Minnesota – Page 6 – Valerie's Voice

Lake Superior Venture

We just returned from an amazing time on the north shore of Lake Superior. As I’ve written before, it is one of my all-time favorite places to be. When we arrive at the cabin we rent, I sigh a happy sigh when I walk through the door and see the lake through the floor to ceiling windows. It is a marvelous and breathtaking sight that I never grow tired of. I literally feel a calm come over me. I miss it when I’m not there.

During our time at the cabin, we did what we normally do…we enjoy God’s bountiful creation. We bike and hike, drink our morning coffee on the deck, watch the sunrise, have a bon fire on the rocks, relax, read good books, eat delicious food overlooking the lake, and just sit and look at the lake.

I had good intentions of cleaning up my computer files, or deleting photos off my phone, do a little writing, but none of that happened. The lake is alluring and mesmerizing, and we can just sit and do nothing but enjoy the vista for hours…and so we do, and we do not worry about getting anything accomplished. I believe we are being rejuvenated from the inside out.

We traditionally go up to the north shore in September but this year we had reservations in July. The weather was cooler than normal for July, the sunrise is earlier in July…5:20ish…and different kinds of flowers are blooming in July…like beautiful lupines, perky daisies and bright yellow bird’s-foot trefoil.

A photo exposition follows:

A view outside the cabin. I was pleased to see lupines on the property. We started seeing lupine along Scenic Drive as we were driving up. Lupines are not in bloom in September, when we are usually at the cabin.

One of our hikes…overlooking Oberg Lake in summer, 2023.

This is same overlook of Oberg Lake in autumn, 2019.

Streets lined with gold…Highway 61, back roads and bike trails were lined with bird’s-foot trefoill. It was impressive.

This is a bridge on the new section of the Gitchi-Gami bike trail, which we rode on from Cutface Wayside Park into Grand Marais.

Temperance River…a hike we always enjoy, along the gorges of this wild river.

We enjoy a bon fire on the rocks outside the cabin.

Clear water reveals the rocks underneath the waters of Lake Superior.

Our hike to Caribou Falls…down 156 steps to see this beautiful waterfalls, then back up 156 steps! It’s worth it. It’s gorgeous.

Our son Tim took a photo of lupines and a single daisy years ago…it was fun to recapture a similar posturing.

Lake Superior…some days it’s calm, other days it’s not…somedays it’s gray, other times it’s blue, sometimes it’s somber…sometimes it’s glistening… with everything in-between. And, sometimes it all happens in a day. (I told Gary these are the kind of glistening diamonds I like.)

I’m so grateful for our time on the shore of Lake Superior.

Spring Lake Park Reserve

The other day we rode a new-to-us bike trail, beginning at the west end of the Spring Lake Park Reserve, near Hastings.

A monarch butterfly on butterfly weed. How appropriate.

This beautiful trail meanders along with a prairie on one side (complete with bison), and the Mississippi River on the other. It was hilly, but fun… and is now one of my new favorite trails.

The prairie wild flowers were in full bloom, bountiful, and showing off. That was a perk, as was having the Mississippi River, on the other side of the trail.

But the biggest bonus, and surprise, was at the trailhead where we planned to eat our picnic lunch. There is a bison paddock there where eight bison were brought here to live in a very large, penned-in area.

Mother and babe…maybe…all adults together care for the young.

On this day, we were fortunate to see all eight of them, plus four calves, up close sitting right in front of us as we ate our lunch. Locals told us it was unusual to see them so close.

The Bison are being reintroduced to this area where they once lived. They seem to draw a lot of interest. We were told when the project started last fall, they acquired eight females, and four of them were pregnant. Several signs offered different interesting facts about bison.

Standing, lying down, walking around…the bison were active.

The bison were all lying down when we first saw them. And then they would get up and move around. They were fun to watch. A couple hours later when we got back from our bike ride, all twelve were gone, and nowhere to be seen.

The space where they are corralled is a vast prairie land where they can roam, and are often hidden from view. The beginning mile, or so, of the bike trail is along this paddock.

Cone flowers, black-eyed susans, fleabane…

Seeing the bison, and the river, and the wildflowers, created a great impression for our first ride on this trail. The temperatures had cooled off too, with low dew points. It was awesome.

Prairie Clover, with a beautiful butterfly I could not identify.

I took time on our way back to stop and take pictures of the gorgeous flowers. Often there were butterflies or bees on the flowers.

There were so many different species, and colors, shapes and sizes. I decided to take only a few pictures since I had to keep getting on and off my bike. 😉

A metal Bison sculpture seen along the bike trail. The yard was full of metal art. The artist was identified as Dale Lewis.

This trail is one we will ride again and again, I’m sure. It will be interesting to see how often we see the bison herd, and to see how the landscape changes throughout the seasons.

