The Redstone substation in Midland County near the Gratiot and Isabella county lines
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GLITR's Matt Roush with ITC's Gary Singh (right) and Tom Vitez
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Wind turbines in the distance in Gratiot County from the Redstone substation
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Up close and personal with giant wind turbines
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A scenic overlook along I-75 just south of the Mackinac Bridge
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The highway north to the UP beckons!
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A little early fall color in the rain
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Crossing the Mighty Mackinac in the driving rain
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A look off to the east at Mackinac Island from the bridge
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A murky Friday morning Sept. 30 along US-2 in Mackinac County
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Grand Island overloook along M-28 near Munising
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50 mph wind gusts out of the north make for some impressive waves along M-28 between Munising and Marquette
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Just east of Marquette the wind gusts proved too much for this pine tree.
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Fall colors south of L'Anse on US-41 are pretty much at their peak
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Michigan Tech research scientist Jeremy Worm with the MTU mobile vehicle lab
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Worm with a homemade Michigan Tech hybrid vehicle
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The cavernous interior of the new Advanced Power Systems Research Center, a 55,000-square-foot former factory
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Your humble narrator takes the Michigan Tech hybrid buggy for a spin
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Worm and grad student Chris Davis of Dayton, Ohio inside the mobile vehicle lab. In the background is a power train identical to the buggy's on a dynamometer.
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Michigan Tech professor Adrienne Minerick showing off the medical micro-devices she and her students build
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Russell Louks of Ford IT at Michigan Tech. Note the real shabby office view -- the Portage River and the famous Portage Lift Bridge linking Houghton and Hancock
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The real shabby view out of my room at the Franklin Square Inn in downtown Houghton.
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Dan Fuhrmann and Steve Carr at the new Center for Computing Systems Research at Michigan Tech
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The original? In Gay, Mich. along Keweenaw Bay.
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Michigan Tech alumnus Dennis Popko among with stamp sands wasteland
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The remant of the mining operation that ran from 1900 to 1932 and created the stamp sands.
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Professor Ezra Bar-Ziv and his biocoal (left) made from biomass (right)
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Mont Ripley, a small ski hill in Hancock, owned by Michigan Tech
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The Michigan Tech campus from the US-41 overlook in Hancock
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The famous Keweenaw snow gauge. Pretty light snowfall for this region last winter.
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The first of several shots taken while driving through the Tunnel of Trees on US-41 the last 15 miles into Copper Harbor. Probably shouldn't do this while driving...
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Fall color on Lake Medora, a very Canadian looking lake four miles south of Copper Harbor
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The main lodge at Keweenaw Mountain Lodge, a very old-school resort and golf course just south of Copper Harbor.
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Some of the cabins for rent at Keweenaw Mountain Lodge
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Lake Fanny Hooe from Brockway Mountain Drive west of Copper Harbor
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Fall color from atop Brockway Mountain Drive. Last year, on Oct. 8, I was a week too late for the peak color -- this year on Oct. 1 I'm a week too early!
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Morning and fall color at the whimsically named Lake Plumbago, at Alberta, one of Henry Ford's sawmill villages, south of Houghton along US-41
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Autumn gold lines the path to Canyon Falls along the Sturgeon River, along US-41 south of L'Anse
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A small creek that flows into the Sturgeon River just upriver of Canyon Falls
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The Sturgeon River, substantially more water in it than the last time I was Up North based on last week's rains
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Canyon Falls itself -- again, with a very impressive volume of water based on recent rains
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Never noticed this before, but these trees are growing directly on top of a huge flat round rock, with roots dangling off to the side to bring them nourisnment from the soil
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Lake Superior is much calmer on M-28 between Marquette and Munising than it was on Friday!
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Munising Creek en route to Munising Falls
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Munising Falls, part of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
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Another view of Munising Creek
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Alger Falls, just east of Munising on M-28
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A small creek near Wagner Falls, just east of Munising along M-94
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The new Cut River Bridge on US-2 between Naubinway and Brevort. The old bridge was called "a million dollar bridge over a 10-cent river." Don't know what the new one cost.
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Lake Mchigan from the pedestrian walkway of the Cut River Bridge
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Far below, the Cut River.
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Thenorth coast of Lake Michigan
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Back from Yooperland. As usual, I wish I could have stayed longer, like maybe for good.
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Al Iaonnangelo of Chantilly, Va.-based Catch The Wind Inc. with the buoy being deployed in Lake Michigan by Grand Valley State University to study wind power potential offshore in Lake Michigan
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Arn Boezaart of Grand Valley State University's Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center atop the buoy.
Syzygy Biotech CEO Barry D. Nowak
Syzygy Biotech CEO Barry D. Nowak in the lab where his DNA amplifier is made