Red River Gorge Rock Climbing Trip September 2016

We try to do a climbing trip at Red River Gorge, KY at least once a year. We made it in May of this year, and we just got back from another trip that spanned September 24th-27th. I believe this is the first time we've actually made it to the gorge twice in the same calendar year. 

Red River Gorgeousness! 

We never know what kind of weather we're going to get, and we lucked out this trip. Despite some fears of rain, none actually arrived. And, the weather was quite cool for Kentucky at this time of year, which was much better for climbing than the more common heat and humidity. 

We had a large group this year with me, Brandon, Matt, and Brian driving down from Michigan and Carolyn and John flying into the Cincinnati airport and then driving from there. Carolyn and John had to leave on Monday rather than Tuesday when the rest of us left. But, as they left, Steve joined us. Steve used to be a member at Inside Moves (our rock climbing gym) before moving down to Louisville, Kentucky for a firefighting job. Since moving to Kentucky he's spent much more time at the gorge and knows it well. He also climbs at much higher level than us, and it was helpful to have someone able to lead some tougher routes. 

Per tradition we did half days of climbing on Saturday and Tuesday and full days of climbing on Sunday and Monday. Our lunches consisted of the usual tortillas with peanut butter and nutella. We also ate at both Rock House and Miguel's for dinner, both of which tasted spectacular as always after a full-energy, hunger-producing day of climbing. Rather than staying at Lago Linda's, we camped at Land of the Arches as they had bunks available for Carolyn and John. That way we didn't have to squeeze more camping gear into the car or into airline baggage for them. Sleep, as usual with achy bodies and surrounding noises, was elusive. 

On Saturday afternoon, we had Carolyn and John meet us at the Lady Slipper climbing area on the Global Village wall. We waited for them to arrive and stood in line for our turn on the popular 5.6 route called Eureka. It was John's first time climbing outside, and we figured it would be a good, easy place to start. The climbing area also has a fun approach through two deep ravines and up some rock slabs. 

Brandon and I were antsy, so while we waited we checked out a 5.10a called Kentucky Pinstripe. Typically we like to warm up with an easier route than a 5.10a, but we broke our rule as Brandon led and I topped the route. We had no regrets. It turned out to be quite fun and not too tough with several places to take breaks along the way. 

Eventually we all made it up Eureka following Matt's lead. John did well for his first outdoor climb and continued that pattern throughout the trip. We were all rewarded with dinner at Rock House and setting up camp in the dark as usual. 

John climbing outside for the first time

On Sunday we did a full day of climbing in Muir Valley followed by pizza at Miguel's: 

Johnny's Wall: 

• Thanks Holly, 5.8 --led by Carolyn
• Two Chicken Butts, 5.9 --led by Brian

Tectonic Wall:

• Plate Tectonics, 5.9+/5.10a --led by Katie
• Tall Cool One, 5.9 --tag team led by Carolyn and Katie
• Fifth Bolt Faith, 5.10c --led by Brandon

Inner Sanctum Wall: 

• Neitzen Hacktivist, 5.9+ --led by Brandon
• Karmic Retribution, 5.10d --led by Katie 

I think the highlight of the day was Brandon leading the 5.10c for the first time, and doing it cleanly. His form was excellent and it paid off. 

Carolyn leading Thanks Holly, 5.8

Brandon leading Neitzen Hacktivist, 5.9+

On Monday we decided to check out the elusive Chocolate Factory Wall near the famous Motherlode. I say elusive, because we've heard many people say they've had a tough time finding the area. Unfortunately, our experience turned out to be the same. The instructions in our guidebook proved to be useless. By time we found the Chocolate Factory and narrowed in on the routes we were looking for, at least an hour had been spent wandering. We were all feeling like giving the author a piece of our minds. Steve showed up only about 5-10 minutes later and, knowing the area well, gave us cheery instructions about how he had found the place in just 5 minutes. Grrrr. Alas. Here's what we climbed: 

Chocolate Factory: 

• Augustus Gloop, 5.9 --led by Katie
• Sugar Rush, 5.10a --led by Steve
• Chocolate River, 5.9 --led by Brandon

