When we started full-timing three and half years ago, we both agreed that we would continue going to church--no matter where we were traveling. We find a local church every Sunday, and it has truly been a blessing to us to worship with Christians all over the country. We don't usually comment on the blog about the church service, or take pictures. But we just had to share the beautiful carvings at the tiny Methodist Church near the tiny town of Kabetogama.
One of their past members was a carver-extraordinaire, and he made the lectern in the picture above, as well as the beautiful altar and candelabra pictured below.
Herman Melheim lived right down the road from the church, and his work is featured in museums around the state. But we found them right at church! The congregation was especially proud of the baptimal font, made of a single log.
It was a beautiful weather day, so shortly after we got home from church we headed out on the waters of Lake Kabetogama. We launched the kayak a mile or so from home at Wooden Frog Campground, because that put a chain of islands right in front of us.
We knew it was going to be a great day when we looked up to see this bald eagle watching over us from his perch on a big white pine tree.
Next, a mother duck and her line of ducklings swam right in front of our kayak. The little ones still had their baby fuzz, and they were intent on keeping up with mom.
We have to include another picture of those baby ducks before we head on down the lake.
We picked this route because it was dotted with islands all the way across the lake. Even though we would end up rowing over ten miles today, we always had an island destination close enough to keep us entertained. Occasionally we would stop to stretch our legs on one of those islands.
Sometimes those islands offered special treats, like a whole thicket of wild raspberry bushes.
These berries are bigger than some we have harvested, and if you don't mind all the seeds, they make a nice snack.
As we passed close to another island, we saw movement among the rocks. That's when we saw this critter watching us.
We think this is a mink. He seemed to enjoy watching us, as much as we wanted to see him. We saw another in the water, but he was harder to photograph.
Sorry for all the photographs, but it was fun to take pictures as he kept popping up in different rock openings. Think of it like "Whack-a-mole" with a camera. We also saw two different otters, but they didn't stay above water long enough to get a picture.
Some of these islands aren't very big, but we saw deer more than once today. A doe and her two fawns were on the beach, and our silent kayak got quite close.
This fawn didn't seem to mind us watching, as he walked slowly into the brush.
We stopped for a picnic on one of the islands. Not a bad view for lunch, huh?
Our destination today was the far north side of our lake. We were glad to have the GPS to help find the entry into the Gold River channel.
Instead of being in the open water of a huge lake, now we're in a protected channel with rock walls.
Such a beautifully serene scene with mirror-like water couldn't possibly be dangerous.
But the sign on the left was an indicator of things to come. We had been warned by the ranger not to fall for the calm water, as this is the place where boaters are required to leave the water and portage their boat if they want to continue down the river.
We would rather ride in a boat than carry it, so we turned around and headed back out of Gold River.
As we headed back towards home, we were blessed with other animal sightings. This loon was out for a Sunday afternoon paddle around the lake--just like us.
We are falling in love with the call of the loons. We sometimes hear them in the evening as they call to their friends across the lake. We have only seen lone loons, but we are still watching for a mother and her babies. We've heard that the mother carries them on her back when they are young.
Voyageurs National Park has over 500 islands, so we took a different route home to explore more of them. A few days ago we found a bumper crop of blueberries on the very first island we checked out. Since then, we have found very few blueberries. Today we struck out completely!
Even though they don't satisfy Denisa's appetite for fruit, we are finding other interesting things around these islands. It's fun to find a big eagle nest . . .
. . . and we usually find an eagle perched close by.
Our best eagle find of the day was a pair of bald eagles and their baby perched in the same tree. But our camera had quite a workout today, and the batteries were completely dead by that time. In fact, they ran down as we watched a beaver making his way from land to water on another island. The only picture we got was of the beaver trying to ignore us from his spot in the grass.
It was getting late by the time we made our return trip back to the dock. But we felt like we had been doubly blessed today. We had worshiped God and his creation both indoors and outdoors as we wandered through his wonders here at Lake Kabetogama.
