it all began, and a look back at your complicated daily trip to provide the pictures here to the simplicity of my journey 'home to da UP' every morning. From the bottom of my heart I thank everyone for your efforts.

Charlie: Like Theresa, I teared right up watching the video. Even had a tear on the "e" key of my keyboard. Thanks to you and all of the creators of the Pasty Cam. Some people learn about the UP for the very first time while others have a chance to come "home" everyday.

Talk about being homesick! The pasty cameo is wonderful.

I love this picture. Amazing how much snow this took.

The Pasty Cam website has been a daily fix for me the past 9 1/2 yrs! Thankyou for all these wonderful years to get me to the U.P. if we are not already doing so by car/truck!

I must be blind. Where is the "Pasty Cameo"?

The Pasty Cameo is on the previous page, next to the photo of the baby. https://www.pasty.com/cam/index.html

Or you can click on the photo itself. Each day the Pasty Cameo thumbnail will have a picture from the presentation, and today's is Alex V., who was born the day before the regular Pasty Cam started. So click the link OR click the thumbnail on the main Pasty Cam page to see the show.

LOVE the video!!! It had Lindell's in it! :)

Thanks YooperGal.

Thanks so much for all your efforts, Charlie. It means so much to the many of us out here who long to be in the UP. The pictures are wonderful but so is this space, where we can all share our thoughts. It is commendable that the people who respond here are ALWAYS so cordial and well mannered. Never a bad comment passes here. It's just so lovely in these times, when being downright rude is so prevalent everywhere. Thanks for hosting this friendly forum for us all to enjoy.

JoAnne Stefanac
Port Orchard, WA

The viedo was Great Charlie. It even played well on our slow dialup.
4 to 5 inches of snow so far here in Hillsdale County expecting more. Have a nice weekend everyone.

Congratulations to all responsible for allowing me to be able to share all the beautiful pictures and anecdotes of the U.P. with family and friends all over the country who look forward to receiving my e-mails each and every day. I have been doing this for over 9 years, daily, and cannot tell you how wonderful it is to start my day with the Pasty Cam pictures and information. I, myself, have learned so much more about our area that I thought I had down "pat", but Pasty Cam has taught me so much more. Know that you are brightening up the lives of locals and so many more across the nation who, until Pasty Cam, never had an inkling what our beautiful U.P. looked like.

Holy Wah! That video is a tear jerker! THANK YOU so much for keeping us all connected to our hometowns or wanna-be hometowns. You do a great service and thank you is not really big enough, but THANK YOU anyway!! And keep it coming.

Charlie:
The video was great! I hope you and all the pasty cam staff realize how much your efforts are appreciated by those of us with ties to the UP. My daily visit to this web site is a bright spot in every day. Thank you so much!

Charlie, your "In the Beginning" video is just excellent! Since 2001, my day has started with a look at the Pasty Cam picture. I found your Pasty Cam website through the Lift Bridge webcam page which is linked to the webcam page on the Michigan Tech website. Over the years, I have e-mailed links to many Pasty Cam pictures to family scattered about the country, as well as to my two MTU students. Yes, I too have UP ties, and the UP is my favorite place on earth! Charlie, Mary, and all who make the Pasty Cam possible: thank you for enabling those of us who don't live in the UP to be there in spirit! :)

Charlie...I agree with David. This website has become a morning ritual for me for the last 7 years or so. Lots of good photos and lots of good UP travel tips and destinations. One of my favorites was the piece on Bare Bluff. I made the hike after seeing the photos and getting the information from this website.

I have seen a few really pretty spots in our very big country; the mountains of Colorado are indeed majestic. But there really is only one place we all still call "home". Thank you, Charlie and Mary, for providing this link to the land we all love so much; and for being shining examples of the PEOPLE who make that land a home, rather than simply another pretty place.

very good video, Charlie...your voice is perfect for it.
I'll be looking forward to the next installments.

My wife and I will be up there Friday and Saturday to see my mom, but hope to have some time to take in the statues. Its one of my best memories of the CC...going to the winter carnival and walking around those great masterpieces.

Helen: My thanks to you also for all the photos, info etc. you've shared my way! Many get forwarded to troll neighbors and relatives down here! Having been raised in the Copper Country (and being your neighbor and schoolmate for a time) I thought I'd been everywhere and heard most everything about "UP" there also---until being on Pasty-Cam regularly!--- And then to find we were literally neighbors again down here in Blue Water country, St. Clair county! Amazing!

ditto

Ditto to David Soumis, Charlie. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce could use your narration skills. Excellent production! PastyCam is almost a daily stop for me. Though not from the CC, but a Yooper, I've always considered the CC the most rugged, beautiful part of the U.P. I've had much pleasure over the years viewing the many photos, and have also used many for wallpaper. Keep up the good work!

charlie, that video was magnificent and i agree with the others that it was very touching. it made me want to go home so badly! but it also made me feel lucky to have grow up in the UP, which has made it SO much a part of my life and who i am. thank you!!

To Charlie and all at pasty.com,
Your vision ten years ago has been a blessing for so many. "Thank you" seems so inadequate...

A big THANK-YOU!! to Charlie and Mary for maintaining this wonderful site. As one more Yooper-in-exile, I love the link to home, the pictures, the messages, the news from back home. Thank you both very much!

Dave Van Dyk
Columbus, Ohio

Oh, yeah--the video is wonderful, too! I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of them.

You're welcome, Russ.

Very cool video, Charlie. Thank you so much for it. I truly enjoyed it.

Wonderful pasty cameo, Charlie. The video gets one a little teary-eyed. You have the voice for it as well, very professional!

Thank you Charlie and Mary for pasty cam and the video. You bring so much joy to us all every day.I feel lucky and happy I got to grow up in the UP.

Enjoyed the video, Charlie, very nicely done. :o) Looking forward to the next one. Thank you for your 'heart' in this pasty.net stuff and all the hours that go into it. A Thank You, too, to Mary and the rest of the crew.

Congratulations on 10 wonderful years!
Pasty Cam is a part of my daily morning routine in my classroom. I send my lunch count to the office via the internet and then bring up the photo of the day. My 3rd and 4th grade students know how much I love Michigan and I get to share the UP beauty with them daily. They have learned quite a bit about many things from looking at the photo of the day: Great Lakes shipping, weather, birds and animals, and today they were fascinated with the snow cathedral.
Thanks so much for "making my day" each morning! If I can't be there in person, Pasty Cam is the next best thing! The video is great, Charlie!

Hi Dave Van Dyk:
You have my sympathy, not only are you missing the UP but you are living in the land of the dreaded "Buckeyes".How long have you been a "traitor" or are you just part of the advanced force for good ie "Michigan".