Winfield Inn Bayfield

... Way stop and it was a pretty big deal. A town so small that the few stores and more bars had tractors, 4-wheelers and riding lawnmowers in the parking spots than cars. I was so fascinated by this small town that I decided that I was going to fly there for my last week of Winter Break and that her and I would fly back to Vegas together for Spring Semester. This also happened to be ...

Once one knows that you are heading back, the adventure wanes somewhat. However, the power of observation from my van chair viewing through a brand new windshield (read clean) is still fun.

Montana is a huge long state that touches the border of British Columbia, all of Alberta and a good piece of Saskatchewan -- basically an entire day‘s drive. From the west. It starts with mountains, trees and fast flowing rivers ...

... ice breaks up, it pushes gravel, rocks and boulders 20 ft above the waterline.

· Log load squeezers. Along the highway south of Kenora, drivers are advised to check their “Pulp Load.” At designated locations, there are two 12 ft diameter culverts standing upright. We suppose that the truck is driven between these culverts and any logs that may be sticking out are squeezed back onto the truck where the ...

... the water...big and almost red. Mara said it looked like a giant ripe peach. Our cute little "off-season" rate hotel is right on the pier front and we even have our own little covered deck, which I am typing this entry from now. There is something wondrous about that brief period of time when the moon rises and reaches just the right point in which it casts its beam of light over and across the water, in a ...

... br>
This is the greenest of green businesses. They are able to process over 2 million board feet of lumber a year without ever cutting down a tree. The timber has been perfectly preserved over the years by the cool water temperatures and only require from 35-100 days of kiln time to be dried out. It is a pretty interesting story.

Once done at Timeless Timbers we headed into town for some ...

We kicked off our day with coffee and fresh from the oven scones and breakfast bread. All calorie free, of course. Once full of caffeine and sugar we caravanned by 'towed' over to the town of Bayfield, population 611. We've been told this population swells sometimes to as many as 20,000 during the annual apple festival - hard to imagine.

Once we found parking we piled on board the Island ...

... just as the skies darkened and the wind started swirling. The locals here in the mid-west say if you don't like the weather wait about 15 minutes and it will change. They were right in this case, about 30 minutes later we were on the road, fingers crossed that we would not experience any electrical 'gremlins'.


Just south of Duluth we ran into some fog. We actually passed through town and crossed over Lake Superior into Wisconsion ...

... Adventure to start our day of SEA KAYAKING!! We got our wet suits on and all set before leaving with the rest of our group and our guides. Brian and I were once again the young ones out amoung the grandparents and married couples in our group. We sat in the very back of the van and just took it all in, listening to all the different conversations going on which is usually what we do best! The weather ...

On the road by 9:00. For the most part it rained all day and we were remeinded that the roads in Minnesota are terrible. We listened to country music once again and we made it to the Apostle Islands! Halfway home! woohoo!!

Took many backroads along Lake Superior (most were just dead ends at the lake) and picked up some delicious smoked whitefish in Cornucopia. Finally, wended our way to a Red Cliff Indian Reservation campground at Point Detour, the most northerly point of mainland in Wisconsin. The campsite overlooks the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore -- an extremely peaceful spot which will be home for the next three nights. So far, there is always a wind coming ...