Congratulations for your recent recognition as a great web site!  It's nice to see the big guys actually surf for the good sites and found yours!  I personally think it's great even if they didn't recognize it!

Paula

"Ten Websites that Matter" appeared in the May '99 E-Commerce issue of the Journal of Business Innovation published by Ernst & Young.

My family is about to move to the area, but we're concerned about the copper mines.  Does any one out there know exactly were the mines are or where we can find a map of some sort that will let us know the locations.  We are moving up this summer and don't want to take this in to consideration when purchasing a home.  So far we like the Lake Linden area, it seems to be a quiet little community, but I heard that due to the old copper mines, it's also polluted.  Is this nonsense or what's up?! 

We can't wait to get up to God's country!

R.K.R.

We have known of sink holes opening up in some back yards (woooaah!!)  Maybe some of our readers could share their experiences or tips on Past-E-Mail in June.

My 6 pasties arrived exactly as described, Thursday morning.  They were still cool, same as last time.  I Love your service!

Edith Hendley

Just want to say Thank You for all the work you put into getting new pictures up every day.  I am writing from downstate Lansing, but my heart is up there.   I only get to visit once or twice a year now, to the Dollar Bay area.  I really enjoy all the different photos!!!  Thanks so much for brightening my day!

- Toni, a yooper at heart

Thank you, Toni, for brightening ours.

I just checked out your wonderful website.You appear to be doing real well with your Yooper burritos.   I am from Mohawk and would like to know if it would be possible to have you list us on your website.   We are attempting to market decorative natural white birch fireplace logs.  Our website is Tree Stem Creations.   A site that is as popular as yours may be helpful to us and we in turn could add a link to your site from ours.

Thank you so much for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Jim Kumpula

Them's nice lookin' logs.

My daughter's pasties arrived on Thursday.  She an her pals in the dorm enjoyed a great taste treat during final's week.

Pat Rogalin

It is believed that pasties bring about measurable improvement in performance on final exams.  Maybe somebody should do a study.

Our pasties arrived this afternoon ( Thursday, May 20 ) and were still very cold. We ate them for dinner and they were outstanding!  We have not had any as good in 10 years. I also enjoyed reading the newspaper they were packed in.

Jack Karle

Our Mining Gazette packing material is a perennial favorite.

Thought I would write and ask a kind of strange question.  Have you guys ever thought of trying to put together a kind of community bulletin board?  I'm referring to the type of thing where people can write, post questions/ comments/etc. about the UP, pasties, anything.  Something like eClix.  'Course, that's a more "general" type BB but you could probably get a great following of people who check into Pasty.com on a regular basis (like me).  Sure would be a fun thing to add to the page!!

JoAnne in Port Orchard, WA

Great idea, JoAnne.  Maybe we can set something up over the summer.

Maybe just   "Ya 2 Keweenaw"   would've been enough?  And, please, I'm  only suggesting...I saw that little "sm" beside it, so I reckon it's too late for changes, even IF you were so inclined.    Would the Finnish say:  "Ja 2 Keweenaw"?  No one has heard of J2K, have they?

As far as the UP is concerned, Never enough,  I'm a Troll in that's where my butt is - and it's only been the contact with you that I realize that other Yoopers die hard also!

One of these days, I'm gonna write you a real snail-mail letter.....One of these days. 

Love from ///*!*\\\
(Carolyn Wills)

It's sort of patterned after a bumper sticker going around....

Dear Pasty Folks,

        Thank you for the great web site. My wife and I recently moved from the Copper Country to California and have enjoyed watching the change in seasons via the lens of the Pasty Cam.
        I don't know if you take nominations for local businesses but the Harbor Haus (www.harborhaus.com) has a site that they have been working on for a while.  At any rate, thank you again for the great site.

Hope you are having a great spring!!

Mark and Juanita Hendrickson

Thanks for the tip!

I check in everyday and noticed one of your e-mails from Florida, Peggy D. (below).  I live in the Florida panhandle, on the beautiful Emerald Coast and I know if there was a pasty shop anywhere around here it would be a great hit.  Having worked for the Destin Area Chamber of Commerce for many years, I have met many snowbirds who say the same thing.  Also, we have 4 Yoopers in our subdivision alone and we often comment about how nice it would be to just be able to buy a pasty locally.  We all can and do make them (when one family makes them, all the rest want some) maybe once a year, but seriously, if someone had the ambition to make pasties everyday, it would be a great business venture here in the Florida panhandle.  Also, there is not a bakery, ( like the old Parkside or Thurner's) you have to order or purchase from the grocery.  Since we are a large military area, there are a lot of people that have lived in the U.P. and know what a pasty is.  I hope this gives a "great pasty maker and baker" a good idea for a business if they want to live in the "Sunshine State".  The next time I get a hankering for a pasty you can be sure you'll get my order!

Enjoy that cool weather!

Bonnie C.

I was up late tonight checking airfare to the UP when I decided to check your site just for fun. As I was looking through the Pasty Cam pictures I found myself feeling very sentimental as I looked at the picture of the Victorian Inn.  Their property backs the home I lived in for all of my growing up years and we saw many people come and go in that house - even spent time hanging out there ourselves. The owners let me tour it as they were renovating, I'm glad to see it restored. 

