Vacation, Day 5, Road trip

 Today was our road trip day. We got up early, packed our lunch in a cooler, and headed out. We headed south from Grand Marais to do a loop from Lutsen to Honeymoon Mountain to Tofte. Our first side trip was an attempt to see Christine Lake from a “non-Forest Service” boat landing. As soon as we turned off the highway, we were on An Adventure. The road was two rocky and pot-holed ruts through the forest. There was nowhere to turn around, so we had to go forward. I was not going to try to retrace our path in reverse.

Ruts through the forest

I turned the car around when we finally came to a spot that could be construed as a side road, if we used our imaginations.

Onward. We stopped for lunch at a “rustic” campground near Poplar River. As far as we could determine, “rustic” meant “no water.” There were latrines, as with non-rustic campgrounds. We ate lunch in the car because it was buggy. Afterward, I followed a trail down to the river, and I do mean down. There were ties dug in to create steps, but the going was steep.

The stairs from the bottom

After all that, I couldn’t see much of the river. The trail came out at a bend. The dense forest blocked the view up- and downstream.

Not much of a view of the Poplar River

Returning to the top, I followed another trail along a ridge, but that too led to a steep path down to the water with no view from the top. I saw some bluebeads in fruit.

Bluebeads

I went back to the car. As soon as we got out of the campground, we went over a bridge with a lovely view of the river.

Mountains in this part of the world are not like the Rockies, where a tree line allows for spectacular views. The forest goes right to the top, which means you can’t see anything from the road except that the ground slopes up or down. I enjoyed the drive nevertheless. The forest was mostly maple, and it reminded me of the deciduous forests of childhood.

Honeymoon Trail

Deciduous forest

 We went south from Tofte to Sugarloaf Cove Nature Center. We visited the building but were not up for hiking any of the trails. Another time perhaps.

Entry sign to Sugarloaf Cove Nature Center

 A pretty little creek near the Nature Center building

All these years, we have been driving past the Father Baraga’s Cross and never stopped. Today was the day. A wild rose was still in bloom by the trail.

Wild rose

The landing spot was rocky and beautiful.

Vista on Lake Superior, Father Baraga's cross at right

The original cross, which Father Baraga put up in thanks for a safe landing after a rough crossing from Madeleine Island, has been replaced by a more durable cross of stone. They still do services here sometimes.

Father Baraga's cross

This is the mouth of Cross River. I presume it was named for Father Baraga’s cross.

Mouth of the Cross River

So we have seen Father Baraga’s cross--“cross” that off the list. Ha ha.

Back in Grand Marais, Sydney’s still didn’t have any Dutch chocolate custard, so we opted to try a new place, Superior Creamery. The trouble with names here is that “superior” could be quality of the product or location on the Great Lake.

There was a line. Good sign. There were a lot of weird “new-age” flavors (e.g. Matcha tea). They had chocolate though. No cake cones. Waffle cones were $1. The cups were earth-friendly, biodegradable cardboard, so we got that. I spent 50 cents for “sprinkles,” which those in the know will recognize immediately as jimmies. (Sprinkles are spherical.)

Superior Creamery ice cream

The ice cream seemed a little icy, like ice milk instead of ice cream. Trying to be healthier, perhaps? As the Chocolate Shoppe says, you want nutrition, eat a carrot. We were disappointed. The wooden eating utensils were a step ahead of the curve, so to speak, as they were square, which was way better and getting the ice cream out of the cup.

An improved design on on ice cream spoons

Back at the cabin, we consoled ourselves on the money spent on inadequate ice cream treats with Cheetos and margaritas. I made chef salads for dinner with leftover steak and fajita meat.

Chef salad for supper

We spent a long time on a 500-piece puzzle of “The Quiltmakers.”

The Quiltmakers

And had peach/blueberry/cream scone cobbler for dessert.

Peach/blueberry/cream scone cobbler

 

Vacation, Day 4: Hanging out

 We spent the morning hanging around the cabin. Breakfast was late because we were busy taking pictures of loons from 7:45 to 8:30. Lots of pictures of loons.

Loon parent

Wait for me!

Breakfast

Stretch!

When it was time to start cooking, I washed my new angel food cake pan and tried it out as a corn cutter. I got the idea from a video on the internet.

