In The Hot Seat

I was having trouble deciding what to write about today, so decided to take care of a few chores first. While moving the vehicles out of the driveway, I found my inspiration---the car I was driving filled up with smoke and flames started shooting out from under the hood! I called 911, then spent the next hour photographing today's story.

My thanks to the local police and fire department community.

Grand Portage

I've always loved history. Even as a kid I knew history wasn't about memorizing dates and dusty old facts---it was about stories! Grand Portage National Monument near the Minnesota-Canadian border is a great place to hear the stories of our past. Not only will you hear them, you'll get a chance to taste, smell, touch, grow and wear them.

More than 200 years ago, Grand Portage, on Lake Superior's shore, was the site of an annual summer rendezvous. Winter furs, trapped as far away as the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, were transported along the waterways and trails to the North West Company stockade where they were loaded into big canoes and paddled by voyageurs to Montreal.

Today you can explore the reconstructed stockade, encampment and Ojibwe village. You can taste food picked from the historic heirloom garden or gathered from the forest. You can learn how it was dried on racks, cooked on the hearth or baked in a wood burning oven. You can try on period clothing, listen to a piper playing and singing songs from the past. You can see shelters and canoes being built and even walk along the ancient portage trail. You'll hear the stories and will catch more than a glimpse of the past.

Split Rock

     I'd thought I knew what to expect from my visit to Split Rock. I had seen plenty of pictures of the lonely lighthouse towering over Lake Superior in books and travel and photography magazines, but somehow my actual visit was both more and less than I had expected.

    
     More---because, the pictures only showed the lighthouse, lake and cliff.  Below and beyond the light were endless delights to discover and enjoy.  I spent most of my visit exploring the trails, watching boats gather in the cove, climbing over rocks and admiring one of my favorite creations...lichen.

     
      Less---because, the weather wasn't as cooperative as I would have liked.  I kept waiting for that "perfect" light to appear, but it never was as beautiful as I had hoped.  I plan to return to Split Rock soon.  I already have my campsite picked out; right on the beach, looking up at the lighthouse on its rugged cliff.

Minnesota Jewels

I traveled up and down Highway 61 exploring Minnesota's Lake Superior shore. Along the highway was a series of state parks: Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock, Tettegouche, Temperance River and Judge C. R. Magney, all in a row, dangling like gems on the shiny chain of Superior's shore. Each was unique, but all shared a common theme of wild beauty; presenting and protecting forests full of life, steep and rugged cliffs with their frigid rivers, canyons, bridges and waterfalls and the ever present power and majesty of the lake.