Thank you for all the wonderful happy birthday messages.
I was delighted to read each one.
The sunrise over Lake Superior, the second day.
We had a very relaxing and refreshing birthday/wedding anniversary trip to the north shore of Lake Superior. Our cozy cabin had a wood-burning fireplace next to patio doors to the deck overlooking the lake.
Enjoying a fire while viewing the lake from the cabin.
We had fires In the morning and fires in the evening…and enjoyed watching the lake with its many moods. On Tuesday the lake was churning with huge waves crashing against the rocky shore. The other days it was much calmer.
Huge waves crashing and spraying high above the rocky shore.
Mesmerizing Lake.
All our attention goes there,
It’s restorative.
A calmer day…photo taken from the deck of the cabin.
However, we did bring along our cross-county skis, snowshoes, and Yaktrax to get out for fresh air and exercise.
We hiked at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park.
This is the upper falls at Gooseberry Falls State Park, where we hiked.
A old Norwegian fish house on Stoney Point Drive…a nice walk from the cabin.
Our hikes kept us close to the lake, but cross- county skiing took us inland.
We usually ask locals for recommendations. Our resort owner told us about Korkki Nordic.
In the morning, the sun was shining and it was a decent temperature so off we went to ski this trail. Next to the warming house (a nice touch to this trailhead) was a guy standing near a snowmobile with trail grooming apparatus hitched on the back. We started a conversation and found out he is the regular trail groomer. Mark lives on the property and grooms four ski trails.
The trail groomer machine.
The ski season is, of course, winding down – it was the first day of spring after all- so he was not planning to groom many more times this year. During our conversation, we mentioned it was my birthday. He was a jovial sort and said, as a gift to me for my birthday, he would go ahead of us and groom the trail. It would make skiing much easier for us.
And so he did, and we followed about three minutes behind him, and the skiing was great.
That is one of the more unusual gifts I’ve received for my birthday. It was a random act of kindness and we were grateful.
We decided to take a road trip from Charlotte to the Atlantic coast over the weekend, just to see the ocean. (I’m always drawn to water!) We left Saturday morning and drove four hours to Myrtle Beach State Park in South Carolina. The state park offered a nice sandy beach on the Atlantic Ocean, with a wooden pier, hiking trails, an activity center and more.
Beautiful clouds and sunshine over the Atlantic Ocean.
We arrived in time to eat our picnic lunch on the sandy beach. The weather was great…77* and sunny. The grandkids enjoyed playing in the water and the sand. Gary and I enjoyed the sunshine, and watching the grandkids have fun.
Myrtle Beach, SC.
We walked out on the pier, and later in the afternoon we planned a hike.
A wonderful quote to start off our hike.
As we started our hike, I was excited to read a nature quote on a sign at the beginning of the trail, and I thought to myself…this will be a fun hike. As we walked a little further, I started slapping mosquitoes, as did everyone else. As we continued on, we were attacked by mosquitos…so we turned around and walked back out of the woods. So much for a hike in this state park.
A field of cotton; looked like snow.
On our drive east to Myrtle Beach on Saturday morning, we noticed fields that looked full of snow clumps…and discovered it was cotton. On our way home the next day, we stopped at one of several cotton fields we passed.
We got out of the car and walked through the rows of cotton and got a good look at this interesting crop!
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus Gossypium.*
Our trip to the north shore proved to be a lot more colorful than we were expecting.
We had already started seeing pockets of beautiful fall colors on our drive up, so I started to get a little excited…and then the colors began to pop out everywhere…with wonderful contrasts to the evergreen trees.
Caribou Lake (1)Caribou Lake (2)Caribou Lake (3)
The weather also turned out better than I had hoped for, with warmer temperatures and some nice sunshine and blue skies (and one cloudy day). We had packed clothes for colder weather.
