Cody, Wyoming

Bruce and I got home last night from Cody, Wyoming. While in Cody we attended the Dude Ranchers’ Association convention. The members of this group are not a lot different from Minnesota’s family owned resorts. We fish and they ride horses.

The purpose of our trip was to find some jobs for the 500 foreign students we will be bringing in this summer for jobs across the U. S. Housekeeping and kitchen jobs are just as plentiful on a ranch as on a resort. We met some really nice people and found a bunch of jobs for our students.

On Sunday morning before we drove back to catch our flight in Billings, Montana, we took a little ride. Cody is only 50 miles from the east gate to Yellowstone National Park. Folks told us that it was easy to see some game if you just drove the road. They weren’t kidding.

One of our sights was a herd of grazing sheep. They were so busy eating that they hardly had time to look at me. You can almost see the edge of the road in the bottom of the picture.

The best sighting was when this buffalo wandered down the road. I got out of the car to take the pictures but was very careful to keep the car between me and the buffalo.

Bruce laughed at me but I didn’t see him getting out of the car. This is only a two-lane road. Look at the center line to get an idea of how close I am to this animal.

In addition to these animals, we saw mule deer and mountain goats. Then there were the herds of cattle and horses. We did not see any elk or moose. We'll save that for the next trip.

Of course, the scenery up and down was beautiful. We just stopped and snapped this picture.

The town of Cody is very interesting. We went to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center because they are hiring 4 students. Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to look around the museum which was fairly big. They have 1200 visitors a day during the summer. Another summer long event in Cody is a rodeo every night for June, July and August. There also appeared to be lots of great gift shops and restaurants. But don’t get too interested in Cody because we want to see you up at Gunflint this summer.

It was a good trip but it’s even better to be home. Our weather is changing today. When we got up, the temperature was 25 degrees at about 7:00 a.m. It’s 2:00 p.m. now and the temperature has dropped to 2 degrees. We are also getting a little snow which is nice.

Last night a couple of the neighbors on the lake drove home from Duluth a little later than we did. When they hit the Trail the driving quickly went sour. There was a freezing mist coating everything. It took them two hours to come up the Trail. Doesn’t sound like much fun to me.

Later this week we are off again. This time it is to Jamaica. Now don’t get all excited. We will be spending from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. interviewing students in two rooms with no air conditioning or even a fan. Between the two of us, we’ll interview about 150-200 students. Also we do this in Kingston which is definitely not a tourist destination.

Then it will be back to Kansas City for Grandson Zach’s birthday party. I understand that we are going to ride go carts this year. It will be fun no matter what we do. Robert and Miranda also have a little sightseeing and shopping planned for us.

I’ll try to get in another blog about what’s going on here before we leave.

We are just finishing the January cold spell. Usually when we have the full moon and clear still skies, January temperatures drop well below zero. So we had three mornings where it was 20 below zero and one morning where it was 13 below. This morning it’s at zero. During the day we have warmed up to right around zero. Because the wind has not blown much, guests have still been outside skiing and dog sledding. The cold nights have also helped the ice grow on the lake.

During the good old days we could get a cold spell where the temperature warmed up to 20 below during the day. Gunflint Lake has seen 40 below many times. Those are the days when you just want to stay inside and keep the fireplace going.

Now that the ice is safe, the dog teams have been going out on the lake down to Bridal Falls. Once they start using the lake, we freeze in some hitching posts just past the dock. Usually just plain posts are used but they get hard to see as the ice and snow builds up during the winter. As the picture shows, Jason got a little more creative this year.

He found some young trees, cut a hole in the ice, and froze the trees in. It looks like we have a new forest growing. They will be really easy for the mushers to see.

Cold weather has also brought the deer in closer to my house. Here is a morning picture of deer feeding right outside my kitchen window.

They have learned to clean out all the sunflower seeds from the bird feeders by sucking them. Another thing that the deer like to eat is grapefruit rinds. I am being serious! Bruce and I each eat half a grapefruit for breakfast. I just cut each rind into 4 pieces and throw it out. The first deer in will finish them off in no time. Just for kicks we cut up a tangerine and threw it out. They liked it even better than the grapefruit. So none of our deer will be getting scurvy this winter.

A group of neighbors were over for dinner recently. We are all gray hairs and have a potluck at each home during the winter and summer. After dinner we play dominoes for 11 people. It is like nothing you have ever seen before. I wouldn’t say we cheat, but there is a lot of table talk.

At any rate we got to talking about seeing the wolves on the lake. Bob Baker has the best view of the lake from his home above Gunflint Pines. He sees deer out on the lake regularly. The other day we even had a wolf that was curled up about 200 feet in front of the lodge. The wolf was in a tight enough ball that you could hardly be sure it was a wolf but there was nothing else for it to be. I was just about to go home and get my camera when the wolf got up and wandered off. We figure that he was just looking around in case there were any deer to be had.

During March we often see wolves on the lake. They like to nap in the warm sun during the afternoon. Actually with the wolves traveling on the lake, we see more of them in the winter than in the summer. Bruce, however, has come across them in the summer when he is minnow trapping at some back lake. Once he came across a pack of four or five and was glad that he was inside the truck rather than walking. They tend to give one an eerie feeling.

