alexandriacardinals

I had to interrupt North Shore adventures because I thought these worthy of their own site.  Taken October 13, 2011 over Lake Darling, eat your heart out Ansel Adams!  🙂

 

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.

We awoke early the following morning and sped with great dispatch to the Canadian border, eh?  We had overnighted at the Grand Portage casino where certain members of our party blithely gambled away their $5.00 starter fund, a gift from the establishment.  I, being above such things, repaired to my room for a nap.  [Historical footnote:  Casinos in Minnesota, and in most states, are located on reservations.  Reservations are the natural habitat of Native Americans – and reservations are suggested to stay at their casinos.  When Europeans first came to America (of course, it wasn’t called America then – it was called Texas) they were astonished to find a native population already here and living on casino-laden reservations!  So while European-American history often suggests that Goldman Sachs stole Manhattan from the Native Americans for a mere $24 in trinkets, much of the European-American fortune was eventually lost back at the gaming tables.]  [Hysterical footnote:  I just happened to notice that today’s Minneapolis StarTribune contained obituaries for ELEVEN people who were my age or younger.  The new high school and the Broadway renovation are scheduled for completion in three years.  Is there any way we can speed up that process?  I’d really like to see them!]

[We circled past the border guards where someone allegedly called out, “Hey, hockey puck!”]

We arrived at Grand Portage State Park.  We were the first car in the parking lot.  It was another perfect day – and we had the place all to ourselves!  We stopped in the information center – and then headed out the back door for the half-mile walk to High Falls, the highest waterfall in the state.  It is on the Pigeon River, which is the boundary between the U.S. and Canada.  The colors along the trail were colorful . . . duh, and we took some panoramic photos at the falls where one can see Canada and Superior – and on this day, Ruthie and Anne and Bill.

We hope you have enjoyed your visit to Grand Portage State Park! 🙂

We headed south from Grand Portage and soon came upon this overlook that was still so close to Canada one could smell the caribou stew wafting across the beautiful morning air of Lake Superior.  We felt like interlopers – from the blond woman in the white coat (probably in a red T-bird convertible – shades of “American Graffiti”?) who was there first and we did not want to interrupt her reverie, to the fact that this site was not yet open.  But we breeched the barrier (not clear if this was an old overlook under renovation or a new one) and it was quite spectacular.

Up next?  Something else.  And an answer to the burning question – whatever happened to the old front door?

[Dangerous Dan keeps an eye on us from the far reaches of SAWA.]

[Editor’s note:  Always, always lead with your best reviews –

Tom, Tom, Tom. I howled through your blog.    Please stay healthy, OK? ~ Crazy Dave

As always very entertaining reading! I haven’t had as much time to keep up with all of your blogs but I know this winter I’ll have more opportunities to go back and enjoy the ones I’ve missed.  Are you taking these photos with your new camera? How do you like it? ~ Sue

Dear Tom and Ruth, Thanks for sending the beautiful pix.  We Colorado folks have gorgeous aspen trees turning color and waving with the wind but we get very little red so really enjoyed yours.   I cried a little bit when I saw John, Natalia, and you. ~ Love, Aunt Pearl

You always were in love with Dorothy Provine. ~ Rosie

Dorothy Provine was a favorite of mine as well.  I remember her in a most forgettable television series set sometime in the Roaring Twenties.  The show probably ran longer than it should have due to the fact that she out-booped Betty Boop.  By the by, we too were up on the North Shore last week.  We found the best leaf viewing was not there, however, but between here and Brainard, and along Highway No. 1 between Ilgen City and Ely.  Skipped the pasties, but pigged out on the walleye at the Angry Trout and the bouillabaisse at Chez Jude in Grand Marais. ~ Jim

Community ed is hosting a series of classes about “Everyone Has a Story.”  The first author noted the importance of the book cover for marketing purposes – it should be in color!  Ruthie picked up a book entitled Naked Came the Manatee while on our trip.  I think “naked” is also an important title word for marketing purposes.  Ergo, the title of this blog story shall be, “Grand Portage, Naked and in Living Color!”]

This is Bill Gross.  Bill had the misfortune to be my boss for many years at the Department of Labor in Washington, D.C.  In spite of that, we have remained BFF’s for over 35 years.  (See how I pick up on this stuff?  I even know LOL means “little old lady.”)  I took this picture of Bill in his office overlooking the U.S. Capitol a tad over 10 years ago, the day I retired and moved back to Vacationland USA.  I also introduced Bill to Anne, and they have now been married for over 30 years.  Yes, I was a matchmaker long before it became an internet site.

Back to the plot.  Bill is now also retired, but Anne is still gainfully employed in a job that occasionally requires a trip to Minneapolis.  This first week of October was their such third trip, and they always extend their stay for a visit to the shores of beautiful Lake Darling.  Prior to this visit, they had suggested we all take a trip to the Badlands/Black Hills, et al.  We advised that’s a lovely trip but it’s 8 1/2 hours one way.  We suggested the North Shore – even more beautiful at this time of year and only 5 1/2 hours to the Canadian border.  The trip was on!

[Bill and Anne on our Alaska cruise three years ago.]

[Dad, Mom, and me at Bill and Anne’s wedding some thirty years ago.]

OK, the set-up is complete.  But first, another side bar –

This is our new front door.  Teddy Hockey installed it yesterday.  Today, on yet another gorgeous fall day, I had golf league.  The supervisor stayed home to paint and stain the new door trim (and Teddy Hockey returned to caulk our leaky windows).  The consensus was I had the better day!  (I did shoot a 79, thank you very much.)  This is just one of several “distractions” of recent vintage that has caused me to do a terrible job of covering the Cardinal fall sports scene.  (The staff photographer has three soccer games in queue and I a volleyball game.)  I will try to do better in the future.

Now, where were we?  Oh yeah, heading north.  With the supervisor at the helm, we left early on Wednesday morning.  Our first stop and photo op was at the Brainerd information center.

Then it was on to the Duluth information center.

Betty’s Pies.  Yup, they’d read about it before they even left D.C.   We arrived to a rather lengthy line and were told it would be a 20-minute wait.  It was closer to 40 by the time we got seated – but we got a good laugh during our time in the lobby as every new customer who came in was told it would be a 20-minute wait.  Bill had his first ever pasty – it was a hit – then we had what I believe was called Great Lakes berry pie.  Mmmmmm!

Then it was on to the Split Rock Lighthouse overlook.  You can’t leave there with only one picture!

We pretty much sped past everything the rest of the day.  We were overnighting in Grand Portage and would hit the missed places on the way home the next day.  But we did pull off in Grand Marais for the overlook, turning off the Gunflint Trail at Pincushion Drive.  And what an overlook it is!

The yellows that are birches, the reds that are sumac, the greens that are evergreens (d’ya s’pose that’s how the got their name), the town that is Grand Marais, the lake that is Superior . . .

Naniboujou is between Grand Marais and Grand Portage – it’s famous for its neat ceiling (it’s not often one can work “it’s” and “its” into the same phrase) . . .

And closed out Day 1 at Grand Portage, a Donovan McNabb Hail Mary from Canada . . .

The sky over the Grand Portage casino while we were checking in for the night – I think it meant we should have fish sticks for breakfast . . .

Unless I come down with a debilitating case of the croup, Day 2 of the North Shore will magically appear in the next addition of this missive.