The pan, the corn

I put the ear in the hole in the middle,

Starting position

Pushed down,

Pushed down

And pulled up the ear with only the middle kernels cut off and caught in the cake pan. Hmm. Our ears must be smaller than the ones in the video. You just can’t believe everything you see on YouTube.

Perhaps the middle third was stripped of kernels. Oh well.

I cut off the rest of the kernels with a knife and proceeded to make corn and potatoes. Jane played with my camera, capturing this shot of me in the tiny kitchen. The only things not in this picture are the dwarf refrigerator and a table just large enough to hold a microwave on a shelf underneath.

Prepping in the tiny kitchen

Here is our breakfast cooking. Fried corn and potatoes is on the left, the stuff for eggs ‘n’ stuff is sauteing on the right.

Fried corn and potatoes, left; green pepper, onion, cherry tomatoes, grilled zucchini, right.

Here’s the final product.

Eggs 'n' stuff, corn and potatoes, bacon

We foraged among the leftovers for lunch. Jane wanted to take a drive around Hungry Jack Lake. We didn’t see any wildlife. The road on the south side of the lake looked like it went around the end of the lake to the north road, but it did not. Still, we’d never been down that road, and it was interesting to see what the other side of the houses we could see across the bay looked like.

At happy hour, we discovered that we had gotten corn “street” tortillas instead of flour. That was a disappointment, but I buttered both sides and fried them up in the skillet. What’s not to like? We had margarita, tortillas and salsa before dinner

Happy hour

And beef fajitas with green pepper and onions for dinner. And more margaritas.

Beef fajita for supper

It was a lazy summer day, just what vacation should be.

 

Vacation, Day 3, Shopping

 We had handcakes (leftover pancakes, eaten cold without using silverware) and yogurt for breakfast. By the time we had our tea/coffee and discussed possible birding road trips, it was too late to start on a long drive. We drove to Grand Marais to do some shopping. We Intended to get frozen custard at Sydney’s in spite of the expense. It’s traditional! The street leading to Sydney’s was oddly deserted. At first, I thought it was our lucky day because parking spots were everywhere. Alas, when we drove past Sydney’s, this is what we saw, a building gutted by fire.

Remains of old Sydney's

Horreur! What shall we do? The sign left us hope that there was another location “downtown”, but where? It’s not a big town, but more of a clue would have been helpful.

We went to Ben Franklin for old time’s sake. Sydney’s temporary location was in two shipping containers on the space that used to be a tiny parking lot. Saved! Or not. They didn’t have any Dutch chocolate custard. Shoot. We went to DQ instead.

Our luck changed for the better after that. We went to a new thrift store on the south side of town, Oddz & Endz. It was run by a nonprofit agency to benefit the community. They had some really nice stuff! I bought a Cuisinart induction-ready smallish stockpot with lid for $6, an angel food cake pan for $5, and 8 retro cafeteria-style tumblers for $0.25 each! I have been looking for new glasses for some time. I don’t like the modern designs much, so these were perfect!

Fun new thrift store south of Grand Marais

Jane got a wall basket to hang on her door to collect association fees each month. You may or may not remember that she is the treasurer for her housing association. Treasurer seems to be a lifetime appointment, as several of her predecessors have died. Jane considers collecting the checks and hounding people to pay their dues to be the worst part of her job.

“No, Jane,” I said. “Dying is the worst part of the job.”

So far so good, though. She’s not dead yet. The old basket is wearing out. The “new” basket she got at Oddz & Endz was plenty dusty. She’ll have to hose it off before hanging it up.

We bought calendars at Betsy Bowen’s studio, another annual tradition.

Back at the cabin, Jane fired up the grill. I cut and buttered zucchini and made a foil pack of potatoes and onions. We shared a porterhouse steak and a bottle of wine. All was right with the world.

Jane grills dinner

 

Vacation, Day 2: Warbler migration

 Day 2

I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. We put peaches from the tree in the high tunnel on them. Tree ripened peaches are the best!

Blueberry pancakes with peaches and maple syrup

We went down to sit on the dock for a while. The rose hips by the stairs to the lake seemed particularly red this year.

Rose hips

The water level was lower than in previous years. There was no fire ban, but summer rain had been scarce. There was a pull-tab can opener visible near the shore, which was amazing when one considers that the phase out of those dangerous and litter-producing objects began in 1975. I remember childhood warning of cut feet from walking barefoot in state parks along Lake Michigan. I put it in the trash where it belonged.

