Guest Post with Natalie! - Life in the Keweenaw

Hi all! 

First I want to shout out to the lovely Mrs. White for letting me do a guest blog post while she is moving into her first HOUSE! How exciting!! Anyway, my name is Natalie and I blog over at Looking Through The Lens. I'm still new to this neighborhood so sometimes there are little mistakes or sometimes not everything looks great, but such is life and I'm okay with it. I am a waitress at a local restaurant in my town and I ALWAYS get the question "What is it like to live here?". So I am going to put it out there for ever one to read. :D

Everyone knows what it’s like to live in a town like theirs and also what it’s like to live in a city, or for the most part. Well, have you ever wondered what it is like to live somewhere else in the country or in another part of the world? You can travel all over the place, but do you ever get the full experience of what it is like living there? You can if you talk to the locals. Guess what? I have been living in a tourist town for nine years AND I guess you could consider me a local.

So let me tell you what it’s like to live in a small tourist town in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan. It’s also called the Copper Country, end of the world, the far edge of nowhere, etc. If you ask anyone around here (besides me) they’ll tell you that it’s the best place to live on the earth. There is a sign that says “You are now breathing the purest more vitalizing air on earth”. Which is true, we do have the cleanest air and the cleanest drinking water as well.

My town, I kid you not, has a GRAND total of 85 people living in it year around. That’s all, no more, no less (well maybe a few less). 85! Do you know how much that is? It may sound like a lot... well kind of. If you were to ever see the size of my town that is probably a lot. BUT not everyone lives right in town. Some people live down on the lake shore of Lake Superior. Or the other way towards the end of the road. Yes we have snow birds (people that go south for the winter), but we also have people that leave just for a few months in the winter. Those people are counted in the 85. 

My dinky little town from an aerial view 

My town has AMAZING sunsets and sunrises practically EVERYDAY!

Everywhere you go there is a waterfall! These things are not to miss! 

Life in the Keweenaw is definitely different than any other area that I know of. Everyone here owns a business OR is on some sort of committee that is helping to improve this town. We have no fast food restaurants, no Mejiers, no Target, No Walmart. Just one single blinking light. No cell phone service and really sketchy internet. Our cable TV has about 20 channels and that is if the signal is good. Don't let that confuse you because maybe those are all negatives, but I will say (as much as I don't like living here) it's one of the prettiest places to VISIT. 

Everything we do to this town is ALL by donation and sometimes they don't turn out the way we want them too. Things that have been brought to this town all my donation WELL our July 4th fireworks, Hunter's Point park and our ambulance. There are more, but those are the biggest ones. 

We LIVE for the tourist. NO JOKE. If it wasn't for you guys (the tourist) this little town would be nothing but a couple of shacks and camps. 

You've got to really love the outdoors to live in this little town. If you don't this isn't the place for you. You've got to love kayaking, hunting, fishing, fourwheeling, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, skiing, etc. All that outdoor stuff. You don't have to like it all, but you need to like something for each season. Granted there is lighthouses to go to. I can't forget about Isle Royale. After awhile doing all that "touristy" stuff it gets old. 

Whats it like living in your town or city? OR if you just want to know more about me and my life in this town. Come on by to my blog and let me know!

Thanks again to the lovely Mrs. White! :D