Monday, September 13, 2010
More photos will be posted shortly...
It's taking me forever to upload, so more will be coming soon. Stay tuned!
Harvest Moon Festival, Ely
Last Day!
Well, our last day was fairly uneventful, but relaxing. We drove the long, scenic drive to Ely for the Harvest Moon Festival, which had lots of arts, crafts, food vendors and a lumberjack competition. We spent the chilly morning wandering up and down the festival, bought Mum a book of photography from an awesome local, self-taught photographer who blew everyone else there away. His work was fantastic, and he even does his own matting and framing. He camps out to get photos of wildlife, so he’s got some of the most incredible shots I’ve ever seen. He was interesting to talk to, very humble. You can tell that his photography is intuitive, I love that. Whenever I stop worrying about getting it “right” and simply let the photo show itself to me, that’s when great shots happen. The technical stuff is only a tool to help a person, but to really get the perfect photos, you have to kind of let go of the controls and coast. At least, that’s what works for me, anyway.
We had more slow-cooked meat sammies for lunch that were delicious, but once the lumberjack competition started up, we made a beeline for the car. As much as I wanted to go back to the Wolf Center to get this cool ring they had and see the wolves again, we were both pretty fried. So much driving is trance-inducing, so we both just felt like heading back to the cabin to veg our for our last day. The drive was absolutely gorgeous, though. Back at the cabin, we grilled the last of our brats and veggie medley (brussell sprouts, bell peppers and mushrooms), and were just getting them off the heat with it started raining. We ate inside and watched the raindrops plop over the lake. We were really bummed that we couldn’t have a fire in the pit, that was one of the main things I wanted to do, but oh well. Another time, I guess. We were so pooped we were ready for bed at 7:30! We held out, reading until about 9 and then crashed. I finally slept a good nights sleep, and we were up, packed and checking out at 8am the next morning. I was so anxious to get home to our little lonely Vesta! So we’re back, and Vesta snubbed us a bit before finally allowing her gratefulness to shine through as I sat out on the balcony with her, fawning over her like an old, crazy cat lady. Home. My favorite place in the world :)
Love to all, thanks for reading!
R&J
Well, our last day was fairly uneventful, but relaxing. We drove the long, scenic drive to Ely for the Harvest Moon Festival, which had lots of arts, crafts, food vendors and a lumberjack competition. We spent the chilly morning wandering up and down the festival, bought Mum a book of photography from an awesome local, self-taught photographer who blew everyone else there away. His work was fantastic, and he even does his own matting and framing. He camps out to get photos of wildlife, so he’s got some of the most incredible shots I’ve ever seen. He was interesting to talk to, very humble. You can tell that his photography is intuitive, I love that. Whenever I stop worrying about getting it “right” and simply let the photo show itself to me, that’s when great shots happen. The technical stuff is only a tool to help a person, but to really get the perfect photos, you have to kind of let go of the controls and coast. At least, that’s what works for me, anyway.
We had more slow-cooked meat sammies for lunch that were delicious, but once the lumberjack competition started up, we made a beeline for the car. As much as I wanted to go back to the Wolf Center to get this cool ring they had and see the wolves again, we were both pretty fried. So much driving is trance-inducing, so we both just felt like heading back to the cabin to veg our for our last day. The drive was absolutely gorgeous, though. Back at the cabin, we grilled the last of our brats and veggie medley (brussell sprouts, bell peppers and mushrooms), and were just getting them off the heat with it started raining. We ate inside and watched the raindrops plop over the lake. We were really bummed that we couldn’t have a fire in the pit, that was one of the main things I wanted to do, but oh well. Another time, I guess. We were so pooped we were ready for bed at 7:30! We held out, reading until about 9 and then crashed. I finally slept a good nights sleep, and we were up, packed and checking out at 8am the next morning. I was so anxious to get home to our little lonely Vesta! So we’re back, and Vesta snubbed us a bit before finally allowing her gratefulness to shine through as I sat out on the balcony with her, fawning over her like an old, crazy cat lady. Home. My favorite place in the world :)
Love to all, thanks for reading!
