Sunrise on Lake Superior

Carolie and I (and the boys) have lived in the Midwest for over 15 years now and when you get down to it, it's odd how little we've ventured outside the Twin Cities. Most of our vacation time found us back East.

There was one time we stayed at some friends' summer farm in Caledonia, down in Minnesta's Bluff Country. It was a fascinating area; not flat at all and we remarked at the canyons and many streams. Those same canyons and streams turned against people last week when flash floods caused plenty of misery and killed 6 people.

And many years ago we spent a few days in March in Grand Marais, of the north shore of Lake Superior for some cross-country skiing. It turned out, though we picked a warm spell and there was almost no snow.

This weekend, my airplane-building friend, Warren Starkebaum, and his wife, Karen, have graciously invited us to stay at one of their cottages in Bayfield, on the southern shore of the western end of Lake Superior, at the gateay to the Apostle Islands.

That's the view looking out the boathouse, our home for the weekend. According to Warren, it used to be a boat. But he claims the only time it saw water was down near Stillwater, and it sank on its maiden voyage.

As usual, I'm up early. Karen says she's seen a bear at times around here -- no suprise to me and quite enough to keep me inside for a bit.

Here's a picture Warren took from his plane (here's some pictures of his plane in this slideshow) shortly before Oshkosh.



The restaurant we ate at last night is down by the marina there. Fabulous food.



I don't believe the boathouse is visible in this picture (it'd be over on the left). It's a lot more wooded than I think the picture here suggests. Very lovely, even with the bear.

This is actually a trip I've always wanted to take by air, at least since reading about it in an aviation magazine some years ago. You land on Madeline Island (airport), the article suggested, bum a ride to the ferry, and cross over to Bayfield for a day of shopping and sightseeing.

So I think that's what I'll do today, minus the airport, hitchiking and ferry.