I'm new to the Pasty Cam and think it's great.  I've been passing on the web address to many Yoopers living away.  My folks live in Chassell but are spending the winter in Florida.  Would you consider taking a picture of Marinette St. in Chassell so my parents can see what they're missing? 

Thanks! 
M. Jurgensen

We've had lots of requests for Chassel and Ontonagon lately. But we're so busy making pasties, it's hard to get away for a drive :o) Maybe someday soon... 

Please thank whoever is responsible for "PastyCam."  We are really enjoying  those pictures. We lived at Hancock from 1957 to 1962 while my husband was  stationed there with Air Force ROTC at Tech.  I attended MTU while we were  there.  So we have fond memories.  I ordered some pasties over Thanksgiving, and  we enjoyed them greatly, and  expect to order more.  While we lived there, we  lived over Joffee's Shoe Store (upstairs) and next to the Kaleva Cafe on Quincy  Street.  I understand that building burned down.  Our daughter was born in 1958  at St. Joseph's Hospital in Hancock with Dr. Leonard Aldrich as the physician.   His office was across the street from where we lived (diagonally) and also across  the street from a drugstore owned by a family named Gardner.  I think that  building burned, too. 

So again, we are glad for the nice service you provide. Hope to get back up  there someday.  Many thanks. 

Sue and Sam Scalf 

I recently met an incredible man from the U.P.  Soon after that I found your cam on the net and really have enjoyed seeing various spots from your beautiful peninsula! 

In two weeks I will finally see the U.P. in reality when I come in for a visit.  In the meantime thanks for letting me see a part of his world daily.  It is truly different from my Louisville, KY.  Both are beautiful in their own way.   Of course, ya'll don't run for cover when it snows 2 inches like we do!! 

Please continue to bring me these fab shots.   I look forward to tasting my first pasty and seeing the land of the "Yoopers".

Sincerely, Suzanne S 

I was just sent your wonderful pasty-cam page from some good internet friends in Calumet.  I have spent a lovely time here this morning just looking at all your beautiful photos of your lovely area.  I have seen many photos of Calumet and surrounding areas in non-snowy times and the scenery is breathtaking, but seeing these Winter scenes adds a whole new dimension.  It is like a picture book, especially as I sit here in the middle of an Australian summer with sweat pouring down my face as I type (well not pouring mabye but I like to add a bit of drama).

Well done, I will bookmark this page and (check) it regularly.

Regards,
Tricia Percy,
Campbelltown,New South Wales, Australia

I realy enjoy "cooling" off looking at my desktop with pictures from your site.  Right now I have the picture  with the two dear on it.  Unfortunately I don't think the cost / benefit would be practical to buy your pasties.  Maybe next winter (here) I'll try and make some myself.  Happy Carnival.

David C. Meissner

(International shipping cost is a little steep... we haven't perfected pasty delivery by email, but we're working on it :o)

Just thought I would send you a line or two.  Well Dave Dewey from So. Cal. is right, the January 6 picture is not Hancock, it's Lake Linden .... 

Have had your pasties and really enjoy them.  See you next summer.

Ernie K.

I have a t-shirt (very old and worn, but still special) with a picture of a pasty and this description....

        Pasty
    U.P Soul Food

I'd love to have another t-shirt like it!  I purchased the original one at the first Michigan fair at MSU about 15 years ago.

Marti Alexander
Grand Rapids, MI
native-born Yooper (Marquette)

Hi,  I'm originally from the U.P. - Marquette.  My husband is from Alpha/Crystal Falls area.  We now live in Coeur d'Alene, ID.  We own and operate a pasty shop here called the Pasty Depot and sell original U.P pasties!  In our research we found the following:

The pasty can be traced back to the 1800's in Cornwall England.  The tin miners took them down the shafts with them.  Cornish miners migrated to the US, including the U.P., where pasties are now legendary.

We describe the pasty as a hand held meat & potato pie wrapped in a pastry type crust. 

We've met alot of people from the U.P. who tell us our pasties remind them of "home."   My mother was born and raised in Calumet, MI.

