"Three things cannot be long hidden; the sun, the moon, and the truth" ~Buddha

Ahhh Buddha, you're wrong.

I like lunar eclipses. I remember being little and my mom waking me up to go out to the kitchen and crawl into the east window to watch them. One of those spiffy earthy coincidences that doesn't occur all that often, the kind you should always stop and take a minute to enjoy.

I stayed up in order to catch the very cool lunar eclipse. Not that staying up until 1 or 2 in the morning is unusual, since I don't sleep worth a damn up here, but today I stayed up with a purpose- only to be foiled. Of course it is cloudy here in Baraga, and so I cannot see the eclipse- but I do get to listen to my friends back home who are currently watching the previously mentioned eclipse. Poo. Baraga gives me a glimmer of hope that I get to see something cool, then yanks it away. Double poo.

But alas, not all is lost. I did get to take some very cool pictures of the moon before its little event that I am missing...

There is in fact an I in quitter...

So my goal, while a noble attempt at saving my sanity, has failed. It has been absolutely terrifyingly cold up here (-11 when I left for work this morning...) and I am not sure that it is ever light out. Maybe it is, but it occurs during the hours where I am stuck inside a warm building. But there again I will trade heat for daylight, that's ok too. Did I mention it was bitter cold? I absolutely hate winter to begin with...maybe I was entirely too optimistic to think that I wouldn't have to be here the entire winter. I am wondering if I could deduct my monthly tanning package as the cost of treatment for seasonal depression?

Anywho, I got stuck in Frankfort this weekend since we got a ton of snow and there was no way that I was driving in that blizzard, so this time my trip back was in the daylight. So I stopped in Marquette on one of my regularly scheduled stops (I drink lots of Redbull and Mt. Dew on my drive back and forth) and took some pics.

 The lake was one angry lady on Monday...

 Ore dock

 Its an adorable fish sign...of course I took a pic of it!

Tonight I had to venture over to L'Anse, since the grocery store in Baraga doesn't really like to keep food in stock. I mean seriously, its not like people need chicken or milk...but I digress. L'Anse does a pretty fun job with the Christmas decorations, and I love Christmas so checking out all of the trees and lights was a little bit of a pick-me-up.

This is actually Baraga's one and only Christmas decoration.

Christmas vacation is coming up soon...

Toilet paper...

I remember being up here the second day, and buying an 18 pack of toilet paper. I looked at that thing and thought, shit- I will be packing that up and taking it home with me!

Today I took a roll off of the shelf and counted...6 left. What the hell...

It's been a rough couple of weeks. I am burnt out, tired of making the 8 + hour commute twice a week, my grades are suffering some, and I am neglecting my family. While this job is a good tool for me to broaden my scope of fisheries experience, I am beginning to wonder if the mental anguish is worth it. I feel like a failure. I am not meant to be living in the middle of nowhere- this relocation has proven to me that I most certainly am not a country girl. I may be outdoorsy, but I prefer an urban center...

Along these lines, I have just about given up on my goal to keep my sanity up here. Its been two weeks since I went out to do any exploring...its hard because when I get to work its dark and when I leave work 10 or 11 hours later- you guessed it, it's dark again. But about a month ago I did manage to stop at one of my favorite spots, Munising Falls- which I have never seen without snow on it! Its a very impressive waterfall when its snow covered and frozen- huge ice formations and the sound of rushing water underneath make it a very tranquil and pretty spot to walk into in the winter.

Now that I look at these it was more than a month ago- not only is there no snow, stuff is still green!

Its a pretty good drop, and while pretty this time of year, it really is a better winter spot!