Colorado Trip.........jk, this is the U.P.!

Alex discovered a new spot to hike around, and it's full of hills, and steep cliffs, cedar swamps, and a creek running through.  It is truly gorgeous and you feel more like you're out west when you're there.  There's even a sweet flat area of pines that overlooks a cliff and someone built a little fire ring of rocks that we are going to camp at when it gets a little warmer.

This is the flat area of pines that has an awesome view and the fire pit in the lower right corner

Looking over the cliff

This is one view from the "campsite"

The backside view--at the bottom of this cliff is the creek

Bow lives for our hikes :)

Colorado??

Hunter and his companion :)

Getting Crafty

One might ask, what does one do when one is unemployed and living in Iron Mountain?  Well, if she has any creativity in her bones she crafts!  I've taken to a few easy DIY projects and artwork the past few weeks, it breaks up the monotony of staring at the animals. :)

I don't even really remember where I got the idea for the stencil artwork, but it was pretty easy, because I just found pictures online that I liked, cut them out, and painted them on cute fabric with acrylic paints.  As for the owls, I think that was a Pinterest thing.

Pictures I found online

Pretty cheap artwork-just a small amount of fabric (you could use scraps pretty much), the picture was free,  the paint was about $1 and the frame was from Goodwill!  (whitey wanted to be in the picture)

All 3 that I've finished so far...notice Whitey's paws.....she's so curious :)

close up of fabric

Another close up....this one was actually painted on an old pillowcase I found at Goodwill (I go to Goodwill A LOT)  :)

I found these lovely guys at Goodwill, too!

Just your typical dated trinket

A little spray paint an voila! Much better!

Cute as bookends :)  Oh, and I found that little globe at Goodwill, too.  I thought it was charming.

Close up

So, yeah, that's what I've been doing in my free time lately.  I still have another stencil to paint, of a silhouette of a buck, but I haven't found the right frame at Goodwill yet.  And I'm waiting for a shipment of buttons from eBay to start on another craft that I found off Pinterest, so I'll post pictures of that one once I'm done!

Hiking

One might ask, what is there to do in Iron Mountain?  Well, not much, but there is definitely an abundance of good hiking-so that's what we have been doing in our free time!  Apparently, I need to do more, though, because I've gained a few pounds since we moved and have taken to renting the free fitness DVD's from Family Video!  Three words for you: Denise. Austin. Yoga.  lol, yeh, it's pretty bad, if you have ever done or seen either a denise austin video, or a yoga one you know what I'm talking about.  But, it must be working, because my legs are sore this morning!  Anyways, back on subject, just a few pics of us on another hiking outing.  

One of few pictures of us together...that's my dorky Goodwill hat that Alex says he can't take me seriously when I wear it---but it's so warm!!

Bow found a deer carcass and was gnawing on one of the legs.....yum!