Michigan and Isle Royale National Park - August 2013

August 9 – We woke early to get packed for our early boat trip.  First we drove to The Pines where we had a hearty breakfast.  Then to the parking area at the little harbor of Copper Harbor where we left our car with big suitcase in the trunk.  We boarded our boat, the Isle Royale Queen IV, for the three and a half hour journey to the Isle Royale National Park.  We started out with cool temperatures, sunshine, and little wind.  About half way to the island we encountered gusty winds and rain but it wasn’t too rough.  When we docked at Rock Harbor about 11:30 am the sun was back out but the air was fresh and breezy.  We checked into our room at the Rock Harbor Lodge and soon were ready to explore the area.

We hiked a short distance to Tobin Harbor and the seaplane dock but no seaplanes were there.  We hiked back to the lodge and had a meal of pizza.  After lunch we hiked the Stoll Memorial Trail for about two miles.  We saw beautiful flowers, exotic mushrooms, lush forests, and beautiful views of Lake Superior.  We also heard loons, saw a bald eagle, a red squirrel, and a snowshoe hare.  No moose or wolves but then we didn’t expect to.  Finally it was getting time for dinner and since the nicer restaurant closes at 7:30 pm we ate early.  I had a nice tasting lake trout with wild rice and local Michigan KBC (Keweenaw Brewing Company) amber ale.  

August 10 – I woke at 3:30 am with the thought that I heard someone say the northern lights may be visible tonight so I walked out on our balcony but could see nothing but billions of stars.  I did see one meteorite in the short time I looked at the sky.  Other than that we slept like a log and slept in late.

After breakfast we puttered around taking it easy.  We did a short hike on our own looking at more abundant flowers.  We also took a hike with a park ranger to the American Dock and heard the story of the ship SS America that used to visit the islands three times a week starting in 1903.  There were several private resorts on the island then before the island became a national park in 1940.  The ship sank on a reef near the island in 1928 but no lives were lost except a dog that was tied to a railing and couldn’t be saved.

We caught our 2:45 pm boat back to Copper Harbor arriving about 6:30 pm.  We were soon in our car and driving to Houghton, Michigan, where we had reservations for the night.  Our plans to see more of Michigan were changed when we received news of my Mother’s death.  Tomorrow we plan to drive through Wisconsin back to Minneapolis and fly home Monday from there.

Wisconsin - August 2013

August 7 – We woke up in our cozy little cabin at Burntside Lodge near Ely, Minnesota, and heard the call of a lonely loon as we snuggled down in the cold room.  We turned on the gas heater and enjoyed leisurely waking up with coffee in bed.  We walked to the main lodge dining room and had a light breakfast of blueberry scones with lemon curd.  It was the start of a gourmet day.  We learned that this year marks the 100^th celebration of Burntside Lodge.

We checked out of the lodge and drove through Ely and scenic highway 1 to the coastline with distant views of Lake Superior – my first views of this great lake.  We stopped in Beaver Bay where a quilt shop was calling Rita’s name.  Eventually we arrived in Duluth, Minnesota, and the northern end of Interstate 35.  I can say that I have been on both ends of I-35, Laredo in Texas and now Duluth.  We drove down to the area called Canal Park that is adjacent to the Aerial Lift Bridge, a strange bridge that rises up horizontally whenever a large boat passes under.   

We had lunch at Grandma’s Tavern, a Duluth icon and the sponsor of Grandma’s Marathon, which means something only to marathon runners.  The lunch was great.   I had one of their Grandma’s pale ale with two dishes that Rita and I shared equally – their special macaroni and cheese dish and their chicken pot pie.  Both were delicious and lunch was a hit.  Afterwards we drove over the Aerial Lift Bridge and did a U-turn to drive back over it again.  Then we headed east into the state of Wisconsin, my 49^th state.

