Houghton MI (Low 50 Mostly Cloudy High 74)
NOTE: We had a publishing issue with this entry so apologize if it appears as on your reading lists on Wednesday the 5th.
Continuing our tour of the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend Iowa. We took a lot of pictures didn't we?
Located next to the Grotto is Sts. Peter and Paul Church.
Fr. Dobberstein, the original builder of the Grotto, and Fr. Greving,
were parish priests in West Bend and this was their Church. Notice the
stone fountain in front.
The church is not part of the guided tour but is worthwhile none the less. Entering the church is impressive.
The altar is also impressive. It is 22 feet tall and hand
carved from bird's eye maple. It won 1st Place in the Chicago World's
Fair in 1893.
But we were here to see the Christmas Chapel, built by Fr. Dobberstein in 1927.
There is an audio review of the Chapel voiced by Fr.
Greving that explains more about the building of the chapel and that
there are stones from every state in the Union and every country in the
world. Stones selected for the Christmas Chapel were ones that Fr.
Dobberstein considered too delicate to handle the weather and the
changing seasons. Of particular note is a 300 lb. amethyst from Brazil
inset in the wall above the child Jesus.
Here are more pictures of the Christmas Chapel.
This was an unexpected treat of our tour of the Grotto.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton MI (Low 38 Sunny then Showers later High 70)
Subtitled: A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum
It was a rainy day recently so we decided it would be a good day
to visit the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum on the campus of Michigan
Technological University in Houghton Michigan. There were so many -ites we were up to our neck in them :-)
Some of the -ites we saw: rhodochrosite, datolite, goethite, halite, barite, wulfenite, calcite, fluorite, azurite, aragonite, curite, sphalerite; and hundreds more.
This museum has thousands of exhibits, a small percentage is viewable at one time so even if you have been before chances are it will be different since they rotate the exhibits.
We had a rough time just getting out of the gift shop since it was so neat. Here are some leaves electroplated with copper.
Here are other displays in the gift shop.
We also liked this display helping us to identify items.
A 800 pound sheet of copper in the gift shop.
Somewhat appropriately this museum sits on top of an old mine shaft and houses the world’s finest collection of Keweenaw Copper District mineral, the world’s finest collection of Lake Superior Iron District minerals, the world’s most comprehensive collection of Michigan Minerals, one of the best fluorescent mineral exhibits in the United States, and is one of the largest mineral collections on public view in North America. It is a Keweenaw National Historical Park Heritage Site.
A few of our favorite display cases.
Since we don't want to overwhelm you with photos and stories we are going to break this into at least another blog entry, maybe two or more, so stay tuned.
Another great day exploring things we had never heard of before.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton MI (Low 43 Partly Sunny High 64)
Rise of the Machines and they don't like us.
It has begun, SkyNet is forming and all of our machines are turning on us. Bob's Motorola Droid 3 smartphone is rebooting about every 8 hours and is slow. This morning it did not have location services so during Bob's walk he heard from the RunKeeper app; Time 10 minutes, Distance 0.0 miles, Average Pace 0 miles per minute. At least the clock worked so he knew he walked for 35 minutes 27 seconds.
If that was the only problem we could mark it off as an old phone that needs replacing. But our DirecTV system is on the fritz as we reported earlier, probably a bad SWM8 switch that we are getting a new one in a few days. Jo's HTC Incredible smartphone is much newer than Bob's but is also starting to run slower especially on Words With Friends and on WiFi for some reason.
Our Kindles are also a little flaky and the battery life on all of our devices is atrocious. They must have to be plugged into power to do their nasty networking.
The Rise of the Machines has begun,
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton MI (Low 45 Showers High 58)
Continuing our review of the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend Iowa.
Built in the 1960's and 1970's by Fr. Greving the exterior walls of the Museum and Rock Studio are done in polished agates from all over the world. Here are the Museum and Rock Studio shown behind the Angel announcing the birth of Jesus.
It took 16 years alone to polish all the agates. Inside there are three different rock collections, articles and history on building the Grotto, and of Fr. Dobberstein, Fr. Greving and Matt Szerence. There is a 45 minute film that is very good. Here are some of the displays:
Fr. Dobbersteins tools and traveling cases
Petrified Wood
Other displays
Very interesting to learn more about the Grotto and the men that built it and to see the stones and gems before they were added to features in the Grotto.
Our review of the Grotto will continue. The photos from our stay in Clear Lake (Surf Ballroom, Crash Site, Grotto of the Redemption, Muskie Lounge, etc.) have been uploaded to Flickr in the Clear Lake Iowa set.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton MI (Low 35 Mostly Cloudy A Little Rain High 55)
Sitting around the campfire we heard about a good bakery that serves real good pasties, including a breakfast pasty, that was near Subway. Leaving Wal-Mart we decided to stop in and get a menu and confirm when they had breakfast ones. A pasty is a traditional Cornish lunch and a nod to the miners that
settled the copper country. It features a crust wrapped around meat,
potatoes, onions, carrots, and rutabaga.
They also feature some other takes on the
traditional such as a pizza pasty, the turkey
pasty (the whole dinner, including the stuffing and cranberries in a pasty), the
philly and the veggie and a chicken broccoli. We ordered a turkey and a breakfast one to go.
Once they found out at Roy's Pasties and Bakery that this was our first visit we got the royal treatment.