We are going to be at our campsite at Voyageurs National Park for a week, so we have the time to see all that the park has to offer. We've been to two of the visitor centers, so today we're exploring the area around the third one at Rainy Lake--very close to the Canadian border. We have heard that over 60 moose make their home inside the park, and we're hoping to see one. But we might have to settle for this stuffed guy inside the Rainy Lake visitor center. Standing next to one, you realize how big they are!
We took the ranger-led tour of the gardens outside, and found that it included a nursery for monarch butterflies.
The monarch caterpillars have voracious appetites, eating up as many milkweed leaves as possible. This is their favorite meal, and it just so happens that it make them taste bad to their predators.
The ranger was trying to educate us on the different trees and flowers, and the medicinal and practical uses each had for the Ojibwe Indians that lived in this area. But Denisa was taking pictures of things like butterflies and flowers. Obviously a few of those caterpillars made it into the pretty monarch butterflies that are hanging out in the garden too.
Denisa is a sucker for a pretty flower, and these must be particularly tasty to the resident bees.
The bees were so enjoying the pollen from these sweet blossoms, that they didn't mind a tourist with a camera zooming in on their buzz-iness. (Denisa apologizes for the pun, but remember she lives with a punny guy like Mark.)
Just to show that we did listen and learn on our tour, we took a picture of the unusual tepee in the Indian village portion of the garden. This tribe not only used the birchwood for canoes, but they also found it made a fine home as well.
Another ranger had told us about the non-native cattails that are taking over many inlets on the big northern lakes in Voyageurs National Park. These cattails are such aggressive growers that they smother the native plants that should be thriving here. So the national park has brought in very specialized equipment to get rid of this aggressive species. This is the "Swamp Devil." With giant propeller blades at the helm, it is tearing the bad cattails into tiny chunks.
Then the aquatic harvester vacuums up the cattail chunks and hauls it away. It sure is a big job to get rid of something that should never have been introduced to this area in the first place.
We are 30 miles away from our motor home, but still inside Voyageurs National Park. This is a big park! Just outside the visitor center, we looked over Rainy Lake and decided it was just too cool to do any kayaking today. Isn't that crazy that it's too cold in July to want to get in the water? We were wishing we had worn jeans, as it was a little nippy in shorts today. It's hard to reprogram ourselves that July does not mean wearing shorts every day.
Since we weren't kayaking, we drove into the town of International Falls to look around. We just had to stop for a picture at Smoky Bear Park. You might notice that Smoky has on his personal flotation device since we are surrounded by water. We hear he dawns a Santa suit in December.
Just as you might suspect, International Falls includes a crossing point into Canada. We decided not to take the time to go through customs to cross the border, especially since we could still get a glimpse of it from where we were standing in the United States. We were looking over the river at the white tent that was in Canada. We watched as the bass boats were hurrying in to meet the 4 p.m. deadline for the Canadian Bass Championship competition. The boaters we talked to reported that the fishing was really good!
We could also see Canada as we sat on the dock eating ice cream in the little fishing village of Rainier.
We were disappointed not to see moose, but we spotted two vicious bears on that same dock right next to the ice cream parlor.
Denisa was sad to miss the Minnesota welcome sign when we entered this state on its southern border. So she insisted on a picture at this northern border entry point. After living here for several weeks, we finally feel properly welcomed! After writing about the voracious bugs we encountered at Itasca State Park, we should note that we really haven't been bothered with bugs as much as we thought we would here in Minnesota. For example, we're enjoying today outside with no insect spray. Nice!
We found that the main industries of this town have to do with all things lumber. We saw long piles of logs stacked high along the highway, ready for the saw mill. We could also smell the paper mill that was using the piles of saw dust to make packaging materials.
We had a good day checking out another town in our neighborhood and getting a glimpse of Canada. The real reason we made the trip was to do some grocery shopping. This is our closest grocery store option, and we were out of milk and (gasp!) ice cream. We can do without some things while we are living in remote areas, but obviously ice cream is not one of them!
