Northern Lights

We had a nice display of the Northern Lights IN THE CITY!! They didn't last long, but they were bright and easy to see.

I was hoping to get a photo of them across the lake and above the downtown skyline, but they were to the south.

 

Arrowfest!

The local electronics distributor, Arrow, hosted what they call Arrowfest at a big hotel in Bloomington. CP & I were one of two father-son engineer teams. It was fun attending some technical seminars with him.

After the seminars, there was a full-on trade show with tasty food, beer, and prizes. CP won a camping grill!

 

Fireplace Season

It's official: Fall is Here!

 

Rainy Camp

There were a couple of sections along the river where the beavers were busy at clearing our the forest.

We had a bit of rain, but we were able to duck under the a spruce tree and stay dry. S ended up with a bit of sap on his belly.

The peeked out under the rain clouds and treated us to a pretty sunset glow.

 

Fifth Falls Hike

The park was absolutely overrun with "peepers", city dwellers out for the day to peep at the fall colors. However, once you get 100 yards from the main falls, the craziness fades and you're back in the peaceful North Woods.

We hiked a six-mile loop from the campground up the river to Fifth Falls. 

We stopped for lunch at Fifth Falls and took some time to dip our toes in the water. Brrrr!! It's not warm lake water.

 

Lakeshore Camping

Gooseberry Falls Park has a beautiful stretch of shoreline adjacent to the campground. No sunsets here, but the sunrises are spectacular.

 

Signs

The campground was full of signs.

 

Gooseberry Falls Camping

We took the boys up to Gooseberry Falls State Park for a weekend campout. Other than a cold front with 40-50 mph winds Saturday night at 1:00 AM, it was perfect weather and we all had a blast.

JP discovered some amazing vacuum-sealed burgers @ Lund's. No mess in the cooler, and incredible meat. We put our new cast iron griddle to use.

Lunch Stop at Canal Park

On out way up north, we hit Canal Park in Duluth for lunch at the Northern Waters Smokehaus sandwich shop. It was a perfect day for a walk around the peninsula. 

 

World's Largest Walleye

We stopped for gas a an exit we had never visited. It had a beautiful mount of the world's largest walley that was caught by none other than Paul Bunyan.

 

Last Game of the Season

The last game of the season coincided with the Vikings-Packers game @ Lambeau Field. The downtown watering holes were packed. We found a couple of seats at Kieran's and split a tasty Ruben.

The last game of the season in '23 was frosty. Not so this year. We had some great seats in the shade and enjoyed the perfect weather.

The new condo in left field turned into a solar power station. For 30 minutes we were sitting with the full glare of the midday sun in our eyes.

 

Haunted Teddy Bear

Now that we are into October, it's nothing but scary movies. We watched one about a possessed evil teddy bear. JP objected: there is no such thing as an evil teddy bear. She managed to find hers, but couldn't find one of his arms.

 

Neighborhood Events

There is always something happening in the neighborhood: Halloween block party on the 26th, and ongoing Coffee & Cards for old old people.

 

B-Day Scythe

For CP's birthday, we indulged him with a rousing game of his favorite game: Scythe.

We capped off the day with a campfire in the back yard.

 

Eagle Tree

On the morning dog walk, we were startled by a huge bird swooping in front of us in someone's front yard. It was one of our eagles up on its way to the top of the eagle tree. There was a great commotion, and once we got to a clear spot, we saw why: there were two of them. Hopefully they are a nesting pair and are here to stay.

 

Warm Summer

The seasons are changing, but it's still warmer now than our normal for July & August. All the low spots were misty at sunrise. The beach was full of kids and there were paddleboarders out on the lake on my walk home.

 

Purple Mums

JP went crazy with purple mums this year. She even planted some in the neighbors' planter.

 

Pot o Gold

This was the sky when I got to work the other day. It was a good day.

 

Bier

GP got the best b-day present ever: a shipment of fancy German bier from his aunt & uncle in OKC. He is worried about getting thru it all before the expiration dates; I suppose I will have to help him sample it.

 

Sign of the Times

We took the boys to George & the Dragon for GP's birthday. He loves their curry of the day. We hit it just right - it was chicken marsala, his favorite! After dinner, we browsed thru Patina, the gift shop next door. They have an entire section devoted to Taylor Swift. They added Harris & Walz to the prayer candle collection.

 

Neighborhood Eagles

After almost two years, we are hoping that our neighborhood eagles are back. The original pair was probably wiped out from the avian flu that went around. Even though we are in the middle of a major metropolitan area, we enjoy our wildlife.

The original eagle tree blew down this summer, but it looks like this one will do.

 

Gunflint Lodge

The Gunflint Lodge has been going since 1925. It's a classic old-school lodge with a nice restaurant, friendly people, clear water, and a beautiful setting 50 miles north of Lake Superior on the Canadian border. I think this is going to be a tradition for us; we need to book our stay for next year. 

The lodge was established by a remarkable woman, Justine Kerfoot.

One of the coolest things there is the fireplace. It's made entirely of rocks from the Gunflint Formation, a 1.9 billion year old rock that records two very significant events: (1) the origin of life, and (2) a massive asteroid impact. The rock consists of the earliest fossils of stromatolites that brought oxygen to the planet. The oxygen they produced rusted out the iron that was dissolved in the oceans and gave us the iron formations that Minnesota is famous for. Then there was a huge asteroid impact to the east that caused tsunamis that tore up the upper layers of the formation and redeposited it as broken fragments. 

Our two-bedroom cabin was clean & cozy. It would have been fun to have fired up the fireplace, but it was too hot. In mid-September!

 

Magnetic Rock

One of our morning hikes was to see Magnetic Rock, a 30-foot tall monolith of magnetic rock. Some say that the glaciers stood it up on end, but I know it was really the original people with help from aliens that levitated it into place.

It was wicked hot and we were struggling with the heat. Fortunately, the bugs were nowhere to be seen.