Northern Minnesota

A quick trip to northern Minnesota up the North Shore and inland a ways to Jenny and Andrew's cabin at Gust Lake.

A typical northern Minnesota vista

Gust Lake at the cabin

The season up north is about a month behind the Twin Cities so in Duluth and the other towns along Highway 61, the lilacs are still blooming.

I have been up here in June before. The wildflowers and lupines are amazing. (I found out after returning to the Twin Cities that these lupines are not native to Minnesota and are considered an invasive species!) 

(non-native) lupines

(native) wild flowers

With all the rain up here, the rivers and lakes are full. But also the biting bugs are off the charts. Mosquitos and, what I've been told, sand flies are insane. Normally during the sunny part of the day, the bugs are not too bad. That is not the case this year. No matter when you were outside, the attacks were relentless.

Even with the bugs, it is just so beautiful. There are amazing views of lakes, rivers, trees and the sky with puffy or menacing clouds.

Raced to the end of the dock to catch this sunset before getting eaten by the mosquitoes

There was a fantastic storm Wednesday night

There were some interruptions of the relaxation with Jenny's work but we didn't let it interfere with our taking in all the outdoor beauty, piling firewood for the winter, and grilling.

Meanwhile, back at the cabin, Maggie enjoyed the catwalk for running and napping!

Maggie napping in the bottom bunk

Racing across the catwalk

We made it to Grand Marais a couple of times and had great weather while there on the shores of Lake Superior. While deciding between Java Moose coffee and The World's Greatest Donut shop, a seagull opened its bomb-bay doors and let go of a huge dump on my car! I was just so glad we were not outside the car at that moment.

Just a small portion of the seagull bomb drop

We were happy to be along the shore and not under the seagulls

Maggie and I drove back Thursday and had time to stop in Beaver Bay for a short bike ride. I need to figure out a way for Maggie to come along on the bike excursions.

Beaver Bay - top of the bike path taconite plant

Beaver River

Annual BWCA Trip - part 1

This past week was what has become a near annual camping trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) Wilderness.

The usual foursome of Jenny, Julie, Brian and me drove up north on Tuesday. We spent the night in Jenny and Andrew's cabin on Gust Lake off the Grade (road). We paddled in on Sawbill Lake from Sawbill Outfitters.

There is a very long and, looking back, funny story on how we ended up where we did but I'll make the text of this post short and post the photos that I took. There will hopefully be more photos when the others get theirs off their cameras and phones.

Paddling in on Sawbll

Around the campfire grate

Fire grate and some of our cooking gear

A Jack Pine pinecone. The Nut Hatches really like these.

Dramatic sky while paddling. We did have storms during this trip.

A double water lily. We saw lots of these on our river paddle.

We love to swim in the lakes. We always where our life jackets.

A dramatic sunset. The reflection off the lake is always a winner.

One of our campsite sitting rocks.

We all happened to wear our Gust Lake t-shirts!

Little video of recent cabin trip

Had another enjoyable trip up north at Jenny and Andrew's cabin. I put together this little video of the trip.

Drove up Sunday in a driving rain. I kept thinking I would get ahead of the storm but never really did. But when I arrived at the cabin on Gust Lake, the rain finally stopped.

I had developed a cold so spent most of Monday lying in the couch falling in and out of naps. Andrew left on Monday so it was Jenny and me and all the cabin neighbors.

Tuesday we went for a bike ride and explored Little Cascade Lake. 

I finally got to go up to the cabin on the hill on Tuesday, July 3. There is a fantastic view from up there. Tuesday night the neighbors put on a fireworks show. There were some big fireworks.

Wednesday, July 4, the weather cleared enough to go canoeing. It was fantastic.

Aurora northern Minnesota November 15

Jenny took these amazing photographs of the northern lights at her and Andrew's cabin in northern Minnesota. Mt reaction was "WOW!" And yes, that is the big dipper in the second photo.

North cabin photos (one)

Only one photo uploaded because the connection at the hotel is not that good and I can't edit the pictures to be smaller.

This is Jenny and Andrew's cabin as seen from the lake. The lake is called Gust Lake.