Carolyn and John climbing slab routes right next to each other

Carolyn and John were able to climb two of these three slab routes before leaving for the Cincinnati airport. The rest of us then moved to another area of Chocolate Factory to try these routes: 

• Oompa, 5.10a --led by Brandon
• Loopma, 5.10c --led by Steve

• New route not found in the guidebook. Steve showed us the route and classified as a 5.10a --led by Steve

The day was a good mix of slab, pinchy, pumpy, overhang, and juggy climbing with both positive and negative angled walls. During a dinner at Rock House we thoroughly edited the approach instructions for the Chocolate Factory in our guidebook. Thanks for nothing, Ray Ellington. 

For our half day on Tuesday we returned to Muir Valley taking advantaged of our valley floor parking pass. We climbed the following: 

The Great Arch: 

• Dyn-o-mite, 5.9 --led by Katie
• Black Powder, 5.10a --led by Brandon
• Lip Service, 5.11c --led by Steve 

We had done the 5.9 and 5.10a before, but the exciting part was that this time both Brandon and I led them cleanly and with ease. This was especially impressive as it was the last day, and we're usually quite tired by then. It felt good to realize that our climbing skills had improved over the past years. 

I tried the 5.11c, but the beginning of the route required moves over three pumpy roofs that my body was no longer capable of on the last day. Brandon proudly was able to complete the route with some problem solving. It was the first 5.11c he had ever topped outside. 

And that was the end of our September climbing trip. We broke camp and said farewell to Steve. We then made the trip home listening to Ready Player One to make the long drive more bearable. Despite the distance and the fatigue, we're already looking toward another trip next Spring. 

My First Bouldering Competition

Brandon and I recently did a bouldering competition at CrossFit Soaring Ledge in Holland. Brandon has done several comps, but this was my first. We had climbed once before at Soaring Ledge when it first opened in Holland, but we weren't impressed with the power-heavy setting style. So, we approached this comp with some hesitancy. As a physical therapist, I am also, for the most part, not a fan of CrossFit. So, entering a CrossFit gym and immediately seeing a banner advertising a chiropractic office was also a bit of a turn off. 

However, we ended up enjoying the boulder comp quite a bit. The setting style was impressively varied and skillful, and our fellow competitors were friendly. The comp started out with 18 boulder problems with difficult level increasing from problem 1 to problem 18. As difficulty increased, the points available increased. If the boulder problem was completed on the first try, the climber could take the max amount of points for the problem. A second try resulted in a point deduction. Three tries resulted in a further deduction, but once you reached three tries or more the point level remained the same. This was nice as it encouraged climbers to keep trying difficult problems without severe penalties. We all had 1.5 hours to work on the 18 problems. It was a free-for-all, and the climbs could be completed in any order desired. There were only about 20 competitors, so there wasn't much wait to work on the boulder routes. 

I performed very well in this portion of the competition, and I paced myself well. I even managed to complete problem 14, though 15-18 were near impossible for me. Many of the problems I got on the first time, which secured me more points. When the 1.5 hour were up and the scores were tallied, I was third place for the women (and not far behind 1st and 2nd place) and eighth overall. Exciting! Brandon had a rougher go of it due to a finger injury earlier in the week, but he persevered. 

Me pulling a pretty impressive, balance move on boulder problem #14 

After a break and a hot dog lunch, the second portion of the competition began. Three new boulder problems of increasing difficulty were set up. Each competitor had each boulder problem to themselves for 4 minutes to try to solve it while everyone else looked on. Competitors were given 4 minute rests between each of the three problems as well. If you couldn't make it to the top of the problem for the full point value, you could still collect points by touching a "bonus hold" about halfway up. 

The three new boulder problems were tough, especially after being worn from 1.5 hours of boulder in the first portion of the comp. The best that Brandon and I did was make it to the bonus hold on the first of the three problems. It was rather discouraging, but we consoled ourselves with knowing that we had done better in the first round. Many other climbers also had a difficult time with the new problems, but it was fun to watch some really impressive climbers complete or get close to completing each of the problems. 

