Over the weekend, Pete and I were talking about what triggered our love of travel. For me, it was the opportunity to be an exchange student with Youth for Understanding the summer between my junior and senior years of high school. I spent a wonderful two months based in Oslo, Norway as a guest in the home of the Erickson family. The Ericksons were kind enough to ensure that I saw a lot of their beautiful country, including the heavenly Sognefjord, and another fjord where the father Continue Reading
UFFDA! MINNESOTA!
Spring has come late to Minnesota - meaning it's not here yet, although there have been glimpses. We've got big fat robins at the feeder, and the days are longer - thanks to Daylight Savings Time. But, we've also had snow earlier in the week, about which I'm not complaining when we see what our brothers and sisters in North Dakota have had to deal with. Anyway, we thought this amusing little video would lighten everyone's mood heading into the first weekend in April. (Subscribers may have Continue Reading
HOLE-IN-THE-DAY
A gifted Ojibwe diplomat who navigated a changing 19th-century political landscape, Chief Hole-in-the-Day lives on in Minnesota place names. One of the captivating place names we pass through on every return trip from the cabin in Northern Minnesota is Hole-In-The-Day. There's a street that runs parallel along Highway 371 in Nisswa, and a bay in Gull Lake by the same name. During the long drive, I've often daydreamed about what was behind the name, as well as the colorful imagery it Continue Reading
RUNES
I spent the weekend with friends near Kensington, Minnesota, about 2-1/2 hours northwest of the Twin Cities. In 1897, a great slab of stone with carved inscriptions, the Kensington Runestone, was discovered entwined within a tree's root structure by a farmer clearing his field down the road from where we visited. Runes are letters in Germanic alphabets. Norse mythology originates them with Odin, who was said to have received them and their magic in self-sacrificial ritual. Continue Reading
WHY MAKE IT ROUGH?
Roughing it is for kids! We're facing it: we're older. By the creaking bones, the staggering steps in the morning until we get warmed up, not to mention the need for drugstore glasses, we're reminded. We don't accept that being older prevents us from doing things we like. We just find different ways to accommodate our changing needs. We love the outdoors and we love camping. In a tent. Though we sure do envy the RV crowd, especially when the weather is Continue Reading
Ada Blackjack, Sole Survivor
For eighty years, the stark tragedy of Ada Blackjack, sole survivor of a failed Arctic expedition sullied by mismanagement and international politics, was incorrectly told and mostly forgotten. Part 3 Stories of Women in Alaska: Ada Blackjack For eighty years, a stark tragedy went incorrectly told and mostly forgotten, until it was uncovered by Jennifer Niven. The story's heroine, Ada Blackjack, was part of a secretive Arctic expedition. Her companions, four adventure-hungry and Continue Reading
A BIRD IN THE HAND
The huge bird counts that lured us to Hawk Ridge are no more. An east wind blows all weekend, pushing the migrants' highway further inland from Lake Superior. Still, birders galore flock to the main overlook at Hawk Ridge, and the raw weather does not stop the banding program. We all sit in the cold, peering up at the sky when the spotters call out. Sometimes we can see what they do, and sometimes not. It doesn't matter when there is a bird in the hand. Staff displays Continue Reading
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