Hope this answers your questions (from January 4, below.)

David & Carol Voelker

(We've heard good reports about the Pasty Depot)

I would love to see a picture of "tip-up town", Kipling, MI.  This is in Gladstone, near Escanaba.  Every year, by mid-winter, a city of ice shanties grows on the ice on Little Bay De Noc, straight east of the Marble Arms Corporation in Gladstone, MI.  It's a wonderful sight! In fact, there is a white 4x8x8 shack out there somewhere with the name "Tim Soper Carney, MI" on it, which belongs to me.  I attend school in Nebraska, whcih is where I am now, but I miss the UP somthing fierce.  I look at your webcam every single day.  It's like home away from home for me.  I was home at Christmas-time and did some fishing on the bay.  I would LOVE to see a picture of the "tip-up town" if you ever happen to be down the Escanaba way with your digital camera. 

Thanks so much for bringing the U.P. to the Yoopers afar!!

Tim Soper

(There's also usually quite a few shanties on the bay between Baraga and L'anse.  Maybe we can send the Pasty Cam fishing one of these days)

I recently received a pasty as B-Day gift from my brother Matt.  We used to visit the Copper Country as kids, and pasties are  a fond memory of those wonderful times.  As I unwrapped the pasty, I almost cried from the emotion I felt.  It was truly a wonderful meal --- you have a new customer!

Marcy M.

(you made our day, Marcy)

I really enjoy your entire site.  Pasty cam is especially good.  We were both born and raised in the U. P., Hancock and Ahmeek.  Fortunately, both Moms make excellent pasties and passed the techniques on, but other items look good and can't be found out here. 

Regards, Roger and Beth Somero

(We host many popular U.P. items, such as  Giant Sweet Rolls from the Hilltop in L'anse and Gift Packs from Vollwerth's in Hancock.  All of our sponsors use pasty.com's secure server, but ship the item's directly to each customer.  So any purchases made through this website benefits Still Waters Community Elders Home... even if it's not pasties :o)

Thanks for the great service.  You'll never know how great it is to come home and find the box on the doorstep and know that the cooking has been done by loving hands and all I have to do is turn on the oven.  What a treat!!!

By the way, why does the secure order form say that the certificate has expired?

Margaret T.

(Good question.  The answer is that you have an older browser which has en expired root certificate (on your computer) which can be updated by following this link.  The procedure will detect your certificate and replace it with a new one.

Secure encryption requires a certificate both on the server, such as pasty.com, and in the browser on your end.  Many of the browsers prior to version 4  - Netscape, AOL, or Explorer - expired last summer.  As an alternative you might consider upgrading to a newer version browser)

I received my first order of pasties this week, and they were wonderful!  My mother, of course, makes the best pasties in the world but these are the closest to hers that I've ever had. 

Also want to thank you for Web site.  I am a Yooper from Mass City.  (We have a place in Twin Lakes, next door to Fred and Pat Saatio.)  The first thing I do every morning is get on the Web and check the weather up at home, and then check out the new PastyCam photo.  My husband and I are really into Copper Country mining and minerals and especially love the photos of old mining buildings.  By the way, Mass City is having a centennial celebration this summer, so that might be a good place to take a photo someday. 

Although I've lived in the Twin Cities for almost 16 years now, there's only one place that's really home for me.  Thanks for helping make it seem like I'm there for a few minutes every day!

Kay (Miilu) Tislar

Hi, received our pasties on Wed. last and again they were great.  I am so glad I found your site and we have purchased a number of pasties from you and have given your address to many other people.  We have vacationed a number of times in the Keweenaw area and wish we could get there more often, it is such a beautiful area.  Keep up the good work and if we can get up there some time again soon, will stop in and say "Hello". 

Ellen Ketz

Thanks for getting the pasties sent to Bernard and Nines Verville in Fort Myers for us. They were so excited! They're busy trying to decide who should share their treat, and what to keep for another special day. I think their  excitement grew when they realized the good people at Pasty Central use old Daily Mining Gazettes to wrap the packages.