Brandon moving past the bonus hold on the first of the three new problems

With a poorer performance in the second round, our rankings didn't change much. I stayed at third place for the women, which was still an accomplishment. Overall we did quite well for Soaring Ledge not being our home gym and for this being my first comp ever. I think we would do another comp at some point, though probably only once or twice a year. It was definitely fun to have 18+ new problems to work through at once. I like challenging myself, but I don't love feeling like I have to compete against other climbers. 

Florida Rock Climbing

We have a climbing trip coming up at the end of September, so Katie and I wanted to do our best to stay in shape for that trip. Luckily we found a climbing gym in St. Petersburg called Vertical Ventures that was only 25 minutes north from where we were staying in Florida. We basically just had to cross over the Tampa Bay via the Sunshine Skybridge Bridge.

Pricing wise, this place could not have worked out better. They had a deal for new climbers that if you take their belay class, it comes with a two week membership to the gym all for $25. So even though it was a little annoying to take another belay class/test for the millionth time this year, it was totally worth it to get that 2 week unlimited climbing membership. We ended up climbing there 5 times across those 2 weeks so essentially we paid $5 a person per visit. 

The gym was setup a little strange. They had one pretty wide main section geared towards newer climbers. This section was not quite as tall and had either pre-setup belay stations (kind of like what we used in Australia) or an auto-belay system that takes up the slack as a climber ascends and safely controls the descent when a climber lets go or falls. The climbs in that section that were supposedly at our difficulty level were crazy pumpy and a little frustrating to climb. We mainly used this area for warm up/cool down runs or endurance training. 

The main climbing area

They had a taller climbing section called The Pit where we could do the normal type of belaying. We of course had to get a second safety check to use this section. But it was totally worth it because these climbs were much more our style. Only one corner of the pit had ropes setup to do top rope. The rest were overhung and meant for lead climbing. We never got around to getting certified to lead there because that would have meant that we'd have to rent a rope. There were some really fun 5.11's and even a 5.12 that we both projected and were really close to getting clean before we left. There was also one auto-belay station in this section, which we saw some people ingeniously using for lead clipping practice. The Pit was definitely our favorite part of the gym. It's a shame they don't have more walls like that one because they were set very well.

The pit which had some taller and more enjoyable climbs 

The last thing to mention was the bouldering area. They again had some really good features and setting in this area. We both worked our way through some interesting projects. Overall though, Katie did much better in that section than I did. It, like most other bouldering gyms, was a cruel reminder to me how far I still have to go at being a good bouldering style climber.

The bouldering area

Would we want this gym to be our home gym? Probably not. Despite having a new facility and new walls, it felt like they were under-utilizing their space. The one section we really liked only had 6 ropes, and some of those ropes only had one climb under it. They did at least switch out a couple of the routes even within just those two weeks. So maybe they'd have good enough route turn over that we'd stay entertained. But its hard to say. There was also a work out/training area and classes available that we did not have time to make use of, so maybe that perk would outweigh the other cons. Either way it was at least great place to go for our two weeks in Florida.

Katie warming up on an easier boulder problem

Katie working a pretty difficult 5.11 route on the auto-belay

Me working that same 5.11 problem

July Happenings

We've been slacking on our blogging lately. We're well into August now, but there are still memorable activities to report on from July. Alas. Here's what we did in July besides our multiple birthday celebrations and a few other things that we already posted about: 


A couple of Hillsdale trips

As Brandon covered in a previous post, we took our niece and nephew climbing and then returned them home to Hillsdale. Brandon was also down in Hillsdale another time to spend more time with family and get in some golfing with his dad at Binder Park Golf Course. 

Family time in Hillsdale

A few TechSmith visits

Brandon visited TechSmith a few times to discuss future work options and to grab lunch with some co-workers. He enjoyed catching up with friends and eating his Lansing favorites of El Oasis, Backyard BBQ, and Pancheros. 