After three and half years of being on vacation, it's hard to remember those last days of a trip when we used to dread going back to work. As we are visited by friends that are still working, it reminds us that we are so lucky to be on this permanent trip of a lifetime. But today is Connie and Steven's last day of vacation before they have to make the long drive back to Oklahoma.
Even though it rained on the drive to the Ash River dock, it was perfectly still and clear when we got on the water. We have been blessed by another perfect day for a kayak trip!
As soon as we got on the water, we had a great look at a loon in the water not far away.
Then we suddenly heard and saw a bigger bird crashing into a tree nearby. It was a very young eagle on one of his first flights. He obviously hadn't completely planned his exit strategy from this flight. His only option was this small tree with too many branches to take off again. It was easy for us to find this young eaglet, because he continued to squawk with displeasure at his plight.
Then we watched as a majestic profile made its way down the river. Just as quickly as the little eaglet crashed and began squawking, it silenced.
It was harder to keep track of him now, but he was working hard to find a stronger branch and get himself oriented for a flight out of this mess he had gotten himself into. We felt as if we were watching an adolescent growing up before our eyes.
But we have places to row on this last day of vacation, so we headed our paddles down the Ash River for the two-mile trip to the falls.
Because the water was coming down the falls towards us, there was no danger of going over the falls. We could row as close to the waterfall as the current would allow.
All that water moving over several levels of the falls resulted in a big frothy tub of bubbles at the bottom. Our guests seemed to enjoy playing in those bubbles.
This picturesque place brought out the cameras. Mark made an exit from the kayak to climb onto a rock in front of the falls for this Huck Finn pose.
It's not surprising that Mark would want to climb up those falls, and today he has a partner in crime. Steven exited his kayak as well so they could look for a way to climb up the slippery falls.
They made it to the top of the waterfall as Denisa took their picture. They just happened to be wearing matching shirts today. To take that picture, Denisa is paddling the kayak from her front row seat, trying to get the best angle.
As we headed back to our put-in site, we were supposed to be paddling with the current on the return trip. But the river is like a mirror this morning, so there is no current.
Because Denisa loves the little things as much as the big waterfalls, we include some little pictures of our return trip. Denisa can't help but take pictures of dainty butterflies enjoying even daintier flowers.
We ate wild rice soup at the lodge yesterday, and we know that it grows along slow-moving rivers in this area. It looks like it's a little early for harvest, but we found the plant growing here along the Ash River.
As many as we've seen in our new neighborhood, we still get a thrill when we spot a bald eagle nearby.
It looks like the pines are decked out for Christmas, with sappy pine cones that look like they're dripping icicles. If you look close, you can even see a spider web decorating this tree.
It was a great float on the river, and we think Connie and Steven are glad they bought their boat. We put it to good use. Now it's time to use those hiking shoes, as we headed up the Sullivan Bay Trail.
The end of the trail is the view over--you guessed it--Sullivan Bay.
That view is our background for another picnic lunch with a view.
We've watched these big pines glide by as we boated on the water, but they feel even bigger when we stand beneath them. Connie and Denisa feel pretty small under this great white pine.
Denisa is walking with her hiking stick, and trying not to slow the group down on this hike. She would be a lot faster if she would stop picking blueberries along the trail.
Our next hike of the day is straight up the Kabetogama Lake Overlook Trail. When we say up, we mean that there was some good elevation gain. But it took us to a nice viewpoint high above the Lake.
Denisa is caught again, this time picking raspberries along the trail. Between her ankle and her appetite for fruit, she is certainly a slow hiker these days.
The last hike of their trip was to the beaver pond. We were a little disappointed that we didn't see any beavers at work below. Just as the morning started with rain sprinkles, it started again as we made our way back down the path to our car.
And just like that, Connie and Steven's vacation was over! Suddenly, all they had to look forward to was that 19-hour drive home to return to work. Man, we're glad that we don't have to do that! So instead, we'll end with a picture we took the night before--watching the sunset from our dock on a perfectly still Lake Kabetogama. Denisa and Connie went to school together from the time they were second graders until they graduated from college with the same major. We've gone on lots of vacations together over the years, and we hope to do this many more times, as they meet us to wander more wonders!
