End of Summer Activities

I have been very busy seeing the sights this Fall. As I mentioned in the last post, Between the end of the Summer semester and the start of Fall classes, Ashby and I took part in a family canoeing trip down the Au Sable river. That was a very fun-filled, if cold and rainy, weekend. Luckily we all managed to stay relatively warm and dry even on the river. After departing our campsite near the river, we completed the shortened drive back to Michigan Tech, and stopped by Big Springs for a little sightseeing and to stretch our legs.

Once back in Houghton, we spent a day getting unpacked and then departed on our trip to northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. On the first day, we drove to Duluth, stopping on the way to hike in the Porcupine Mountains.

Me by Lake Superior in the Porcupine Mtns.

Ashby by the Superior shore.

The view from a lookout tower elsewhere in the Porkies.

After our hiking we stayed the night in Duluth before setting out to the long awaited mystery destination, which was a physics particle detector operating in the bottom of the Soudan Underground Mine State Park in Minnesota. Ashby and I really enjoyed seeing the detector in person, and learning about the physics being explored there. We also went on a tour of the historical mining operations. All in all, a very enjoyable destination where we learned a lot.

The Hoist Building.

The head frame, this is where we got into a 'cage' to be lowered into the mine!

The bottom of the mine: almost half a mile below the surface, the ride down takes over 2 minutes.

Our great tour guide, Pete, and the electric trains that take visitors back into the mine for the historical tour.

After the mine, we headed back East to the Baptism River Inn (by my Mom's suggestion) for the night. The other guests were very interesting; one couple was visiting from England. We talked much about the differences in culture between America and the UK. It made for a very interesting breakfast. In the morning, we made our way back to Houghton, stopping to see the sights along the way as much as time allowed.

The Sauna near the Bed and Breakfast.

The Baptism River, just a short walk from the B&B.

Split Rock Lighthouse, one of our stops on the trip home.

Amnicon Falls, our first stop in Wisconsin on the trip home.

Big Manitou falls at Pattison State Park.

The weekend after returning from our trip, we took a trip up the Keweenaw to see Fort Wilkins and do some other sightseeing. As always a very beautiful trip.

Sunset over Lake Superior.

Summertime in Houghton

On a trip with visitors (cousin Alex and his girlfriend Kaylin) to see the local sights.

I've spent the last seven weeks in Houghton taking classes and working for Michigan Tech's Summer Youth Programs. It's been a fairly busy time, with several groups of visitors coming to enjoy the summer weather here. It was nice to have visitors on some of the weekends since Ashby has been in Ann Arbor for the summer. For classes, I took a total of 6 credits which is close to a full-time load when it's condensed into seven weeks. I took 'Mechanical Vibrations' and 'Statistics for Engineers', both of which will likely prove useful in the future.

My job with the Summer Youth Program fit in very well with taking classes. I was responsible for chaperoning the students to and from Houghton on the weekends. Several times this meant driving a Michigan Tech van to a nearby town and picking up or dropping off a handful of students. Most often it meant riding a charter bus through the night two nights in a row on the weekend running down to Lower Michigan to trade the students who had finished their programs for ones on their way up to Houghton. A few times I was able to meet up with friends and family during the bus layover. Thrown into the mix were a few around town van trips for field trips as well. It was quite an enjoyable job and it kept me from excessive boredom on the weekends as a side benefit!

Now I'm in the process of preparing for final exams at the end of this week, after which I head home to Erie for about a week before coming back up. It should be a fun week, with a family reunion and canoeing trip in the works. I know it will go my much too quickly, but when Ashby and I return to Houghton, we plan to make a trip to Wisconsin and Minnesota to a 'mystery destination' that I'm sure we will both enjoy along with some state parks on the way. That will make the trip back more fun. Then it's back to school in the fall. I'm excited to be the leader of the powertrain ("engine") sub-team for the Supermileage team this year. I have some new ideas, and the whole team seems fired up to make more improvements after our impressive performance this summer.

Settling In

Ashby and I at the Copper Harbor lighthouse, the 

northernmost point in our weekend road trip.

I've been in Houghton or about two weeks now, and am beginning to settle into the routines of going to class and living off campus.  I've found that living off campus has been the right decision for me.  It's been much quieter and I have my own room that's only slightly smaller than the one I shared last year!  The cost is much less here as well, which more than offsets the necessity of commuting to campus (about 3 miles).

Classes have gone fairly well so far, with none that I'm too worried about.  I've also decided to join the Automotive Systems Enterprise team, which is a student group which competes to design and build the most fuel-efficient vehicle.  This will be a great way for me to gain experience while having fun.  I look forward to working on this project in the coming years.

Ashby and I took advantage of the time before classes started to take a trip up the Keweenaw peninsula.  We also made it to a few of the events put on for freshman orientation week.  This weekend we went to K (Keweenaw) Day, held at McLain State Park by the university.  We are trying to enjoy outdoor activities as much as possible before the weather turns cold.  It's nice to go to school in an area where there are so many opportunities for outdoor activities.