As a child and then as an adult, I spent many summer weeks with family at the home away from home we called “The Camp.” It’s on the Keweenaw Waterway on the Keweenaw Peninsula. The northernmost point of Michigan’s wild and wonderful Upper Peninsula.
The Waterway area is known by many names, including Portage River Canal, the South Entry, North Entry, The Channel, and the Houghton Canal. The Waterway stretches twenty-five miles from south to north and is a major shipping canal connecting lakes Portage and Torch to Lake Superior. The Waterway can accommodate big ships, working freighters, and boats of all sizes. It has a lighthouse at both ends, and many nautical channel lights and buoy lights direct maritime traffic all day, all night, and in all weather.
Early on, this area was the site of America’s first copper boom. People from all over came to work in the U.P. mines. Today, it is still called Copper Country. Now, the area’s major industries are logging and tourism. The area is also home to Michigan Technological University.
Through a child’s eye, we kept busy with family activities from early morning to late evening for many weeks in the summer. Every day brought a different activity, and this book’s account is a typical summer day that can be enjoyed by everyone, young and old. It starts with pancakes and heats up with fun in the U.P. sun. It is an engaging, rhyming story. The person reading it and the person listening can picture themselves doing the activities as the main characters.
We spent many hours on the water and in the water. Boating (water-skiing, and tubing behind the boat), fishing, floating on inner tubes, canoeing, kayaking, jet skiing, and swimming. We always looked forward to the wood-fired sauna by the water, where we would get hot, splash to cool, then get hot again!
The better swimmers would head out to the raft and jump and dive from there. And when it got chilly … it was back to the sauna to steam up again!
We had so much fun in the U.P. sun.
We would be outside from sun-up to sundown, playing on swings, playing ladder ball, horseshoes, basketball, and more. We played a game called “four corners” while running around the camp. We took many bike rides and walks to the public boat launch to see how many fish the Indian boats had brought in. We would swim and fish off the long dock, and took ATV rides in the woods looking for deer and other wildlife. Area beaches were great fun, too, and when all was done … it was back to Camp for a good night’s rest.
Yes, it was Upper Peninsula Fun in the Sun. Yay.
Praise for Fun in the Sun
“Your words bring back what the U.P. was and is to me. There is nothing like it on this earth and you have captured it beautifully.”
- Judi Beaudoin, Retired registered nurse, Green Oaks Twp, Michigan
"The author eloquently captures the beauty of the Keweenaw Peninsula and the magic of never-ending childhood summers that could never be long enough."
–Robert Tervo, lifelong Yooper, outdoor enthusiast, and dad
"It sounds just like when we are Up North! It's a good story!"
–Carver P., age 8
"My favorite part is the fishing part because it makes me think of when we fish Up North!"
–Blaine P., age 11
“This is literally what Up North is!! I can picture it all perfectly because it is what we do when we are Up North, too!!"
–Nadia P., age 13
"This book made me feel like I was a kid again at my Grandma's camp. Such good memories. Johnny describes Michigan summers perfectly!"
-Rebecca Tervo, author, CPA, and U.P. mom
"A perfect summer-vacation bedtime book to share with youngsters. It captures all the nonstop activities and small family traditions that make being Up North so memorable!"
–Jerry O'Brien, father of three, Edina, Minnesota
"This book will be an instant favorite among my grandkids. Our cabin on the shores of Lake Superior is their favorite place in the whole world, and this fun book will take them there in the blink of an eye. It certainly takes me there!”
-Mark Raisanen, Up North outdoors fanatic, Dassel, Minnesota
"Wonderful story about a typical day on the water in Michigan's Upper Peninsula!"
-Crystal P., Houghton, Michigan, mother of nine.