Lakeview Househunting Trip

This weekend we had a marathon trip to Oregon to find a house to live in this August. We left early Friday morning and got back early Monday morning, but made 6 flights and drove many hours in between! We flew directly into Klamath Falls and then drove 1.5 hrs east to Lakeview, our soon-to-be home. We were pleasantly surprised at what the town of 2,700 people had to offer, and found a place we hope we can live in. It's a brave new world for us, coming from Raleigh--talk of snow tires, 4x4s, and cold. Klamath Falls is the nearest "larger" town, but it has most amenities we're used to. To make a U.P. analogy, Klamath Falls is like the Escanaba to Lakeview's Munising. Between Klamath and Lakeview exist 3 mountain passes, however, so travel to and from Klamath requires at least a 4x4 in the wintertime. Mike thinks we need a BIG 4x4!
Below are some pics from Lakeview. The city limits sign, the sign out in front of the Safeway grocery store (1 of 2 groceries in town), Dominic posing with a for sale sign at a house we looked at, then a couple of views of the area from town. It's high and dry, with ~300+ days of sunshine per year, and an elevation of about 1 mile above sea level.

During the trip we had a layover in San Francisco and checked out some of the science displays in the concourse. Dominic was excited about the tunnel tubes there, and when we went to the one end and called him he jumped right in and came through all by himself! Amazing what that little tike will do! Here are a couple of other photos of us getting on the plane in Klamath and a view of a volcano (Shasta or Lassen) from the flight between Klamath and SFO. Awesome!

Esky placard

Last year the Escanaba High School decided to finally improve the facilities at the Athletic Field (2 blocks from our house in Esky) and raised the funds by selling bricks to alumni and supporters in the community. Tom organized our family into buying a placard/brick together, and we checked it out during the trip to Esky over the Fourth. It's really, really cool to have our names there after sending so many folks through and having personally played at this stadium (though not much!-ha,ha). Our brick is located in the walkway between the new concession stands and office and the old stands. Thanks for organizing this, Tom!

Poplar Lake (no fish!)

For the week after the Fourth we rented out the Poplar Lake fishing cabin, a large cabin on a 42-acre lake that's "off the grid" in Upper Michigan. Stories abound about the trophy fish in the lake, but let's just say that Jumbo didn't see any of them!
We had a great time, full of campfires, fishing, "bug dope," fireworks, great meals, inventive games, and catching up with each other. Below are some photos of Kats, Lory, and Jeff sitting around after breakfast, Dave cooking scotcheroos (first time ever!), all the kids lining up for the fireworks, Dominic saying hello to Lory's dog Jody, Paul and Maggie showing their dancing moves in their new shorts (with glow-in-the-dark thread) from Grandma Tighe and Colleen enjoying some Bear Attack ice cream at the Midway with Madison and Eva. Below this is a video of Dominic and Cousin Bennett in the Jacuzzi tub!
On our last day at the cabin the Powers family and the Raleigh Tighes went up to Pictured Rocks to hike down to Lake Superior. We did the same hike last year, but Dominic was still 'in utero'!! A short ten months later, and he was crawling around the beach and occasionally standing up by himself. Dommy's standing at the fence overlooking Miner's Castle below. Given that this is the north, the highway signs are a little different, too. Check out the speed limits in Munising (esp. the lower one)!

Fourth of July in the Yoop

For the Fourth of July this year we did the 2nd Annual Tighe family cabin stay with fireworks in Escanaba. Another highlight was Mike's 20th high school reunion (which makes him officially old now!). More on that later.
We watched the parade in Gladstone, full of local floats, politicians, insurance companies, and veterans. The Escanaba city band played in the band, shown in the movie below.
That night we went to the fireworks down on Lake Michigan (Escanaba), where the city band played patriotic tunes in the bandshell. Most all the siblings came to Esanaba first, as well as the Berkeley Tighes and Cousin Colleen's kids who were visiting from Washington. The kids had a great time warming up for the big fireworks with smoke bombs and the waterballoon launcher at the house. Dominic seemed to get a real kick out of Cousin Dave.