These boat spotters, were spotted themselves, by Tom Campbell, who captured them on White Fish Point, armed with their spotting scopes, ready to view. Until now, I wasn't aware of this past-time, but I'm thinking that it sure is a good one to take up, here in the U.P. For those of you that aren't sure what type of boats these fellows are hoping to spot, Tom also supplied us with a shot (taken at dusk) of one just rounding the point, which is located about half-way between Sault Ste. Marie and Grand Marais. If you look closely at the right-hand side of this shot, you'll see the Whitefish Point lighthouse beacon, guiding the freighter through the area where over 70 major shipwrecks have occurred since regular navigation of the Great Lakes began. The most famous, of course, being the Edmund Fitzgerald, lost on Nov. 10, 1975.

Morning

first post??

Close, but no cigar! ;->

GOOD MORNING!!!

Good morning everyone!

Good morning from Mishawaka IN. Wonderful picture of the ship. Have a good day everyone.

There you are!! I've known about this past time for some time. My brother lived in Newberry forever and since our Dad punched oar in Ashland, we know about freighters and stuff like that. These kids down here think that picking cotton is tough. They have no idea of the toil of the docks.

Why is Charlie short for Charles if they are both the same number of letters?


Who gets to keep the pennies in a wishing well?

A little windy here in Calumet today. Watching the weather on
TV and listening to our wind noise outside is a bit strange. Sure
glad I don't live down there. I'll take the snow any day!

Good Morning. Pictures of one of my favorite spots to watch boats and walk the beach.

Good Morning Everyone,

Leaving today for Eagle Harbor. Ya Hoo....

Marcy in Arizona, I think I remember the name. Koop, mmm, sounds familiar. I use to live in Eagle River so I may have known them, or known of them at least

A howling night on the Keweenaw, and no end in sight. As dawn breaks, I can see that Mother Nature trimmed some of our trees. Can't believe that we didn't lose power out here, since they did further down in Larium. Must be really fierce on the weather side of Superior.

J.J.J.S.-

I'm thinking Charlie is for your friends... and Charles is for the times you were in trouble and your mom yelled at you ;)

Good Morning from NJ

Ditto to that, when mom called "William", I was in for it!

wow, waves and white caps on the Portage on the Mich tech web cam. Hold on to your hats

Mom always used "Douglas" when she would yell at me. All other times it was "Doug". I can confess that there are times on vacation I would sit and watch the big ore boats, sorry... they don't like to be called "boats" .... ships... pass by. Nice way to spend the hours. Life gets too hectic sometimes. Just have to sit back and enjoy the simple things more often. Pretty soon we all can watch the leaves fall too.

Can anyone tell me how fast 45-knot winds are? I know, I could've looked it up myself, but I know one of you can tell me off the top of your head.

Rainy, cooler, & less humid today! Have a great day!

One more day of work, then it is off to Marquette tomorrow!!!

J.J.J.S.
Why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway?

Doug, They are called boats, ocean going vessels are called ships.

When isn't a door a door?

You can get a copy of Know Your Boats for a few bucks which details every boat in the Great Lakes and some of the Salties. It even inlcludes the Westcott mail boat in Detroit which I got to ride on a few years ago. Pull up next to the Cort which is a 1000 footer and look up 9 stories to deliver the mail in a pail. Lots of fun.

A door is not a door when it is ajar.

What is the link to get to the Mich Tech Web cam...

There's a shipping lane on Lake Huron in front of our vacation cabin near Cheboygan & ever since I was a kid, we've all been ship spotters. We used to keep a log but lately it seems the same few cruise back & forth.

http://www.admin.mtu.edu/urel/cams/

This is a webpage with links to mtu webcams.

Good morning from Fort Wayne Ind. very warm this morn looks like rain. wish I was there

There was an excellent program on the History Channel last night about the building of the St. Lawrence Seaway. It showed how they expanded the original 14 foot canals to accommodate the "lakers" so they could go from Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean and back again. I highly recommend watchinh it when it comes back on.

P.S.-
You got me there. Who do you suppose came up with that?

Tom- the second photo is very nice

I am wondering what will happen if you put a humidifier and dehumidifier in the same room and turn them both on?

Seems like around here ocean going vessels are called salties...

Temp is about 50 degrees out there, white caps are hiitin the beach, wanted to put a fire in the stove for dad, 60 degrees in the cottage, but he say's no, I guess its because he see's me in my shorts and T-shirt, he wants to tuff in out. Today our journey's might take us to Copper Harbor or to Baraga for a little Black Jack, went to town for things around the cottage, and dad's whopper jones, oh yeah, and Toni's prune tarts (the best!)yesterday. Oh well just another beautiful day in God's Country! Jealous? Come on U.P.!

