Adventure – Page 11 – Valerie's Voice

More Color

I love color… in all forms: a Minnesota autumn, colored glass, crayons, flowers and hot-air balloons to name a few.

Way back in high school I remember a friend using the descriptive “colorful as a balloon man at the circus” and I thought it was clever…but now I’m thinking “colorful as hot-air balloons at the International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico” is better.

My husband and I had the unique experience of seeing the 46th annual Balloon Fiesta. We were with another couple who had lived in New Mexico for several years so they knew the routine.

Up at 4:30 a.m., on the road by 5 a.m. to join hundreds of other cars all heading towards the Balloon Fiesta field. After parking the car – and remembering surrounding landmarks to find it again – we walked in the chilly morning air wearing our jackets, gloves and hats and entered a fair-like atmosphere with booths selling food and souvenirs, all lit up in the dark. There were hundreds of people already there. We bought some hot coffee at one booth, and a breakfast burrito – with green chili of course – at another, and then walked on the field to watch the Dawn Patrol balloons set up. The Dawn Patrol are the few balloons that take off early to check weather conditions to determine if it’s OK for the other hundreds of balloons to take off that morning. These few balloons look like giant fireflies in the dark sky because the balloon lights up from each blast of flame that shoots hot air into the balloons.

Once the Dawn Patrol gives the “go-ahead” the other balloons are laid out on the field and hot air is blown in to inflate the balloon. The balloons are turned upright with the large basket for the pilot, passengers and the gas burners attached underneath the balloon.

When the pilot has determined it’s ready to fly the tether is loosened and the balloons begin to rise. People get excited and clap as they watch the balloons gently float up, up, up into the sky. It’s a very festive atmosphere and a very impressive sight. By now the sun has started to peek over the mountains and the Mass Ascension continues for about an hour or two until all the hundreds of balloons all ascend. It’s truly an amazing sight to see, and wonderful to be a part of this special event.

For many years I have wanted to go to the Balloon Fiesta, held every year the first two weeks of October, so it was fun to finally be there on the field. It met my expectations. The balloon designs are so varied and the colors are so vibrant. The first day the Mass Ascension included balloons of many shapes and sizes, but more traditional shapes. The next morning we repeated the routine and joined even more crowds to see the Special Shape Rodeo.

A few (very few) photos from the event:

Here’s a little perspective of the size of these balloons.

Spectacular!

Color

At the Santa Fe Ski Basin: 11,000 ‘ above sea level.

We just returned form a six-day vacation in New Mexico. The landscape is so different from Minnesota, as it should be, and that is why it is fun to venture out and see an area of the country so different from where we live. We had a great time.

In New Mexico the quaking aspens turn bright yellow in the fall, but by this time in October many have lost their leaves. There were still several bright ones popping out among the Ponderosa Pine and Pinon trees on the mountains. We visited two cities: Albuquerque, 5,312 feet above sea level and Santa Fe, 7,199 feet above sea level. The landscape is filled with small scrubs dotting the rocky and sandy soil with Sangre de Cristo mountains as the backdrop. The sky was such a crisp, deep blue. It was beautiful to see and fun to be in the Southwest.

All the while I was wondering if I was missing the mixture of reds and burgundy, yellows and golds, lime-greens and oranges; the colors of the trees in Minnesota during autumn. I was happy to wake up at home in Minnesota to lots of sunshine with many trees still in their autumn glory and fall color all around.

It’s hard to say good-bye…

09/21/17 The sun did it’s beautiful thing again this morning with no clouds to obstruct our view. We leave for home today and I’m sad to say good-bye, although I’m so grateful for the time we had up here in this amazing place. I’m praising God for this incredible beauty.

Our adventures this year included hikes up Oberg Mountain (two times), Britton Peak, Shovel Point, Temperance River (several times, different areas), bike rides on the Gitchi-Gami trail, drives along Hwy 61 and inland roads, eating delicious meals right at the cabin overlooking the lake. We took time to read, reflect and just plain “sit around and watch the lake”. We pieced together a jigsaw puzzle, enjoyed campfires on the rocks… explored new places.