R&J
Voyageur's National Park
Thursday August 9, 2010
Another relatively sleepless night for me (what IS it with me and sleepless vacations?!), but I got out early and took some lovely shots of the foggy lake at dawn, loons, gulls, and even got snaps of a resident otter! He made his rounds and then swam under our dock and I haven’t seen him since! It makes me wonder how otters sleep? John fixed coffee and brekkies for us, got everything packed for our day of hiking because he’s awesome! We were on the road by 8:00 and went for a nice, chilly hike at a nearby bog, then drove to Crane Lake and realized there were no hiking trails there (but a bustling retirement community), so we headed for the Ash River post at Voyageur’s National Park. We had lunch in a pristine little outcropping with water and wild nature surrounding us, eagles soaring over our heads and the gulls ever-circling. The view was spectacular, and it’s hard to believe there are places this amazing still left on earth. After lunch, we set off on a very serene and challenging hike among all the giant trees. We didn’t see too much wildlife except for a bunch of the tiny red squirrels, flitting birds and a couple of elusive grouse that I tried but couldn’t get photos of. At the tip of the trail is an incredible, still bay with a huge community of gulls all crying and diving for fish, and a few ducks gently drifting on the crystal clear water. We sat for a while and marveled at this undisturbed beauty. There was also a nice overlook further down the path where you could see for miles across all the cute little islands that lay among the water. Meandering back on the long drive to the cabin, we were really ready for coffee and lounging.
Foggy dock
One of the two loons we'd see every morning
Fat little gull!
What I thought was an otter turned out to be a muskrat
Woodpecker
Eagle
Scenes and Schmoopiness!
We grilled some pork chops seasoned with the dried sage, thyme and pepper that we brought, and a little veggie medley with brussell sprouts, mushrooms and bell peppers in lemon-butter, salt and pepper. It was a fantastic meal!! One of the resident dogs, Oz, came running down for a visit as John was grilling, and he went to stand on our dock and stare at the water. Apparently the otter I thought I saw is actually a muskrat that Oz is fascinated with. The two dogs that live here are called Oz and Bear, and they are Belgian Tavern’s, and I’m hoping to get a photo of them because they are very unique looking dogs, and they are HUGE, but very sweet and gentle. We were then visited by four female ducks who frequent the area, quacking all the while. They came to feast on all the seaweed at the shoreline, and then preened themselves on our dock. We’ve come to calling them The Four Little Biddies!
Three of the Four Biddies
After watching the first half of the Viking’s game up at the lodge, we turned in for the night. We were both so tired, we just couldn’t stay up to stargaze or have a fire. We’ll have to save that for tomorrow, our last full day!
More to come!
Love, R&J
Another relatively sleepless night for me (what IS it with me and sleepless vacations?!), but I got out early and took some lovely shots of the foggy lake at dawn, loons, gulls, and even got snaps of a resident otter! He made his rounds and then swam under our dock and I haven’t seen him since! It makes me wonder how otters sleep? John fixed coffee and brekkies for us, got everything packed for our day of hiking because he’s awesome! We were on the road by 8:00 and went for a nice, chilly hike at a nearby bog, then drove to Crane Lake and realized there were no hiking trails there (but a bustling retirement community), so we headed for the Ash River post at Voyageur’s National Park. We had lunch in a pristine little outcropping with water and wild nature surrounding us, eagles soaring over our heads and the gulls ever-circling. The view was spectacular, and it’s hard to believe there are places this amazing still left on earth. After lunch, we set off on a very serene and challenging hike among all the giant trees. We didn’t see too much wildlife except for a bunch of the tiny red squirrels, flitting birds and a couple of elusive grouse that I tried but couldn’t get photos of. At the tip of the trail is an incredible, still bay with a huge community of gulls all crying and diving for fish, and a few ducks gently drifting on the crystal clear water. We sat for a while and marveled at this undisturbed beauty. There was also a nice overlook further down the path where you could see for miles across all the cute little islands that lay among the water. Meandering back on the long drive to the cabin, we were really ready for coffee and lounging.
Foggy dock
One of the two loons we'd see every morning
Fat little gull!
What I thought was an otter turned out to be a muskrat
Woodpecker
Eagle
Scenes and Schmoopiness!
We grilled some pork chops seasoned with the dried sage, thyme and pepper that we brought, and a little veggie medley with brussell sprouts, mushrooms and bell peppers in lemon-butter, salt and pepper. It was a fantastic meal!! One of the resident dogs, Oz, came running down for a visit as John was grilling, and he went to stand on our dock and stare at the water. Apparently the otter I thought I saw is actually a muskrat that Oz is fascinated with. The two dogs that live here are called Oz and Bear, and they are Belgian Tavern’s, and I’m hoping to get a photo of them because they are very unique looking dogs, and they are HUGE, but very sweet and gentle. We were then visited by four female ducks who frequent the area, quacking all the while. They came to feast on all the seaweed at the shoreline, and then preened themselves on our dock. We’ve come to calling them The Four Little Biddies!
Three of the Four Biddies
After watching the first half of the Viking’s game up at the lodge, we turned in for the night. We were both so tired, we just couldn’t stay up to stargaze or have a fire. We’ll have to save that for tomorrow, our last full day!
