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.

 

Peaceful Easy Feeling

The lodge was totally relaxing. No kids, no sirens & planes, no traffic, just peace & solitude.

We spent every evening beside a campfire on the lakeshore watching the sun set.

 

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

The Gunflint Trail snakes its way north through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a million-acre park with 1,100 lakes and 1,500 miles of canoe trails. It's an official wilderness area, so no mechanization is permitted. Just peace & quiet a million miles from civilization. 

Our lodge also has a full-featured outfitter that can provide you with every piece of gear needed for a wilderness trip. We watched a group load up their canoe and paddle off into the wilderness.

The lodge also has boats. We reserved a pontoon boat, but got rained out by a thunderstorm on our last day.

 

Gunflint Lake Swim

The weather we had was unseasonably warm/hot: We hit 88°! 

The average for September is 65°.  Good thing we had a 60° lake to cool off in.

The water was absolutely refreshing. Cool, but not quite as cold as Lake Superior.

 

Late Fall Colors

Last time we were here, it was the first week in October and most of the fall colors were already past. This time, we figured we'd hit it two weeks earlier and catch the glory of fall. We hit it too early; there were barely any leaves turning.

There were a few maples that were going, but all the aspen & birch were still green & vibrant.

 

Dayhike

Our lodge has a ton of hiking/skiing/snowshoeing/horse/snowmobile trails. Since there was no snow, we stuck to the hiking trails. We had a hard freeze last week that took care of all the bugs, and we enjoyed not having to juice-up with bug spray.

The trails top out on the cliffs above the lake with a beautiful view into Canada.

We enjoyed the serenity of post-Labor Day crowds and zero people on the trails.

 

Up North

Within 24 hours of getting home, we took off with the Gs for an epic long weekend up north. Stopped in Duluth for lunch and a stroll along the harbor entrance.

This is one of our favorite places on the north shore. 

We checked in, ate too much walleye, and sat beside a firepit for the sunset up on a lake that separates us from Canada.

 

Spendy

The duty free shop in Paris had a wide selection of wines. Anywhere from €7 to €8600. That's a bit spendy for me, no matter how good it is.

 

Nazi Stain

As beautiful as Nuremberg is, one cannot forget the stain of Nazi Germany. It cannot happen again, and there are many reminders of this in Nuremberg. Adjacent to the German National Museum is the Street of Human Rights. 

I did not make it to the rally grounds, but it certainly has a connection to Trump's rallies. I am surprised that he has not built his own personal MAGA rally stadium. He is focused on himself, and everything related to him. Much like Hitler. He needs to be held accountable so that we never go through this again.

 

Ehekarussell

There was a massive bronze sculpture near my hotel. It is called Ehekarussell. I've never seen anything quite like it. Very cool.

 

Good Eating in Germany

Some of the things I really like about Europe:

- Awesome healthy food

- Normal person-sized portions of food. Never a need to feel bad about not being able to finish 4 pounds of food.

- Good beer

- Cheap good beer

- No tipping

- Tax & service & healthcare & feel-good charges are all included in the prices. Ordering $20 of food in the US would result in a $30 bill with another $7 of tip on top of that.

 

Rooftop Patio

My hotel had a nice rooftop patio that gave a good view of the tall buildings in town. This is the Opera House.

Looking to the north is the castle and its towers where I had lunch.

 

Nuremberg Sausages

Nuremberg has countless sidewalk cafes. After flying all night & day and walking 12,000 steps, I had to stop at one for some nourishment. Nuremberg sausages are small breakfast link sized. The ones I got was smoked and very tasty. Served up with a pile of spicy mustard and some freshly ground horseradish. Mmmm good!

 

Nuremberg

I had most of a day to explore Nurembeg on foot. My hotel was inside the old medieval town walls. 

The city center is all old buildings. At least they were (re-)built to look old. Most of the city was destroyed during the war and later rebuilt. Great pains were taken to bring it back to its old self rather than modern.

This blog post has some really good photos of the town. It's now at the top of our list of places to visit as a couple.

 

Must Paint

Mere hours after I left, the paint came out.

It looks awesome, and I am so glad I did not come home to a new pet.