Minnesota Replaces Iceland!!

My friend, Marie King, from Minneapolis and I had planned to go to Iceland in July but because of the volcanic excitement there, we decided to go to another cold place instead---northern Minnesota! After a day in Minneapolis, doing "city" things (a marvelous exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls and a great tiki bar named Psycho Suzie's were two things) we set forth for the northland.

A partial list of interesting features of "Up North" turned out to be:

• a three-way area of continental divide where the water splits and runs to the Atlantic,
  the Pacific and Hudson's Bay
• lots of bedrock! There are areas that look like the backs of whales. Rocks include pink and grey granite, biotite schist, greenstone
• the International Wolf Center at Ely--where we saw the wolves have their weekly meal
• fresh wall-eye on every menu---even for breakfast!
• an iron mine tour: down 1/2 mile at 10 miles an hour and in 3/4 of a mile by train
• a huge open pit iron mine, complete with giant trucks that carry 240 tons!
• short visit to the National Hockey Museum
• Cornish pasties for lunch (originally brought from Cornwall by the miners)
• a walk across the Rainy River to Ft. Francis, Canada
• a tour of a Boise paper mill that makes 20 ton rolls of paper---did you know paper is coated with liquid cornstarch to make it smooth?
• a visit to the headwaters of the Mississippi River where I could walk across it
• a visit to Voyagers National Park where we enjoyed a canoe trip (yes---we paddled!)

We also saw the only gas station Frank Lloyd Wright ever designed:

Viewing the wolf pack was most interesting; our reaction to them was that they are huge and quite beautiful. Here is the white male alpha wolf watching his pack...
Another view of Shadow (the alpha male) observing one of the younger males...

That evening we watched the wolves be fed their weekly meal of road kill. They were each given a beaver (skinned and turned in by trappers); here is Shadow starting his dinner!

This wolf is getting ready to "sleep it off"---they are quite sluggish for several days after eating.

Now, on to the open pit iron mine. Here is one of the huge trucks hauling iron ore to the taconite plant where the ore is formed into small pellets, which are shipped across the Great Lakes to the iron mills of the east. Each truck has six tires that cost about $30,000 EACH!

(Well, shoot, the next picture is my usual sideways one---) Here is Marie standing beside

one of the huge trucks..

Here she is inside the bucket---28 cubic yard capacity!

And. finally, find me dancing down the stairway near the cab of this truck!
Of course no visit to Minnesota would be complete without seeing Paul Bunyan and Babe...can you find Marie and me?
Here we are at the famous headwaters of the Mississippi at Itasca State Park...
Crossing the headwaters where they run out of Lake Itasca and start down the river...

We enjoyed our week in northern Minnesota where we found friendly people, no crowds, and interesting things to do.

PS---almost no mosquitos!

Final Word on the Pennsylvania Roadtrip

June 28th: As always, much time has passed between my posts. I admire the young women with children who seem to post often...

Arriving in Pennsylvania, it was wonderful to spend time with my granddaughter, Audrey (as well as her parents!). She, of course, does not sit sideways in her little rocker, but instead has a grandmother who consistently has at least one photo in most blog posts that lands on its side. My apologies to you, Audrey Grace!

One of the joys was seeing how Audrey loved the giant bear that rode to PA with Karen and me. It was a long-ago Christmas gift to Suzie from Travis. Audrey loved "sitting in its lap" to look at books and simply pouncing on the bear just for fun. A Mother's Day and birthday gift to Suz and me was a lovely tea at the Front Porch Tearoom near York from Travis and Maggie. We enjoyed scones, two kinds of tea, salad, soup, and

delicious desserts, all in Victorian ambiance. We enjoyed acting like ladies---thanks, Travis and Maggie!

Another day, when Karen had returned from visiting her mom and a friend, we trooped off to Intercourse, PA, a charming little Amish village (yep, that's right!) where we finally got to tour

the Museum of Edged Weaponry, which we've been eyeing ever since James and Suz moved to

PA. We always try to tour one unusual museum (we've logged the National Dental Museum,

the Watch Museum, the International Weight Lifting Museum and now this masterpiece!).

It was very interesting, having every sort of knife, sword, dagger, and bayonet you could imagine! Here we are with Suz's friend Jen who consented to go with us---

Finally it was time to turn the red car west to return to Colorado. We visited friends of Karen's in Ohio and then began the long, long, long road through the trees: I-70 across Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri! A picnic lunch at a nice rest stop in Illinois broke the monotony and what should we discover in the rest room but an innovative item: an all-in-one hand washing device. One simply held your hands in the opening (the dark area) and they were sprayed with liquid soap, followed by a soothing warm water rinse and then a blast of hot air! Slick! It is amazing what one can see and learn on an American road trip!!
Driving through St. Louis was exciting for me because I had never seen the arch. The morning was clear, the traffic was light, and I was able to take great photos on the move...
The river boats were picturesque at the base of the arch...
Finally, nearing Colorado, after an overnight in Kansas City with my family, we enjoyed a stop to see the Cathedral of the Plains, a Catholic Church in western Kansas, which presides over the vast plains. It was built in 1909 and is stately and elegant and a surprise to find amidst the huge wheat fields.
If you have never taken a road trip with a good friend, I highly recommend it. Karen and I visited, laughed, said "oops" when we took a wrong turn and usually found something interesting while correcting, stopped when something looked interesting, met friendly people, ate new foods, and, in general, enjoyed every one of the 5300 miles we traveled.

I look forward to the next road trip---any volunteers?