Quiz.
What is the name of the longest Freighter on the Great Lakes at 1013 ft. 6 in. ?

We're also lookin at another ATV for bombing around in the woods, and replacing the tires on Big Red.

A 45 KTH wind is about 51.75 MPH I think

Chuck @ Little Betsy -

Copper Harbor may be without juice, as is Eagle Harbor. I'd call first to make sure the power's on before I drove out.

Two dark cams! :(

Mike M.

the Paul R. Tregurtha is 1013 feet long

51.78508 MPH TO BE EXACT

Sorry for the late start at the Copper Harbor cam, but we had no power from 3 am till about 9 am, and one bounce a bit later. Holding steady so far now, and the cam should register on the bridge cam page any time...whitecaps on the harbor and a real howler of a west wind...such fun! It's blown all the clouds and humidity away.

To d.peterson sheb.wisc

Good to see that you finally posted yesterday.

We met at the bar. I'm the guy from from Phoenix (AZ)

Went for a ride on the Paul R. once. There were 40 knot winds off the Keweenaw on this trip and we had water going over the top of the radar at the front of the boat. That was water not spray. The next day when the sun came up Superior was covered with sparkling diamonds and the sky was blew blue.

Roudy, Mi

How did you manage a ride on the Paul R.
was the food as good as they say freighter food is?

The winds are lifting spray in such wide swaths across the Big Lake this morning that there are bands of rainbows to the horizon at times in the morning light. Too ephemeral for my camera to get much of a picture,though. :-( Spent too long watching from the deck and got chilled - even with a cup of coffee in my hand. Wind also toppled my chair when I got up and went in for binoculars. Registering gusts in the low 50's just west of Coppper Harbor! Wonderful!

Those spotters at Whitefish Point are probably birders as Whitefish is a major bird watching area. And the huts are the bird counters shelters.
However they can watch boats when the birds aren't flying.

to allouez andre you always meet the nicest people in the vanville bar

If you pasty cammers are interested, there is a website out there called freecycle.org where you can list things you'd like to give away for free or you can list things you'd like to receive for free (no money can be exchanged - everything must be free). It was mentioned in the magazine insert in the Saturday edition of the Daily Mining Gazette. There are different "groups" around the US, and there is a Keweenaw group.

to betty olypia.i dont drive fords any more i drive a dodge ram pickup (REMEMBER IF YOU CANT DODGE UM RAM UM)

Good morning everyone!

Conditions on the Lakes: There is a great NOAA page showing data from the lights and buoys in the lakes. I haven't seen it mentioned here recently so I thought I'd let everyone know about it:

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/WestGL.shtml

(19.7 foot waves and gusts to 46 kts of off the point this AM).

There's also a bunch of charts plotting data for the last several days.

Dave.

Mike M. of Mich hmmm. Do I know you?

ert in GA, how's Ivan's landfall in your state? Our
daughter made it to there to get out of Ivan's way. Took
her twelve hours to get from New Orleans to
Hattiesburg, MIss!

they don`t seem to be faceing the water to spot boats!

They seam to be bird watchers to me, unless they have eyes in the back of there head. (:-)>

Good morning from warm and sunny San Jose.

Back home after 2 wonderful weeks traveling all around the UP. Want to post a short highlights of our trip, will do that next week. Nice to be home BUT I am feeling homesick for the UP, am having pasty cravings, miss the Big Lake and look forward to my next trip back, whenever that might happen. I only know that it WILL happen.
Was at Whitefish Point last week – that was so thrilling to be at the POINT. Played around in the waves, picked rocks, was so much fun. Talked to the guys in that little hut, they were bird watchers that day.

Good Day!

Shelly...
it was so much fun to stop in and surprise Annette! I think she got as much of a kick out of it as I did!

If you have a high speed connection or don't mind waiting for a larger file to load, check out this shot - Standing on the tip!. Which is also from Tom Campbell's Gallery. From the vantage point of the little shack, you can look either way and see the Big Lake! So I guess only the spotters know for sure what they were spotting! ;-)

That is so exciting! I was just in that exact same spot last week!!

By RCM on Thursday, September 16, 2004 - 01:05 pm:

Getting a bit away from the copper country, but...

Who owns/erected the several huge windmills off to the west side of I-75 just south of the Big Mac bridge? Are they actively generating and supplying power to "the grid"? I just noticed them this year and hadn't read anything about their being erected.

