Things North Shore

Well, Brent and I went up to the North Shore on 9 Sept. and I returned on 16 Sept. with Katherine. Brent and I had beautiful weather and a great time. Coming down the hill into Duluth on 35 is one of the best, most loveliest views in all the world. Seeing Lake Superior, I knew I had started my vacation. We stopped at Fitger's on the way up (we always stop on the way back as well), and had beers with lunch. The place we stay at is in Hovland. We stayed at Nordlof at the Sanger's cabin 4, Brent cabin 1. Our cabin was at the far end of the property on the lake with its own walk way to the lake front. It was an actual log cabin that had been retrofitted with electrical and plumbing. It had the kitchen table turned to the lake. Just a charming little cabin to stay in.

Brent and I walked during the day. He showed me around alot of the places he loves which was really cool as i am now getting to know the North Shore and Cook County even more. At night, we ate and drank. We drank lots of Fitger's beer and Macallan scotch 12 yrs. So there was lots of lively conversations. I grilled chicken and corn one night and made a chicken stir fry another night.

The sweethearts came up on Friday and we went for a walk to Magnetic Rock. Magnetic Rock is a glacial erratic (it was put there by the glacier) made up of magnitite. It stands in the middle of a pretty significant area. The area was part of the big blow down in 4 July 1999 when straight line winds toppled tens of thousands of trees. it is also the sight of two recent fires the Hamm lake fire from 2007 being the most recent. What was most interesting next to this very cool rock was that with the blow down and the fires you could see the landscape all around. Nature was coming back quickly but you could look for quite far. Great vistas! The sun was setting when we finished and we headed to the Trail Center for dinner. The Trail Center is on the Gunflint Trail about 29 miles from Grand Marais. It has great food and was voted by Esquire Magazine as one of the top ten restaurants in the country, spring 2008.

Saturday, we walked up to Lake Agnes. This was a very steep climb but again lovely vistas, and beautiful forest and lakes. We ate Karen's Green Glop/Green Goddess and it was really good. Mung beans, brown rice, vegetables, ginger, turmeric, cardamon, onions, and garlic. For dessert we had blueberry pie from the Satilite Inn. Delicious! Sunday brunch was at the Naniboujou Lodge. We arose early and what a feast. They have without doubt the best salmon. It is grilled on cedar planks and it is so bloody good. I went back and had 3 pieces. After we went to see the high falls on the Pidgeon River. I hadn't been there in 40+ years. K and I had bought a book on lichens of MN. We were looking all around at the various all around us.

Monday, our last day and we went up old Hiway 61 to the old border crossing. K and I used the book to identify more and more lichens. It was amazing to see what we could identify and what was there with lichens on lichens. We hiked part of the Grand Portage from Hiway 61 to the Beaver Dam 2.7 miles in. This was pretty nice being a fairly gentle walk and a very lovely day.

We drove back on Tuesday stopping at KKD pottery to view her very cool outhouse and check out her pottery. I bought a small bowl for flowers. It is a blue glazed raku firing. I think it if very nice.