We took Thursday and Friday off of work to have a nice long weekend camping along Lake Superior, about four hours north of here. I was kind of apprehensive because it just got warm and summer-like, and the highs were projected to be in the 50s - maybe the low 60s. I just spent a whole fall, winter, and spring being layered up and wanted to wear shorts, by golly.
Well! The universe was on my side. After driving to the state park, and pulling in, we found out that there was a mixup (on our end, not theirs, don't blame the DNR). So, we didn't have a beautiful site on a cliff overlooking the dramatic ocean-like lake after all.
My smarty mapper husband reviewed the maps in his head and declared that we should try Sawbill Lake - a lake just about 30 minutes away on a gravel road. The lake is an entry point to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. We had the foresight to call ahead, they had some sites, and so off we went.
It was inland, so it was warmer. It was inland, so it was less windy. It was inland, so it was considerably more buggy, but the mosquitoes took some breaks here and then, especially on Friday, which was a beautiful, beautiful day. The campground, operated by Sawbill Outfitters, is the only thing on the lake.
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| While many of the other campers were roughing it as they headed into the BWCAW, we tested out this hand-cranked blender that Dan got for Xmas and had smoothies for breakfast. We used to be hardcore backpackers. Now we have a blender. |
So, instead of riding my bike, which was faithfully perched on top of the car, I rented a canoe and got blown all around the beautiful lake, and tried to avoid crashing into rocks and wrecking the lightweight canoe (although I confess it didn't feel all that lightweight when I had to tip it over onto my shoulders and walk to and from the lake with it over my head all by myself).
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| Sawbill Lake |
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| I had to pull over to the shore in search of more rocks to use as ballast to keep the canoe from spinning. The wind came from every direction, it seemed. |
It was a great nature-filled weekend, and I'm really glad about the change of plans.
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| Piper and I found a rock where we could read a book (Maggie) and chew on a bone (Piper). |
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| "Why are we sitting on a rock?" |
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| Her Farrah Fawcett ear-do. |
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| A triangle-shaped rock cleaved perfectly from this bigger rock. |
We were planning on driving home on Sunday morning, but decided that we should leave Saturday instead to allow me time to get to my good friend's son's graduation party on time on Sunday. That was a good plan, until we inadvertently got stuck behind the marathon near Duluth. But, Dan was driving and I was doing a crossword puzzle, so I didn't care so much.
This was a good plan, which allowed me to ride to and from the party at Canterbury Park, stopping to eat ripe blackberries by the Minnesota River on the way. I tested out a new way home from that area, which would have freaked out a lot of people I know, given the traffic, but the cars were blissfully in Father's Day high spirits and didn't kill me.
If you're on Facebook, you know I've been in search of this bike seat. I found a few in the U.S. while searching online on our way to the woods, ordered one, and voila! here it is at my house today! I can't wait to put it on my new bike, to make it more TRAM-worthy.
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