Little Adventures

 

Alfred still wearing long johns at the beach. Pixies don’t like cold water.

Summer is my new favorite season.  When I was a child I never really cared for summer.  It was too hot, too bright, and too buggy for me.  Spring was my favorite season:  a season where the bugs haven’t hatched but flowers and birds burst with color and song; a season of moderate temperatures, neither too hot nor too cold.  Back then summer’s only redeeming quality was a break from school.    But now that I am older and living by the big lake summer is my favorite season of all,  partly, perhaps, because there is no true spring as I knew it.

A little 9 hour round trip excursion to the Canadian border a short while back made it possible to view such “springtime” delights as bird’s-eye primrose, violet butterwort, and northern bluebells.  We also enjoyed watching a beaver dine on wild flag iris leaves and alder branches at a pond on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation.  Further up we got a breath taking view of the Susie Islands from the Minnesota Mount Josephine Wayside-Rest.  And of course no border trip would be complete without a hike to Rainbow Falls.  Apparently the falls is called Pigeon River Falls, but I have always referred to it as Rainbow Falls… maybe because of the beautiful rainbows it produces.  The change in topography and geology as you travel from the south shore to the north western side of Lake Superior is amazing.  It almost feels like you are traveling to a different country.  Our side of Lake Superior or the South Shore is lower and sandy.  As you drive from Duluth north up highway 61 it feels as though you are ascending higher and higher.   From Duluth onward soft rounded basalt frequently flanks the lake rather than sand.  It reminds me of the estuary wetlands in Maine.  I understand that the basalt is the remains of lava flow but it is really hard to comprehend volcanic activity and Lake Superior at once.  Further north the dense stone becomes less rounded and more compartmentalized.  Sharp angled crumbly cliffs tower above Lake Superior on the Canadian border.  Yet, inland distinct rounded forested mounds make up the landscape.  Geology baffles me.  It is hard to wrap your mind around events of epochs.  I am on ongoing quest to understand it better.  Unfortunately, I left my camera on the kitchen table and was unable to photograph this day trip (which is why my description is rich with links).

Another daytrip, a picnic at the mouth of the Brule River, presented a sadder image of Lake Superior.  A flock of seagulls swarmed the river feeding on fingerlings that hovered near the surface.  As I watched, I happened to glance down and saw a snake fish swimming out of the channel and into the lake.  Now, I know of the sea lamprey’s existence, but I didn’t know that they could be found in the waters of Lake Superior.  Unfortunately a warden for the Brule River State Forest informed us that they did indeed exist.  Ironically, we happened to  be picnicking on the very day that the US Fish and Wildlife were treating the river with lampricide.  The fingerlings were surfacing momentarily stunned by the chemicals.  While it was comforting to witness firsthand efforts to control the lamprey population (once we realized what they were my boys took fiendish delight collecting tiny dead lampreys and piling them on the beach), it still saddens me that they are present in the most pristine of the Great Lakes.

Closer to home other adventures included a stop at the new Blue Wave on the Bay café for coffee and ice cream treats for the boys.  The staff really made us feel welcomed (important for a mother of two curious boys).  We explored upstairs and downstairs.  The design is shear genius!  I watched as they broke ground and began building.  I shook my head and giggled when someone told me that a café, hotel, conference center, and store would all be housed on the tiny cement footprint.  Yet, they did it and in such an amazingly unique way that any visitor to the area would look back on a stop to this destination as a stand out memory.  The onsite store is Solstice Outdoors which rents and sells kayaks, stand-up paddle boards (the boards are so long that they extend up to the second floor), and bikes.  They are also well stocked with camping supplies.  We bought a camp waffle iron for the thrill of using the check-out counter comprised of driftwood and rocks.

An unexpected adventure popped up Monday night when northern lights filled the sky.  We headed out of town at 11pm and watched them over an open field.  The night was alive with magic as fireflies were out as well.  And because everything looks better by the water, we stopped by the lake to view them.  The aurora were bright enough for the water to reflect them.

During rainy days I kept occupied making ships and a kayak for Maileg friends.  All of the boats started as origami boats.  I built up the hulls with paper Mache to create the sailboats.  Appropriate for a pixy, the kayak paddle is made of a twig and two red maple samaras.

Visits to the beach also dot our days.  The water is not as warm as I would like.  But, the ice is out and my knuckles don’t cramp when I swim so it is warm enough.  The only time throughout all of these adventures that I had my camera was once at the beach.  My youngest was kind enough to allow me to photograph his Maileg friend, Alfred.  Shortly after photographing him, Alfred fell in the drink.  Good thing he was wearing those long johns.

Alfred sunbathing on a driftwood float.