For those you who might remember the fox couple from last winter – they are back. Gimpy and his wife have taken up residence underneath the north wing of Justine’s house. Here is a picture of the small hole in the rock foundation that they go in and out at.

There is a beaten down snow path right through the hole. The fox have become quite used to having people around. One evening I was driving to the lodge from my house. It looked like a guest was walking her dog only it was the female fox walking about 10-15 feet in front of the guest alongside the road.

Bruce and I are off to Cody, Wyoming, today. As many of you know we run a little side business that brings foreign students into the United States for four months of work during their school breaks. This year we will bring in 500 students. They work all over in country from resorts to moving van companies to landscape companies to dude ranches. So we will be attending the Dude Ranchers’ Association meeting for several days. It will be just like the small conventions of canoe outfitters that we have gone to for years. One of the highlights of the trip is a chance to see a different part of the country.

I will tell you about our adventures out west next week

Snow Flakes Keep Falling

With winter temperatures in the moderate ranges, I have been trying to take a few walks. One of my most constant walks is just down the back road. A neighbor’s mail box is exactly one mile from us. So that is my walk – a mile up and a mile back.

I took Tucker with me on a couple recent walks. He, of course, travels twice a much ground as I do. Tucker likes to just roll in the snow which doesn’t appeal to me. He also seems fascinated by any stick in the woods. Now he is reduced to digging and pulling them out as this picture shows.

When there is no snow, he picks up dead branches (sometimes four or five feet long) and prances down the road with them. He seems quite proud of himself.

Another walk we took was on the back trail to the lookout. As we looked over the forest and lake, a herd of deer raced through between us and the stable. I managed to catch three of the deer in an opening. Hopefully you will be able to see them too.

It is interesting walking to the lookout. As many of you know, the area between it and the lodge felt the full force of the 1999 Blowdown. As a result we had a logger come in and clean everything out. The next summer we planted 5000 pine trees of various species. It is all coming up again. The birch, which grow off the stumps of dead trees, are 10 feet tall. The poplar, which grow from the roots of other trees, are just as tall. In between we have the spruce and white pine and cedar we planted coming up. They are now in the 2-4 foot range. We also have balsam, which comes up on its own, filling in everywhere. All in all there is the makings of a very nice mixed forest growing. In the summer, the leaves fill in enough that you can no longer see through from one end to the other.

On one hand it is easy to look at the Blowdown as a disaster but it also saved us. Our forest in the back basin was growing old. We didn’t want to log it but trees were aging and something needed to be done. Admittedly the Blowdown took things to extreme but it has given us a new forest. I do, however, miss the wonderful, huge white pines that were lost. Those will take generations to replace.

Another project for this time of year is to test the thickness of the ice. Yesterday Don and Jacob donned their fire department dry suits (gumbies), picked up an auger and walked across the ice to a little over half away across. This is the part of the lake that was one of the last areas to freeze. Here you can see them drilling a hole in the ice.

They found the ice was from 10-12 inches thick which is very good. The snow on the ice is wind-whipped into a hard crust. There are also many areas of bare, slippery ice. I walked across those areas very carefully and still found myself slipping occasionally.

Those bare patches reminded me of a trip I took across the ice years ago. I was driving a group of women in a van across the ice to ski on the East End Trail which used to run on the old railroad bed on the north shore of Gunflint. The ice was very slippery and I didn’t want to have the van go too fast. I just put the vehicle into drive and kept my foot off the gas pedal. When in drive, there is just a very little forward push on the tires. It was enough to slowly move me across the ice.

The best news is saved for last. It’s snowing outside as I write. We have about an inch of new snow. The north shore of the lake is visible but just barely. The snow is fine and steady. I never watch the weather so who knows how much we are supposed to get. It is just good to look out my office windows and see the snow come down. The other bonus is that I don’t have to drive anywhere today. Let it snow!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of you from all of us at Gunflint!

Bruce and I had a great trip out east to celebrate Christmas. One of the many highlights was a trip into New York to see the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Show. We were looking forward to it all along but we never realized how wonderful the show is. If you are ever in New York at the correct time, don’t hesitate to see this show. Lunch and dinner in the city completed a great day.

We returned home on the 30th. Two weeks worth of mail was stacked up. It was just fun to sit down and read all our Christmas cards at one time. We sure have an active bunch of friends.

All the January catalogs were also sitting there. They included about a dozen flower and garden catalogs. As you can see from this picture, my garden is not ready to accept plants yet. So I will spend the next few months planning and dreaming about what goes into the garden.

This morning I spent time writing thank you notes for Christmas presents. My mother instilled that habit into me many years ago. I, in turn, made sure the boys wrote their thank you’s. They had to have them done before school started again in January.

Bruce and I are also into another traditional activity for this time of year – trying to get rid of the excess weight we put on over the holidays. It's almost like someone pastes the pounds on us at night. Getting on the scale our first morning home was not pretty. In fact there was a lot of moaning and groaning. We are back into the low fat, small portion meals. It is not nearly as good as holiday food but what can you do?

The lake is covered with solid ice. Neighbors tell me that it has been groaning quite a bit. You don’t normally think of a frozen lake as groaning or making any noise but it really does. The actually size of the ice changes as the temperature goes up and down. Lower temperatures result in more ice. The ice cracks and creates ridges. In fact, when it cracks you hear a loud boom. When the temperatures rise, the ice shrinks in size.