Hubbard Lake cabin weekend

Some friends of ours have a family cabin up north on Hubbard Lake that they kindly invite our friend group to each year for a long weekend. We always have a great time hanging out with friends, eating too much, boating, and tubing. A highlight of this year was the addition of a hammock post at the cabin that allowed five hammocks to be set up at once rather than the usual two. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time lazing around and chatting in the hammocks. 

Hammock time

Sunset cruise on the pontoon

Brandon looking contemplative

Attempting to brew a coffee blonde

We wanted to brew another beer with Nate in Lansing and thought a coffee blonde would be a great summer brew. Unfortunately, we may have been a bit too ambitious in our undertaking. We switched from indoor brewing on a stove with a 3 gallon boil to outdoor brewing on a propane burner with a full 6 gallon boil. At the same time we decided to try our first all grain recipe. An all grain recipe requires you to extract all the fermentable sugars from just grain rather than adding malt or extra sugars. We probably introduced too many new elements to our brewing process, because our gravity was way off target at the end of brewing (meaning we didn't extract much sugar). If the beer even turns out, it's going to be very low in alcohol. Despite this disappointment, it was nice to hangout with Nate and some TechSmith people during brewing. Bill and Rhonda are a really cool couple that we were able to catch up with some more. And, it was a treat to see Anton, who we visited in Germany, and share some beers with him. We also had Nate's amazing, homemade, smoked chicken tacos to enjoy throughout the evening. 

The new brewing set up

Meeting up with Lansing friends 

I already mentioned that we were able to hang out with Nate and some fun TechSmith people. I also got to have lunch with my good friend Christie. It's always good to catch up on life in person, since neither of us are telephone people. 

While hanging out with Nate we had my favorite beer: Creme Brulee Stout from Southern Tier

Visiting family at VanBuren State Park 

My cousin Becky lives in Iowa, but she took a Michigan vacation in July. We were able to go out to VanBuren State Park where she was camping with my aunt, uncle, and cousins. It was great to see her and her kids and catch up on life for a few hours. 


More family time

Since we were back in Grand Rapids for most of July we were able to see my parents a little more often. We dropped in often to collect our mail, and we always enjoy it when we have a good Sunday dinner there. One Sunday we had a fun time disc golfing in the park with my parents, my brother, and the family dog. 

Disc golfing at Cascade Park

More friend time

As we are still homeless, we relied on the graciousness of friends to take us into their homes. In July, we spent almost two weeks with the Horos' and a week with the Schut's. Since we were living with them, we got to hang out more often and share dinner together whenever we were all around. We also became pseudo-pet sitters to our friends' pets: Asic the goldendoodle, Leila the Aussie, and Abu the cat. It's been a great time of living in community, and I'm sure there will be more of it to come, since we're still working on solidifying our future plans and finding a place to live. 

Abu just being a cat

The Founders decision-making visit

Speaking of future plans, we worked on figuring those out in July. Our best life decisions, like deciding how to do our wedding and how to take a sabbatical, took place at Founders. So, it seemed logical to look to the wisdom of Founders when figuring out our post-sabbatical plans/life. Stay tuned for another post on how that went. 


Learning how to play the ukulele

I now have a ukulele! Brandon surprised me with letting me pick one out for my birthday. It took some research and a lot of sitting in music shops and trying out ukulele after ukulele, but I finally decided on one. It's a soprano ukulele, but it has a longer neck like a concert ukulele which allows more space for the fingers on the strings; pretty unique, and I like it. Brandon and I have been playing around with it and getting better little by little. 

Working on my ukulele skills

Climbing, climbing, climbing at Inside Moves 

We've been busy climbing two to three times a week at our local climbing gym, Inside Moves. With our year pass, we can go as much as we'd like, so why not take advantage of it? Plus, we're planning on doing another trip to Red River Gorge, Kentucky at the end of September, which it will be good to have extra training and endurance for. 


I think that pretty much covers July. It went by super quickly, especially since I was sick with a pretty bad cold virus for at least two weeks. August is well upon us, and we'll have more to say about that later. 

Climbing in Kalamazoo

Ever since our wedding weekend our nephew Asher has been asking to go climbing again. Sadly it took us til this July (almost three years later) to finally get them out again. But given that we got to take my brother's kids out climbing a few times while we were in Nebraska, we really wanted to make it a priority to at least take out my sister's two oldest kids, Charissa and Asher, during our time back in Michigan in July. 