We headed northeast along the Scenic Byway, or highway 13, to the pretty little town of Bayfield and the entrance to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.  We stopped at the park visitor center then checked into our stay for the night, the Rittenhouse Inn.  This inn is also in the “1000 Places to Visit Before You Die” book.  It is a beautifully restored Victorian house with dozens of stained glass windows.  We walked into Bayfield and had a drink at Morty’s Pub before returning to the inn.  We had our dinner in Rittenhouse Inn at their award-winning restaurant.  I started with foie gras while Rita had a salad of smoked trout with Wisconsin cheddar cheese.  For mains Rita had champagne chicken while I had local fresh trout with pearl couscous.  A nice bottle of chardonnay washed everything down well.

August 8 – Breakfast at the Rittenhouse Inn was also very nice and filling.  We made it to our 10:00 am departure on the boat, “Superior Princess”, to cruise the islands of Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.  Once more the weather was cold and a bit rainy but Lake Superior was generally calm.  The three-hour cruise took us between most of the 22 islands.  At Oak and Devils Island the captain, who gave a great running commentary, pulled up very close to the shore to see the strange rock formations created by wind and sea erosion.  We circled Devils Island then headed back to port at the town of Bayfield.  A quick lunch at Wild by Nature café and another short visit to a quilt shop by Rita and we were on the road again about 2:30 pm.

We took US highway 2 east and soon crossed the border into Ironwood, Michigan, and our 50^th state to visit.  We were surprised that we changed time zones as well back into Eastern Time.  We headed northeast on roads with slow speed limits which made that trip much longer.  We passed several copper mines along the way.  We stopped in the town of Calumet and had good beer and burgers at the Michigan House Café & Brewpub which also went by the name of Red Jacket Brewery.  Finally we made it to our little motel in Copper Harbor and crashed.  Tomorrow we park the car and take the boat to Isle Royale National Park.

More Minnesota

August 4 – We left Fargo and headed north on Interstate 29, a fast, flat expanse of highway with little scenery.  This is in the Red River Valley, the border between North Dakota and Minnesota not to be confused with the Red River Valley where that Red River is the border between Texas and Oklahoma.  Soon we arrived in Grand Forks, a livable community that made the national headlines in 1997 when after the worst blizzards in recent history the town flooded in the spring with over 75% of the homes and buildings being inundated.  Today it looks like a new city although quite a way away from the river.

Here we headed east on US highway 2 through Crookston to Bagley where we turned south.  Again the scenery was unimpressive until we turned south to the Itasca State Park, the oldest state park in Minnesota.  Here we encountered lush forests with tall trees.  We entered the park and made our way to the historic Douglas Lodge built in 1907, a large log cabin building with a huge stone fireplace.  We had lunch here, Rita ordering a local dish called wild rice hot lunch, a combination of wild rice, ground beef, water chestnuts and celery.  I had an elk burger along with a tankard of local Summit pale ale.  It was a very nice lunch.

Next Rita and I visited the attractive visitor’s center then headed north along Lake Itasca with occasional stops to view the lake.  We made it to our main goal of the headwaters of the Mississippi River where a crowd of families with children were in the water wading across the short expanse of the river.  Actually it isn’t a river here but a narrow creek.  After that accomplishment we returned to the highways and drove into the pretty town of Bemidji.  We checked into our hotel and set out to see the sights. 

Bemidji bills itself as the “first city on the Mississippi”.  Beautiful houses are perched on the banks of Lake Bemidji, a large lake of over 6,400 acres.  The original inhabitants of this area were the Ojibwe Indians and many of them still live in the area.  This is also the heart of the timber industry and a small park houses large statues of Paul Bunyan and his pet, Babe the blue ox.  We explored the downtown area and drove completely around the lake before having good salads in the restaurant next to our hotel.  It was another satisfying day in northern Minnesota.

August 5 – We woke to overcast skies and water puddles, evidence that it rained in the night.  It was a gloomy day in many ways.  We headed east on US highway 2 through the Chippewa National Forest.  We stopped in Grand Rapids, home of Judy Garland, for Rita to browse a quilt shop.  From here we headed north on the scenic “Edge of the Wilderness” highway 38.  Dozens of scenic, wooded lakes popped up on both sides of the highway but the road was curvy and rough.  We worked our way to International Falls, northern most town in Minnesota and often the coldest in the lower 48 states.