Today as I walked down from the mailbox I could see a twisted line where the ice had cracked and let water up. This area was bare ice while everything around it was covered with a layer of snow. It will, in turn, be covered with snow when we get our next storm.

We have about 15-20 inches snow. Tucker loves to roll in the snow every time he goes out. The guests are enjoying playing in the woods too. All the trails are groomed for cross country skiers. The sled dogs are taking people through the forest. A few snowmobiles have been passing by on the lake.

Today is a perfect day to be out. It was just below zero in the morning but warmed up to over 10 degrees by lunch time. The sun is shining and the snow is glistening. With the clear skies, maybe we will see northern lights tonight.

Winter at Gunflint Lodge

Hello Everyone,

I returned on Wednesday evening after a long day of travel from CT to Gunflint Lodge. Between the drive to the airport, the flights, and the drive home from MPLS I was traveling for 16 hours. It was a long day.

The drive from Duluth to Grand Marais is always my least favorite part of the drive (but only in the winter months). I don't like this part of the drive because there are so many deer that can jump out at you at any time so you always have to be scanning the ditches and road for deer. Fortunately I did not see any deer. The drive from Grand Marais to Gunflint is always one of my favorite parts even though by the time I get to town I am exhausted. I like this part of the drive because you always have a good chance of seeing a moose and my return trip did not let me down. Like mom said in earlier blogs the moose normally hang out between South Brule and the North Brule, but I didn't see any moose on that part of the drive. Fortunately I kept my eyes open for moose because around Iron Lake I saw two cow moose separated by about 5 miles. Both of them were kind enough to be walking off the road by the time I saw them so I didn't have to be worried about hitting them. Both of the moose looked healthy and full so hopefully they are pregnant with baby moose.

Today two of our employees went out on the ice to test it and returned with the following report about the thickness of the ice. Directly in front of the dock cribbing the ice is about 14 inches thick. This was one of the first areas on our 1/2 of the lake to freeze. About 100 yards out the ice was between 10 and 12 inches thick. Then they ventured out to the ice that had recently frozen and found that the ice was quickly thinning. The last spot they measured before retreating to shore was 5 inches thick. The rate at which it was thinning was fast enough to scare them from venturing further out onto the lake. We all agreed that with how quickly it was thinning it definitely is not safe yet. So if you are coming to Gunflint Lodge the ice along the shoreline is safe, but please do not venture out onto the lake yet because it is not safe.

A couple of posts ago mom told the story of how a couple of natives checked the ice for safety. One story I have been told is that if the animals are not seen walking on the ice, then it probably isn't safe yet. We have not seen any large animals like deer roaming around on the ice yet. At least the animal theory is consistent with our sample holes we drilled.

The ski trails are mostly all open and groomed. Shari Baker at the Gunflint Pines e-mailed out this report about the snow conditions up here: Total snowfall this season is 34" with 5" in the past week. The snow depth off of the ski trails is at 18". We have between a 5 and 8 inch base of snow on the trails. All of the open trails were groomed on the 27th or the 28th so the tracks should be in great condition as I type this post.

Whenever I return from vacation I like to walk around the property just to see how things look...plus I get to spend some outside time with our dog Tucker. After watching Tucker have to jump to get through the snow I decided that the current snow on the ground is probably deeper than at any time last winter. It was good to see all of the snow on the ground and in the trees.

One last note is that we do have some availability in early January if you are looking for an early winter vacation. Give us a call if you are interested as this is normally a time when we are sold out, but for some reason we have a few empty cabins.

Lee

A Christmas Trip

Bruce and I are off again tomorrow. We will be home on the 30th.

These last few days we have been working on finishing projects before going. All the presents are wrapped. I made cookies. The clothes are washed so now it is time to pack – not a favorite activity of mine. Bruce cleans and packs the car. I may even have time to run the vacumn. Tonight we go to one last Christmas party. With all our stops, it will take us 4 days to get east.

Saturday Bruce and Dave Seaton finished all their cutting of the pine tree. This picture shows Dave cutting one of the slabs that will become a counter in the museum.

Bruce even got a chance to do some of the cutting. Now these pieces will get sealer on them in the pole barn. They will dry all winter before the finishing work is done.

The decorators at the lodge did a great job this weekend. Here is a picture of the outside of the lodge.

It looks better at night but even now is an improvement over the gray nothingness. Between Christmas decorations and summer flowers, I really get spoiled.

Finally here is a picture from the overlook on the main Trail of Gunflint Lake.

It is all nicely covered over with ice. If you look at the Narrows, you might think that there is no ice. You would be right! The Narrows is where all the water drains out of Gunflint on its journey to Hudson’s Bay. Because there is always running water, the Narrows never freezes solid. All winter long we warn guests to stay away from this part of the lake. Ice is never safe if there is running water. There are lots of stories to tell about people who didn’t learn this lesson.

So now we are in a waiting game for the ice to get solid. It is no where near safe yet. John has put up signs on our dock and down at the public landing to warn people to stay off the ice. Years ago we used to have George Plummer across the lake to tell us when it was safe. Now we wait until we think it is safe and then wait another week.

