Brrr - - It's cold out here in Cheyenne tonight. Got my longjohns back out. Donn's U.P. shot of this pile at Empire goes together with a side trip I made on the Medicine Bow highway. The little town of Hanna is home to the Mine Disaster Memorial, where a coal mine explosion took many lives about a hundred years ago.

I'm debating whether to go due south tomorrow to Denver, or head north to South Dakota. We added a map on the travel page, so take a look - - I'm open for suggestions.

Good night from Wyoming, and good morning from da' U.P.

I vote for Denver - one of my favorite cities! But then Mount Rushmore is worth a trip.

Hello all!
I know I posted this a couple times already but I am trying to reach as many visitors/contributers to this siteas I can. I am looking for some input from all you Pasty Central visitors/photographers out there!! I am shopping for a real good digital camera that can take some nice scenic pictures as well as just shots of family holidays and such. Cost being limited to 1000.00 and under. Any and all suggestions are wlcome. Please let me know why you like a certain camera or why you don't like it. You can email me direct with the info at: N9RK@attbi.com
Thanks in advance for the help!!
I am totally enjoying all the pictures here and hope to submit some of my own after I get my camera as we will be vacationing up that way come this fall!!
Best wishes,
Renee

Hi Toivo -
My suggestion is to head south and hit Denver, then NM and east to TX...then back north again through OK, KS, and NE to SD. Then it's a zip over to IA, and wherever else you'd like to go. I don't know how many of the 50 states you've already covered previous to this journey, so let us know what you decide and maybe we can help you out again once you hit the Mississippi River valley area.

Drive carefully!

Hey Toivo, I vote with Kathi. Go South along her route.

Over on the Toivo Sightings page we have a map showing our explorer's journey, which will be updated to show the daily progress. Here's a snapshot from this morning:

I have been using a Sony F717 Cyber shot. It costs about $1000.00. It has 5 mega-pixels to apply toward photographs. It uses Sony's memory stick with 128 megabytes and their re-chargeable batteries which make things better. The memory sticks cost about $80.00 each and the batteries $60.00. If you are a savvy shopper on the internet you can acquire these things for under $1000.00.

Canon has a digital camera with 6 mega-pixels at $2000.00 and another with 11 mega-pixels for $8000.00 if you plan to do more with the camera in the future.

You might join your local camera club for more help. I live in Houghton and belong to the Escanaba Camera Club whom have been very accepting and helpful to me.
Regards,
Donn

Indeed this view is strinkingly alalogous, albeit on a smaller scale, of the view of St. Helens as you venture north on St. Hwy 503, just as you crest the hill past the East fork of the Lewis River. The mountain will appear in all of it's glory, a very impressive sight. Washington has some stunning scenery, second to the UP though obviously.

Wheatman

DONN, How about a simple explanton of Mega-pixels? Thanks

I vote for the Kathi route also. Hit more states on the "50-state trip"

Yes, Denver and then NM -- it should be spring there!

Do you want winter today? Denver is expecting snow today, but should be in the 70's by Thursday!

Resolution is a word used to describe the capabilities of digital cameras, monitors, scanners and printers. Digital camera companies use the term to describe the number of pixels in the images produced by their cameras (640x480pixels or 1.3million pixels). These values refer to the pixel dimensions or total pixels a camera can produce. Some vendors use the term VGA resolution to indicate 640x480 pixel image, XGA resolution to indicate a 1024x 768 pixels, and megapixel resoultion to indicate a total pixel count of 1 million or more. They really make it difficult for people to understand but the sales people have a field day filling you full of bull to make quick sales.
Regards,
Donn

PS My favorite reference is Digital Photography for Dummies available at your favorite book store.

Toivo, Toivo, Toivo..... Head south.....Hit as many of those southern states before it gets too darn hot, and right now is flower time down there. I bet most of the mid-west is not in bloom yet. Go to the flowers if you can.

As I understand pixel resolution: A pixel is a dot on a screen or picture. When a camera has 640x480 pixels, that is the number of pixels (or dots) per square inch. In this example, there are over 300,000 dots per square inch. Each pixel has a color associated with it and a digitial addres of where it appears on the screen or picture. The more pixels jammed in a square inch, the clearer the picture appears.

Hope this helps.

The May 2003 issue of Consumer Reports has several articles about the best digital cameras, printers, scanners and photo paper. Lots of good tips.

Good job dkk.
Regards,
Donn

THATS NOT SLAG IN THAT PILE ITS OVERBURDEN SAND AND ROCK REMOVED TO GET AT THE ORE BODY--I WORKED AT MATHer _B EMPIRE AN TILDEN MINES 30 YRS AFTER WORKING C&H MINES 13YRS

Toivo, While you were in Hanna did you stop at the local High School? The "new" English Jr High teacher is Miss Reno, a recent grad of NMU and a native Michigander!! Just can't drive far enough to really get away from home. Stay safe.

Toivo:

Definitely DENVER! And when you get here I would love to take you to lunch! I'll email you my phone number. Be safe! Denver traffic is sometimes a bit scrambled!

Hei, Toivo! Is that the mine disaster (?Scofield? May, 1900) that nearly wiped out an entire family from Finland that had come to work in the mines? Tragic story. They had just become settled enough to bring the rest of the family over. No sooner had the parents arrived, then the mine blew and they lost nearly all of their adult sons and grandsons (?9?). The parents went back to Finland, never to set foot on this continent again. I think the family name was Luoma, but not sure. I think a majority of those lost in that disaster were Finns.

Michigan:
Last Saturday you posted a question to me, but I wasn't online over the weekend...