Carlton Peak (1)Carlton Peak (2)
Looking inland from the Tofte overlook, on a spur trial off the Carlton Peak trail. (1)
Looking inland from the Tofte overlook, on a spur trial off the Carlton Peak trail. (2)
We followed our annual routine of balancing cabin time and lake time with hiking and local drives.
Sun rise over Lake Superior.
We watched the sun rise over the big lake and had a camp fire on the rocks. We stopped in Hinckley and Duluth on the way up, and stopped in Grand Marais one day. It’s all so familiar, yet all so refreshing, relaxing, and restorative… and so much fun!
The cabin lit up at night.Our campfire set up, on the rocks.Lake Superior was mostly calm.
A leaf-covered hiking trail through the forest.
Lake Agnes
The colors were breathtaking…everywhere we went. It was spectacular to see and hard to photograph with my iPhone.
Birch trees.
But it was enough to witness the colors and breath in the fresh air, smell the different whiffs of pine scents, lake water, decomposing leaves, feel the crisp air and to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8a).
An artistic root system…
I stand in awe of the Creator of these incredible autumn colors.
Sawbill Trail.
Gooseberry Falls State Park
Gooseberry Falls Upper Falls
And the colors were not only up north…we saw them driving home, and right here in Northfield, and outside our front and back doors!
Our neighbor’s burning bush, where our mailbox is tucked in.
Our drive to the cottage took us through beautiful countryside across the island of Stord. And once at the cottage, we were able to go on two hikes in the countryside, during our stay.
The start of our hike up to the wind turbine.
On one hike we walked up to one of many wind turbines in a hilly area along the coast, close to the sea.
A view of the wind turbines from the boat.
At the top, the view overlooked 365 islands off the coast of western Norway. Even though it was partly cloudy, we could see for miles, and we could see the North Sea beyond the islands.
Due west is the north sea.
At the top.
Three sheep met us on the way up. They walked toward us, stopped, and then turned around as though they wanted us to follow them. When the sheep turned off the main trail, they turned and looked at us quizzically, while we kept going straight.
Three sheep wanting us to follow them.
We continued to hike to the top, looked around, then headed back. The sheep met us, once again, on the way down. They seemed to be wondering why we didn’t follow them the first time, and they were willing to give us a second chance!
The three sheep, wondering where we were going.
A different hike took us through a forest to a trail that was dotted with interesting characters and trolls along the path.
Signs: The Adventure Road. The Troll Forest.
Apparently, the displays began with one man creating dioramas and placing them in the forest, along the side of the trail.
One of several dioramas.
It turned into several more figures being created, and added, to the trail.
Hello
Now it is a fun place for children, or for those of us young-at-heart, to look for these special creatures.
I see you.
Adventure Road is close to a city so children can visit the forest easily, and walk on the trail to find the treasures.
Are these the three billie goats gruff?
Our hike took us to this unique Troll Forest. It was a fun adventure.
The fairy tree, where seven different fairies meet, including Tinkerbell.
Here are four things I will remember from Tromsø, the 3rd largest city in the world above the Arctic Circle. Tromsø is a city of 71,000 people in northern Norway, 200 miles above the Arctic Circle.
The midnight sun! Photo taken at 2:16 am.
One: We spent two nights in a hotel room that overlooked a harbor. I love the sea and it was so nice to have a great view from our room. Each morning we ate our breakfast overlooking the harbor. And during the night, I would get up and look out to see the midnight sun.
In front of our hotel.
Our our hotel window…always no screens, no air conditioning. This photo was taken at 10:39 pm.
Two: The sun was shining in Tromsø. This is not an everyday occurrence. There are many cool and cloudy and rainy days. However, we were in Tromsø during a record-breaking heat wave. It was 30* Celsius which is 86* F and people kept telling us this was not normal for Tromsø. And the sun shone brightly. We spent one morning at the Telegrafbukta Park and Beach, at the southern tip of Tromsø, and submerged our feet into the sea.
Telegrafbukta Beach.
Three: We took the cable car up to the mountain ledge Storsteinen (1400 feet).