Irv Benson on Saganaga Lake was another one who tested the ice. He cut a green stick about 5 or 6 feet long. When he was fairly certain the ice was safe, Irv would start walking out. The walking stick would hit the ground next one of his feet with each step. From the vibrations of the green stick, Irv could tell if the ice was safe. It all sounds pretty easy sitting here at my desk but don’t ask me to go out and try it. I’ll just wait until some else tells me it is safe.

Eventually the ice will get thick enough on the lake to support a car. We don’t drive all over the lake but we could. Mother used to tell about chasing a wolf with her Model T on the lake. The wolf turned around and gave her a big vicious snarl. Mom decided it was time to go home.

Once the lake is safe to walk on, you can still get in plenty of trouble. Slush is a real mess. It is formed from the weight of new snow pressing down on the entire lake. Eventually a crack forms and water pours onto the new snow creating slush. This slush is insulated from freezing by dry snow on top of it. It will not freeze solid until the dry snow is disturbed by wind blowing it off or by a snowmobile trying to go through it.

One time we had two young girls riding Mom’s Polaris Playmate snowmobile. They got into some slush and thought they were going through the ice. Both of them jumped off the machine and ran to shore. Then they realized they had not turned off the snowmobile so one of them ran back to do that. The main danger they were in was having the snowmobile freeze solid to the lake. Bruce came out and quickly got the machine out of the slush. Then he cleaned all the wet snow out of the track so that would not freeze either.

Now is not the time to get into ice stories. There are hundreds of them all with the same theme – don’t trust the ice. Over the winter I’ll tell you some more stories.

Drive carefully over the holidays. Gunflint family wishes you and your family a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Sled Dogs Are Here

Gunflint Lake finally froze last night. Bob Baker, whose home has a huge view of the lake, says it is frozen as far as he can see. From the east end Fran says that everything they can see is frozen. Everyone knew the lake was ready. All that it needed was a cold, cold night. We had that last night with temperatures well below zero.

During the day yesterday, the temperatures were nicely above zero. So we got another three inches of snow. It is starting to build up. I think we are about at the time when the groomers can start to track the ski trails.

Another seasonal change has happened this past week. The sled dogs have arrived for the winter. Two gals, Linda and Helen, will be running the program this year. Here is a picture of Linda and one of her puppies.

Helen also has puppies here. They are both very excited about being up north.

The program has changed a bit. The gals are going to concentrate more on putting a little adventure into it. The options will no longer be just a ride on the loop. They want to take guests out into the BWCA, out on the lake, and out fishing. Spend a few minutes on the main website at the lodge to look at the schedule of mushing events. I think that you will find them very interesting.

This week was also tree cutting week. One of the needs for the Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center is a “cookie” (round slab with bark) to show the rings of a tree and explain what they tell us. The first project was to find the tree. Bruce and I drove around last fall and found one just behind the stable. Here is a picture of the tree just before cutting.
I know the tree looks beautiful but notice that the top is gone. That means the tree is dying. It is just what we were looking for – a dying tree that was still pretty solid. In addition to the cookie, this tree will supply the museum with boards for the top of a counter and benches for the theater. There is no sense in letting this good wood rot away.

Last Wednesday, Dave Seaton came up to help Bruce or maybe Bruce was helping Dave. Well, you know the stories about boys and their toys. Dave had a new bar on his chain saw that would make a 24” cut. Bruce had the bobcat to help lift and move the sections of the tree. They were both really enjoying themselves.

The tree came down just where they planned it. They had to go up about 20 feet along the trunk to get a solid cookie. The base up to the cookie was already rotted out in the middle. Here is a picture of Dave cutting that cookie with Bruce in the bobcat holding the tree in place.
Next time you see it, the cookie will be in the museum.

When they were cutting the tree down, Bruce noticed that there was a squirrel in it. He careful watched and saw the squirrel jump free of the falling tree. Later they searched and found the squirrel hole and the nest material that had been in the hole. We saved that too. It may find its way into the museum too.

We have another group of holiday decorators at the lodge this weekend to finish the putting up lights and trees and wreaths all over. I’ll take some pictures and send them to you on Monday.

Last night was the staff Christmas party. After a wonderful dinner, everyone went down to Okontoe for a sleigh ride and some carol singing. It is the time of year when we realize, again, how lucky we are to have such a great staff.

Moose on the Loose

It’s time to check in with you folks again. After six weeks of traveling, just doing ordinary household tasks feels good. Another thing that improves life is that Bruce and I are finally over the effects of jet lag. Of course, time is still going on even on Gunflint Lake. Christmas is coming and there is too much to do.

Driving up and down to Trail is another common happening in our lives. We love to see what will appears along the way. Thursday night we were driving home from Duluth when a moose popped out. I mean a MOOSE. We had just passed the North Brule River and turned into the left curve when he appeared on our lane. All we could see from our SUV was a huge rump and long, long legs. And the worst was that we were looking up at that rump!

Luckily Bruce was going slowly enough that we were able to move into the left lane. We were so hypnotized by the rump that we never looked to see if he had antlers. Bruce figured he was so big that it had to be a bull moose. That is just too close to come to a moose. And yes, even though it was too dark for a picture, I did not have my camera with me.

Quite a few people have been seeing moose lately. We generally consider the path of the Trail from the South Brule River to Swamper Lake to be “moose country.” On one trip to town we saw three moose there and then two moose Thursday night. Moose can appear other spots too. A friend coming up from town saw one near the Trout Lake Road, another hot spot of moose activity. She also saw more moose further up the Trail.