So a couple of weeks ago we made it happen. We first drove to Battle Creek and met the whole crew at the mall so that Tanya could pick up some pictures from a JC Penney. Oddly enough though something had happened to the power in that area, so her efforts for getting those conveniently were thwarted. But it didn't affect our climbing plans at all thankfully. We then loaded Charissa and Asher up in our car and made our way to Kalamazoo.

It took a little bit to get to the gym. We had to first find some lunch, which was more difficult than expected since the power was out in the whole area where we picked them up. Eventually though we found a McDonald's, and the kids were happy. It also took a bit because we had never gone to downtown Kalamazoo on a weekday afternoon before, and Katie and I don't like to pay much for parking. So we had to seek out the cheapest metered parking (a quarter an hour). We eventually found said spots and will now take note of it for future uses.

Charissa and Asher both did awesome climbing. Charissa was especially impressive on top rope given how well she made use of her extra length and good balance. Asher excelled at bouldering, climbing up and over walls 3 times his height. It was very fun to watch!

Asher and Charissa learning to boulder with Katie's help

Asher and Charissa especially liked the cave bouldering area

Charissa working her way up a corner route

Asher atop the slab wall

Asher was the first to brave "topping out" where the goal is to climb up and over the boulder wall without a rope 

Charissa had to prove she could top-out as well

Charissa projecting a harder route. She had to take several breaks, but she stuck with it and eventually made it to the top!

Asher trying out the auto-belay system

After climbing we drove the kids back to Hillsdale with a quick stop again in Battle Creek for Culver's ice cream and to pick up the pictures for Tanya. The mall's power had finally been restored. We stuck around in Hillsdale for dinner and had a small celebration of birthdays. Tanya and Steve had gotten Katie and I some wool socks. And Katie and I had a few birthdays of our nephews that we had missed. So there was gift/card exchanges happening all around. It was a good way to end a fun day. I hope we can do a better job in the coming year of getting the Briixs' out climbing again, or at least get Charissa and Asher out again since they did so well.

29th Birthday Blind Date

I love my birthday and look forward to it every year. How could I not? Brandon always helps make birthdays so special. My 29th birthday was on Friday, and Brandon took me on an awesome blind date to celebrate. 

I started out in the car blindfolded with a homemade birthday card from Brandon

As it turned out, our first stop was The Ledges at Grand Ledge. The Ledges is the only place to climb outdoors in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. I had never been to The Ledges and had been wanting to check it out, so I was very excited that Brandon planned this stop. 

On the edge of the ledge

Of course the climbing at The Ledges isn't on par with that in Red River Gorge, Kentucky. But, despite most of the routes being only 30 feet high or less, there are some good, challenging routes. And, it was nice to be outside, active, and doing something we both love on such a beautiful day in July.  

Ready for the first climb

Taking a rest on a ledge halfway up the route

Almost to the top of the route

My fabulous, adventurous, blind date planning husband preparing for the climb

This route was more difficult than the first couple we did, but Brandon conquered it with impressive skill

I took a nice long rest on the ledge halfway up the route before continuing on

My arms were screaming by the time I reached the top 

The next surprise was a late lunch at El Oasis taco truck in Lansing. Brandon and I enjoyed hot, freshly prepared tacos, and the al pastor were definitely the best. 

Blindfolded with no idea what deliciousness lies behind me

Tacos are perfect post-climbing food

An adventure involving climbing and tacos would have been a sufficient birthday blind date, but Brandon had even more planned for the day. Our next stop was Lansing Brewing Company. Neither of us had been to the brewery, so it was high time to check it out. We sampled a flight and our favorite beer was their classic Amber Cream Ale. 