As seen in September 2003

Hello Joanne of White lk, yes you do know me. Shirley, Sam, and Toby of Hartland say Hi.

I think the guys on the beach are girl watchers. Maybe trying to spot a mermaid.

Speaking of windswept waves on Lake Superior (and courtesy of Oreboat Ivan way down south in the Gulf of Mexico), there were gusts of around 50 mph when I last went swimming at Great Sand Bay on August 18th as evidenced by the breakers and bent trees in my picture below.
I probably should have hired a "spotter" for such reckless abandon but I appear to have survived no worse for wear to bodysurf its beautiful waves yet another day.
Come to think of it there's an old Marten Harbor song about spending a summer day there many moons ago and an mp3 rendition of it is but one mere click away:

Great Sand Bay

Happy Rosh Hashana!

RCM -

Those windmills have been there a few years.
There's more info here:

http://www.greatlakesdirectory.org/zarticles/39windmills.htm

Audrey-

Thanks for stopping in to say Hi to Annette. She did get a kick out of it! Isn't Manistique a cute little town? Anyway, what were some of the highlights of your trip? What did your husband think of da up eh?

Mike of Michigan, don’t you own a house up on Edwards Street in Houghton?

Yes Matt I certainly do. I look forward to being there in about a week and half . . . If Joanne of White Lk. hasn't changed the locks.

Shelly...

Yes, Manistique is a very cute town, and we were staying just one block from downtown so nice to just walk over there to shop and browse. Spent some time at the Post Office there (mailing back rocks!) No time now for highlights (need to get back to work here!) but will work on that over the wknd and post it early next week. My husband loved it there and he's definately looking forward to a return trip too!

When i went outside this morning my orange juice glass had whitecaps-windy in Mason Location

I’m going up soon too! I can almost taste Vollworth’s meats.

I wonder, am I the only person in San Jose driving around with the bumper sticker:

SAY YA TO THE UP, EH?

Here in N.Ga. it is raining steady and the wind is starting to pick up. There are tornado watches, flood watches and wind warnings up for this area. I am making a large pan of BBQ chicken in case our power goes off. Haven't heard from Alex in Atlanta in several days.He is always kept busy during bad weather in Ga.South Ga is inmore danger.

P.S. I'll take snow anyday.

Kate, CA
Thanks for the link to the MTU cam. Most appreciated. Now I can check in to see that cam too. Thanks again.

I have a "Say Ya to da UP, EH?" sticker here in central PA and have seen another!

Hi C.J.{not a.j.} I did read about power outage .I don'tthink I had any Perishables in Fridge.
Let Mike clean up any messes since he owns the house.

mike locks are still the same. Don't let any dead beats in like Matt of Hart land. i'LL let you make that decision since its your house.

Fran, GA
Take it easy on your leg there lady....don't push yourself too much. Hopefully things winds will slow down for you in GA. It was suppose to rain here in lower MI but the sun is out,,,little on the muggy side but heck, I'll take it over whats going on down south. I have a feeling that we here in the north this year will have a snowy winter....but I'll take it (until it actually comes that is....)

I finally sold my Jeep, sad day, but no need for a 4 wheel drive gas hog in Houston, and it did have 170,000+ miles on it. It had my "Say Yah to da UP eh?" sticker and "got SISU?" sticker on it. I am not sure if I want to put them on my new car or not. It's a Grand Am, and it was kinda a gift from my church, so I feel like it should stay bumper sticker free. :)

Shelly, I hear you about keeping your new car bumper sticker free. Wanna hear something funny? I bought 2 sets of bumper stickers (the Say Yah one, and also the UP Euro Decal), one for my current car, and the other set for when I get a new car! Which will probably be in a few years, just turned over to 140,000 miles!

Audrey of San Jose, CA I saw one (bumper sticker) here in Santa Rosa, CA last Memorial Day unless that was you.

Scott, No, not me. Mine just went on my car this week. But still, most people I've talked to around here have no idea where the UP of MI is! Which is why I'd be surprised to see any!

dd, ive eaten aboard a couple boats, and its true, freighter food is second to none, and just for info the boat pictured is the 1000 foot Burns Harbor

C.j. milford/hancock
I laughed at you buying pasty from pats, but Iguess there some of the best according to seasoned pasty lovers Sorry about that you learn something new every day.

I have that sticker on my truck in Colorado. It's funny to watch people in the rear view mirror as the mouth the "Say ya to da UP, eh!" with a puzzled look on their faces!

I had one person ask me in a parking lot if the outline of the UP in the sticker was a religious symbol!

