The Grand Tour

 The Straight-haired girl and I spent the weekend together. We talked, we painted our nails, we had a mini spa. It was our own little staycation, complete with several outings. The biggest, most grandest thing we did was take a boat ride out on Rainy Lake with the National Park Service. It was well worth the splurge!

We are somewhat of an anomaly up here. We don't hunt, we don't fish, and we don't have a boat. The first two we don't care about. The last one is on our wish list, but not a priority. I'm thinking it might need to become one. The more I am out on the lake, the more I fall in love with it.

Can you tell who is very excited about this adventure? We didn't even have to wear life vests, since The Voyageur is a Coast Guard certified vessel. There's Sha Sha in the distance.The resort is named for a chief of the sizeable Ojibwe settlement that was on the point during the time of the Voyageurs. Before E.W. Backus dammed up Rainy River at International Falls, people were walking across the lake between the point and what would become Rainy Lake City. After the dam went in, the lake level rose six feet.

When gold fever hit with the discovery of gold on Little American Island, Rainy Lake City was born. We learned that the commute (by boat) to Little America was a mile one way. They also hauled all the ore to Rainy Lake City to process it. All that's left is one little shed and Grand Avenue. It's overgrown and grass covered, but still evident because of the trees that line it.

Rainy Lake is huge. It's easier to gauge the size of the Great Lakes, because they are so very large. Most maps of the United States show the Great Lakes and how large they are. However, Rainy Lake wasn't on any of the maps I saw as a child, or at least I didn't recognize that it was. Compared to the lakes (more like puddles) I knew growing up it's halfway to ginormous!

The little gray strip in the photo above is Canada, by the way. It seems very far away from where we were sitting.

 We also got to see the last commercial fishing establishment on Rainy Lake, complete with ice house. (That's the building on the left.) Nearby was a bald eagle's nest, complete with fledgling. The baby was out hopping around on a branch just below the nest. There are thirty-seven pairs of bald eagles in Voyageur's National Park. It is near capacity at that number. Eagles need a lot of territory.

The Grand Tour is two and a half hours long and well worth it! We even got to take a little hike and talk to some interesting people before we docked at the Rainy Lake Visitor's Center.

Grandma's Playground

 There's a new reason to love Grandma and Grandpa's house now. The Terre Haute Children's Museum opened up its new location this year. Other than the fact that they got rid of the miniature metal shopping carts and the semi-realistic cash register, it was a complete hit.

In more ways than one, apparently.

We were glad to see that they brought the bubble maker along. 

And the Bernoulli machine. There is an incredible paper airplane launcher as well.

The water table was good for tons of fun. Even I had to wear an apron. It is no good to get wet when you play with water according to the Curly-headed girl.

The Terre Haute Children's Museum is a nice cheery place to play for the morning. Lots of learning with lots of fun. We give it four thumbs up.

Another Page in the Bird Journal

We do love our birds in this family. The Straight-haired girl was very enthusiastic when we suggested stopping to visit Heron County Park north of Danville, IL. It is right off of Route 1, on West Newell Road (just north of Walmart). As soon as we parked the car, they were off to the tower. It's a bit steep and warrants parental supervision since it's a glorified ladder to the top floor. The Curly-headed girl was quick to point out the inherent dangers.

There is a floating boardwalk (second longest in Illinois) that surrounds the tower and leads out into the wetlands. We were lucky enough to see a nesting pair of swans. The male was a bit camera shy. He took off for cover as soon as we got close enough for a shot.

On the return leg of our walk, we spotted this Canada goose. They are pretty common in our part of the world during the summer months. There were also eagles' nests, although we did not see any birds. If you happen to be in the Danville area, this is a spot I highly recommend.

As we loaded up the car, the Curly-headed girl looked up. She drew our attention to the namesake of the park; a great blue heron. Our visit was complete.

Nordic Ridge Farm

It doesn't seem to matter how old my kids are. Nordic Ridge is too much fun to pass up. The tube slide gets faster every year, and the maze gets bigger. We couldn't say the same thing for the hay stack, but it was still fun to play king of the hill.

We love to ride down to Nordic Ridge and "kid" around. Sorry. Couldn't resist - it was too obvious.