More to come!
Love, R&J
"And they call it a mine....a mine!"
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
After we made a nice, large breakfast of sausages, mushroom & Swiss egg scramble, toast and coffee, we decided that since it was kind of cold and cloudy that we’d save Voyageur’s hiking for the predicted warmer Thursday and hit the Soudan Mine tour today. It was really cool! I was getting a bit apprehensive the more I thought about it, but I finally just calmed my mind and closed my eyes for the two full minutes that we were lowered in the elevator a half a mile into the earth. Once in the mine, it was much better because it was quite spacious and they have it all lit up. We took a train through the mine, then had to walk up a spiral staircase to a huge cavernous remnant of the mining days. I couldn’t believe how enormous this area was, and our tour guide demonstrated what it sounded like when all the miners would be working (Holy shit, it was loud!!!) and then also what is was like in the days before electricity as she shut off all the lights. Yikes, talk about darkness that would cause madness! I have always had a great respect for miners who go down there for their paychecks every day (despite my lukewarm feelings about the trade, environmentally speaking), and especially now knowing that the Soudan mine was one of the best mines to work in. Other mines were not as nice as that one, and our tour guide said that often miners have to work in several feet of standing, freezing cold water. It was 50 degrees down there, which was bone chilling enough, I can’t imagine standing there in water all day, added on top of the risks already associated with mining. All the while, I thought of my grandpa who was a miner for a time. Overall a great tour, and makes me so appreciative of my cushy work environment!
After the tour, we had lunch in the car, took a short hike around the park and came home to loaf a bit before firing up the grill. We had yummy walleye steamed with lemon, a little butter and dried sage, thyme and pepper along with corn on the cob. After that, we made sure to roast marshmallows for our decadent s’mores. We spent the dark evening out on the deck watching the stars overhead and listening to the jovial fisherman next door enjoying their fish fry and beer together.
Love & hugs!
R&J
After we made a nice, large breakfast of sausages, mushroom & Swiss egg scramble, toast and coffee, we decided that since it was kind of cold and cloudy that we’d save Voyageur’s hiking for the predicted warmer Thursday and hit the Soudan Mine tour today. It was really cool! I was getting a bit apprehensive the more I thought about it, but I finally just calmed my mind and closed my eyes for the two full minutes that we were lowered in the elevator a half a mile into the earth. Once in the mine, it was much better because it was quite spacious and they have it all lit up. We took a train through the mine, then had to walk up a spiral staircase to a huge cavernous remnant of the mining days. I couldn’t believe how enormous this area was, and our tour guide demonstrated what it sounded like when all the miners would be working (Holy shit, it was loud!!!) and then also what is was like in the days before electricity as she shut off all the lights. Yikes, talk about darkness that would cause madness! I have always had a great respect for miners who go down there for their paychecks every day (despite my lukewarm feelings about the trade, environmentally speaking), and especially now knowing that the Soudan mine was one of the best mines to work in. Other mines were not as nice as that one, and our tour guide said that often miners have to work in several feet of standing, freezing cold water. It was 50 degrees down there, which was bone chilling enough, I can’t imagine standing there in water all day, added on top of the risks already associated with mining. All the while, I thought of my grandpa who was a miner for a time. Overall a great tour, and makes me so appreciative of my cushy work environment!
After the tour, we had lunch in the car, took a short hike around the park and came home to loaf a bit before firing up the grill. We had yummy walleye steamed with lemon, a little butter and dried sage, thyme and pepper along with corn on the cob. After that, we made sure to roast marshmallows for our decadent s’mores. We spent the dark evening out on the deck watching the stars overhead and listening to the jovial fisherman next door enjoying their fish fry and beer together.
Love & hugs!
R&J
Grey Wolf Lodge
We've arrived in Orr!
Before I detail our wonderful day, I must rave about our digs for the rest of the week! The Grey Wolf Lodge is the shizzle (awesome)! This cabin is just perfect! We’re literally ON THE LAKE. There’s the cabin, maybe two feet of earth, rocks and trees, and then the lake. The weather has been off and on sunny and rainy all day (and quite cold), the kind of weather that is so cool to watch rolling in over a massive lake. Sunny on one side, and rain streaking into the water on the other side, I love it! There are a flock of giant pelicans, a loon couple and a group of 4 quacking ducks that have already graced us with their presence. We can’t wait to grill out tomorrow evening, have a fire in the fire pit and roast marshmallows for s’mores!