Drinking the Amber Cream Ale at Lansing Brewing Company 

And, it still wasn't over. The final surprise was a trip to an instrument shop. I also just realized that the place is called Elderly Instruments...I can only hope that wasn't intentional on Brandon's part. Regardless, we went there to look for a ukulele for me, which was super exciting. I tried learning how to play the banjo at the beginning our sabbatical, but I found the fingering to be difficult and didn't get very far. When we visited our friend Becky in California we were exposed to her marvelous ukulele skills, and I found the ukulele strings to be much easier to handle. I have been wanting a ukulele to play around with ever since. 

The instruments may be elderly, but not me. Plus, Brandon will always be more elderly than me. 

There were so many fancy ukuleles to play around with. We didn't buy anything at that moment. We have more researching to do. Hopefully I'll have one in my hands by the end of July. 

The instrument shop was the official end to the birthday blind date, but we still did some fun evening activities. The Grand Rapids Football Club had a match against Ann Arbor that we went to with Adam, Rachel, Alex, Tabitha, Amanda, and Josh. It was really fun to all hang out, and GRFC ended up winning 3:1. Adam, Rachel, Brandon, and I left a bit early to make it Furniture City Creamery before it closed. It seems silly to me for an ice cream place to only be open til 10 pm in the summer, especially since it's a popular place. Their homemade, eclectic flavors are delicious, so it was worth it to make it there on time. 

Rachel, me, and Adam with our ice cream

That was my 29th birthday! It was a truly spectacular day, and the big 3-0 next near will have to be pretty amazing to top it. 

A Sibling Tour

After spending time in Nebraska with Brandon's brother and his family we went to visit my siblings in Minnesota and the U.P. Our time with my sister was short, but we were glad to spend a Thursday evening with her at Roca, the rock climbing gym in Rochester, Minnesota. We've climbed there several times now and have grown to thoroughly appreciate it. 

Friday morning came quickly, especially as we had a nearly 7 hour drive ahead of us to my brother in Houghton, Michigan. And, we had already done a 6.5 hour drive from Nebraska the day before. But, all travels went smoothly. We sure were happy to see my brother on Friday evening and stretch our legs by walking from his apartment to downtown Houghton for dinner. We were also looking forward to spending the whole 4th of July weekend with him, so we wouldn't have to do a long road trip again until we returned to the Lower Peninsula on the 5th. 

On Saturday, we had a great day exploring some of the Keweenaw Peninsula. We started with hiking a trail loop to Bare Bluff on Lake Superior somewhere near Lac La Belle. One side of the loop was super easy, and the other part involved some more adventurous hiking through a steep seasonal stream bed. The views from Bare Bluff were absolutely gorgeous. 

Of course this picture doesn't do the view of the Lake Superior shoreline justice

Me and Tim taking in the views

Brandon on the edge

After the hike we made our way towards Devil's Washtub to cool off with a jump into Lake Superior. On the way, we stopped at a scenic pull off on Brockway Mountain Drive. There we got a great view of Copper Harbor and more of the Keweenaw. 

View of Copper Harbor from Brockway Mountain Drive

Brandon and I had gone to Devil's Washtub last year during our time at Gitche Gumee, and we really wanted Tim to experience it. It's an area where the shoreline that has been carved into a rocky bridge structure that you can jump off, swim underneath through a tunnel, and climb back up the other side to do it again. We only did it two times each because Lake Superior was much colder than last year. Our bodies numbed up pretty quickly in the lake water, but the warmer air temperature heated us up again. 

I was the first to jump into the icy waters

Brandon went next

We must not have looked too cold, because Tim braved the jump and lake water as well. Look at that jumping form! 

After that freezing/refreshing experience we headed back to Houghton and Tim's apartment to make dinner. We did a lot of delicious cooking throughout the weekend, including chicken bagel melts, sweet potato black bean tacos, and southwest turkey burgers. Tim shared his tortilla recipe, and having delicious, hot, homemade tortilla shells took the tacos up another notch. 

We got in quite a few board games we well, such as Acquire, Pandemic, and Risk. Brandon was quite the hotel tycoon and dominated in Acquire. I was scarred by the cutthroat nature of Risk, and despite winning, I don't think I can play again for several years when I've forgotten all the rules again. 