Yes, I am related to the Cloutiers in Lake Linden. I grew up in the Detroit area and went to NMU with Sara Cloutier, of Lake Linden, in the late 1970's. If I understand our relations correctly, our Sara and I had the same great-Grandfather, John Cloutier. We also have a relative named Charboneau who's brother is the guy that was on the Lewis and Clark Expedition!

Cloutier is a bit of a rare name.... and I heard that it is also spelled Clouthier as someone pointed out. When I moved to Colorado after college, I learned of another family of Cloutiers in Denver, but as far as I know we are not related.

A while back friend of mine was travelling through Louisiana and passed through a little town named "Cloutierville"... They even had a sign along the highway for the exit... and if I ever go there myself I may have to steal that sign for my cabin wall... :) If you see Sara, please give her my regards... Take care...

Hey Toivo! I'm envious; I'd love to be making the trip you're making! Anyway, whenever you get to Nebraska, you must see Carhenge in Alliance. It's a model of Stonehenge made of old cars. Also, drive to the top of Scott's Bluff for a great view of the plains and the Oregon Trail route. Here in Denver, the weather is lousy today, so I hope you went north and will come back south later in the week when it warms up!

Toivo, either or. But just make sure you see Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse whenever you get to South Dakota. I've lived in Mi, Wa, Az, Wi, and am planning on moving to Gillette, Wy this summer. Have been enjoying your travels.

Thanks for the Consumer Reports tip, Daryl. And hey, Toivo, your trip keeps reminding me of when I used to take Amtrak across country and back. I remember sharing time with a fellow traveller whose goal was to travel the whole perimeter of the U.S. by train -- he was going to do it in 40 days and was about halfway along. There are so many wonderful sights, any way you go you're bound to see something or meet someone you'll never forget.

Hi! Toivo
And all others watching Toivo's route. I have traveled that route plus a number of others across this country. No matter which roads you take accross this wonderful country of ours its all beautiful scenery.

We purchased an inexpensive digital camera from Walmart, it has 8 extra mgs and it works wonderfully.
Also too 'sad' of a story of the Finns lost in the mine.

For those looking to buy a digital camera (and all kinds of info on digital photogrsaphy), I've found PC Photo Magazine great! check out: http://pcphotomag.com/content/articles/digcameras.html

Where is this slag pile located? Also can you get to it by snowmobile, and if so is it legal to try to climb it? Later, Skylar.

Toivio:
My vote is to head for Denver! But if you want to see one of the most beautiful spots in Colorado you should go to Ouray in south western Colorado!
South Dakota has some beautiful areas but nothing could compare with Colorado.
Rose

I have a 2.0 megapixel Kodak digital camera--a DC 3400. Although a camera with more megapixels would take a finer quality picture, it suits all of my needs just fine--I use it for nature photography and general photo taking. I also print my own photos. It takes compact flash cards and hooks up to a USB cable on your computer to download the photos.

Thanks Donn,dkk and all for the help and explantions, really appreciate it.

All roads lead to Wall Drug SD --see the
jackalopes!

Hey Toivo,

You gotta see the southwest a bit more, so different than the UP.Go to Colorado then NM,then you can head north. We have always found the blue highways (secondary) much more scenic than the interstate travel, and not so heavily travelled.You can stay out of the big cities too, unless big cities are your cuppa tea,(NOT !)
Great picture material everywhere.

I drive by that rock dump every week day as I leave work at the Empire Mine. It is about a quarter mile north of Palmer on M-35. I wouldn't recommend trying to climb it as it is on the active mine property. The view from on top is great.

Toivo
I had a great trip once from Laramie (down the road from Cheyenne) to Steamboat Springs, through Rocky Mountain National Park and then over to Loveland/Ft Collins...come to think of it though, Rocky Mt National Park may not be open in the winter.

Whatever, have a good trip

Hey Toivo, Eastern OK has redbuds and dogwoods just blooming--very pretty. Bring your snuggies, buddy the temp is 30's the next three nights, then up to 80's for 2 months then 90's and 100's 2 months. Do you got some flip-flops and cutoffs with you? We got big fish--latest spoonbill record snagged was 121 lbs. Wild Turkey season right now(not the kind you drink). We got some of those wild pigs like Pte. Abbyee too. Some thing like smelt here they call 'em shad. Catfish fry every Fri. at Charlie's Chicken at I-40 Webbers Falls. Rodeo at Muskogee next Fri. nite with the bad bulls from Barnes Brothers Co. com'on down!

Hei, Donn, Mimi and I went for our Finnish lesson this aft. in Negaunee and on the way drove by this pile. Only the warmer temp had melted most of the snow. It's a really nice pic. Have you ever stopped at Warner Falls in Palmer for a shot of the falls? Nice this time of year.

Hi all!
Thanks so much to everyone for the valuable information and links you provided me about digital cameras!! I hope to be contributing to Pasty Cam some time down the road!
Best wishes,
Renee in IL

Ahh, indeed-Toivo just avoid I-25 in the environs of Denver around rush hour, not a fun time. Basically the best of gridlock, I lived in Denver for awhile and experienced it myself more than once.

renee in il are u from calumet.where in il are u from.

Hey Dave,
I swear I posted a message to you and I can't find it...in it, I said that if Sara Cloutier's parents are Barb and Ed, and you are related to her, then I am related to you. ;) Ed Cloutier is my mom's cousin. She was a Cassette from Lake Linden.
Lisa

Very pretty pic of Empire Mine rock pile on 35 betw Gwinn and Marquette. Drive that pretty stretch of road often when visiting a friend in Gwinn on my way to the Keeweenaw. Heard it's the highest point in the UP. True?