Blast from the past: A pull tab from before c. 1975

I am always amazed by the spring-loaded stems of the water lilies. The bud must not move very fast; I’ve never seen one shoot out of the water as if propelled by a rocket. That’d be something, hey?

Spring-loaded lily bud stem

We also saw a small bullfrog, based on the Amphibian and Reptile Survey of Minnesota, which says the way to tell the difference is that the ridge behind the eye wraps around the ear drum, whereas in the similar green frog, the ridge extends all the way down the back. Now you know.

Bullfrog

I was lying face-down on the dock staring into the water when I heard a disturbance on the shore. A serviceberry tree was dancing wildly among the more stately balsam and birch. All sorts of birds were after the service berries. Some birds were too heavy for the twigs of the tree. They flew from sturdier perches and grabbed berries mid-flight. Smaller birds stood on the twigs eating until another bird chased them away.

The owners of our rental cabin, Dave and Nancy, later confirmed that we were witnessing the flocking of warblers (among other species) in preparation for southward migration.

The mixed flock was fickle. Following signals known only to them, they mobbed one source of food and abandoned it for some other location, all at once.

After lunch, we sat on the deck as the flock came and went. I took a zillion pictures.

Our view from the deck

The bumblebees were busy collecting nectar and pollen from the lobelia in the flower boxes.

Bumblebee with pollen-stuffed leg baskets on lobelia

Some of the birds we could identify. Some we could not. Here’s a partial representation, along with my best guess at species:

Black and white warbler (that one was easy!)

Yellow-rumped warbler, a.k.a., butterbutt--yellow butt is brighter when it flies

Canada warbler

Chickadee hanging upside down to feed

LBJ (little brown job)--beak too thick for a finch or sparrow, I think. 

Male downy woodpecker

Female downy woodpecker

Chipping sparrow (left) with frumpy fledgling

A good picture of a distinctive bird--you'd think the identification
would pop right out of the book! But no.

A bad picture of what may be a yellow-throated warbler

Cedar waxwing--no matter how their day is going, they look like they've just been groomed.

It was an exciting birding day. Happy hour was a bust. I opened a bottle of wine, but the first glass gave me a headache and Jane heartburn. Supper was uninspired. I reheated the pizza. Later we had hot fudge sundaes.

We put together a jigsaw puzzle to pass the time between 7:00 (too early to go to bed) and 8:15 (acceptable time to go to bed).

Jigsaw du jour

Boundary Waters, Day 1

Jane and I have been back from vacation for a week and a half, but I've been so busy getting the garden back under control that today was my first chance to post. Long time readers may recall that we spend the week in northern Minnesota blissfully off the grid.

Day 1

We left my house at 6:50, ten minutes ahead of schedule. Our first wildlife siting was half a dozen sandhill cranes in a field north of Madison.

Following a tip from Diane N., we stopped at a restaurant/convenience store in Hixton that carried Chocolate Shoppe ice cream. The last line of its “nutritional information” is “If you want nutrition, eat a carrot.”  Many of the flavors were odd, like Matcha Green Tea, Maple Nut, Black Walnut, Blackberry Lemon Bar, etc. We both got Zanzimint, a combination of their very dark chocolate Zanzibar™ Chocolate ice cream and (obviously) mint.

Zanzimint ice cream in Hixton

We drove and drove, stopping now and then for food, stretching, and/or bathroom breaks. We got to the cabin a little after 6:00, took the luggage in, put a frozen pizza in the oven, found the bottle of premixed margarita and the bag of ice we just bought in Grand Marais, and sat down on the deck for happy hour.

We didn’t have to wait until the last minute to see loons, like we do some years. Jane was the first to spot them, as she is the one with better distance vision. Binoculars confirmed that it was an adult with a chick. It was getting dark. They were far away. Nevertheless, I took way too many pictures, none of which were in focus or properly lit. Eventually, the pair worked its way over closer to us and out of the glare of the setting sun. The adult dove and dove. As soon as it surfaced, the chick went over to it. Often it was for naught.

Loon adult coming up empty as baby follows

Every now and then, the adult had a fish for the baby. As this picture shows, the baby was not yet eating large fish. We hoped it would be big enough to fly south before the lakes froze over.

A tasty treat!

We ate the pizza and drank margaritas. We stayed up as long as we could and went to bed at 8:30. It’s a long drive.