Parents, a princess and a pirate

Back from the UP. Other wise known as a beautiful area of the country to visit but probably not to live. Kids did great in the car considering it takes 4 hours to get to my parents house and an additional 8 hours to get to Granny's house in the UP. Not much to look at either, various stores selling cheese and beer in Wisconsin, road kill and lakes. But once you come over that hill and see the Quincy Mine on the top of Hancock Hill, your heart just soars. Mainly because you know you're almost there but also because it really is a beautiful place.

This picture doesn't do it justice but it gives you an idea.
Granny (85 years old) has been living in Hancock, MI for 50 years or something. My grandfather worked at the above mentioned mine, mining copper. That area of the country is known as the Copper Country - during it's heyday it was the largest copper supplier in the world. There is still millions of dollars of copper in the ground but it's too expensive to mine it any longer. So unfortunately, when the mines shut down, so did a lot of the towns. The area now mainly survives on small businesses and tourism. Lots of Harley's in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter. They average over 300 inches of snow a year so it's a snowmobile r's paradise. Too bad it takes so darn long to get there.