Travel – Page 3 – Valerie's Voice

Sheep, Boots and Inns

We saw thousands of sheep on our recent trip to Great Britain.

Sheep, sheep…I took lots of photos of sheep!

Thousands.

Pastoral setting…sheep, and trees, and green pasture, and blue sky, and Hadrian’s Wall…

I’m thankful they were sheep and not goats. I like sheep – goats, not so much.

Not only were the sheep in fields along the highways and byways, but we walked right next to them in their pastures as we hiked along Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. The sheep didn’t seem to mind us hikers. They tolerated our presence and our antics towards them.

Docile sheep looking at my fellow travelers.

But the sheep also didn’t care about where they did their business as we had to carefully (and constantly) step around all the sheep droppings. They chewed their cuds as they watched us make our way through all their poo, maybe with smiles on their faces. I still think they’re cute.

The four of us at the beginning of our hiking adventure.

Our first steps on the first morning – walking on the road to get to the trail.

Sheep on one side, Wall on the other, expansive views of beautiful English landscapes surround us.

Only two times did we miscalculate our steps, and needed to stop and clean out poop from the cervices of our hiking boots.

There were also stone steps in a few places.

We were prepared for what is typical Scottish weather, cool and rainy, on our four-day trek along Hadrian’s Wall. Instead, we had unusually warm, humid and sunny weather. Although we were hot and sweaty as we hiked, it was preferred to the cold and rain.

The white acorn was the trail marker for Hadrian’s Wall.

The terrain was more rugged than we anticipated, but it also made for interesting scenery and amazing vistas. We walked a total of 34 miles in four days. We were hiking from inn to inn.

Hadrian’s Wall…following it up and down…

At the end of the day, we hiked off road to an inn where there were rooms reserved for us, and our luggage was waiting for us.

The Battlesteads B&B…located in an International DarkSky Place.

As we hiked, we only had to carry our backpacks with water, our lunch and a rain jacket (which we didn’t need).

All the inns provided for our needs of a place to sleep, dinner options, breakfast the next morning, and packed lunches for the trail.

Twice Brewed Inn, in the town of Once Brewed! Love the names!

Pastoral scenes, beautiful and expansive vistas, Hadrian’s wall, sheep, various cattle, personal and lively conversations, and occasional fellow pilgrims on the trail provided our entertainment.

Walking along the trail…sometimes we could see Hadrian’s Wall, sometimes not. It’s old. It was built in 122 AD, by the Romans in Britain, as a former defensive fortification, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian.

And we had a marvelous time!

We sometimes had to watch out for cow pies too!

This cow watched as we walked off trail, by a farm, on our way to an inn for the night.

Ukraine

In 2004, 2005, and 2008 I was in the Ukraine on three separate mission trips. Each time we went to Cherkasy, a city south of the capital, Kiev. We conducted English Language Camps at the House of Gospel church.

My host family was a lovely couple that opened their home to my friend, Kay, and I. More host families from their church took in the other members on our team. But each year, Kay and I stayed together with this same family. Our home stays were about 7-8 days…enough time to build relationships.

Valerie, Maria, Kay, 2023, in Minnesota, USA.

This couple and their son, who was living at home at the time, were gracious and loving and took good care of us. The English Language Camps were held at their church. The camps were promoted for kids ages 15-20. We used Bible stories as our resource. There were eight group leaders. We each had interpreters with our small groups of 8-10 kids. The kids were excited to practice their English language skills on native speakers. Many kids attended (~90) and many kids had never been to church. It was rewarding.

The table decorations for the pot luck reception at Emmaus Church: Sunflowers, Ukraine’s national flower.

After our first trip in 2004, our church started supporting our host family’s daughter and her husband, who are missionaries in Odesa, a city in the southern part of the Ukraine. Every few years the missionaries, Caleb and Christina, come to our church to give an update and thank Emmaus for our support. This year they brought along Christina’s parents, our hosts from those trips many years ago.

It was such a privilege and joy to have them stay in our home. I never thought I’d see them in Minnesota! It was great to visit with them and get an update on the current situation in Ukraine, and to just bond with them and strengthen our relationship. We had a delightful time together.

Sometimes I’m amazed when I think about having friends and family that I know and love in other places in this world. For me, those places include Norway, Ukraine, Mozambique and Japan. What an honor and blessing.

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.

A Photograph

I received a gift in the mail the other day. A 2024 Collector’s calendar: Norway, Visions and Verse of Vikingland…41^st edition.

Rosemaling is a significant feature on these calendars.

And the reason I was given this calendar is because one of the photos I took while visiting Norway last summer was chosen to be in the calendar.