Last winter we did not see very many moose on the Trail and we all became complacent. Well, change your attitude and slow down. Get your passenger to help. The passenger watches the right ditch and the driver watches the left ditch. Everyone looks for tracks on the road. Tracks can be a good indicator of animal activity. Moose are fun to see while you are driving but you don’t want to see them too closely.

This next picture shows the view from the top of our driveway over Gunflint Lake on the 4th. You can just barely see a thin line of open water on the far side of the lake. If I took that same picture today, it would all be open water. The east end of the lake had not frozen and the wind came up. It blew out all the ice. When a lake is partially frozen, even a light wind from the wrong direction will blow out new ice. Last night was 10 below here but there was a wind. Gunflint didn’t freeze. The first calm night we have will be when the lake freezes. Then it’s a wait until the ice is safe. When we think it is safe, we wait another week before venturing out.

My last picture shows you why we live in the woods. This picture was taken outside my office window about 1:30 this afternoon. I know you can’t see to count, but the buck is a ten-pointer and just huge. He was pawing the snow to get at the leftover leaves from my iris plants and was in no rush to leave.

I don’t think that deer can see through windows. After calling Bruce and visiting Lisa, I grabbed for my camera on the desk. A furious time of shooting pictures finally gave me this one. All the time the buck continued to concentrate on his snack. How do you think he knew the leaves were under a foot of snow? That is my question of the day.

It was a fun day at our house. It’s late in the afternoon and the temperature is dropping. The wind has gone down. Maybe the lake will freeze tonight.

Moose and Deer Sightings

It is time to check in with all of you again. After being away for six weeks, it feels good to just do ordinary tasks at home. Of course, life continues to march on. Christmas is still coming and the lake is still waiting to freeze over. Bruce and I appear to finally be over jet lag.

The picture below shows him with his grandparents – us.

Another part of our life is driving up and down the Gunflint Trail to town or Duluth. On Thursday night we were returned from a day trip to Duluth. We were in a little rush because it was the night of Shari and Bob Baker’s Christmas party. This is always a fun time. At any rate we crossed the North Brule River and started into the left turning curve. All of a sudden there was a moose in our lane. By this I mean a MOOSE. From our SUV we were looking up at its rump. In fact Bruce and I were so hypnotized by the size of this rump and the length of the legs that we never took time to see if it had antlers. Bruce figured it must have been a bull because it was so huge. Luckily we were able to get into the left lane at a reduced speed and move past the animal.

This should be a warning to all of us who got complacent last year about moose. For whatever reason last winter, very few moose were seen while driving the Trail. Generally, you can consider “moose country” to be from the South Brule River to Swamper Lake. In our last two trips we have seen 4 moose within that area. Others have also reported seeing moose there. That does not mean they can’t be other places. A friend coming up from town saw one by the Trout Lake Road, another hotspot of moose activity, plus other moose further up the Trail.

Take a few minutes longer to drive the Trail by going a little slower. Also get your passengers trained help watch the road. The passenger watches the right ditch and the driver watches the left ditch. Finally, everyone looks for tracks on the road. Tracks are another good indicator that game is active in the area.

This picture shows the view from the top of our driveway just a few days ago.

See how the lake is almost frozen across? Well, if you took that picture today, it would all be open water. The lake did not freeze over the next night and the wind came up. When the lake does not completely freeze over, all it takes is a light, steady wind to take out all the ice. Last night is was 10 below. Because there was a wind, the lake did not freeze and we still have open water.

This last picture tells you why we live in the woods.

It was taken this afternoon about 1:30, 2:00 p.m. right out my office window. I was just stepping into the office to get a book. After quickly calling Bruce and visiting Lisa, the camera was the next thing I grabbed for. In case you can’t easily count, that is a ten-point buck. He was pawing at the ground to eat the leftover leaves from my iris garden. He was magnificent.

I don’t think that deer can see through a window clearly. We were moving around and taking pictures but he just stayed put. It is times like this that the digital camera really comes in handy.

So there we have the most current activities at our house. Hope things are just as exciting at your house.

Early Winter on the Gunflint Trail

I did a little tour of the neighborhood looking for pictures for the blog. Having to come up with pictures makes me do more than sit at the computer and think nice thoughts. For our trip we bought one of the small digital cameras. It sure was nice to just pop it into my small fanny pack. Now the plan it to keep it in the car for each time we go to town. Of course, I forgot it when we went to town yesterday. Two moose were on the road when we came home. You will just have to take my word for it.

Now that things are quiet around the lodge, animals have been appearing again. Lee has seen moose and otters. One of the otters was having a grand time sliding down some new shore ice into the lake. The deer are also all around especially since the hunting season ended. How they know to disappear during hunting season is beyond me. This morning there were three on our driveway. The fox couple from last year also appears to be hanging around.

Today I went visiting the ski trails that have now been packed and groomed for the first time this winter. There are no tracks on them yet. Those will come with the next snow fall. It is just good to start seeing all the trails come out of the woods. I think this picture of the Highlands Trail by the road overlook gives you a pretty good idea.

My pictures will improve with practice – I hope.

Gunflint Lake is not frozen yet. This picture by the bridge at Cross River shows how the ice is forming out into the lake.