And one question before I sign off--do you sell pasties to the locals or do I have to have them shipped to my parents in Tamarack City when we are visiting?!?

Lori  (who was from Laurium - now in California)

Just stop in at 600 E Elm Street in Calumet... we always have pasties on hand.

It was great to be in the U.P. last week and see the REAL THING and hear the sounds and sniff the springtime there.  But I forgot to take a picture of the waterfall at the bridge at Gitche Gumee.  If you're by that way, how about a shot for the Pasty Cam?  (Too bad we can't hear the roar of the water...or maybe we can some day.)  Thanks again for your attempt to put Chuckles and Crazy Joyce on the Internet.  We'll try again in the fall. 

With envy (that you get to see this every day) and kudos for all your work...

Lois H.

We'll send the Pasty Cam on assignment one of these days after a good rain :o)

Aloha,

I really enjoy visiting the Copper Country via your internet sight and especially enjoy the daily pictures.  I keep track of the weather through your pictures.  My family (Liikala's) used to live in Centennial Heights and Calumet and I still have aunts, uncles and cousins there.  A fun way to "travel" to the C.C. every day or so.  Thanks.

Karen Peska
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Aloha, eh?

Our pasties arrived exactly as promised.  We were very pleased.  It is always a welcome meal!  I am surprised that someone has not started a pasty shop in FL!  We have a lot of "snow-birds" here!

Peggy D.

That's a good question.  Does anyone know of any local pasty shops in Florida??

Just letting you know that your lovely pasties arrived as scheduled late Tuesday morning, 5/11.  They were a hearty and deelishus meal!  We ate the pasties, recycled the box, saved the plastic wrap, and read the newspaper. Looking forward to ordering some more soon, maybe as a surprise for my folks on Dad's day.

Thanks!

Felice K

The wrap you mention is "space blanket", which works wonders keeping the pasties cold.  And of course the newspaper:  Daily Mining Gazette.

I WAS PLAYING ON MY DAUGHTERS COMPUTER AND DISCOVERED YOU.

BY THE WAY, I AM NOT SHOUTING, I'M JUST TOO LAZY TO USE THE SHIFT KEY.

ANYWAY, I WAS THRILLED TO FIND YOU AND SPENT  THE PAST FEW HOURS LOOKING AT YOUR PICTURES FOR THE PAST MONTHS.

I SPENT MANY WONDERFUL YEARS IN THE KEWEENAW  WITH A CAMP ON BEAUTIFUL LAKE MEDORA,  A HOME IN LAURIUM AND A SMALL SHOP OUT IN COPPER HARBOR---GRAMMA DODIE'S.  HOUSE IN LAURIUM WAS TOO BIG AND HAD TO SELL IT  AND BECOME A TROLL.  BUT I AM STILL FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO SPEND THE SUMMERS IN COPPER HARBOR IN A LITTLE CABIN.   I WORK PART TIME FOR BARB FOLEY -- FRONTIER VILLAGE -- AND ALSO OUT AT FORT WILKINS AS THE EVENING HOSTESS FOR THE PROGRAMS.

I'M TICKLED PINK THAT I CAN NOW SEE PICTURES OF MY BELOVED COPPER COUNTRY.  KEEP UP THE GOOOD WORK.

I'M HEADING NORTH THE 25TH OF JUNE SO IF YOUR EVER IN COPPER HARBOR DO STOP IN THE RED STORE ON THE CORNER AND SAY "HI". 

GRAMMA DODIE

    Just had to write and tell you how much I LOVE Pasty Central and, mostly, that Pasty Cam!  I go there every single day, without fail.  My families roots are in the U.P.  Both mom's and dad's.  Just to drop a couple of names here; my maiden name is Hauring.  My dad (recently passed away) was Arthur Gordon.  His Dad lived in Mohawk for YEARS (also named Art).  My Dad's Mom was a Bylkas, of the Bootjack Bylkas' but she passed when he was an infant.
     My mom's maiden name was Kesti and she had siblings in and around the Copper Country (extended family is still there).   I, personally, lived in Calumet from 1975 to 1984, my teen years and I graduated from Calumet High (Go Copper Kings!) 
    My husband's family is also from the area.  His mom's (Beatrice) maiden name was Terrill.  His Dad passed many years ago. 
    Anyway, enough on the history....just really wanted to say that your pictures are terrific and pull at our "home heartstrings" everyday.  We'll be up for a visit (memorial service for my Dad) this August.  Can't wait to get back to the 'ol stomping grounds again and, in the meantime, I'll visit your wonderful site to get my Copper Country "fix" everyday.  Oh, and by the way, the pasties aren't half bad either (though I mostly make my own!). 

Keep up the good work, eh?

JoAnne Stefanac

A lot of familiar names to folks here in the Keweenaw... and thanks for the vote of confidence.  It means a lot, coming from a pasty-maker.

Massachusetts (5/7)

Hi!  I got the pasties yesterday and my husband and I had one each for dinner last night -- they were just like my mom used to make!