We got a free sample of the almond danish that has the same type of almond paste in the danish that were in the Dutch Letters we recently had in Pella IA and it was excellent. We then learned more of the history of the place and then got a sample of their breakfast cookie, which has oats and chocolate chips and other things we cannot remember except it was so good. We also got a cranberry cookie which was also good.
We then met the owner who brought us out an end piece of a povatica that he just finished cutting and it was very good too. Found out that they are friends with the camp hosts of our park. It was like meeting old friends that we never knew. The bakery goods all looked good and we sure picked out a few to try before we leave.
We still have a lot of blogging catch up to do from our trip getting here so stay tuned. We have to get a lot of the backlog completed because it is going to get crazy around here later in June with three festivals; Seafood Fest, Finn Fest, and Bridge Fest. In late June or early July we are not sure when but there is a Pasty Fest in nearby Calumet that Roy told us about. We are sure each of these will be worth a blog entry or two.
We can confirm that the pasties are some of the best, if
not the best, that we have had while on the Upper Peninsula. The turkey pasty with the turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy and cranberries is unique and good. That was so good we went and got the chicken and broccoli pasty and it was also good. This morning we will see how the breakfast pasty is. We still have to have the traditional one; so much eating, so little time.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton MI (Low 32 Cloudy to Partly Sunny High 60)
The weather in Houghton has been a little chilly, had frost warnings last night but don't worry, our landscaping and lawn is just fine :-)
Continuing our review of the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend Iowa.
In the old city of Jerusalem there is the Via Dolorosa, "Way of Grief", "Way of Sorrows", "Way of Suffering", or simply "Painful Way" in Latin, the path where Jesus was led on his way to the Crucifixion. Every Catholic Church has the Stations of the Cross and there are some outdoor ones, but we have seen none has gorgeous as the ones in the Grotto.
The First Station - Jesus is Condemned to Death
The Second Station - Jesus Carries His Cross
The Third Station - Jesus Falls the 1st Time
The Fourth Station - Jesus Meets His Sorrowful Mother
The Fifth Station - Simon Carries The Cross
The Sixth Station - Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus
The Seventh Station - Jesus Falls the Second Time
The Eighth Station - Jesus Meets the Holy Women of Jerusalem
The Ninth Station - Jesus Falls a Third Time
The Tenth Station - Jesus is Stripped of His Clothes
The Eleventh Station - Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
The Twelfth Station - Jesus Dies on the Cross
The Thirteenth Station - Jesus is Taken Down From the Cross
The Fourteenth Station - Jesus is Laid in the Sepulcher
A different view of the Fourteenth Station
Here are the Stations from higher in the Grotto
Another aspect of a truly amazing and spiritual place.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton Michigan (Low 40 Cooler with Clouds Breaking High 50)
The good news is that it only took 2 trips to the hardware store, the bad news is that RV repairs are always an adventure. For Bob at least most house or RV repairs are always an adventure :-)
The faucet in the kitchen sink started leaking while we were in South Range Wisconsin. This is the second faucet we have had develop the same leak in less than 4 years. Luckily the first one was replaced under warranty while at the dealer for other work. Not wanting to get another faucet like the defective ones we went with a residential one from Menards. We chose a Moen.
The adventure begins as with all RV activity, extremely cramped quarters. All the stuff had to be taken out that we were storing under the sink. Then the false walls and support for the trash can taken out so Bob could crawl under the sink and remove the old faucet. One thing Bob has learned is that it usually is a good idea to take the piece you are replacing to the store so you can make sure what you get will work. It was a good idea in the house and an even better idea in the RV. Certainly saved us a trip this time as the fittings on the RV were 1/2" and the fittings on the new faucet were 3/8".
The first trip to Menards was to make sure that they had a faucet that might work. The RV places were closed for the holiday anyway. We took some measurements and decided it was worth going forward. The adventure continues with the holes that were drilled in the Corian counter-top for the faucet. One hole was the standard 1 1/2" but the other one was 1". We knew this was going to be a problem so we were so glad we took the old faucet with us. Our old faucet had the on/off valve in the 1 1/2" hole and the water in the 1" hole. As you can see the new faucet has both water and on/off valve in one location requiring the 1 1/2" hole. Luckily this faucet had a soap dispenser which we used for the other hole.
Everything is back together now and we like having a high quality faucet that maybe we won't have to change out in a couple of years.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton MI (Low 53 Rain and a Thunderstorm High 66)
We did not do any sightseeing while in South Range Wisconsin, unless you count eating at the Kounty Quarthouse or shopping. With all the rain that we got plus the issues with DirecTV and other maintenance the week just sailed by. We think we know what the problem is with our DirecTV reception, a bad port on the SWM8 switch. Now we just need to get one and check it out. Always an adventure trying to get service and deliveries when your location changes every week.
We left yesterday for Houghton Michigan, it was 205 miles and our first taste of a new timezone in almost a year, here is the route we took:
View Larger Map
Since we will be in Houghton for the summer we thought we would show our 2013 travels to date.
View Larger Map
We are once again at the City of Houghton RV Park and we really like this place. The first year we were here for a week, then 3 weeks last summer and now 3 months. Here are a couple of photos of the park.
We were greeted by some friends we met last year and had a great campfire before the rains came in last night. Later this summer some RV'ng friends from the Kansas City area will be coming up for a visit and we are looking forward to that.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
