One Foot Out The Door

We are in the midst of the peak of fall color. About the only thing that hasn’t turned is the tamarack. Tamarack are the only pine trees to shed their needles every fall. The needles turn a beautiful yellow/gold color. With all the wind we have been having, I am not sure how long the leaves will remain on the trees. A few have already blown off but there are still plenty hanging on to the branches.

Yesterday was the last day of the lake trout fishing season. It was windy, overcast and generally nasty. So, of course, we decided to go fishing. After lunch we piled on a few layers of clothing and topped it all off with our rain suits. The sky and the water were both black. We went across the lake to a reef that is almost out of the water due to the low water level. First we tried jigging but that didn’t do anything. Next was to troll some rapalas. I got a bite but it snapped my line taking my orange lure. Then I had another bite on our last orange rapala. The fish spit that one back at me. Finally I landed a nice lake trout. We trolled a bit more with no luck.

Down the lake we went to try a couple of other spots. Still no luck. Back we came to our original spot. It was Bruce’s turn to catch three in a row – one bass and two lake trout. It was time to go home. Bruce caught the most fish but I got the biggest. We ate the bass for dinner and had enough trout to put in the freezer for seven meals over the winter. That is something to look forward to.

Our guests this weekend are a great bunch a ladies called Always an Adventure. There are 32 of them. They have been out exploring all over the countryside. Yesterday John took them over the to hike the Centennial Trail. Today 6 of them went with him to Stairway Portage. Meanwhile the others have been out kayaking and hiking some of the trails in the back basin. Two of them took a boat out for a little fishing this morning. It is great fun to see them all our enjoying fall in the woods.

I have been sneaking back to the house to do washing and planning the packing for our trip. We will be leaving on Tuesday, October 5th, and drive to the Cities. Then on the 6th we fly to Milan and meet our friends. They are all flying out of JFK in New York. It was going to cost us $1000 (I didn’t add an extra zero) each to fly out of JFK. Needless to say we are flying out of Atlanta. Each night I am reading my guide books.

My mouth can already taste all the wonderful food. Patty Feeney, I already have the Trattoria Za Za in Florence marked on my city map. Patty has heard that it is a great place to eat in Florence. I will let you all know.

So don’t expect anything from me until the end of October. I’ll give you a blow by blow account of our trip. There will be some unexpected adventures to tell you, I am sure.