Against all possibilities, the Mining Gazette which was in the box was of interest to me on a very personal note.  I opened it up, pleased that I would get a little upper peninsula news (though I'm originally from Cheboygan, my folks were from the UP, and my dad in particular, Ensio Leinonen, grew up in Calumet/Otter Lake/Baraga/Baltic area).  I was reading the headlines, and thinking that this was a very recent paper until a name popped out at me -- from the obituaries.  It was Paul J. Leinonen -- my dad's brother, who died about this time last year.

Sure enough, it was his obituary -- the paper was from last year!

Strange though this seems, I was somewhat comforted, because I hadn't been able to go to my uncle's funeral.  My parents both passed away a few months before Uncle Paul, and so we just couldn't afford the air-fare back.  It was like getting a small touch on the shoulder from the family, seeing the obituary so carefully written.

So, along with the pasties, thank you for that, as well, unintentioned though it was.

Nancy (Leinonen) Howells

P.S.  I miss Michigan -- but I love your pasties, and they make me feel like a bit of home is available at almost any time...

You shipped pasties yesterday out of Michigan and we received them today!!  Yes, only one day from Michigan to California.  We had a pasty for dinner - at least half of one - and boy was it great!!!  There are three of us from different parts of Michigan living in this house and boy, did they bring back memories for each of us. 

Thank you for allowing each of us to re-visit our own special memories of Michigan with a pasty meal; it was truly special for each of us and we will be ordeing again in the future when we need our "pasty fix" again.  We have been trying to tell all of our friends about pasties but, since they all live out here in California, they have no idea what a treat they are missing.  We will continue in our efforts to convince them that they need to order some pasties.

Thank you for a wonderful dinner.

Karen R.

I don't know where to start... but I love the website SO MUCH !

This past few weeks I came upon the information that my MATERNAL grandparents were born and raised in the UP. They migrated to Butte, Montana, sometime after their marriage.  That's where this all started.  My mother died when I was little more than one years old.. back in 1948.  My grandparents died in the early 50s as well but I remember them with so much love ... they were the most  wonderful people I've ever known... and I still miss them so much even though I was only 6 or 7 years old when I knew them.  My  grandfather, affectionately named "Dad Vek" (Joseph O. Leveque) worked at the copper mines (raising and lowering the cars that
went down into the mine?).  He and my grandmother had come from a place called Lake Linden after they were married.  Her name, my grandmother, was Belle Brouillet. 

My Father's side of the family all came from Cornwall, England.  They too, were pasty people... and saffron cake... and all the things which seem to be so common to the UP people as well.  However, that side of my family all settled in Butte, Montana.   My Father is 80 years old now and still lives in Montana... we put together a website combining my pages with his WWII Memoirs a few years ago and a lot of family history started to come out... it's a wonderful memoir ... you can find it at:

Michelle (Tipi)

Having grown up in Houghton (in west Houghton, just up the hill from the lift bridge, on Second Street), leaving essentially after highschool in 1967, I am both intrigued and gratified that you have set up this website.  It is so much fun to see all these reminders of my childhood, and see what has changed and what has remained the same. 

I know this project must take a considerable effort to maintain, and I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy it.  I was sad to see old HHS wrecked the other day; do you have any pre-wrecking shots?  Also, the old county court house makes a nice shot.  I haven't been back through your entire library of past Pasty Cam pictures, so you may have it in that group already.

Other sites that bring back particular memories are the Quincy lift house (I spent many illegal hours snooping around it, and in multiple abandoned  mines on the Houghton side of the canal); and of course Lake Superior, always a source of beauty and inspiration.

I am now in the field of space physics, so the auroral shots are both interesting and a strong reminder of growing up in Houghton in the fifties, during the strongest solar cycle of the century...

Thanks again, and keep it up!!

Don Mitchell

I faithfully look at your web site and George's Eagle Harbor web site everyday.  George was to be on vacation from April 14th until the 25th.  It is the third of May and still no George.  Do you know if he is ok, or just took an extented vacation?

Keep up the good work.  I like Sunday's photo of Lake Medora, will be using it as a sceen saver.

Carole Krueger

Shortly after your note George returned from a brief stay in the hospital.  We're all glad to see him back at the Eagle Harbor editor's desk.

I ran across your page quite by accident but what a pleasant surprise!!!!!

I grew up in the UP and remember the aroma of pasties baking at the Gladstone bakery!  It's making my mouth water now!  Whenever I am in the UP I make a it a point to enjoy a pasty.  (Few people out here have heard of them let alone make them!)

It's always great to come across a little bit of heaven on the internet and UP sites, especilly those about pasties, bring home a little bit closer. 
Thanks!

T. Peterson

Today's picture was the best of them all -- but then I may be a little prejudiced, my wife and I have a camp about 200 yards from where this picture was taken.

Peter Chiomenti
Maryland

P.S. I am sending along three UP pictures just in case Pasty Cam has a day that is so busy that they could really use a "roving photographer."

Thanks for the photo attachments, Peter!  We welcome guest shots for the Pasty Cam.