My photo was used for the month of Juli.

It was fun looking through each month to see all the lovely pictures of this amazingly beautiful country, and finding one of my own, taken on the Island of Stord.

It was fun to see my name in the credits too.

The back of the calendar has a snapshot of all 12 photos in the calendar.

Who me? How fun.

St. Luke’s United Methodist Church

Recently on a road trip to Dubuque, my friend and I decided to begin our day in church. St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, built in 1896, is on the National Register of Historical Places for its architecture, its history in the region, and its Tiffany glass. We were interested in seeing the Tiffany glass.

Louis C. Tiffany (1848-1933) was a world renown artist. He created his own unique glass, which he used to make spectacular windows, lamps and more.

A classic Tiffany iris, as part of one window.

His windows are made of multi-layers of glass, with iridescence/opulence qualities and deep, rich colors.

“Tiffany believed that this new material (his new creation and technique) … enabled form to be defined by the glass itself rather than by painting onto the glass.” The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art

There is much to learn about this artist’s glass and his magnificent works. Click here for more information: Tiffany Glass.

To see this display of Tiffany windows in St. Luke’s was a treat. The church is open to the public for viewing the Tiffany windows during the week, and offers weekly church services on Sunday.

There was a short 11-minute video clip we watched as we sat surrounded by these beautiful glass windows.

The windows had been meticulously restored a few years ago at the cost of $40,000 per window.

This is one of the three Tiffany lamps in the church.

There were also three Tiffany glass chandeliers in the church. There were even Tiffany glass windows in the restrooms!

In the Midwest, there are only a few places that have Tiffany glass windows. We were grateful one of those places was Dubuque, Iowa.

My favorite window: *The Good Shepherd*.

As we left the sanctuary, we noticed a sign that read, “If you think our windows are beautiful…you should meet our people!”

What a pleasant way to start our day.

Ordinary Days

Our trip to North Carolina fell over our grandchildren’s spring break, so they were off school the ten days we were there. It was a special time, especially celebrating Easter with them, but it was an ordinary time too.

The kids watching the rafters and paddle boarders at Whitewater Center.

We didn’t do anything spectacular, it was nice just hanging out. We did visit Whitewater Center, a national training center for whitewater rafting, paddle boarding, kayaking, rock climbing and mountain bike riding.

The first hurdle in the children’s challenging obstacle course.

Mastering the children’s obstacle course at the Whitewater Center.

Whitewater Center was very interesting place, and the kids had fun tackling an obstacle course geared towards children.

We always explore the nature preserve that is close to their home, and this time we used walkie talkies that we brought along from Minnesota. That was a hit.

Before we left home, we asked the kids if there was anything they wanted us to bring from Minnesota and Ezra immediately said, “a snowball.” Although he was thinking the real thing, we brought a dozen soft, cotton-ball style snowballs and had a surprise snowball fight one warm and sunny afternoon!

Our outdoor workspace, creating fun pictures.

Another time Zoey and I sat on the back veranda and made paper-cut-out pictures. It was fun to sit and create something out of nothing. We both enjoyed it, and I think I want to continue doing more of that.

Displaying “my” picture on our refrigerator. 😉

I just need to give myself permission to sit down and do it by myself…either use color crayons or colored pencils, cut out paper, or use markers, try drawing…just being creative. It was fun, relaxing and fed my soul, and I hope to do more of it.

In An Instant

As we drove away from our son’s home in North Carolina, we headed north through rolling hills of North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. It was scenic! And bright sunshine added a nice touch for a lovely drive.

Redbud trees were blooming everywhere…like weeds in the forest. They were beautiful. This photo was taken in Indiana, a day after the scenic drive in the Virginias, and not as scenic.

In West Virginia, we pulled off the highway for a break and then it happened so fast…

We heard the crash…it sounded so close…

Then, instantly we felt the impact…the car behind us was pushed into our car by a third vehicle behind her.

We had stopped for a traffic back up. A red car was stopped behind us. A third car – a gold car – rammed into the red car which rammed into our car.

Thankfully, no one was hurt, including the little doggie in the middle, red car.

Thankfully, our car was drivable since it was the first day of our journey home to Minnesota. The middle, red car was able to drive away too. The third car had to be towed away. It looked totaled.

Thankfully, the damage to our car was minimal.

Thankfully, the police were quick, kind and efficient.

Thankfully, it was afternoon and we were soon going to stop driving for the day.

Thankfully, we have insurance.

We have a lot to be thankful for. It could have been much worse. A reminder, life can be changed in an instant.

An Unusal Gift

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 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.