After taking in the stunning views overlooking Tromsø, we walked back down the mountain.
Tromsø
Our hotel is in the pier area.
We started out on a trail before connecting with the “sherpa steps” the remaining way down (there are 1,300 stone steps in all). We ended up at the Arctic Cathedral, another pretty icon of Tromsø.
We made a cairn to leave our own mark on top.
Sherpa steps down the mountain.
The Arctic Cathedral.
Beautiful stained glass in the Arctic Cathedral.
And four: we enjoyed the Arctic-Alpine Botanic Garden, the world’s northernmost botanic garden. There were plants from the Arctic and from alpine and cool parts of all continents.
We went after dinner, so it was about 8 o’clock, and we walked around for over an hour with no concerns that it would get dark.
Maintenance sheds in the garden…with sod roofs. We saw sod roofs throughout our travels. Photo taken 8:30 pm.
Botanic garden.
The flowers were so pretty. I used my Picture This app a lot to help me identify flowers. My favorite flower in bloom was the beautiful, blue Iceland Poppy.
Iceland Poppy.
Tromsø’s most popular tourist season is in wintertime when you can see stunning Northern Lights. They also offer a lot of winter activities. Of course, in winter it’s dark most of the day.
I always thought it would be fun to be at safely tucked into a cabin on Lake Superior during a November gale. At a previous cabin we rented years ago, the owners had recorded, on VHS, a November storm that we could watch while staying at the cabin. It was always intriguing to see how incredibly high those waves came slamming into the cliffs at that resort.
Snow falling on our rented cabin on Lake Superior.
A touch of sunshine the first day.
We just came back from a couple days on the north shore, safely tucked into a cabin on Lake Superior during a March snowstorm. The waves came slamming into the rocky shore sending up sprays of water into the air.
The lake was full of white caps and the waves coming to shore were huge. Not like a November gale, but still a memorable snowstorm for us.
We managed to get in a hike that morning before the predicted storm. It was fun to walk along the lake, through trees, and we were delighted to find little gnomes along the trail. Three times we came upon these little trolls, cheering us on.
Once back in our cabin we settled in for the rest of the day, and the storm. It was cozy. The snow started falling and the wind was whipping and churning up the lake as we sat indoors, by a nice crackling fire and watched it unfold through the large patio doors overlooking the lake. The amount of snow that fell was not what was predicted, but the wind was wicked, and the lake turbulent.
The warm, crackling fire.
Last year when were we up at this same resort on the north shore in March, the temperatures were in the 50’s and 60’s. This year the temps were in the 30’s with wind chill temps even lower. But no matter what, Lake Superior is my happy place and it was great to be on the shore once again.
Snow falling on an old, picturesque, fishing hut along the shore of Lake Superior.
Walking through the prairie, on a cool November morning, was glorious.
The sky was interesting… blue patches in one direction, dark clouds in the other direction, with the sun trying to peek beyond the clouds.
We walked through the quaint cemetery at Valley Grove that leads to the prairie trails. We hiked the mown trails through tall grasses, stunningly gold in color, and as tall as us, in most areas.
We took the trail that leads down to the border of Big Woods State Park. As we walked along the edge of the park, it started to drizzle and I could hear the droplets landing on the dried leaves of the forest floor. It was a lovely sound.
Then the raindrops became heavier and we found ourselves walking in the rain…but only for a little while (and it was quite pleasant walking in the rain). The rain quickly stopped and soon the sun was breaking through in full force, and by afternoon the sky was cloudless.
We were in awe of the beauty of the golden grass on the prairie, with a slight wave in the wind, against different backdrops: two historic churches, the cospe of white birch trees, the state park and surrounding horizon.
We found our way to Hidden Falls 2 (for lack of a better name). The creek bed was dry and the water over the falls had frozen in place, into an immobile cascade. It seemed like time was standing still – until next spring, I guess. But, it too, had it’s own beauty.
Frozen!