We parked the car and walked across into Canada and the opposite town called Fort Frances.  There was a recommended restaurant there where we wanted to eat lunch but we discovered that today was a “civic holiday” in Canada and everything was closed.  Bummer!  We walked back into International Falls and ate at a fairly nice coffee shop in town.  Up to now most Minnesota towns surprised us with their tidiness and cleanliness, but not International Falls.  The surrounding country is mostly logging companies and International Falls is dominated by the Boise paper mill spewing out ugly smoke into the sky.  Fort Frances was not much nicer looking either. 

We checked into our motel and later took a drive to Voyageurs National Park but because of government budget cuts the visitors center is closed on Sundays and Mondays.  While there we did walk down to Rainy Lake and while enjoying the scenery we heard our first wild loon calls and saw a couple of loons flying over us.  We drove a short distance to Thunderbird Lodge on Rainy Lake and had a nice meal of our first walleye fillets and with a window overlooking the lake. 

August 6 – It was raining when we woke and it rained most of the morning.  We drove to the visitor center at Kabetogama Lake in plenty of time for our 11:00 am departure on the boat, Borealis.  It was raining fairly hard at times and the temperature was cool.  For about two hours we cruised east and eventually ended up at Kettle Falls for lunch at a very remote hotel there.  After lunch we walked to the falls where Kabetogama Lake flows into Rainy Lake.  The rain stopped and we returned to our departure place about 4:30 pm.  We witnessed several bald eagles.  Some were juveniles in their nests and some were adults with white head and tail feathers.  All looked majestic.  In all we saw about two dozen bald eagles, several loons, Canadian geese, cormorants, seagulls and other birds.  We also saw deer along the coast but none of the black bear, moose, or wolves that are in this remote park. 

Upon returning to our car we drove (fast) to our lodge for the night.  We arrived at the Burntside Lodge near Ely, Minnesota, about 6:00 pm and checked into our remote little cabin in the woods.  Burntside is on the register of national historical sites and is listed as one of the places in “1000 Places to See Before You Die”.  This is mainly for their great restaurant.  Rita had buffalo hanger steak while I had fresh Lake Superior herring which is more like the local white fish and not at all like the herring people are used to.  Our meal was delicious as were our starters and desserts.  We can’t continue to eat like this.

Minnesota, August 1 - 3

August 1, 2013 - We set our alarm early for our getaway to the airport where our Delta flight left Austin at 11:30 am to Minneapolis, Minnesota.  After the 2 ½ hour flight we collected our bag and rented our car from Avis before heading south.  First stop was the nearby Mall of the Americas with over 500 stores and a large amusement park in the middle.  We bought a bag of popcorn then walked the circumference for a brief look at this famous place.  It’s a good thing neither of us is a big shopper.

Next we headed south on Interstate 35 through green rolling countryside with lots of corn, sorghum, potatoes, and soy bean fields.  There were no billboard signs along the highway which made the scenery that much nicer.  Our stop was in the town of Albert Lea where Rita had great-great grandparents living in the late 1800s.  We ventured out for dinner (bland) then drove around the town set on some attractive lakes with nice houses on the banks.  We located the courthouse in the quiet downtown area and plan to go back tomorrow for Rita to do some genealogy research.

August 2 – Rita decided that she had most of the documents from the Freeborn County courthouse that she could get so we drove to the nearby town of Alden where her ancestors lived and are buried.  A nice lady in the town offices showed us a map of the cemetery and where exactly her g-g-grandfather is buried.  We also discovered the general area where he obtained his 160 acre land grant in 1870, which is in Faribault County, and drove around that area on gravel roads.  We continued along on county highway 109 to the town of Winnebago but, no, that is not where the RVs are manufactured.  Figure that one out.  We drove to Blue Earth and went into the Faribault County Courthouse where a nice lady showed us the land records from 1870 showing Rita’s g-g-grandfather’s obtaining the land grant.  It was time for lunch but not before we happened across the statue of the Jolly Green Giant which was a surprise to us.