We went to Tim's church on Sunday morning and then relaxed and took naps before doing more activity. This time we headed to Lower, Middle, and Upper Hungarian Falls. The hike to and between the sections of the falls was easy and shaded. We made it more interesting by slowly making our way down a very steep ravine to the base of the large, lower falls. Brandon and Tim stood under the powerful fall for a good, cooling soaking. Climbing up the ravine was much easier than going down, and we continued on to the middle falls. 

The ravine was a steep descent

View of the falls on the way down

The falls in their full glory with Brandon for perspective

Me and Brandon posing for a picture at the falls

Tim, our excellent U.P. tour guide

The three adventurers 

More perspective shots with me up on the cliffside and Tim at the base of the falls

Tim braving the rushing water

Brandon had to go in too

Brandon found a cove to go all the way under and behind the falls

The base of the middle falls was much easier to access. There was also a nice pool of water that formed under the falls that would be fun to jump into if it was deeper. I stood under the middle falls to get just as soaked as Brandon and Tim. 

The middle falls

Me cooling off in the middle falls

The upper falls were the smallest and more like a naturally formed dam than a waterfall. We didn't even bother to take a picture of them. But, now we can say we've seen all three sections. 

When it finally got dark around 10:30 pm we were able to see the fireworks display in Lake Linden. I have never seen so many cars in the U.P. at once. It seemed like the entire Keweenaw Peninsula had turned out for the fireworks show. The show had a lot of neat fireworks, but the spacing was strange. Sometimes multiple fireworks would go off at once and other times we waited for what seemed like a couple minutes for the next firework. There were a lot of false endings which made the finale rather anti-climactic. The whole thing was rather amusing. 

Happy Birthday, America! (almost...not quite the 4th yet)

On the 4th of July the three of us played some soccer together in the morning. It was fun to get out and kick the ball around on the Michigan Tech fields. Unfortunately, Brandon and I also managed to get multiple, incredibly itchy mosquito and fly bites while playing soccer. Apparently that field was more filled with pests than the wooded areas we had hiked in. A week later, we still have some of the bites. 

We then partook in the small town 4th of July festivities of South Range, just south of Houghton. Keweenaw Brewing Company's brewing facility is located in South Range, and to add to the celebration they were giving free brewery tours and beer between 12 and 2 pm. Yes, all was FREE. They passed out free cans at the entrance, and then gave out free cans fresh from the canning line that the lid hadn't even been pressed onto yet. It was awesome. Between the three of us we tried at least six different beers. 

Keweenaw Brewing Company (KBC) facility 

Cans ready to be filled with beer

The cans entering the filling station

Workers on the canning line who offered us beer fresh from the line stating that Brandon must be over 21 in order to have such an impressive beard 

Putting plastic rings around the cans to form six packs

The can straight from the line didn't have its top attached yet

Brandon tempted by the switchboard of brewing controls

Enjoying our beer among the mash tons

A collection of stickers from various breweries at KBC 

The cold storage room which felt great as the day heated up

Enjoying our brews with hundreds of empty cans behind us waiting to be filled

Cheers! 

After the tour and free beer we checked out the South Range 4th of July Parade. It was definitely a small town parade where the local marching band played, obscene amounts of candy was still allowed to be thrown at children, and some of the floats circled around twice. Amusing times for sure. 

We had seen fireworks the night before and Tim had to get up early for work the next day, so we skipped out on fireworks the night of the 4th. But, we felt we had done the day justice with the parade and KBC. 

Tuesday morning Tim left for work in Escanaba, and eventually we packed up and headed for Grand Rapids. There were a couple construction projects turning two lanes into one lane roads, but other than that the 8.5 hour drive went well. At one of the construction stops we felt fortunate to at least be able to enjoy some great views of Lake Michigan from the car while we waited. We were happy to reach the Mackinac Bridge and know that over half of the drive was over. And, we were oh so happy to reach Grand Rapids, which we kind of consider our home despite not having a real home currently. 

The Mighty Mac

We're looking forward to spending some time with our friends the Horos' who have kindly taken us in for about two weeks. And, at some point this month we'll have to finish our sibling tour and get out to see Brandon's sister and her family.