It’s still morning of day 2 – we’re back to where the previous day ended and where the current day began – the Grand Portage National Monument Heritage Center. After a brief perusal of the center, we went out to take the tour. Lisa led the tour and ladled delicious tidbits on the history of the place. Grand Portage in its heyday (1790’s) was a major international trade center – furs from all over northern North America came here (well, not by their original wearers, but were canoed and portaged in by the trappers) for transportation through the Great Lakes to Montreal and then on to Europe.
Lisa told us all kinds of cool stuff – like history – such as this place maintains heirloom seeds from the original genetic stock of the area. That tepees are Sioux and made of hides, that wigwams are Ojibwe and made of bark – we were in an Ojibwe area.
Then it was on to transportation – the canoe. The birchbark canoe came in various sizes. The largest canoes of all-time – 36-40′ long and weighed 400 pounds empty – were birchbark and were used to haul the furs across the Great Lakes. They could amazingly carry 4 tons – the people and all the supplies shown in one of the following photos. And remember – for whatever reason, the people who traveled in and paddled these boats were not swimmers; and the temperature along the northern route of Lake Superior even in summer would create hypthermia in a matter of minutes; and they could not beach these canoes at night, at their size and weight they would crumble upon contact with land. Hallelujah, Moby Obie!
Then on to the stockade where all the wheeling and dealing took place . . .
[As I recall, Lisa said it took 3 years to become a doctor in those days – and 7 years to become a bread baker!]
We were told we had to cross the street to say we had walked on The Grand Portage!
The bridge to nowhere?
A few moments in Grand Marais as we headed south.
Then a short skip and a hop to Temperance River State Park.
[Our waving shadows.]
Finally, as promised, the old front doors ended up in a pole barn 9 miles north of Itasca State Park – where the kids are establishing a homestead for retirement.
Up next? We’ll be surprised together.
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About tomobert63
The Journey Begins
Thanks for joining me! This is the follow-up to the original, “alexandriacardinals.wordpress.com,” which overwhelmed the system’s ability to handle it any more. Thus, this is “Part 2.” As the original was initially described:
10-26-07-4
“It all began in a 5,000 watt radio station in Fresno, California” . . . wait a minute, that was Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show! Let’s see . . . oh yeah, it all began in 2003 when retirees, i.e., old people, in Alexandria, Minnesota, who had no desire to become snow birds, went looking for mid-winter entertainment here in the frozen tundra of West Central Minnesota. We discovered girls’ high school hockey, fell in love immediately, and it remains our favorite spectator sport to this day. Initially, and for several years, reports on these games were e-mailed to those who were actually snowbirds but wanted to keep abreast of things “back home.” It was ultimately decided a blog would be more efficient, and it evolved into a personal diary of many things that attracts tens of readers on occasion. It remains a source of personal mental therapy and has yet to elicit any lawsuits.
~ The Editor, May 9, 2014
p.s. The photo border around the blog is the Cardinal girls’ hockey team after just beating Breck for the state championship in 2008. It’s of the all-tournament team. The visible Breck player on the left is Milica McMillen, then an 8th-grader – she is now an All-American for the Gophers. The Roseau player in the stocking cap I believe is Mary Loken, who went on to play for UND; and the Cardinal player on the right, No. 3, is Abby Williams, the player we blame most for making us girls’ hockey fans who went on to play for Bemidji State.
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Photos contained herein are available for personal use. All you have to do is double click on any of the photos and they will become full screen size. You can then save them into your personal “My Pictures” file. They make lovely parting or hostess gifts, or holiday gifts for such as Uncle Ernie who wants to see how his grand niece is doing on the hockey team. If any are sold for personal profit, however, to, for example, the Audubon Society, National Geographic, Sven’s Home Workshop Monthly, Curling By The Numbers, or the World Wrestling Federation, I only request that you make a donation to the charitable organization of your choice. You have two hours and fifteen minutes. Pencils ready? Begin!
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It’s still morning of day 2 – we’re back to where the previous day ended and where the current day began – the Grand Portage National Monument Heritage Center. After a brief perusal of the center, we went out to take the tour. Lisa led the tour and ladled delicious tidbits on the history of the place. Grand Portage in its heyday (1790’s) was a major international trade center – furs from all over northern North America came here (well, not by their original wearers, but were canoed and portaged in by the trappers) for transportation through the Great Lakes to Montreal and then on to Europe.
alexandriacardinals 