We had the area to ourselves…no evidence of people or animals…and we continued to hike this on this splendid property maintained by The Valley Grove Preservation Society. I’m grateful for their work on behalf of this magnificent section of a Minnesota prairie.
A mown path through tall prairie grass, that doesn’t look so tall in the photo.
This is the corner of the Valley Grove cemetery where the beloved Old Oak Tree stood for 200 years, and was blown over during the 2018 tornado.
We were happy to get some fresh air and exercise before heading to downtown Northfield to support “Small Business Saturday”, where we did finish our Christmas shopping that afternoon…in the sunshine.
Fungi. I looked up the definition and still not sure exactly what it is – but I learned there are 144,000 known species.
We saw a few of the species when hiking in the Cannon River Wilderness Area (north end) last week. We saw most of the fungi at the beginning of our hike, in the area where a swath from the 2017 tornado took down many trees. It seems to have created the right conditions for growth of fungi.
We had not hiked this trail since before the tornado came through. There is still evidence of the tornado including many downed trees at the beginning of the trail, and a new parking area.
Looking up the stairs.
The steep steps leading down into the park remained intact, but a new rope railing has been put in place, which is a good thing to help get up and down the precarious stairs.
Twisted tree from the tornado?
This section of the Cannon River Wilderness Park seems to have been taken care of at one time, but now seems neglected…probably due to lack of funds. There were a few minor repairs to one of the bridges.
There are boardwalks over many swampy areas, but they are rotting away or warped, and sometimes dangerous to walk on. There is one newer bridge over the creek, built by a boy scout troop and installed in 2006 (according to the plaque).
There was a good stretch of boardwalk in the park.
The trail was mostly clear all the way to the Cannon River…then at that point one would have to somehow cross the river to get to the other side, which connects to the Cannon River Wilderness Area on the southwest side of the river. We turned around and retraced our steps.
Ducking under….
There were obstacles on the trail…some large branches we had to duck under, and some logs we had to step over, and a few streams to jump over… or carefully step on logs or stones to cross.
Forging the streams…
We enjoyed this interesting hike with all its intricacies, and its intriguing fungi.
The next day we hiked in the Cannon River Wilderness Area on the south side of the Cannon River. We have wandered the paths in the southern section many times. The trails are tramped on more, and therefore, well-defined. There are many more routes to hike in this section, including one trail along the river, which is always pleasant.
We did not see much fungi in the southern section of the park, but this was a fun one.
Glorious fall days…blue skies, sunshine and colorful landscapes… continue to linger on and on. We like to take advantage of them…so not much gets done on the home-front…but those things will wait…we have winter ahead of us.
A herd of Dutch Belted cows.
We headed east in the morning towards Frontenac State park, through beautiful farm country. Along the way, close to the fence, were the unique Dutch Belted cows laying in a field, soaking up the sun. What a pretty sight. I discovered these striking and unusual looking cows (and special breed), on a farm along County Road 9 a few years ago. I look for them whenever we pass their way. When I got out to take a photo, the girls became alarmed and most stood up…I was sorry to disturb them. They were all laying down again as we passed them on our way home several hours later.
Overlooking the Mississippi River from Frontenac State Park.
We continued to the state park and drove up to the Mississippi River overlook in the park. The river was lovely and calm. We hiked along the river for a while,
In awe…along the trail.
then we found the recently acquired section of the park and hiked hilly trails. The fall temperatures were climbing and we soon shed our jackets.
A newly acquired section to Frontenac State Park.
After hiking, we wanted to find a place near the water to eat our picnic lunch. We found a beach and boat landing in Old Frontenac, with a picnic table close to the water’s edge.
Our lunch setting.
Perfect. We sat on one side overlooking the river and saw a couple of eagles, lots of gulls and swans, and a few boats. The water was calm and the sun was bright and I wanted to stay there all afternoon, but we had more to explore.
A cute purple house in Old Frontenac.
