The Sunday Steep #11: A beauty hangover

A college visit, tea with my boys, and the most gorgeous fall colors I've ever seen.

Oct 20, 2024

Hi friends,

Just a quick check-in this week, as I’m still in the Upper Peninsula visiting my (fourth-born) son Owen at college with my (second-born) son Isaac. I considered taking a break entirely this week, but had some photos I just had to share.

First, tea…

Please enjoy my two young men taking tea with me at Four Seasons Tea Room, downtown Houghton, MI.

Owen, (left), had a strawberry green tea that I found delicious, though I am not typically a green tea drinker. It was very smooth, slightly sweet, and not at all “grassy”. Isaac, already well-caffeinated, enjoyed a Peach Ice Cream herbal blend that lived up to its name. And I had the Nisua, black tea with a very light cardamom flavor - reminiscent of the cardamom in Finnish sweet bread, which seems appropriate in the region boasting the largest number of Finnish Americans in the United States.

While I’m talking about tea in the U.P., a shout-out to Keweenaw Coffee Works (where I’m writing this now!) for their quality tea service. I always appreciate when a coffee shop doesn’t forget about us tea drinkers!

Now, on to the fall colors…

When I planned this trip a few months ago, I figured the timing would be a little late for the best of autumn leaf-peeping. But instead, we arrived smack-dab in the middle of peak color.

I’ve marveled at the scenery in the Keweenaw Peninsula before, and I’ve seen some beautiful fall colors before, but friends, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this.

I must have pulled the car over a dozen times or more just to take it all in.

Every time I rounded a corner I’d say things like:

“What.”

“What even is this?”

“What am I seeing?”

People often say “photos can’t do it justice” and it’s true that mine cannot, but I hope you can get at least a little taste of the beauty that’s happening up here right now.

We drove for about two hours, stopping and looking and ooh-ing and ahh-ing, and by the time I got back to our AirBNB in Calumet, I was honestly exhausted. It felt like some kind of glory hangover.

Today it’s back to Houghton for dinner and more sightseeing, then tomorrow Owen will show Isaac around campus while I spend some time in the Michigan Tech archives. Then Isaac and I will bid our favorite student farewell and start heading back downstate, and life will get back to “normal” for a while.

But right now, I’m feeling grateful and awed that we live in a world where this kind of beauty exists. Thank you for sharing it with me, even if only through your imagination and my amateur iPhone shots.

One last thing…

Today is the last day to order your BevyBox for the first shipment window! If you order by midnight tonight, you can expect to receive your BevyBox in early November. (Don’t worry, there will be two more shipment windows before the holiday.)

The BevyBox is a gift box for tea lovers, crafters, and creative souls, curated by yours truly!

Each Just Sips BevyBox will contain a selection of my favorite tea, plus a tea accessory. You can also choose a Sip & Stitch box that will include craft supplies geared toward your fiber art of choice (yarn or thread). And all BevyBoxes will also include a print copy of BEVY, a beautifully-illustrated publication written and edited by me.

These boxes are customized to include your favorite kinds of tea and supplies for your craft of choice, and are created to deliver both value and delight.

Use the code TEA15 for 15% off. Enjoy, friends!

I’ll be back to the usual routine next week, and will also be dropping an episode of The Tea’s Made podcast this Thursday, all about content overload. Can you relate? I’d love to hear if, like me, you also feel like you’re drowning in content sometimes, and how you’re managing the flow. Have questions, thoughts, or ideas? Please drop them in the comments below, and I’ll try to address them in the episode.