July 16, 2023

Greetings and Salutations, Friends!!

I bring you good cheer from the north woods at 47.7 degrees north latitude: Silver Island Lake in the Superior National Forest. Well, of course we weren’t actually in the lake. Well, we were, but that’s not where we stayed. There are only 8 sites at this campground which is actually one of the higher numbers of sites in the NF campgrounds we’ve camped in SNF.**

**Can you get with the initials of National Forest and Superior National Forest? Yes, I thought you could.

We scored one of two sites right on the lake, with a great view and a place for the hubster to moor his new boat.

Yes!!! The hubster has a new boat!!! He sold the canoeyak(Canoe/kayak combo) and bought the cutest little inflatable boat with a super quiet electric motor. Don’t tell him I said it was cute, although it does resemble a bathtub. I suggested that for a name, but mysteriously he turned it down. I may just call it BT. (see **)

Anyway, he can fish in this as evidenced by the walleye and northern dinner we enjoyed. Yum!

It rides, deflated, on top of the car, in a carrier. The reason I mention this is that nothing, I mean, NOTHING, gets added to the camping experience unless we can find storage for it. I’m lucky that I get to go!! Seriously.

Anyway, we were camping in this spot in this campground where we’ve enjoyed peace and quiet before.

Not so much this time, though.

To illustrate why, I’ll have you remember back to your early junior high years, especially if you’re female. There is something about that age where you’re just realizing that you’re an individual that equates to … well, not to put quite a fine point on it, noise. It’s like a bird testing its wings at the edge of the nest. Your voice is now out in the world and you can say whatever you want, whenever you want, at whatever volume you want.

You repeat phrases that you think are cool and represent you.

Subtlety is not in the equation. Thinking how you sound to others isn’t either. If no one responds to you the first time you say something, you say it again. Louder.

You aren’t doing it to be rude or obnoxious, it‘s just that you’ve discovered your voice and you want to USE IT.

You aren’t doing it meanly because you aren’t capable of making that determination. Your pre-frontal cortex that makes decisions is still under construction at that age.

This is why you have parents who can coach you through this newly found freedom.

Yes, I know all this, and yet, at 11:30 pm, it’s hard to be patient as the crowd of girls at said age are tripping along the boat ramp, and onto the dock to see the stars and perhaps the aurora borealis. With a flashlight that I swear could have been used to light a movie set flashing all over our campsite.

And not being quiet about it.

Because, you remember, we were in the site by the lake. And the boat ramp.

Sigh

I had just fallen asleep.

Parental units were in attendance, but not really modeling after-10 pm-quiet-hours themselves.

But that was nothing compared to the next afternoon when they came to the boat ramp to swim and float. The phrase of the afternoon was the repeated exhortation that she was going to “pull that out of her +ss.”

I had very nearly brought my noise cancelling headphones that I use on planes. I may pack them, after this.

I just need to find a place to store them.

As it was, I used my regular cordless headphones to listen to the podcast of “Inappropriate Quilters,” always worth a laugh or ten. It’s like being at a kitchen table with these two, and after being without phone or radio for days, it was a balm to my soul to listen to these women giggle and tease each other about their quilting foibles.

We will no doubt return to this campground maybe later in the fall. That walleye was good.

******no transition here, just so you know******

There are always many improvements made to the camper before each trip. The hubster makes them and they are always guaranteed to make the camper function better. For instance, the morning we were to leave for SIL on this last trip, he discovered that there was an lp gas leak, which directly affects the fridge. If he hadn’t found it, we could have been up in the middle of nowhere with warm food starting to spoil and no fridge. As it was, he went to Menard’s (where they greet him by name like at Cheers with “Norm!”), Ace Hardware in Robbinsdale, and Fleet Farm before he found the needed replacement fix. And we had no problems with the fridge for the rest of the trip, thank you very much, hubster!

This latest improvement, though, was made for us as well as the cats. The hubster cut an opening in the bathroom door, a cat door, so to speak. The litter boxes live in the shower stall which we don’t use because who’s got that much water to store anyway?? The door always had to stay open for the cats to use the litter boxes.

Now we have a small camper. Just right for the two of us. But the bathroom door opens right in front of the stove. So you can either have cookage or poopage. And we want to keep the cats happy, because who wants to camp with crabby cats?

The hubster wracked his mind for a solution, then asked me for ideas. “Cat door” I suggested.

“You know, that’s not a half stupid idea!” he responded.

And if you know the hubster, that is high praise indeed.

So, he cut and finished off the squared off hole in the center of the bathroom door, the cats use it, and we love it. There seems to be so much more room in the camper now!

****nope not here, either*****

When we stay in Duluth, we stay at Carl’s Place***, a few blocks from the Aerial lift Bridge.

***This is just what we call it because it is owned by Carl. It’s one side of a double bungalow that we rent.

There’s a full window wall with a view of approaching ore boats and a short trek through the back yard to the beach on Lake Superior. The place is small, just big enough for the two of us, along with a kitchen for the hubster to make his fabulous meals, and an outdoor fireplace for roasting marshmallows while keeping an eye out for the ore boats.

And it was while doing just that on a Wednesday evening that we were treated to 19 colorful sailboats in the bay, getting ready for the weekly sailboat races. The Duluth Yacht Club runs these races and they’re really something to see.

It was a beautiful evening around 6, perfect weather, and we were commenting on the different designs and colors of the sails.

When, all of a sudden, an ore boat left the harbor under the aerial lift bridge and through the canal.

Now I say all of a sudden because when in Duluth, we are tied to the Duluth Harbor Schedule through Harbor Lookout. We know when boats are arriving and leaving. Arrivals and Departures are listed along with a map of the bay to see who’s moored out there. And this one departure was not listed!

If you’ve been to Duluth to watch a big ore boat come in, you know it is an event, complete with the approaching ore boat’s announcing horn blasts returned by the bridges’s welcoming repeat of their blast pattern. This is followed by the big ship gliding past through the canal having aimed for that narrow opening from several miles out ahead of their arrival. It is truly a marvelous sight.

Back to the surprise departure. All the arrivals and departures are listed on the website. People time their arrival to Canal Park to see these.

And yet, here was an ore boat leaving with no prior notification. To the public.

And, it’s heading right for the middle of the sailboat races which are held not far from the mouth of the canal!!!

Drama on the high seas! Well, as high seas as you’re going to get in Minnesota.

Those sailboats scattered and fast. They had the advantage of being much more maneuverable than the big ore boat. (remember it had to aim for the canal while still miles out?)

In the ore boat’s defense, it did steer wider than usual to avoid the sailboats, but I think, by that time, the races had been called due to “big boat approaching.” Or perhaps it was more of “Get the heck out of the way! An ore boat is coming!!”

It would have been interesting to listen in on the Duluth Yacht Club’s radio to see just how they worded the surprise departure to the sailboats in the races. And how they were going to pick up the pieces of the standard race points for this night.

Oh well. It made for exciting watching from the campfire near the beach at Carl’s Place.

I have more stories, but my laptop battery is nearly out and it’s nearly impossible to type from the living room with it plugged in.

I hope you have a Wonderful Week Ahead with Happy Surprises and Tasty Munchies by your side. May you continue to find Peace and Quiet when you need it and Loud and Laughing when you want it.

Hug a friend, read a book, color with some markers, get lost in some favorite music. I plan on making it so.

Love,

Janet