We continued north on highway 15 to New Ulm.  My grandmother Franke was born in New Ulm, Texas, and so we have been there many times.  We have visited Ulm, Germany, with the highest cathedral steeple in Europe.  Now we have been to New Ulm, Minnesota, which was settled by Germans and Czechs in the mid-1800s.  We first drove to the Hermann Monument which is a large statue of a Germanic warrior known as Arminius (Hermann) of the Cherusci tribe that defeated a large force of Roman legions in 9 AD.  Locally he is known as Hermann the German.  The monument was funded by the Sons of Hermann fraternal society in the late 1800s.  I climbed up to the rooftop while Rita stayed below.  There were great views over the city of New Ulm.

Then we drove into the downtown area and parked the car.  We walked to German Park with its statue to German-Bohemian immigrants.  We saw the Defenders Monument to mark the city’s defense (and almost loss) against a large raid of Dakota Indians in 1862.  Most of the town was burned in that raid and many lives were lost.  We saw many historic buildings and a glockenspiel that played a cast of characters at 5:00 pm.  We drove to the August Schell Brewery which goes back to 1860 but did not tour the brewery.  We had a good German meal at Veigel’s Kaiserhoff and a Schell beer to go with our schnitzels. 

After dinner we walked down the main street and in a narrow alley by the B & L Pub they had the local oompah band playing German music followed by a group of musicians in lederhosen from Germany.  A large crown was drinking beer on the sidewalk and listening to the polka music.  The people were friendly and when someone asked me if we were visitors I told them that my grandmother was born in New Ulm but not this one – the New Ulm in Texas.  That surprised him and he told several others who came over and wanted to talk about the Germans in Texas.  Everyone was friendly and surprisingly many of the locals still speak German, even the younger ones.  After a good evening we retreated back to our hotel room for the night.

August 3 – Today started with breakfast at a Perkins restaurant, a standby in this part of the country.  It has been several years since Rita and I ate at a Perkins and we had a calorie filling meal that took us to dinner.  We headed north on state highway 15 taking us away from the Iowa border.  Southern Minnesota looks very much like Iowa and if you haven’t been to Iowa let me describe it as best as I can.  In this area most highways are straight for long stretches with few curves.  They alternate from nice and smooth to corduroy with some in between.  Minnesota winters take a toll on roads.  The countryside is rural – large expanses of fields of corn, soybeans, or potatoes, old farm houses surrounded by a patch of trees, pitched roof barns (or, if new, rounded roofs) so they don’t accumulate snow, lots of silos, and tractors on the highways.  We wanted to take back roads instead of Interstates although it means slower travel.

As we headed further north the farm lands turned into forests and more views of lakes.  Since today was Saturday there were several pickup trucks hauling boats behind them on their way to the lakes – after all they have 10,000 to choose from.  Weather was nice and ranged from upper 50s in the morning to mid-70s by afternoon.  Perfect weather and as we approached St. Cloud we encountered some cumulus clouds which was appropriate.  We took a detour into downtown St. Cloud and crossed the Mississippi River where we joined US highway 10 which took us north and west.  St. Cloud, like most of the towns we saw so far, looked clean and tidy.  It must be the influence of all those Northern Europeans who settled here.

We bypassed Little Falls where Charles Lindbergh grew up and stopped in Randall at a quilt store for Rita.  Then we drove past Wadena, New York Mills, Detroit Lakes (casinos and resorts) to Fargo, North Dakota, where Roger Maris was from.  As we approached Fargo the landscape returned to flat farm lands.  We checked into our hotel then headed into downtown Fargo.  Searches on the Internet recommended the HoDo restaurant in the Hotel Donaldson which is where we dined.  Their rooftop restaurant is called Sky Prairie and has herbs and prairie grasses growing in abundance.  We had an excellent meal starting out with a beer for me and a HoDito (vodka, simple honey syrup and mint) for Rita.  Then Rita had a bison burger while I had bison sirloin with nice sides.  The weather was nice, company great, and food delicious.  We’ve been in Fargo for about five hours and haven’t heard a “you betcha” yet.