Bernard said the treats were still chilled when he opened the package, so your packing was apropriate even in 75 degree weather. My wife and I gave them a jar of Thimbleberry Jam for Christmas, so the Vervilles are set!

John Walker

Thank you so much for the pasty cam.  It gives me great inspiration when I get lonely.  I have been deployed to Bosnia since Aug 98 and will return to Fort Hood, TX some time in Mar 99.  When the guys think its cold here or rough I just bring em to the pasty cam and they have nothing to complain about (Weather.)  Keep up the good work and thanks again.

SSG SALCHERT , MATTHEW
B Company 2-8 Cavalry

I love your site, especially the Pasty Cam and have recommended it to acquaintances all over the country.  I noticed today that you have a view from the a home and that you had a similar view last summer.  What I'd like to know is where is that view, or in other words, where is the camera located and in which direction is it pointing?  I can't tell whether Lake Superior is off in the distance or not, but that is what I'm looking for--a view of Lake Superior with some idea of where the view is located so that when I look at it I have some kind of reference point.  If you go to

you can see a black and white, still picture from Eagle Harbor, and

has a regularly updated still picture but it is also monochrome.  So if you're facing the lake, it would be a chance to see it in living color!

Again, I want to compliment you on your Web site and on your whole program.  I'm 64.  Am I too young to live in the Elders Home?  ;-)

Sincerely,
Ruthann Ruehr

(The residence of the Pasty Cam is above the dunes in Eagle River.  The residents at Still Waters are as young as 60)

Many of my co-workers wonder how  people in the Keweenaw can continue to function on a near normal basis with such an abundant snowfall.  I've tried to explain the snow removal equipment, v-plows, sno-gos, snow scoops, etc., but I don't think they're getting the picture. Perhaps the pasty cam can catch one of the county sno-gos chewing through a Calumet Ave. snow bank.  I enjoyed all the snow we got while being home (Calumet) for the holidays.  I look forward to your pictures on the web while I am at my "other" home here in Brighton,Mi.

Thanks!
Loren Kangas

Michigan (1/8) 

Do you have an archive picture of a "sno-go" in action?  I'm a "yooper yoosta be" who is enjoying bringing snow pictures in to my co-workers.  We are all whining down here because we got 14" of snow last weekend!  They all look at the pictures and say "now I know why you live down here!"  They just don't understand the pull of the CC.  By the way, my retirement (in 26 years) will be in Bootjack.

Carol Cline... 630 miles from Calumet

Can't make out what the record snowfall is on the top of the thermometer.  Maybe you can add it in type on the ST page? Or is that common info every  Yooper should know, the same as who's the first president?

John H.

(Of course, every Yooper knows it was George, son of Toivo and Lempi Washingtonen, and the record snow was in '78-'79 at 390.4 inches)

This is great! I have been coming up to the UP my whole life and now that I am out of school I don't have as much free time to spend up there. This is the first time I have been on pasty.com, and it is nice to see what is going on up there.  You guys are doing a great JOB !!!  My Grandparents have a place in Eagle River and it is nice to look at pictures when I dont have the time to get up there.  Anyway I just want to say keep up the good work!!

Eric Niederer

Greetings from sunny Southern California.

Just thought you'd like to know that it's cooled off considerably here in San Diego today: high temp today is supposed to be frigid 58 degrees.  It was in the eighties up through yesterday.

Sorry about that...I couldn't resist.  I'm a Tech graduate, originally from Kalamazoo, who's been on the West Coast since I graduated in '83.  My freshman year - '78/'79 - was the year of the record snowfall (392 inches??)  I'm still very proud to be an "honorary" Yooper.  I loved every minute of my four-plus years in the Copper Country.

Please help me settle a bet with a buddy:  Where was your Jan 6th photo taken?  He says it's on Quincy St. in downtown Hancock, I say it isn't. Don't tell him, but I KNOW it's not in Hancock because the picture shows a 2-way street.  Shhhhh!  There's a steak dinner riding on this!

