Yowza! It seems like a long time since I’ve written.

Greetings People of Thought and Laughter!  Inhabitants of Mother Earth!   My Fellow Americans!

Well, maybe that last one was a bit much.  This is not, nor will ever be a political blog.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t recommend a seriously good book.

Entitled  River of Doubt, it’s about a trip down an uncharted tributary of the Amazon by  Teddy Roosevelt after he famously lost a third term try for the presidency to Woodrow Wilson. From page one  I was swept up by the book which  artfully weaves history and adventure together.  You get to know the people involved in this drama as real people, warts and all.  I can hardly wait to get to bed to read the next part.

And you know, if I took it camping, it’s a good book.

Why?

Why, you ask??

Because by the time I get dressed for bed, brush my teeth, make one more potty stop, pack today’s clothes back into the suitcase,  step up on the kitchen bench, kneel lightly on my replaced knee, roll over the hubster, land on the other side of the bed, stop rolling into the canvas side of the camper, pull the sleeping bag out from under me while on my back without unzipping too much of it because I have the side with the zipper with no flipper, pull my knees in to tuck them into the sleeping bag, again to not unzip the sleeping bag, reach over to find the book light to turn on, find my nighttime big blue quilted sleeve that covers my right arm fingertips to shoulder, pull that on, pull on the spandex cover that further compresses said big blue quilted nighttime sleeve, arrange both to meet at the velcro patch on the top of my shoulder, find where the zipper end is on the sleeping bag, pull it up as close to the top of the bag as possible, find the lighted book light which has tumbled under the covers, pull that out, arrange it near my right ear so that it’ll shine on my book and not in my eye, find the fleece arm tubes I made to keep my arms warm above the covers, put those on, find my Kindle and turn to my book, and  prop the Kindle on a pillow so I can see the words,  then, then, it had better be a good book to read!!

And River of Doubt  is and was definitely worth the trouble to read in the camper at night.

This, by the way, is where we were camping this past weekend. And, despite the tall pines you see on the right, we were in a Minnesota State Hardwood Forest. Yep. Go Gophers.

We actually watched as one pocket gopher was tunneling his way up to the surface not far from our campfire. Poor little guy was probably doing the backstroke in his tunnels with all the rain we got over the weekend.

It was our fault. It rained because we decided to go camping. It works like that. Similar to washing your car, except with more rain.

Sorry about that.

The cold rain was good for this place, though, I bet.  Campers wanted to be inside!

The National Eagle Center is located in Wabasha on the Mississippi River not far from where the Chippewa River joins it. The ensuing movement is what keeps this part of the river open during the winter, allowing the eagles to stay. The air currents between the bluffs keep the eagles soaring and the Center does such a good job educating the public that these majestic birds will be here a long time.

I have not been as excited about the quality of education in a museum in a long time. The attention to detail here is phenomenal as are the kid sized touchable learning places( not all are stations)

Somebody put a lot of careful thought into the planning of this place.

One of my favorites was a life sized aerie, or eagles’s nest, that you could walk into. Next to it were other birds’  nests for comparison.

Another was a cottonwood tree trunk at the top of which the eagles like to build their aeries. But eagles aren’t the only beings that call  the cottonwood their home. Behind a series of doors hidden in the trunk were representatives of these other beings, along with information about them. So clever and appealing to  the kids who love to open small doors.

Live, rescued eagles are on display only a few feet away when you walk into a  glassed in room. They can no longer fly, but that doesn’t stop them from loudly warning an eagle they see fly by their window  to keep flying—out of their territory!

One of those eagles will be the guest of honor at the talk given by one of the on site naturalists.  As the volunteer stands by holding the eagle, well, let’s be honest here. He’s not really holding the eagle with the leather glove, The eagle is allowing the volunteer’s  arm inside that big leather glove and sleeve to be a resting place for those talons. That is really what is going on.

Anyway, while those talons are resting on that volunteer from the Center’s arm( don’t worry, these are trained volunteers from the Center, not people called up from the audience) the eagle is eviscerating a part, or rather a former part, of a bunny who passed on from natural causes. Or, would it technically be a part of a former bunny. . .

Well, let’s just say that it began as a  furry piece of meat and the eagle quite efficiently de-furred the piece to get at the good stuff.

I highly recommend the National Eagle Center. Informative and entertaining, it made me further appreciate all this beauty we have around us.

The cold rain that made the Center look so inviting did not make this next place at all inviting. In fact it weirded me out. And yes, I used weird as a verb.

This is Lake Pepin.

Up to the road in the campground in Stockholm, WI.

When you see the chop of the white caps on Lake Pepin coming toward you at eye level, it makes you use weird as a verb, as in “That weirds me out!”

Spring and four days of rain along the Mississippi River.

But as long as we were in Stockholm, it was time to visit my favorite hooker.

Crochet hooker.

What were YOU thinking??

This is her shop:

She and a group of her artistic friends knit and crochet all sizes of sweaters, hats ,and  mittens,  sew American doll clothes,  make jewelry and create all kinds of specialty items and gifts. Char also sells beautiful yarns and her own soaps and lotions.  There’s a shed down the hill where Char’s husband makes huge bells. Oh, and be sure to greet Josie, the store’s yellow lab.  It is a wonder of a store and great fun to explore.

Hugga Bugga.  Main street in Stockholm, WI. Make it a stop on your next trip to the river.

Here’s her website in case it takes a while to schedule that trip.      www.huggabugga.com

So with all this rain, how did the campin’ cats do?

Yep. That pretty well sums it up. Buffy found the back way to get into the drawer. Meanwhile Katya during the day is known as the lump under the sleeping bag.

It’s at night that they race around the camper.

Of course.

All in all, it was a good camping experience. Found some cool shops, a good brewery, a  marvelous coffeehouse, and  someone to come home with us to live on the damn patio.

I give you

The Two Ponderers.

The guy on the right is the new gargoyle who sits on the bar chasing away evil spirits, much like gargoyles have for centuries on the top of Notre Dame Cathedral.

The guy on the left is some guy I found camping.

**********************

Camping is a wonderful way to reconnect with what’s important.  I can hardly wait until we can go again.

“What????????” says Katya.

Buffy’s thinking, “If I tip over toward that open door enough times, will that seatbelt finally let go?

Good night from me, the campin’ cats, the as yet unnamed gargoyle sitting guard on the damn patio, and the hubster who’s already snoozing. Have a weirdly wonderful Wednesday!

Love,

Janet