It was wonderful to be with our son, his wife and our five-month-old granddaughter.

Three seagulls on the rocks outside the cabin.

There were many seagulls in the air and on the rocks, an eagle that flew by several times, hummingbirds at the cabin feeder and a few ducks floating along.

It was fun to see this barge heading out to sea, sailing past a beach we were exploring for the first time.

We always enjoy having a jigsaw puzzle out on a table to slowly piece together during our time in the cabin. There are many puzzles available at the cabin. I chose this Tall Ships puzzle to remind me of my kayak trip watching the Tall Ships parade last summer.

We saw a lot of fall color on the inland trees this year, and we had several varied weather patterns: wind and rain and rough seas, and some gorgeous, clear, autumn blue skies…all makes for a wonderful week on the north shore of Lake Superior.

Our lunch spot…can’t find a restaurant with these views!

We’re going home relaxed, renewed, rejuvenated and rejoicing.

Sigh…it’s so hard to leave, but my heart is full.

BWCA – Day Three

On our third day we paddled out of the BWCA and back to the Falls Lake boat landing where our cars were parked.

We woke up to cloudy skies, and a few mosquitoes. Before this morning we had no issues with mosquitoes or the nasty black flies, and we didn’t need to use our netting or bug spray. After a delicious breakfast of oatmeal with red quinoa, we packed our gear and “left no trace” and paddled away. The wind was picking up.

We paddled through the first lake with a slight wind. We paddled through the second lake with more wind but no rain. We paddled through the third lake in the wind and rain…so it made my adventure complete…I experienced the BWCA in the beautiful sunshine and in a dismal rain. Both were beautiful but I was thankful the rain came on our last day – on our way out.

My time in the BWCA was a great adventure and it was so good to experience the great wilderness of Northern Minnesota in this way. I am grateful.

BWCA – Day Two

After breakfast on the second day of our BWCA trip two of us from our group went out paddling for several hours. It was another beautiful, sunny day. We paddled up a peninsula and around the bend, stopped for lunch and paddled back down on a different lake. I became a great navigator with the map. We planned to portage back into the lake where we were staying through a portage that we had been told was very short (lesson learned – look for yourself how long the portage is…it tells on the maps.)

The portage ended up being very narrow, rocky, hilly, muddy, full of roots, dangerous and four times longer than we thought it would be. It was the worse portage my paddling partner had ever crossed with his experience in the BWCA.

Still thinking the portage was only 15 rods we kept hauling the canoe forward, but it was very difficult. Neither of us could not carry it on our shoulders and we could only carry it so far without stopping to rest. After struggling and thinking we were close to the end of the portage we met a young man coming towards us, checking out the portage from the other direction. We asked if we were almost to the end and he said about half way! O my…so we picked up the canoe again and started walking. Then the young man turned around and asked if we wanted help, so he carried the front of the canoe and we carried the back. We were very grateful for our “Portage Angel.” When we finally made it to the other side his young son was waiting with their canoe. I told him his dad was very kind and helped us very much. He seemed pleased and proud of his dad.

We settled into the canoe and took off again, paddling back to our Island, ready to be back at camp, relax and make dinner.

It was another one of those traveling adventures where one seems to get in a situation not knowing how you will get out of the situation and being relieved when you finally get back to “your place” – with prayers of thanksgiving – and all is right with the world again.

We did not have any night visitors the second evening. We slept well.

BWCA trip – to be continued.

BWCA – Day One

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) is a destination for many outdoor enthusiasts. I love nature and being outdoors so I consider myself an enthusiast but I had never experienced a trip in the BWCA. It is something I have often thought of doing so I made a commitment to go on the annual Faribault Flyers BWCA trip this year.

A foggy morning! Valerie & Gary’s first BWCA adventure.