So, to the highlights of the day! We started our day out with the free breakfast of waffles and hard boiled eggs (and a couple of bananas for the road) and made our way in the rain up to Ely. We came upon the North American Bear Center almost as abruptly as the Wellstone memorial yesterday and screeched into the lot around 10:30 am. There must have been over 30 televisions all with video clips of Lily and Hope (if you haven’t been following Lily and Hope the bears, you must Google for the cuteness), and of the resident bears at the center, Lucky, Honey and Teddy. Lucky was an orphaned cub that has adopted Honey, an adorable, rotund, honey-colored female, and Teddy, a large, soft-eyed, gentle black bear, as his foster parents. They are all just sweet as can be, and it was cool to see all the video clips of Lucky getting used to the big bears as he grew into the adolescent bear he is now, but not half as neat as getting to see them all up close and in person!! They have an elevated outdoor observation deck and an indoor glass observation area at ground level. We took a boatload of photos of the bears, and even got to see the crew feeding the bears grapes, apples and nuts!! There were tons of birds (including a snappy little bluejay that was dominating the area, even stealing some of the nuts from the bears!), tiny red squirrels and chipmunks everywhere! It felt a little like Snow White’s forest creature’s frolicking in the wild, all that was missing were the dwarves. Well, and the Disney princess ;)
Honey
Teddy
Lucky
Red Squirrel
Blue Jay
Then we went to the International Wolf Center, had a quick lunch in the car (mmm, leftover pulled pork for me and peanut butter for John), and got to take a ton more pictures! The wolves were incredible, I have to say. There was an unidentifiable carcass that they were sharing, in turn, and it was exciting to see the four young wolves interact. Their pack nature is apparent as the subordinates always step down to the alpha male and females. We learned a whole bunch of interesting things like: only the alpha male and females will lift their legs to pee, the betas (males and females) always keep four paws on the ground and squat! And only the alpha male and female typically reproduce, the others only help the care of the pups. They had a large exhibit indoors, too, with tons of cool stuff, including a book with different folklore stories about werewolves (which I couldn’t read through because I was too excited about seeing actual wolves, but maybe I’ll look up the folklore books in the library this winter when there’s nothing else to do) and an exhibit with all the different sounds, whimpers, calls and howls they make. We also watched a video on coyotes which was neat. There were tons of movies, lectures and exhibits to see, but I pretty much only had eyes for the actual wolves :)
A dinner of brats and baked beans, a wander around the lodge grounds and hanging out on our dock, and now it’s late and John’s already curled up with his depressing Kurt Vonnegut book (Slaughter House Five), so I’m going to join him and read my children’s fantasy by Julia Golding (Secrets of the Sirens) before we cash in for night. John stepped outside but said it was too pitch black to see anything, all he could hear was the water lapping against the dock. Ahhh. Peace.
Nitey-nite, bitey-bite!
Love to all, R&J
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Eveleth Photos
The Frank Lloyd Wright gas station in Cloquet!
John's slapshot clocked in at 30 mph!
Me trying my skill with the stick!
John in action at the US Hockey Hall of Fame :) Look at that form!
Sadness :*(
Monday, September 06, 2010
Eveleth, Minnesota
The ride to Eveleth was uneventful and beautiful. The roads were quiet, even deserted for most of the way, and the air is perfectly cool. We stopped at one of the most gorgeous rest areas I've ever seen that had a glimmering lake behind it, and an expanse of trees spanning beyond. A lady there had the most adorable baby Beagle, which made up for all the roadkill we saw, especially the dead wolf on the road. *Sadness* Hopefully we'll get a chance to see a live wolf (and maybe bears, moose and giant pelicans!) once we get to the Grey Wolf Lodge, but for sure we will see live wolves at the International Wolf Center! Whoohoo!
We came upon the Wellstone Memorial Crash Site rather abruptly, and I made a *bit* of a careening turn onto the road. It was a beautiful site, a lovely, wild and living tribute to those who died that day with loads of huge trees, and the most unusual red and white mushrooms everywhere (and no, we didn't sample them to see if they were magic mushrooms!) Lots of people had left little memorial trinkets on each of the stone markers. I didn't want to leave anything environmentally unsafe, so I found a little sprig of pine that I left on Paul & Sheila Wellstone's marker. I wasn't expecting to become emotional, but every time we visit a memorial, the appropriate sadness and empathy finds its way to the surface. We loved Wellstone. He was just a very genuine person who didn't bullshit about his stance on things. While I may not have agreed with everything he did or said, he epitomized what I think a politician should be. Sometimes you need to stand hard on things that aren't popular, and it takes a commitment to change and compromise with people to make things work with so many opinions and complicating political, economic and social factors. I admired and respected him for his tenacity and spirit. He was always that strong oak tree that you could always depend on to keep you dry. He is still greatly missed in this democratic household.