I said it was in a way of sorts!

yooper at college

i'd love to ride in a laker....how do you manage to do that? or were you working ?

Where does the word EH come from in the saying Say ya to da UP EH. Ive always heard the word Hey.Hey you, see you around, hey. Say ya to da UP,Hey. It doesn't sound right to me, hey. See you later, hey hey. Definately not eh eh.

Everbody and Anybody, Does anyone know if there's a cancer support group in the Copper Country? Please leave me a e-mail a.s.a.p. Steve, Laurium

Keweenaw Home Nursing and Hospice has more info available on their website. Just click on their name above here.

To hey hey
I guess you have'nt heard a lot of Finnlanders or yoopers talk. They end a lot of sentences with eh.

The air is still wild and fresh in the Copper Country this afternoon but not as fierce as overnight. Everything looked beautiful this morning with huge clouds flying by.

Big red needs new tires and a buddy. Convince Grandpa to get another one Chuck! I'm still jealous!

Rose; What a great picture you just posted. I could sit here at work and look at it all night.
Of course, I wouldn't get any work done. DAA!

trish, wa -- We have had rain and some wind here in northeast GA. Scattered tornadoes are the biggest problem at the moment. We just had school cancelled tomorrow, then spent almost an hour in the classrooms waiting for the late buses so the kids could go home. Middle-schoolers! They were good considering how wild they wanted to be. I think we will get lots of rain tonight, then it will be all over.

Audrey, Where does one find the Euro UP decal, eh?

yooperwannabee/IN, I found mine at the store A Touch of Finland which is in Marquette. They had lots of Yooper and Finnish merchandise.

ert,GA -
Sure it will be over eh... at least until hurricane Jeanne hits next week...

The "eh" thing was something that I grew up hearing even though I lived "under da bridge". My "pipi" and "mimi" (grandpa & grandma) were from Canada, and I remember my mimi would say "Ulysse" and he'd say "Eh?"

dd, it all comes down to who you know and i was lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time with the right person, other than that its nearly impossible to get on the boats, although if you check out www.boatnerd.com they do have raffles to win trips on the lakers...

Jo Anne, I am a Finnlander and have lived among Finns all my life. Like they say on Suomi Kuutso HEY HEY.

Eh is veeerrry Canadian eh. Ya sure.. ya bet ya.
I had a "Euro style" U P from the Quincy mine gift shop.I got it maybe 4 years ago.I know of one that a friend {former yooper from Escanaba} had on a Chevy Nova while living near london England {car symbol UK}.He got some odd comments from some old Russians who thought the car was from the UKraine..seems they had a "U.P." symbol at one time.Another friend and former Lake Linden resident, has my old "Euro U P" and a "Say ya to da U P eh" sticker on his car in Germany.

hey hey, I am thinking that maybe those who were raised in a Finnish family or a predominatley Finnish nieghborhood would be more prone to say eh. Where I was raised we mostly said hey. I still do even after all these years. "Ya" was common too. I imagine a lot of the other things we said were derived from some other culture also.

Heavy rain and some wind here but not bad yet. Schools are cancelled for tomorrow.

Can any of you smart folks tell me what this thing is on my hummingbird feeder? It showed up late the other night and was so big I though it was a hummingbird at frist. As I girl...I have to say ...EWE.

Fran,GA; Ya yu bettcha. Hope everything goes well
for you and yours tommorrow. Wishing yu da best!

Re: 19.8 foot waves...Yikes... I rode on the Isle Royale II (boat from Isle Royale to Copper Harbor)just last month. I (my stomach) thought the 5-8 foot waves were a little rough. Can't even imagine the fine folks who run that boat have enough and soap and water to wash the vomit off of the sides after 19.8 foot waves.

By the way the moth at the humming bird feeder looks like a Luna moth to me.

Victor-No washing needed as the boats don`t
go out when the lake is that rough.

Sdc Ferndale, You should have seen me this afternoon running around in that rain. When we picked up my grandson he let me know I had no business being out there running around after just having surgery a wk ago!

Geez, I noticed I spelled predominently wrong before. Hope this is try is right.

downstate don, thanks if we all make it thru the night we should be o.k. They are saying this will be the worst time. People living in low lying areas will be flooded tho. It has started thundering so I will have to unhook my computer

Butch, They were sure washing the sides as we walked to our cars after our four and a half hours of 5-8 foot waves... Didn't think to get a picure of them doing the buckets and long handled brushs rutine.

Gorgeous pictures!!!

I think your bug at the hummingbird feeder is a sphinx moth. We have them down here in southern Ohio and they do hang out around the same plants and feeders as do the hummingbirds. The funny thing is - I never see them until late summer every year. Maybe they are in a cocoon until this time of tear.

