I would like to wish you all a very Blessed Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Here are some photos of the once up and running open pit iron ore mine.  This mine is where my great grandfather worked up until it closed and just prior to it closing up fully he and my great grandmother along with their children moved to Illinois.  

The very sad thing is that my great grandmother Anna passed away shortly after moving down to Illinois. Unfortunately my two great aunts my grandfathers sisters talked my great grandfather into transporting her back up to Republic Michigan to be buried, but when my great grandfather passed away no one could afford to have his body transported to Republic so he is buried in Illinois. At least that is the story I recall hearing as to why he wasn’t buried next to his wife and young son. 

Family history is so fascinating to me and I never tire hearing stories about my ancestors. 

Finally after a few years of wanting to get here, I made it.  We had no idea where to begin looking for the gravesite. Jim went one way and I went another. I headed towards what I thought was an older section, eventually Jim ended up in the section I was searching and the next thing I knew he was yelling for me to come, he had found it.

I was quite surprised to see that my grandfathers brother who had passed away as a young child had a headstone.  My grandfathers mother Anna whose grave we were at had passed away 11 years after her young son had passed.  I’m not sure I had ever heard how he died or maybe I didn’t hear because no one knew or just didn’t talk about it.  Not sure if this was intended to be a family plot area, as my grandfathers sister and her husband are buried there as well.  Anna’s husband my great-grandfather is buried down in Illinois.

We noticed the writing on the stones was hard to read so I took my toothbrush and scrubbed them. Had to get a new tooth brush at our next stop. 

Some random shots of South Republic.

This museum unfortunately was not open when we stopped, guess we’ll have to go back.

This area has fascinated me for a long time, as I had a grandfather who worked in a copper mine in Hancock Michigan and my great grandfather who was married to my great grandmother whose grave we went to see worked in the iron ore mine here in Republic Michigan. 

This was by far for me the highlight of the trip, and more on the open pit mine later, I still have a lot more of this trip to share. 

After leaving Eagle River we were on our way to Republic Michigan where my great grandmother is buried. 

It was a rainy dreary day as we left Wisconsin and entered Michigan.

The colors were not totally at their peak yet, but pretty all the same.

We found Republic Michigan, but the wrong Republic, we found South Rebublic, which apparently is the “new” Republic because they moved the town, only we could do that especially when I was telling him where to go...duh!  A post on South Republic will be next.

Anyway, this was the Republic we wanted, where the cemetery is.  It definitely is not the biggest of towns, but we had to ask someone where the cemetery was.

Not much was happening in Republic Michigan this day.  There was a nice campground here in town and maybe someday Jim and I will be back and camp there. 

Jim and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary at the end of September, so we decided to take a road trip.  I had been wanting to go and see my great grandmother’s grave which is about 6 hours away in Upper Michigan, so we decided to add it as a stop on our trip.  We headed to Northern Wisconsin and made a loop from there and ended up in Door County Wisconsin to end our trip.   

Our first stop was Eagle River, Wisconsin. We stayed in a cute lodge style hotel, which was very quiet as it was off season in Eagle River for any tourists visiting, and it was on a lake and Jim wanted to do some musky fishing so he just had to only cast his line off one of the docks there.

Jim went one morning with a guide to do some musky fishing on a boat, and while he was off fishing I took a drive and found this cute yarn shop.  I ended up talking to the owner and another customer who was actually there knitting for quite awhile.  It was a good thing hubby wasn’t waiting in the car while I shopped.  I did end up buying some yarn and a pattern, which I can’t wait to start.

I stopped on my on my way back to the hotel at the cutest restaurant and had a cup of chili and a sandwich.  

Our first stop was so much fun and the rest of the trip was just as fun. 

Life just seems to get busier as the years go by.  Jim and I are doing good here in Southwest Wisconsin. The Christmas season is fast approaching and I have no idea where the year went. At the end of September we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary and I had meant to share our anniversary trip with you. We had an awesome time, we headed to northern Wisconsin and made a loop and ended up in Door County. I will share it here soon. 

I’ve been on a few quilt retreats, the boys came hunting again this year, we can now call it an annual event, which is great. I make sure the boys are fed which is pretty much my job the whole time they are here. It’s a great time for everyone. 

We have snow still up on the ridge here, though down in the valley and especially in town all the snow is mostly gone. The other day it was warm enough for me to go outside and wash my windows and for the snow to melt off the deck. It felt like a spring day.  Jim worked out in our woods cutting up a huge tree that had fallen during a storm, it’s also in the path where we drive during sugaring time so the tree had to go and it was the perfect day to be outside in the woods, plus it’s a start for the 2019 wood supply, which is a never ending job when we heat with wood. 

Life keeps moving on and we’re trying our best to keep up with it.