Christmas in Panama - 2012

Would we like to come to Panama for Sophie-Claire’s second birthday and stay for Christmas?  Could we ever turn down such an invitation?  Of course we would come!

So on December 18 we caught an early flight out of San Antonio to Houston and then directly to Panama.  We didn’t count on how early we would have to rise in order to catch the first flight to Panama but it turned out to be 3:00 am.  Thankfully the San Antonio airport is not very busy and also United upgraded us to first class which meant we could get coffee and breakfast in their VIP lounge.  We had an uneventful flight to Panama and arrived at Chris and Gretchen’s apartment about 3:00 pm just as Sophie-Claire was waking up from her nap. 

In the short time since we last saw her she has grown in so many ways.  She has beautiful golden, curly hair and a sweet temperament to go along with her pretty looks.  I know we are biased but she really is a pretty little girl.  And while she can dress up and look like a little princess she is not just a girly girl but a busy tornado of activity that never stops.  She loves to play in dirt and water puddles and is not averse to getting her hands dirty.  She loves to watch trucks, cranes, back-hoes, and construction workers doing their jobs.  On the numerous walks I took her on she didn’t walk but ran everywhere.  She can walk up the steep steps to the slides in the playground and isn’t afraid of heights.  The higher you can make her swing go the better for her.  She seems to have endless energy.

Her nanny is named Eladia and she spends every week day with Sophie-Claire almost as a second mommy.  Eladia doesn’t speak fluent English so she teaches Sophie-Claire her ABCs, numbers, colors, and several songs in Spanish.  During the day Sophie-Claire seems to speak mostly Spanish and then switches to English when Mom and Dad return home.  Besides those languages she has watched the American Sign Language video for children and she can, and does, sign several words.

As you can tell from my bragging, Sophie-Claire was the highlight of our trip to Panama although we do enjoy her parents too.  Gretchen and Chris took off several days while we were visiting but when they did go to work Eladia was told she could come in later and we would feed Sophie-Claire her breakfast, take her for her first walk of the day, change diapers if necessary and generally play with her.  We enjoyed doing that.

December 20 was Sophie-Claire’s second birthday and we had a little family party in the evening.  After her dinner she was allowed a chocolate cupcake with two burning candles which delighted her.  Next she opened up her birthday presents, carefully tearing off the wrapping paper of each one.  She enjoyed all the toys, books, and videos she received.  After that we all decorated the Christmas tree which Sophie-Claire and their cat, Churchill, thought were for their benefit to play with.

There were other highlights as well.  Gretchen and Chris arranged to rent a small house in the mountainous region of El Valle de Anton (usually just called El Valle) where many wealthy Panamanians have a second home.  Our little house was remote and surrounded by a jungle of lush trees, plants, and flowers of all kinds.  The area has monkeys, sloths, parrots and other jungle wildlife but we didn’t see much.  That was because we had the bad luck of having a storm of wind and rain most of the time we were there – an unusual event since the dry season was supposed to begin in mid-December.  We lost power a couple of times but the strong winds and rain at night made for interesting sleeping.  However we did see some birds there we don’t normally see in Texas.

We hiked some muddy trails from the house we rented.  Sophie-Claire loved to throw rocks and sticks into the creek so that was a big part of our hikes.  We did visit the colorful open market in El Valle with a larger selection of produce than I would have guessed.  We visited the small local zoo which has a few of the remaining golden frogs that are dying out.  Sophie-Claire enjoyed the animals in the zoo and raced from cage to cage.  We went to the Chorno El Macho waterfall where Gretchen and Chris took the zip line across the waterfall. 