There are actually three bands of ice. The first one was just before we got our last two inches of snow. Then there is a narrow band frozen one cold night. Finally we got a much wider band that froze last night. Beyond that is the open water steaming as it cools down. The steaming means that the water is warmer than the air. That is not hard to believe since it was 7 degrees this morning.

Most of the smaller lakes along the Trail are frozen now. Magnetic Lake froze several days ago. Loon Lake was in the middle of freezing yesterday. Parts were frozen but there were also patches of open water. Loon may have finished freezing last night. It was cold and calm. Our coldest nights come during a full moon with no clouds and no wind. Once a lake is totally frozen, it won’t go out until next spring. If it has open water, there is always a chance that strong winds will blow it open again.

Then there is the issue of making solid, hard ice. Ideally, there is a period of 5-6 nights after a lake freezes when the temperatures are low and there is no snow. This will give you several inches of clear blue ice. Snow during this period will insulate the new ice and really slow down the growth of the ice. And this is what puts us into a bind because, of course, we would like lots and lots of snow. Fortunately, Mother Nature makes the decisions about ice and snow.

Another stop I made was at the lodge. Bonnie went out yesterday and cut a balsam Christmas tree for the lodge. This picture shows it propped up against the steps leading into the lodge.

The bright orange tag shows that we paid our $5 fee to the Forest Service for cutting a tree on their land. Trees cut in a natural forest are not like those from a tree farm. They are much more irregular and not nearly as dense because they have not been cut and formed during their growth.

This weekend the tree will go up as part of our first weekend of Holiday Decorating. Each year we have guests who come to help decorate the lodge and grounds for Christmas. I will admit that helping decorate Gunflint Lodge is not quite as prestigious as decorating the White House (they use volunteers too) but we think it is just as much fun.

I’ll spend the next couple of days exploring the neighborhood some more. Who knows what stories will appear.

On to England

Before we get into the last part of our trip, I just wanted to let you know that we did get our snow. Overnight there was an accumulation of about 8 inches. This gives us over a foot on the ground. It is just glorious outside. Dave Tuttle, who helps pack our ski trails, will be out packing and grooming after this snowfall.

Now let’s get on to the last of our trip. By the time Bruce and I arrived in London we were ready to be on our own. Four and a half weeks on tour is tiring. Our plan was to spend the next week exploring the Cotswolds, a place we last visited 35 years ago.

To get to the Cotswolds we had to drive. This is not as easy as you might think. Remember they drive on the wrong side of the road over there. They also have lots of roundabouts (traffic circles) that work totally backwards to us. Finally the driver sits in the right seat and many controls like blinkers are on the opposite side to us. With both of us watching carefully we made it to our destination, Stow on the Wold.

The first night was spent in an inn on the square at Stow. The next day we found what we really wanted – a cottage. Here is a picture of Box Cottage where we spent the next five nights.

It is a small rental cottage in Broadwell, a tiny village about 5 miles from Stow. The cottage has one bedroom and bathroom, a living room with wood stove and a kitchen/dining area. Within walking distance was a pub which served good food. We ate there every night and eliminated the need to drive after dark.

The plan had been to spend time hiking but it didn’t work out. Several days were rainy or too cold and damp to make walking fun. Also the area had had flooding in the spring. Everything was wet and all the trails were very muddy. We tried one day and came home with an inch of muddy clay sticking to our shoes. On to Plan Two.

We spent several days exploring the small towns all around us. Here is a picture of the village green at Broadway.

We often saw riders out with their horses and leading a second horse for exercise. It was nice to be among English speaking people and restaurant menus that were familiar to us. One day we even met a clerk who had been to Northfield, Minnesota, and had heard of the Boundary Waters! With Christmas coming we did some shopping. Buying anything brought us face-to-face with the declining dollar and it makes travel expensive.

Two days were spent visiting castles. The first visit was to Blenheim Castle where Winston Churchill was born. Set on 2100 acres of land, it has been in the same family since the early 1700’s. It is huge and filled with all the touches of a great castle. It was also “dressed” (as the English say) for Christmas. Our second visit was to Windsor Castle. Here is a picture of the changing of the guard at Windsor Castle.

We were lucky to be the only two people on the tour of the outside grounds. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable about the history of the castle. In this royal residence, everything was impressive from the rooms to the paintings to the floors. After the extensive damage from fire in 1992, everything was repaired. One parquet floor was somewhat blackened from the fire. The solution was to pry up each piece, turn the bottom side into the top side, and refinish the new top side. Both castles were a fun glimpses into life styles we will never experience.

By the time we got to our last hotel near Gatwick Airport, we were ready to go home. It had been a wonderful trip but home sounded really good. We spent the night in Minneapolis and were awake at 5:30 and driving home by 6:00. Even filling up with groceries, we were home by 1:00 for a late lunch. That night our own bed felt great.

Egypt

The next stop on our trip was Egypt. We flew with two other couples on the Turkey trip into Cairo. There we joined with two more couples bringing our group size up to 10.

The first day in Cairo was spent visiting Geza and Sakkarra. Geza is the location of the Sphinx and its three main accompanying pyramids. Up close they are as awesome as in a pictures. Geza is also filled with tourists, venders, police, camels, horses, and horse drawn buggies. It is a very busy place. Sakkarra is the first pyramid built and is called the Step Pyramid. It is hard to imagine that these pyramids were built over 4,000 years ago.