Road News from Penny and Karen

May 10, 2010 Ashville, North Carolina

Leaving the prairies of eastern Colorado and Kansas, Karen and I arrived in the Ozarks of Arkansas. What a different world! We stopped at a roadside flea market, inspected armadillo roadkill at close range,and laughed at the way the roadsigns simply didn't match the map (once we were going south and all the roadsigns labeled the highway as "56 North!)"

The scenery in the Ozarks is spectacular with lots of water, hills (mountains?), and lush greenery. This view, from the deck of a great antique shop, was especially lovely.

We found this lovely little house in Eureka Springs---only $240,000! We thought perhaps we should buy it! It is utterly charming---part of it is on stilts because most of Eureka Springs
is built on mountain-sides. It comes completely furnished...

Next we enjoyed a walk-through of a huge, old, Victorian hotel called the Crescent, on the cliff above the town. What a gorgeous place! We couldn't stay there because there was some sort of national dog show in town as well as an evening event at the hotel. :^( View of the Crescent Hotel from the parking lot....
View of the Crescent Hotel from across the valley--thanks zoom lense!

Then, on across the rest of Arkansas and northern Tennessee toward the Great Smokey Mountains. We carefully circum-navigated Nashville to avoid the flooding. As we crossed the mighty Mississippi we noted that the floodplains on either side were full of water. Then it was on to the Tennessee River valley which was also flooded, with water right up to the shoulder of the road. What a massive amount of water we saw!

We arrived in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park on a perfectly clear day so we could really see the mountains. We drove around part of the edge of the park and then completely through, whichy was utterly beautiful. This is a view from the high point of the highway:

Next was a lovely winding river valley with waterfalls...
Crossing over the Tennessee line into North Carolina made us feel FAR from home!
Then came the downhill drive to Ashville, NC, complete with wildlife.
The big thrill in Ashville, NC is the Biltmore Estate, built by the Vanderbilts. We spent today touring the house and gardens. The house has 250 rooms and the estate is 8000 acres. What a cozy little home in the hills!!

Karen in front of the house and front "lawn." I would recommend this tour to you. The gardens were spectacular, the house interesting and astonishing for something that was built as a private residence, and the staff of 1800 charming and helpful.
We had lunch in the former stables---here we are sitting in one of the original stalls. Note the hay manger in the back (bars) and the flower pots were in the grain bin. Great place.

Last of all, lovely orchids in the gardens. (The ones we saw were standing upright, not recumbent like these...)

We can also recommend travel with not much of a plan or schedule! Tune in again soon. Tomorrow we head north along the Blue Ridge Parkway toward Suzie's in Pennsylvania---later!

Leaving Colorado---Why Are We?

My friend, Karen Timbrell, and I were planning a road-trip to Pennsylvania to visit her mother and Suzie's family. "Why?", a friend asked. "You live in one of the most beautiful places in the country."

As I drove to Poncha Springs, Colorado, to pick up Karen I pondered the question. As I looked at the scenery on the beautiful May morning, I thought perhaps the friend had a point!

First, there was the view of the San Juan Mountains from the north....

The there was the view of new calves, green grass, and Mt. Sneffels in the background...
Next came the Blue Mesa Lake near the Black Canyon of the Gunnison....
Followed by the view of the mountains going up Monarch Pass...

And, finally, the view from the top of Monarch Pass.
My red car, Scarlet, and I drove merrily down the pass, having decided a long road trip
would be good for both of us. Colorado is gorgeous, and I am ever-so-glad to live in the western part of the state, but I have long wanted to drive across the USA, just to "have a look" as my friend Marie says.

So---off to PA, via Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. Tune in now and then---see you on the road!

Seaplane to the San Juan Islands, Washington

Last week I enjoyed a jaunt to the San Juan Islands, northwest of Seattle, to visit my sister-in-law, Corinne Davis. This was the first time I have flown all the way to the islands, having previously always taken a ferry the last leg of the journey. This time I took a seaplane from Seattle, having always wanted to experience landing in the ocean on pontoons. Corinne captured this picture of me at West Sound on Orcas Island, waiting for the plane. The water in the sound was smooth as glass, making our take-off feel like sliding on wet glass!

Now, to explain how it all worked. Below you see the plane docked on Lake Union, right in the heart of Seattle (about a block from the Space Needle). It was time to load and lucky me! I was assigned the co-pilot's seat! Taking off, right over the Space Needle and out into Puget Sound---what a trip!

Here is Smith Island, which is all by itself in the Sound. It looks deserted...old buildings indicate someone used to live there. It has some radio towers on it...

Now a view of one of the islands from a ferry---so very beautiful.

The seagulls and ferry windows will always remind me of going to this wonderful part of the world..

A view of a Washington State ferry as we were approaching Friday Harbor one day.

Approaching the Friday Harbor dock. Travis and Suzie: note the "rubber buggy baby bumpers" are gone. They have been replaced with flat mats of rubber bolted to the docks to absorb the shock of the ferries hitting them...they are noticeable in the next picture.

Corinne and Penny posed just before getting off the ferry---the rubber mats are just

behind us.

Later in the week we went off-island (to the mainland) for a little fling with some of Corinne's island friends. We had a fine time shopping...

and eating sumptuous food. Washington has great food...and wine...
We stayed with another of Corinne's friends, Rosie, on the mainland, who has a lovely house right on the water. Among the amenities of Rosie's house are toilets with a built-in bidet feature. They wash and dry and have warm seats---I'm thinking they'd be perfect for winters in Silverton! Here is the armrest control panel...one could love a toilet like this!
Outside my bedroom was a deck with this lovely view of the water!
Time to leave, regretfully. Here is the seaplane dropping by to pick me up...
Thanks, Corinne, for a wonderful visit! I shall come again!!!