Enjoy the pictures and postings. You up there in da UP please remember all of us wanna be's..you are so lucky.

Great pics per usual, all of them. Someone mentioned the food on the freighter (Roudy?)
I just know that on any boat my dad was skipper had to have great food, he ousted the ones that couldn't cook...just dropped them off at the first docking. Had to feed the hands good food, was his motto, and he did. AND if you were working on his tug and it was tied at some city and you were not there by shove-off time in the a.m., too bad. You had to find another way home.

camwatcher, it might be a sphynx moth. they hover and
almost behave like hummers.

Call me dense but what does "Euro UP" mean?

Cars in Europe often have.. or are required to have an oval shaped ,black and white decal with a letter or two designateing the country. or a region of registration..such as F for france GB for great Britian. I think Italy is IT.

You go get em' Chuck and Sarah!! We need another 4 wheeler at the cottage.

hi just wanted to post this message:
sometime today my two dogs got out of their pen. I belive the wind broke the door but I am not sure. If anybody has seen them please post it. One is a Bluetick with no collar and the other is a medium sized Beagle with a red collar. Thank you so much Jessie and Joshua

I think Finland's euro sticker is "SF". (Suomi-Finland)

Why do some people hate windy days? I love the wind. I would love to go down to Lake Superior on a day like this and see the waves. If only I had time!!! I heard so many people say today they hate the wind. Why??????????????

OOOps!! Sorry to the Floridians and Alabamians in the midst of this storm. Guess I would'nt care for the wind after the damage done there. No, that kind of wind we don't need.

Hey! It's spelled hei, hei. You UP Finlanders pronounce and spell things wrong. You all say Soo-me for Suomi when every consonant should be pronounced - Soo-oh-me.

That is one scary looking moth!!! If that flew on me I would have a myocardial infarction.

Good Nite Pasty People

Nitpicky MN Finn, Kylää! I have one of those Euro oval decals on the Mazda. It says FIN, and it came from the Touch of Finland store in Marquette. I hear some say 'swami' for Suomi and that sure ain't right! And you're right about hei hei. When you meet, you say "Hei." and when you part you say "Hie hei." Another newer one is "Moi" and "Moi moi". The same meaning, Hi! and Bye. The 'eh' I think came from Canada, and the French Canucks. Eh?
Camwatcher, the moth is an Egyptian Sphinx moth. I have a pic of one of them from a few years ago that I caught in a Mason jar. Iso (Finnish for big).

Ello everyone;;Have you had any kulla-moiakka lately?

Boatwatching?! I would suppose that some do that there, however Whitefish Point is one of the premier birdwatching meccas in the midwest! In the spring and fall migrating birds by the hundreds or even thousands cross over FROM the point in spring to Canada or TO the point in fall daily! Birders come from all over North America to view this. There are almost always dozens of birders there at these times of the year. I have been to that exact spot myself a few times. Most likely I know, or know of, the pictured folks there. Every year there are always several strange species from far away places such as the Artic, Russia, western & southern US, even Europe that show up there! Michigan Audubon Societys Whitefish Point Bird Observatory building is just across the parking lot from the Great Lakes Ship Museum and the Lighthouse there.
The top of Brockway Mountain is another excellent place to see migrating birds in the fall, particularly Hawks which can often be seen by looking DOWN on them as they pass through!
I always thought the 1000+ footer "The Belle River" (Named after the river right near our home here!)- is (or was) the longest? Quite a sight to see it turned 90 degrees across the St. Clair River, back up to the Edison Plant docks (not far from the mouth of the Belle River) to unload coal!

Fran & Alex, I too was wondering about you guys there. Ivan is now centered over where Dave Hiltunen is in Tenn. Haven't heard from them lately. How about it Dave ? Are you guys OK?

Yes I agree that is a Sphinx moth--often seen at Hummingbird feeders! BTW Hummingbirds will be leaving soon but DO leave your feeders up for some time yet. Don't believe that about them not migrating if you leave your feeders up! They will go when they are ready and your feeders just might help give a boost to those late stragglers.

Does anyone remember the old 70s AAA bumper stickers in various languages? We had one in Finnish-- said "Tuokaa Taikasin Elevana" (spelling?) ("Bring- EM- Back Alive"!)

Don...no fish soup.....Blah!

Just a quick update on our goog friend, IVAN


Lots of destruction here in Atlanta and north...........

Oops, good*, sorry..............

Knots times 1.15 equel miles per hour.