The next day we left Cairo and headed out into the Sahara Desert. We spent our first week visiting the western oasises of the Sahara. During this week we received a first touch of the vastness of this desert that stretches all across the top of Africa. Once away from an oasis nothing grows because there is literally no water, rain, dew or moisture. Even in an oasis, water is at a premium. Sand, dust and dry air are everywhere.

A couple of highlights stand out from that week. On my 62nd birthday we went for an hour’s camel ride in the desert. The picture below shows our mounts.

Just watching the camels saddled up was great entertainment. Once we relaxed riding them wasn’t too bad. Of course, I would not look forward to a long trip on a camel.

Another night we camped out in the desert. We along with all our equipment drove out in three four-wheel drive vehicles. On the way we stopped to buy firewood as there is none in the desert. At our campsite the vehicles were arranged in a “U” shape. Large rugs were staked and tied to the vehicles to protect the inside of the “U” from wind. This picture gives you an idea of the setup.

Rugs were laid down. Next came tables with six inch legs. The guides prepared a wonderful dinner of roast chicken, rice and potatoes with vegetables. After dinner they made a traditional tea of tea, mint and sugar. Then it was time to sleep. The tables were removed and foam mattresses were laid side-by-side on the rugs. Sleeping bags went on top and we crawled in. We must have looked like a bunch of hot dogs on a grill. All of us slept with varying degrees of success but all also agreed that the starry sky was unbelievable.

Our second week in Egypt was spent on the tourist milk run along the Nile. Hundreds of Nile tour boats provide accommodations and meals as you cruise the river. When the boats dock at night, small boats with venders converge on the tour boats selling souvenirs. This picture gives you an idea of the scene.

The ancient Egyptian ruins are magnificent. Because there are so many tourist tryping to see the sites, the government has everything quite tightly organized. We saw the Vallye of the Kings, Hatshipsut Temple, Luxor Temple, Karnak Temple, Abu Simbel, the Unfinished Obeslisk, and Philae Temple. In all cases there were literally hundreds of tourists at each location making it difficult to get a feel for each place. Everything was just huge and crowded. We were, however, lucky to see the mummy of King Tut which had just been put on display in his tomb.

Our overnight train ride from Aswan to Cairo was an interesting experience. Once in Cairo we visited the Egyptian Museum. It was packed with both treasures and tourists. Our guide Nasser did a good job pointing the highlights and then turning us loose. We were all very impressed with the finds from King Tut’s tomb. Both the quantity and the quality of them were amazing. The last day in Egypt was spent visiting a church, a synagogue, and a mosque. It was an ecumenical day. We also found time for some last minute shopping

Meanwhile back at Gunflint we are awaiting the arrival of a snowstorm. It is supposed to move in and out very quickly and give us a bunch of snow. I'll let you know what happens tomorrow when the last installment of our trip is posted.

Bruce and I arrived home yesterday from six weeks of traveling. Home never looked so good. We have 8 inches of snow and are scheduled for more on Saturday and Sunday. The temperature was negative 4 this morning and is supposed to be 20 below tonight. Grandson Grant doubled in size while we were gone.

You might enjoy a little information about our travels so I will give you three quick blogs about the countries we visited: Turkey, Egypt, and England. I’ll print the blogs today and the next two days. Then we can get back to what is really interesting – life at Gunflint.

This was our second trip to Turkey. We had 13 traveling companions who joined us with our favorite guide, Mehmet Ozbalci. After a quick day in Istanbul (much too short), we flew to Trabson on the Black Sea in Eastern Turkey. From here we made our way by bus for 5,500 km east, south and then west back to Istanbul.

At the Armenian border near Kars we visited the ruins of the old city of Ani. Although the border crossing between Turkey and Armenia is closed, we looked right over the river into Armenia. A single German girl tried to attached herself to our group. She claimed to be hitchhiking from Germany to Cape Town, South Africa. It didn’t seem like a good plan to us.

During an overnight stop at Dogubeyazit, we viewed the traditional location of Mount Ararat. That afternoon we visited the 2nd largest meteor hole in the world. It was just a hole but it was also within a hundred yards of the Iranian border.

Van and the lake of the same name were next on the route. It was particularly interesting to me because my paternal grandfather was born in this area. We took a boat to Akdamar Island and visited a 10th century Armenian Church that was noted for its outside reliefs telling biblical stories. We also visited several Urartian settlements from the 8th century BC. One of the people we met was a retired guard at a settlement. By being observant, he had taught himself to read the cuneiform writings of the Urartian people.

In all these towns we spent time walking through the local markets. Sometimes it was to buy souvenirs. Other times we enjoyed all the local food stands. This picture shows a typical market. The variety and quality of the produce was wonderful. The large dark pile on the right was fresh eggplant arranged in a circle.

Mardin and Sunliurfa kept us busy the next couple of days. We crossed the Tigris River, we visited a 4th century AD Syrian Orthodox Christian Monastery that is still in use today. We also visited a cave that is the traditional birthplace of Abraham.

On the way to Adiyaman, we stopped at another cave where Job is said to have lived when he had leprosy. The Euphrates River was also on our list that day. At 2:30 a.m. on our first night in Adiyaman we left to drive to Mt. Nemrut. Once there we hiked to the top to see the sun rise over some 1st century BC statutes. That afternoon we took a nap.