Other bison seen along the trail… Metal sculptures: Dale Lewis

The bison were all gathered in this one corner of the paddock, near the trailhead.

A Hedgehog and A Firefly

A flicker of light~
Twinkling and twirling around...
Fireflies at night.

While in Minnesota, our Ukrainian friends saw fireflies for the first time. They were excited. We were with them one evening, and the fireflies were dancing all around us. We all enjoyed seeing the fireflies, as well as our friend’s excitement.

A hedgehog I saw in the wild in Ukraine, 2008.

I told them the one and only time I saw a hedgehog was in Ukraine, and it was exciting to see it. We walked to a village after class one day, to an interpreter’s home, and we saw a cute, little hedgehog tucked away on the side of the path.

God is creative!

“God made the animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the crates that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:24

4th of July

Tonight’s Lights reflects the illuminations I saw walking home from a 4^th of July fireworks display one year.

Tonight's Lights

Twilight

Moonlight

Starlight

Fireworks!

Fireflies

Lamplights

Headlights

Garage Lights

Porch Lights

Interior Lights

and in a fire pit...fire light!

Happy 4th of July.

Summer Solstice 2023

This year’s summer solstice officially began on Wednesday, June 21, 2023 – it’s the shortest night of the year. The night before, Tuesday, June 20th, the sun set at 9:14 pm in Crosslake Minnesota, with lingering twilight until 10 pm.

Near Crosslake Minnesota – 10 pm on 6/20/23.

I decided I would drive up my friend’s cabin near Crosslake Minnesota after a fun visit with our son and his family Tuesday night. I left the south metro about 8 pm.

Driving by myself, up north, at night, I reasoned; 1- I was excited to get up there so I could sleep on the porch and wake up by the lake on Wednesday, 2- I have a reliable vehicle, 3- my friend was expecting me so if anything happened, she’d be concerned (she was sound asleep when I got there!!!), and 4- the sun set late so there was more light than usual that evening.

Looking out on Lake Mille Lacs – 9:30 pm on 6/20/23.

Since the shortest night of the year was the next evening, I expected it to stay light late but, little did I know I’d have twilight for almost 45 minutes after sunset. Only the last half hour did I drive in the dark. Of course, that was when I was making many turns on back roads to get to her cabin, but I made it, and I felt good!

Nature abounds up north. Of course, there is always deer, and I saw several including a mama and young doe. We heard many loons the first night – we thought there was a convention right off her dock. We laid in our beds listening to their distinctive calls. We saw 20+ goslings swimming in a row between Mr. & Mrs. Canadian Geese – that is one large family. We saw the resident eagle fly by several times, and we heard (!) 4 racoons under the porch where we slept. They woke us up each night. The first two nights we didn’t know what kind of animal was under there…it’s not a good place for animals to be. Finally, my friend saw the culprits outside the cabin at 4:30 in the morning of the third night…a mama raccoon and her three babies. That’s a problem that needs to be solved…

Me on a jet ski, on Daggett Lake in 2014.

We enjoyed sunny, warm and comfortable weather, by the lake. We did take out the jet skis one afternoon. We sometimes forget we are in our 70’s! But, we did well (after calling her 10-year-old-granddaughter to remind us how to start them!) We trolled along the shore to look at the cabins, then took a couple speed rides across Daggett Lake.

It’s amazing to see all the cabins, all the docks, all the boat lifts with boats in them, on this one not-so-large lake, and then multiple it by 15,000 lakes in Minnesota. Whew! That’s a lot of recreation.

My drive home was not as exciting as my drive up, but I am grateful for the time we had up north, and for a different way of experiencing the summer solstice.

Camden State Park

The radio on the end table looked authentic, but we soon learned it was a replica. It fit well into the décor of the historic Redwood Lodge, built in 1934 by the VCC, Veteran’s Conservation Corp, in what was to become Camden State Park.

(I had heard of the CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, that Franklin D. Roosevelt established in 1933 as part of the New Deal Program to provide jobs and help lift the US out of the Great Depression. Similarly, the VCC hired veterans of WWI during the same time period for the same purpose.)

We stayed a couple of nights in the historic lodge. It was fun to learn the 1930’s look-alike radio on the end table had two buttons to push: one told the history of the park and lodge, the other button was a recording of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Speech.

It was enjoyable sitting back and listening to this information without seeing anything on a screen. We could picture in our minds what it was like before television, when people sat around their radios and just listened.

The living area of the Redwood Lodge. Photo by ba.

During the Great Depression (August 1934 for this particular VCC group), war veterans came by train, were transferred to trucks and then driven to newly purchased state land in the Redwood River valley in southwestern Minnesota, to build a new state park.

An updated bridge in the park…designed to match park building’s stonework.

The men of “Company 2713”, as this group were named, worked through two winters to build picnic shelters, bath houses, restrooms, bridges, trails, and in this case, a custodian’s lodge (renovated in 2018 for rental), all within the new Camden State Park. We learned the “custodian” was the park manager.