A beautiful mansion overlooking the Mississippi River in Old Frontenac.
An old stone fence surrounding the mansion.
A few years ago, when we camped at Frontenac State Park, we drove through Old Frontenac near-by. It’s a small village along the river….no stores, only unique houses on packed, dirt roads, an old cemetery, and a church.
The Episcopal church in Old Frontenac.
One of several gated sections in the Frontenac Cemetery, established in 1867.
I have always wanted to walk through this town, or ride a bike, since you can see more than from a car. So we brought our bikes to ride through this quiet town, off the beaten trail. It was fun to ride around and look at unique houses…no cookie cutter houses here. And, riding through the old cemetery garnered thoughts of spooky stories, so close to Halloween.
Halloween decorations on a front porch in Old Frontenac.
Later that afternoon, as we drove back home into Northfield, we commented on how our town was still the most colorful place of all…with a lot of maples still full of red leaves hanging on.
We like to getaway and ride different bike trails. There are so many to choose from. This year we went to Pequot Lakes in northern Minnesota. Our first stop was in Crosby, Minnesota to ride our bicycles on the Cuyuna Trail System. These trails are well-known for mountain biking, but there is a nice paved trail to ride also.
Huntington Mine Lake is along one of the Cuyuna Trails.
The trail goes past old iron ore mine pits, which are now beautiful lakes, with no development on them. The mountain bike trails go through the woods, and a bicycle with special tires is needed. The mountain bike paths are red dirt, from the iron in the soil.
A photo of our group at Huntington Mine Lake.
After our trail ride we continued to drive north to Pequot Lakes, our destination. We planned to ride our bikes the next day on the Paul Bunyan trail, one of the longest bike trails in the state. The Paul Bunyan Trail used to be the Burlington-Northern railway tracks.
At the Paul Bunyan trailhead in Pequot Lakes.
We rode a small portion of the trail. The weather was hot and humid, but the portion of the trail we rode was shaded and scenic, with surrounding lakes. We’re grateful for the many wonderful trails that have been created on old railway lines.
Above the tree line on the fire tower in Pequot Lakes. I’m in the red shirt.
The third morning we decided to hike in Paul M. Theide Fire Tower Park. The DNR recently acquired this land to create this park to protect the historic fire tower there. The small park is lovely with a nice picnic pavilion and a few trails that lead to the fire tower. The tower, built in 1935, is accessible to climb if one is so inclined. I learned this is the second tower to be built on this site. The first was a wooden structure built in 1927. The current tower is in excellent shape (no carvings in the wooden steps). I climbed up four flights (of eight) and was already above the tree line and could see for miles. Unfortunately, I left my camera down at the bottom.
Climbing up the historic fire tower.
Climbing the tower brought back memories of vacationing with my parents and friends in cabins on Rainy Lake in the 1960’s. There was a fire tower within walking distance of the resort where we stayed. We would climb the tower every year, several times during the week. I do remember some of us kids carving our names in the wooden steps. Whoops.
Several years later we went up to see the resort at the end of the road, Highway 11 East out of International Falls, and the fire tower was fenced in and locked up. I learned it’s called the Black Bay Fire Tower, or Rainy Lake Fire Tower, and it was built in 1939. I couldn’t find much more information online about this tower.
The historic fire tower in Paul M. Thiede park.
There is another accessible fire tower in Itasca State Park which we have climbed a few times; once with our two sons when they were younger, and a few times over the years when we’ve camped in the state park.
A few dozen fire towers remain in Minnesota. At one time there were 120-150 in the early to mid 1900’s. At that time there were about 5,000 fire towers throughout the United States. A majority of the “second generation” fire towers were built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in the 1930’s. These towers were built of galvanized steel and included steps. Earlier towers were made of wood and used ladders to access the cab. As airplanes and modern technology took over the task of spotting wildfires, many towers were taken out of service.
I’m grateful for organizations that have insight and resources to re-purpose railway lines and preserve fire towers.