Cappadocia was home for two nights. Before the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, this area had many Christian communities because it was so remote. We stayed in a hotel with caves from rooms. This picture shows our cave dining room for dinner that night.

A highlight of the stay in this area was visiting the underground cities which went down eight stories. Cappadocia is also known for its Turkish rugs. Bruce and I had bought one on our first trip but this picture shows a buying stop for several in our group.

Another long day of driving brought us to Pamukkate. This town is the location of calcium deposit pools that have been used for thousands of years. It is claimed that bathing in them will cure almost any ailment you have.

Our last two stops are along the Aegean Sea – Ephesus and Troy. Both are sights we visited before but still enjoyed a second time. Then it was back to Istanbul and the end of a very busy visit to Turkey

Snow and Holiday Decorating

Hello Everyone,

Great News at Gunflint Lodge. Yesterday, we had about six inches of snow. The day before, there were approximately two inches of snow. Today, we have been having light snow off and on throughout the day.

I had a spectacular hike to Lookout Point yesterday. The only tracks on the trail ahead of me were of the two joyous labs that were taking me for their daily walk. The snow weighed down the balsam fir branches along the side of the trail, making for a beautiful trek. Soon, I will be able to use snowshoes along that same route.

Lonely Lake has been frozen for about two weeks now, and Gunflint Lake is getting colder and colder every day. There is some ice forming in the bays, and near the mouth of the Cross River. Yesterday, the wind broke some of the ice free, and I could see it floating across the lake. Today, a fog is rising off of Gunflint Lake. When I looked at it this morning, it reminded me being on the top of a snow covered mountain, with the clouds below, and the other peaks visible in the distance.

One of the events we look foreward to this time of year is Holiday Decorating. We have two Holiday Decorating Weekends coming up in which we will fully decorate the lodge and grounds. Everyone who is on the Holiday Decorating Package will get to help us decorate for four hours (with a snack break in the middle), then they have the rest of the weekend to relax, and enjoy the winter beauty of the northwoods.

During the first weekend, we plan to make and decorate wreaths, put up outdoor lights, decorate the front desk, decorate the indoor Lodge Christmas tree, and decorate Justine's Dining Room. It is really fun to see the completed decorations at the end of the day, and to know that your work will help to bring out the Holiday spirit in a lot of people.

This year, we are planning on adding Christmas Caroling during some of the meals, and a Saturday Night Sing Along with a Christmas song emphasis. If you are in the Lodge when we are singing, you are welcome to join in the fun.

As in years past, every family will have the chance to make a wreath to bring home, and to make a family ornament to either put on the Lodge Christmas tree, or bring home and put on your own Christmas tree. There will also be a variety of Holiday kid's crafts available for our younger guests.

The two Holiday Decorating Weekends will be December 7 - 9, 2007 and December 14 - 16, 2007. We still have cabins available if you would be interested in joining us.

Have a Happy Holiday season.

John Silliman

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello Everyone,

Happy Thanksgiving. This morning my wife and I started talking about the many things we were thankful for and we kept coming back to our baby boy. Today he seemed more hungry then usual. Maybe he knows it is Thanksgiving and everyone eats a little extra food on this day.

At the lodge we have been preparing for this day for several weeks. Our Chef Nick Hayes slow cooked the first turkey all night. The rest of the turkeys are going to be put into the oven several hours apart. He is doing this so that when we bring out the next turkey for the buffet it will be freshly cooked and not held for hours. I think the Chef ordered five 30-pound turkeys for today...but that is not all he is serving. He is also serving a bison haunch, smoked ham, cranberry pecan sauce, rutamousse, maple sweet potatoes, green beans, wild rice, wild mushroom dressing, roast garlic acorn squash soup, gunflint Caesar salad, garden salad with our smoked tomato dressing, and for dessert he is offering apple crisp, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and (my favorite) chocolate bread pudding.

Our chocolate bread pudding recipe is in the current issue of Midwest Living, page 148. This has been one of my all time favorite desserts and the guests always give us compliments on it.

If talk of all of this food isn't enough we opened the restaurant with the winter menu on it last night. I don't know where our chef gets his inspiration from but the food is excellent. He has some amazing sauces that really compliment the dishes. Whatever you do, do not order a dinner entree and ask for it with no sauce. We don't like the staff to tell our guests "no" when they have requests, but the sauces are so good that I almost want to tell our servers that they dinner entrees can not go out without a sauce even if a guest requests it with no sauce.

The last couple of days the weather has warmed up enough to melt the snow we had, then it dropped again. The past two days we got fresh snow on the ground to replace anything we lost. This morning it was a balmy 15 degrees out.

With all of the colder weather the lake is starting to look like it wants to freeze over. Many of the smaller ponds are frozen over. Today there was ice between the two dock cribbing's. Hopefully if the wind and the temperature stay down we might see a frozen lake soon. This would be a very early freeze compared to the last couple of years. Of course we will tell you on the blog when it does in fact freeze but until then we will be keeping our fingers crossed.

Well it is nearly noon so I have to go get ready to carve the food for the Thanksgiving buffet.

From everyone at Gunflint to all of you out there reading the blog, we hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Lee