Harry

My younger brother, Captain John Kilpela, has one of the famous dogs of Copper Harbor, a Jack Russell terrier (short breed) who goes by the name of Harry. They live in a cabin in town behind Ragamuffins Clothing and Gifts. One night I was hanging out at John's while Harry was taking his nightly constitutional out in the yard. Harry spends a lot of his time out in the yard waiting for a certain chipmunk to come out of the woodpile behind the house next door, my brother Don's place. This is a shot of Harry studying the woodpile as night comes in. I was a bit jealous of Harry a couple years back, since I would sometimes walk down the street with him and find people running out of their motel rooms to say hello while paying no attention to me at all. Visitors even knew his name, like an old friend, though they had no idea who I was.

Storms

June is always a time for few thunderstorms to roll over the U.P. Marquette had a huge hail-storm on June 20. A few days before, Copper Harbor saw a few large thunderstorms pass over on the edge of a swiftly moving cold front. This is a shot about 10:30 on that evening -- it stays light a long time in June in CH. The storm has passed east. This was taken on my bike on the main street in town, down near my home and close to my mother's gift shop, Ragamuffins. We've had lots of nice weather this year, some dry spells, some hot spells, some cool weather, a few swarms of black flies, even an early appearance of the stable flies that torment you on the Superior shore. It's always changing up here. My Dad often repeats an old saying that we hear from the locals a lot: Don't like the weather? Stick around five minutes and see it change.

The Minnetonka

Business has been, as usual, a little quiet this early June in Copper Harbor. This is a photo of Art and Miranda Davis in Art's family's motel in town, the Minnetonka Resort on the main corner, where the blinking light signals the junction of M-26 and US-41. Art was exercised about some business matter and trying to make some important point.

Lake Mango

I am now in Copper Harbor, northernmost town in Michigan, for the summer business season. I had a very pleasant first day in my northern home town, if conditions were a touch cool (temps only in the 50s, though sunny). Miranda, my daughter, Art Davis, my son-in-law, and I went to Lake Manganese just south of town late in the evening Tuesday last week to let their dogs, Capone and Gus, have a good run to get some exercise -- and wear themselves out for a night of sound sleep. This shot is a great one, don't you think? -- with the dogs standing by the sides of Art and Miranda with looks of worship in their eyes. I really don't think they were expecting anything other than more attention from Art and Mir. They had no treats in their pockets, in case you think this shot might have been faked with the use of dog biscuits. Rather, they took up the worshipful prosition you see without prompting. They are seldom found like this, believe me. The level of Lake Manganese seems no different from years past, though Lake Superior is down considerably.

Crossing the Mackinaw

So, the fun begins for the summer. My job at MSU has been suspended for 3 months, as usual, and I have moved north to Copper Harbor to run the Isle Royale Queen IV with my brothers, daughter, and parents, while my wife and 2 boys family remains south in Okemos for the end of the school year. It was quite a lousy drive north on Monday,June 4. The rain was coming down in buckets up in the northern Lower Peninusla and in the east half of the Upper Peninusla. Here's a daunting shot from the front window of my old van on the way across the Mackinaw Bridge. That's the landmass of the U.P. coming into view out of the fog and heavy rain, about 2 miles up ahead. I've just passed the north tower of the bridge and am heading down the deck toward the toll booths on the north end of the bridge. Quite a summer welcome to the ol' U.P.

My next shot is of me, Captain Ben, on the shore of Lake Superior several hours later. This was taken at one of the roadside parks along Au Train Bay, one of the spots I almost always stop at along the way north, and the way back south. It was warmer than it might appear. Though it had been pretty darn cold at the Mackinaw Bridge, in the low 50s, if that, here at Au Train the temperature had to be in the mid-60s. Copper Harbor here I come.