We sat on the stones and shared a picnic together as the wind whistled in the trees. It was an eerily beautiful sound, fitting for the mood of the place. We left and made our way to Eveleth and checked into the Super 8 to loaf a bit with some coffee and Twins watching before heading off to the US Hockey Hall of Fame, which is across the street. The building is a bit neglected, but the inside is packed with fun hockey memorabilia, pictures, videos and even places to practice your slapshot!! There's tons of stuff about Herb Brooks and the 1980 Olympic team, they have a video running constantly with the highlights of that game that we checked out. I think I may actually remember watching that game with Mum!! We had fun practicing our slapshots in the real net and stick area they had set up, and one net was set up with a radar gun! My shots went in twice at a whopping 17 mph (one simply rolled into the net on it's side), but John clocked at 30 mph!! We didn't realize that the documentary they had was an hour long, so we ended up missing out on it, but the nice little ladies at the register gave us a slip to get in for free if we wanted to stop back and see it on Saturday as we leave town. Minnesota Nice in action :)
We stopped for dinner at a little drive-in (the K & B Drive-In) that had the most incredible pulled pork and brisket sandwiches, then drove back to the hotel with the dark rain clouds behind us. Our first night down, and we are ready to check out the wildlife at the Wolf & Bear Centers in Ely!! YAY!!!
More to come, love to all :)
R&J
We came upon the Wellstone Memorial Crash Site rather abruptly, and I made a *bit* of a careening turn onto the road. It was a beautiful site, a lovely, wild and living tribute to those who died that day with loads of huge trees, and the most unusual red and white mushrooms everywhere (and no, we didn't sample them to see if they were magic mushrooms!) Lots of people had left little memorial trinkets on each of the stone markers. I didn't want to leave anything environmentally unsafe, so I found a little sprig of pine that I left on Paul & Sheila Wellstone's marker. I wasn't expecting to become emotional, but every time we visit a memorial, the appropriate sadness and empathy finds its way to the surface. We loved Wellstone. He was just a very genuine person who didn't bullshit about his stance on things. While I may not have agreed with everything he did or said, he epitomized what I think a politician should be. Sometimes you need to stand hard on things that aren't popular, and it takes a commitment to change and compromise with people to make things work with so many opinions and complicating political, economic and social factors. I admired and respected him for his tenacity and spirit. He was always that strong oak tree that you could always depend on to keep you dry. He is still greatly missed in this democratic household.
We sat on the stones and shared a picnic together as the wind whistled in the trees. It was an eerily beautiful sound, fitting for the mood of the place. We left and made our way to Eveleth and checked into the Super 8 to loaf a bit with some coffee and Twins watching before heading off to the US Hockey Hall of Fame, which is across the street. The building is a bit neglected, but the inside is packed with fun hockey memorabilia, pictures, videos and even places to practice your slapshot!! There's tons of stuff about Herb Brooks and the 1980 Olympic team, they have a video running constantly with the highlights of that game that we checked out. I think I may actually remember watching that game with Mum!! We had fun practicing our slapshots in the real net and stick area they had set up, and one net was set up with a radar gun! My shots went in twice at a whopping 17 mph (one simply rolled into the net on it's side), but John clocked at 30 mph!! We didn't realize that the documentary they had was an hour long, so we ended up missing out on it, but the nice little ladies at the register gave us a slip to get in for free if we wanted to stop back and see it on Saturday as we leave town. Minnesota Nice in action :)
We stopped for dinner at a little drive-in (the K & B Drive-In) that had the most incredible pulled pork and brisket sandwiches, then drove back to the hotel with the dark rain clouds behind us. Our first night down, and we are ready to check out the wildlife at the Wolf & Bear Centers in Ely!! YAY!!!
More to come, love to all :)
R&J
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Up to Orr!
We're off on another Minnesota adventure tomorrow! We'll be heading out for Eveleth for one night and then to Orr Minnesota to stay at a quaint looking cabin at Grey Wolf Lodge on Pelican Lake. Among the things we're planning is the Hockey Hall of Fame, Wellstone crash memorial site, lots of hiking and photo ops at Voyageurs National Park, The North American Bear Center, the International Wolf Center, Bob Dylan's childhood home, the Paulucci Space Theatre, and if there's time we may take a mine tour at the Soudan Underground Mine, visit the Minnesota Museum of Mining, and do some hiking in Superior National Forest! Above all, we're excited to watch the sun rise every morning on the lake, grill our dinners every night, make s'mores for dessert and make lots of wonderful, Schmoopie memories :)
Monday, May 17, 2010
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