Ten of us met up in Ely. We had dinner together and made everything ready for our departure the next morning. After a good night’s sleep we woke up early, went out for breakfast, and then took off to the Falls Lake boat landing to load our canoes and start our adventure. It was very foggy.

We loaded our gear into five canoes and the fog started to lift, thankfully. We took off paddling to the first portage. Our group split up; six guys took off for five days and the other group of four, the one I was in, took off for three days. By this time the sun was shining in a blue, cloudless sky and it was a glorious day to be in the wilderness!

We paddled across a second lake and portaged again to the third lake where we found our campsite. Since this was my first time in the Boundary Waters, and the others had been there before, they let me choose the campsite. I wanted to be on an island. We found a campsite on the west end of a small island with a slight, rocky incline. It was perfect. There is a fire pit with an iron grate, and a latrine at each official campsite in the BWCA. (The latrines are several yards back from the fire pit and are numbered for emergency location identification.)

We noticed this island on the map but it didn’t have a name. There was a larger island nearby named Gary’s Island so we named our island “Valerie’s Island.”

After setting up camp we had lots of time to sit and relax, read, gather firewood, make dinner, enjoy a beautiful sunset, and go to bed early.

We crawled into our tents and fell asleep but in the middle of the night we were awakened by voices…it was very disorienting at first, and then kind of scary, and then we learned it was a medical emergency. The campers across the lake, to the south of us, had paddled by the island earlier in the day so they knew there was someone occupying the campsite on the island. One of the two men was having an asthma attack and forgot his inhaler back in his truck. His friend loaded him into the canoe, paddled out into the dark night and dark waters to our island and used the sounds of snoring to find our site. I don’t remember the words exactly but in essence he said “We need help. Do you have an inhaler?” His talking woke us up and he repeated what he said and added “I’m just a social worker and I don’t know what to do.” After regaining our wits, a woman in our group, who is a nurse, got up and went out to talk with them. She suggested a breathing technique since we didn’t have an inhaler. The “patient” was talking and she said that was a good sign. The two men paddled back into the dark waters, to their campsite. They said they would return in the morning with a report. All this time the “token male” in our group slept through it all!

It wonderful to see the starry, starry sky but, of course, it was very hard to get back to sleep after all the excitement.

The next morning the two guys did come back. We recognized both of them, and their dog. We had seen them at the boat launch the day we left Falls Lake boat launch. They let us know the patient was doing OK. Being away from the smoke of the fire, propping himself up against a tree for the night, and special breathing made it easier for him to breath. We were thankful!

BWCA trip….to be continued.

A Long Bike Ride

This story is an adventure my husband had out East a few weeks ago. He took a bike trip and rode 342 miles in one week with seven other guys from his Minnesota bike club, The Faribault Flyers. A friend/neighbor from the club moved away last year and bought a home in the Washington D.C. area. Once out there he organized a bike trip for those in the MN group who wanted to join in on a ride from Pittsburgh, PA to Washington D.C. He got seven takers.

They rented touring bikes from a shop in Pittsburgh and stayed in Bed & Breakfasts along the way. They rode between 35 – 62 miles per day on the Great Allegheny Passage Trail (packed limestone) and the C&O Canal Tow Path (dirt trail). The C&O portion was a mule path along side a historic canal from the 1800’s. Mules were used to pull 12’ wide barges down the man-made canal to haul coal from the north to the south. The canal had 74 locks and most of the locks and old lock-houses are still standing along the path.

They had a great week. Lots of history and great scenery. They had no rain while biking, however the last night it did rain during the night and made the dirt trail very muddy for their last day of riding. The guys and their bikes were caked with mud after 35 miles on the muddy trail. The trail ended in Georgetown and the guys said they wanted to eat at the first restaurant they came upon…which happened to be a more upscale restaurant, but the hosts graciously accepted the eight mud-caked bikers to their outdoor dining tables, which carried the theme from indoors with white linen napkins! I’m sure it was quite a sight.

The bike trip was a challenge for the guys, riding consecutively for seven days, but it was worth the time and effort to see they could do it successfully and it certainly created some great memories.