Redwood River, runs through Camden State Park…as does an active railroad track.

The buildings are made of stone and logs. They are beautiful and well-built. Similar buildings are found throughout 27 of Minnesota’s state parks, built by the CCC or VCC.

View of the prairie from Camden State Park.

What a legacy these men left us to enjoy for so many years.

There are many fields of pink clover in the park and surrounding area.

Log Jam

On a warm, summer’s evening in Northfield, Bridge Square and the Riverwalk draw a lot of people. It is a nice place to stroll along the Cannon River, to look at the water falling over the dam, to see people fishing off the bridge, or just sitting and visiting or eating ice cream.

The other night we took our ice cream treat down to Bridge Square and looked out on the river. To our surprise there was a log jam.

A couple big tree trunks were stuck in the dam and hundreds of branches and sticks have accumulated at the blockage. We’ve never seen it backed up so much.

There are always many folks fishing along Bridge Square.

It was a sight to see. Hopefully it will be cleaned up soon.

Asplund Peony Garden Revisited

I wasn’t planning to blog about the Asplund peony garden when I drove out for a quick look on Saturday, but I just cannot not post some pictures I captured.

There are no words to describe this gorgeous display of color.

Once again, the intense colors and variety of color for one kind of flower is astounding. I am often reminded of what I told my boys once, “God created the colors long before Crayola!”

There were many bushes blooming, some were already done, some were buds ready to bloom, like mine at home…

The buds are about to bloom on this yellow peony bush in the Ashland peony gardens.

Long rows of peony bushes throughout the garden. Photo by cb.

All were a joy to see.

On another note, the Asplund Farm also grows grapes and had opened a winery for many years, but the winery has permanently closed.

It was a spontaneous, fun and colorful morning.

Strength in Numbers

Three of us were walking along the road at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, looking for the azalea gardens. It was farther than we thought, and it was getting warm and humid, and we were getting tired so we turned around. Just then, a big, vintage, white convertible, with its top down, slowly drove by. As we commented to each other about the car, the older gentleman behind the wheel stopped and asked us if we wanted a ride.

Hmmm… there are three of us older women…it has been a long time since any guys have asked us to go for a ride anywhere. HA! We all looked at each other, silently accessing the situation, and all thinking there is strength in numbers. This seemed pretty innocent and sounded like a lot of fun – so we jumped in!!!

My moment behind the wheel! Photo by ba.

He took us directly to the main building where we were headed anyways. He stopped the car and we got out and asked if we could take pictures. He said sure. It was a 1964 Cadilac Eldorado convertible, in mint condition. He bought it last fall from a guy who had stored it in an outbuilding. He fixed the four flat tires, but that was about all that was wrong with it, he said.

We thanked him for the ride, and then we laughed all the way to the cafeteria.

A parting shot…one more stunning iris. Photo by ba.

A Rainflower Project

We woke up to rain the day we were going to visit the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, but decided to go anyways. By the time we arrived, the rain had stopped and the sun popped out.

We meandered through the trails and enjoyed the fresh and many shades of spring greens. We walked through the bright Iris’ field…they were in bloom.

There were many varieties and colors of iris’. Oh-so-lovely. A stately flower.

The azaleas were in bloom, too.

We walked through a corridor of bushes– it was like walking through a crayon box, so many colors on both sides.

When we decided to go to the arb we expected to see beautiful spaces, and we did. We also expected to eat lunch in the cafeteria and have a look around in the wonderful gift shop. And we did. What we didn’t expect to see was a special art installation: The Rainflower Project.

Early on our walk, I saw a lot of green, yellow and white off in the distance. I was curious to find out what it was…it didn’t look natural. What a found were 675 ceramic flowers placed in a garden space, depicting the average number of suicides that happen each year in Minnesota.

A sign read, “The handmade ceramic flowers capture and preserve the sun’s rays in timeless beauty. They stand defying nature’s elements and displaying the strength and resilience of the human spirit. Their forms fill with tears from the sky, and their individual character reflects the unique beauty in the people who live in our hearts forever.”

And there they all were; 675 ceramic flowers, placed in this memorial garden, “to remind us of our loved ones and the vital importance of positive mental health.”

You were invited to honor a loved one you’ve lost to suicide or who struggle with mental health, by writing their name on a green tag and connecting it to a flower stem in the display.

I filled out two tags and added them to the more than 675 names already tagged. My brother-in-law Richard (1986), and my dear friend Jane (2005) died too young, by suicide.

This was a meaningful surprise to find at the arboretum. I’m grateful for the folks who thought up this creative display. It felt good to start our time in this way, in this place of beauty, and be reminded of two very special people who are no longer in our lives.

It was good to pause and reflect, and then to move on and continue to enjoy God’s creation.