Of course, one of the drivers could be going the wrong way!  Like folks from Wisconsin.

Thanks for the great site!  Your pictures are great.  The shot of Hancock taken from across the mirror-smooth Portage was simply awesome.

If I had any suggestions, it would be for more campus pictures for all we Tech grads across the country....something like Wadsworth Hall in a whiteout would bring back poignant memories.  I miss the Copper Country, even after 16 years of warm sunshine!

Dave Dewey

(You'll soon be enjoying steak, Dave, courtesy of your buddy.  It is a two-way street, a shot of Lake Linden.  LOTS of whiteouts in the Keweenaw these days.  Sometime even makes us forget where we are :o)

Kudos,Kudos,Kudos! What a wonderful site...My son who was raised in the U.P.  Has missed swimming in the fresh  water of  Lake Superior for a few years  after moving to Seattle Wa.  Not to mention all the other bountiful things the Upper Penninsula has to offer...i.e. pasties!!  One of his christmas presents was a photo album of his youth spent here.  And what do I find on the web but this excellent site!  I sent your page to him and know he'll LOVE IT..  Keep up the good work pasty cam guys and don't go on strike to often we'd miss you!

Most Sincerly,  Becky Howitt

(Thanks for your encouraging words.  By the way, we just added an additional camera to our Pasty Cam tools:  a Kodak DC260, to go along with our old faithful Mavica.  We should be able to have even more pictures of the winter carnival this year.  Unless, of course, Toivo and Eino go on strike :o)

We are making an appeal to the collective wisdom of our many visitors (almost three million hits last year) to help us respond to some frequent inquiries.  How would you answer these questions?  Email us with your ideas:

Michigan (1/4)

Hello I am from Kalamazoo,Mi... and I was looking at your web page
and was wondering what a pastie is?  I would appreciate it if you would answer my question...
Thank you,
Michael Lemmen

What a delightful page!  I'm interested to know more about pasties.  My
daughter-in-law is making them for our family get-together.  We would like to include a little bit of the history & origin of the pasties.  Can you help us?

-Where did the pasties originate?
-Are they from a specific culture, i.e., Norwegian, Swedish, German, etc?
-Do they serve as a "symbolic" food for a specific holiday?

We certainly would appreciate any info you could furnish us with.

Thank you.

Mama Rootie

(there are a lot of Pasty Experts who visit this website... maybe some of them can provide some good answers to these questions, which we will post on this page)

I noticed today that 66.6 iches of snow had fallen in the UP (end of '98), according to the snow thermometer. That's a devilish amount of snow, wouldn't you say?  And some diabolical weather we're havin', too. Well, I guess it's all a bunch of devil's play, but I'm just playing devil's advocate here.

John Hoh

(yes, John, several viewers noticed the 666, but actually, because we were a day behind, the year ended with 74.8 inches)

Happy New Year all of you up there in snow country.   Just a note to tell you how much we enjoyed those DELICIOUS pasties on the Sunday after Christmas when our family gathered together here in Romeo Mich for our pikkujuolu.  Everyone loved the taste and, with the addition of Vollwerth summer sausage, nissu, and prune tarts, it was like being at our family homestead in Toivola.  The pasties arrived in good condition and I enjoyed reading the packing!  Loved the Daily Mining Gazette. 

Anyway, keep up the good work.  We'll be repeat customers for sure.

Sincerely,
Linda & Ray Babin.
Romeo, MI

Well, the UP, specifically the Copper Country town of Calumet made the infamous national news (ABC) for getting 7 feet of snow in 3 days (was it)?  Of course they pronounced it wrong.  They said KA - LUM - ET, not KALYOOMET.

Hahahahahahahahaha 

Now, (hahaha) I am stuck in Ohio (heeheehee) but there are DEFINITELY some things this Yooper transplant  (ho ho ha hee hee) DOES NOT MISS.

Have a great new year!

Enjoying my pasties and saffron buns,
with 3 inches of snow on the ground,
MaryJane Butkus aka Hancock Irish kid