On our last morning we had plans to drive to the local hot thermal springs for a dip but as we started down our long, steep driveway we discovered that a rather large orange tree had uprooted and blown across the driveway in the night.  It was too big for Chris and me to budge so we walked downhill into the village to the caretaker’s house only he wasn’t home.  His wife had some of their visiting friends or relatives take us back and they brought machetes since they didn’t have a power saw.  We hacked away at the tree, cutting off smaller limbs and finally were able to push it off the driveway with five men.  By then it was just time to check out and drive back to Panama but we got some exercise.

We ate well in Panama.  In El Valle we had a delicious lunch at a very nice restaurant called Casa de Lourdes.  Rita had pasta with asparagus and mushrooms while I had sesame encrusted corvina which is drum fish.  All our dishes were delicious as was the wine.

Gretchen and Chris both cook and love good food and wine so all our meals at their house were great.  One evening we went out to eat at one of the best seafood restaurants in Panama called Casa del Marisco.  The owners were originally from the Basque region of Spain but settled in Panama years ago.  Their new restaurant is very modern and the food is delicious.  Rita and I both had fresh grouper; mine was encased in garlic and almonds.  Then we went to a rooftop bar in Casco Viejo, or the old town, named Tantalo.  We sipped mojitoes while viewing the skyline of Panama in the warm tropical air.

Another day we had delicious Indian food at Sabor de India, a restaurant in the downtown area of Panama.  We selected several spicy dishes, naan, and rice and shared them along with refreshing Foster’s India Pale Ale.  In fact, we had enough food left over we took it home for another meal later on.

On Christmas Eve we got away early and drove about an hour’s drive to Soberania National Park where we went to the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center first.  We were looking for birds and we climbed their 100-foot tower but didn’t see much except a sloth and a brown hawk.  The reception center had nectar feeders out and there we saw several different kinds of beautiful hummingbirds.  Next we walked down Pipeline Road, one of the premier bird watching places in the world.  We saw several blue morph butterflies which are bigger than some birds.  We saw some birds but not a bumper crop.  I’ll list birds seen in Panama at the end of this story.

Christmas Day we first opened our stockings while Sophie-Claire was getting acquainted with this gift-giving tradition.  Churchill was first to open his package of a catnip toy.  Sophie-Claire discovered an apple in her stocking which occupied her for quite some time.  Gretchen made a nice breakfast of bacon and gingerbread pancakes.  Then to the task of opening all those other packages, most of which were for Sophie-Claire.  She did an admirable job and really enjoyed her presents – mostly books, videos, trucks, and Lego blocks.  During most of this we Skyped with Rachel and Deana – it was not as good as having them there but the next best thing.

In the afternoon we dressed up somewhat with Sophie-Claire in her beautiful red Christmas dress as the belle of the ball.  We had turkey, cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and rolls.  We had a bottle of champagne then another bottle of wine.  For dessert we had both pumpkin and pecan pies.  A delicious meal!

All good things must come to an end and so did our visit.  On Friday, December 28, we said our good-byes to everyone and headed back home via Houston then on to San Antonio.  We left Panama in about 90 degree heat and arrived in San Antonio where the temperatures were in the 30s and winds blowing strong out of the north.  We stopped at BJ’s Brewpub for a light dinner and beer then a grocery store stop for milk and bananas so we could have breakfast in the morning.  Cruising home late at night on a back country road I was stopped by the Comal County sheriff’s deputy for speeding 70 in a 60 mph zone.  There was no other traffic around and it was 11:15 at night.  Why would a sheriff’s deputy be sitting on the side of the road at that time looking for speeders?  At least he just gave me a warning ticket and we arrived home about midnight.  All was fine at home and we slept soundly but sadly missed the noises Sophie-Claire makes when she wakes up.

Unusual birds spotted:

Green parrots (maybe Mealy Amazons?) and parakeets

Crimson-backed tanager

Yellow-green vireo

Antwren

Black-chested jay

Keel-billed toucan

Squirrel Cuckoo

Long-billed hermit, white-necked Jacobin, sapphire-throated and green violet-ear hummingbirds

Panama flycatcher

Great tinamou

Kiskadees