The new resident goat (sign not withstanding) has no ears. The curly-headed girl was quite concerned about it, but she is relieved to learn that it was bred to be that way. LaManchas are very good dairy goats, and the straight-haired girl is glad to know that.

We enjoyed a hay ride on a wagon through the woods - complete with crazy scarecrows from outer space -  had a great picnic lunch, learned useless farm trivia in the maze, and ate great popcorn. All in all, it was a very good day.

More Split Rock Scenery

To the northeast.

A closer look.

To the southwest.

Another closer look.

Happy Birthday, Split Rock Lighthouse!

Split Rock turns 100 this year. It was completed in 1910, before a road reached the area. All of the building materials were shipped to the sight and hauled up the cliff, 130 feet above Lake Superior, by derrick. The U. S. Lighthouse Service operated it until 1939. At that point, the U.S. Coast Guard took command of the light until 1969 when modern navigational equipment made it obsolete. The State of Minnesota obtained the scenic landmark in 1971, and the Minnesota DNR operated it as part of Split Rock Lighthouse State Park for five years. At that point, the Minnesota Historical Society took over administration of the light and keepers' houses.

The light is kept in rotation by a 200 pound weight that drops to the floor and is cranked back up by hand. It even has a release mechanism that keeps the lens rotating while the keeper cranks the weight back to the top of the tower.

It has a third order Fresnel lens that was manufactured in Paris, France. (Fresnel lenses were ordered from one to six, with one being the most powerful and farthest reaching.) It was lit by an incandescent kerosene lamp from 1910 to 1939. In 1940 the kerosene light was replaced by a 1,000 watt electric bulb. The light is visible for 22 miles.

Once every 10 seconds, the light flashes as it rotates. And for 59 years, it kept its solitary vigil over the shore of Lake Superior north of Two Harbors, MN.

Sometimes You Just Have to Get Out of Dodge

Three of my friends and I decided to go camping with our children this week. This is something we have done before and survived with our sanity mostly intact, so we weren’t anticipating any major challenges. We took our twelve children, aged two to thirteen, loaded up my friend’s suburban, a decrepit old pick-up truck with a camper on back, and a new SUV and headed to Norway Beach on Cass Lake. The friends who stayed behind warned us about the weather forecast. We thought they were a bit alarmist.

It has been a cold and rainy summer up here, so we shouldn’t really have been surprised when the weather this week was cold and rainy with ferocious winds to boot. But in the words of the curly-headed girl, "You get what you get, and you don’t get upset." She’s quite the philosopher, that one.

In spite of our foolish optimism concerning the weather, we had a great time. Chippewa National Forest is just beautiful. The people who work at the Norway Beach Visitor’s Center/Gift Shop are very welcoming and the kids just love their programs. It was totally worth all the work to get there! There’s just something about being outside that makes me conscious of my very small place in this very big world: and I’m thankful for the perspective.

Road Tripping with Grandpa and Grandma

What a great day! When Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us last month, we never thought we'd get to show them some of our favorite places in the state. The girls were beyond excited about going to Duluth for the day. The straight-haired girl loves to watch the lift bridge go up and down, and it's a toss-up as to whether or not she prefers that to shopping. She spent all of her fun money on clothes. (No surprise there!) Her sister, the curly-headed one, bought a book and some glamorous sunglasses. She's saving the rest of her money for who knows what. Probably a digital camera, as that is the most sought after item on her list.

We also headed up to Hawk's Ridge. The road is a little bumpy, but the bridges make up for the jolts. The view at the top is pretty amazing. The girls had gotten binoculars for their birthday and would have spent the entire afternoon looking for ships on Lake Superior. Of course, the straight- haired one needed to sketch the view in her new nature notebook. They were pretty cute with their backpacks in tow.

We didn't see any hawks, though; wrong time of day/year or something. In spite of that, I can say a good time was had by all.

The whole day was great, but my favorite moment was a total accident. I thought I knew the way down from Hawk's Ridge to the mall. Turns out I was wrong. We wandered for a bit and then decided it was prudent to stop and ask for directions. Et voila!!


Yes, it is! It's a real honest to goodness PIGGLY WIGGLY. I was laughing my head off! My sister and sister-in-law have got to see this some day. We are gonna road trip to Duluth just to see this store and then turn around and drive right back home.