A Yooper 4th of July

Last weekend was a big weekend, a celebration of the adoption of the declaration of independence in 1776, or what we now refer to as the "4th of July".  For us Americans, there is usually a lot of festivities: family get togethers, BBQs, fireworks, the whole shebang - literally!
This year for the 4th of July, my family and I headed up to the upper peninsula to spend time with family and enjoy a long weekend.  We took my car, which was exciting in itself, and set off to make more terrific memories in the yoop.
We set off at 5:40am on Thursday, a little tired, but raring to get up and start our weekend.  Mimi and I rode in the back on the way up and shared a sleeping bag.  Unfortunately, Mimi isn't a very cuddly dog whatsoever, and I mostly had to cuddle up with the sleeping bag if I wanted to nap at all.  Along the way, however, there were the usual landmarks to watch for, such as the mackinaw bridge, our halfway marker, and of course enjoying looking at beautiful Lake Michigan along the way.

 

 

Once we arrived, around 3pm, at my Grandpa's, we didn't do anything too exciting.  Mostly talked about our trip and gathered our stuff into the house.  I played Frisbee with Mimi and talked to a neighbor girl who was helping my Grandpa stain his deck.  She was a very sweet girl and just adored Mimi.  Mimi liked her as well.

On Friday, my Mom and I set off to pick up my Grandma and spend the day traveling even farther north to the Keweenaw peninsula.  During this adventure we stopped at: a gift shop to visit my mom's friend, the Jampot, where the monks make delicious baked goods, and finally the beach, where we dipped our toes in the water (at least I did), and scrunched our toes into the nice golden sand.  Along the way I took photos of the scenery, including Jacob's falls, which is located near the Jampot, and of course - my favorite, lake superior in all its splendor and glory.  It was truly an amazing and beautiful day, both in the memories, and in the weather.

 

The fun wasn't over however!  That evening, My Mom and I went over to my Jackie's see her and Mike, eat dinner, and meet Jackie's new puppy Ziva.  Mimi enjoyed meeting Ziva and was very good with her.  We got a giggle out of the fact that the puppy looks a lot like Mimi.  However, it is not a Border Collie like Mimi, but an English Shepherd, which I had not heard of before.  Nevertheless, both Mimi and Ziva entertained us with cute antics and had some good old fashioned black and white dog fun. 

After dinner, we walked across the road to the beach.  Ziva stayed behind, however, as she was too pooped from all the excitement.  Gotta love puppies!

 

 Most of my Saturday was spent at my Grandma's in the country.  I did a little homework to past the time while my Grandma napped, then we listened to music and got some surprise visitors - relatives from Wisconsin.  We talked to them for awhile and then once they left we went for a walk to pick wild strawberries.  When we got back, my parents were on their way from fishing to come get me.  We quickly made some coffee and avocado mousse.  My parents stayed for a few minutes and then we headed back to my grandpa's for the night, our last night in the U.P.  It was hard to believe our trip was coming to an end already.  Below are some pictures I took while at my Grandma's, including a picture of the delicious strawberries we picked.

 

Unfortunately, Sunday came and it was time to head home.  Nothing too eventful happened besides the fact that I got to drive across the Mackinaw Bridge for the first time!  To my surprise, it wasn't as scary as it looks.  It probably also helps that I've rode across Big Mac about a million times.  Once we got home, I also got to pick tons of black raspberries that had ripened up in the few days we had been gone.  I set to work right away in the few hours of the daylight that were left.  The results of my picking are in a picture below and I've been picking ripe black raspberries about every day since.  And I don't even get tired of it!

 

 

All in all, it was a great trip, an adventure to and in my birthplace, and memories I'll probably never forget.  And that was definitely not my last visit to the U.P, as there will be loads more in the future.  So, it's just a see you later to the place I was born, the place I go to explore and escape city living.  A place where I can go back to my yooper roots and in this case have a yooper 4th of July.