We’ve been here about 4 weeks now and I’ve been want to post a comprehensive blog entry about what life is like up here. Well, just like this post, it can be pretty random. From board games, to canoe trips, to bingo, to thriftstore shoping, we’ve been doing it all this summer. So without further introduction, here are some tangents about our past 27 days.
I don’t know if it’s the people we are working with (mostly college age…so technically younger) or something about the camp type atmosphere…but we play a lot of games. And I mean a lot. First it was cards, then it was board games, and recently it’s been yard games. I wasn’t much for cards but I’ve learned a bunch of games (including cribbage…nice learn). We had one crazy night of Scategories and Loaded Questions. But now, especially since the temperate is above freezing at night, we’ve been playing horse shoes and badminton…and bocce ball is not far behind.
Another game we picked up was bingo. Yes bingo. A better recap is on the Clearwater blog, but the quick story is that we went to grand portage casino after work for some laughs and Kirsten and I ended up both getting a bingo. 80 bucks. Not bad. But the old folks were giving us the eye, and the Canadians were laughing at our ‘southern’ accents.
(I said I’d be random) The other nightly activity that was taking up some evenings was our trips to a local watering hole called Windigo (lodge). It’s a great local scene, with a different bartender each time I’ve been there. From the guitar rocking “Dude Man” to Bobo who takes 15 minute breaks to the 7ft. woman it’s been a great place to catch the Celtics (who are 1 part Sonics 1 part Twolves).
The other thing we do with our time off is go into town. We try to hit a new (for us) restaurant each time we are in town. So far we’ve probably been to about nine different joints. We may cover all the bases by summer’s end in this small town. And we’ll try to post restaurant reviews on the Clearwater blog. But the real gem in town are the shops. Ben Franklin’s is the smallest big store I’ve ever been too. It’s aisles are only for the narrow-bodied. But if you’re lucky, you can find some steals at the Recyling center, Grand Marais’ thrift store (conveniently attached to the dump). Women’s camo vest – check. Banana slicer – check. Vintage Macintosh cups – check. Ice skates – check.
During the working hours we do a lot of cleaning and organizing and random projects, etc. But some of the bigger things for us have been flowers and manuals. Kirsten has planted a ton of flowers around the lodge over the past few, and it is looking pretty good now that the sun is out and the pedals won’t freeze. And I’ve been working on making a food manual for the food outfitting (packing) position. I didn’t think I’d be typing this much this summer, but I kinda like it. Yes, I’m kinda nerdy that way.
Since I am working in the food room, I get to do some sampling. But mostly only of expired dehydrated camping food. I can tell you a lot about 10 year old vegetarian lasagna. I can’t say that I recommend it. Or Heuovs Rancheros for that matter. But Sloppy Joes from a bag aren’t half bad. Also I am learning how to spell a lot of weird cooking words. Who knew the educational value of a summer outside of the classroom?
It’s been a crazy weather year in MN. Nothing would surprise me anymore this year. And up north is no exception. It’s been raining a lot. We’ve had some road was out due to all of the thunderstorms. Also, part of the reason the bugs are so bad right now is the rain and the late thaw. Yeah, the lake was frozen until after the fishing opener (only about a month ago). At first it was very cold at night, but now that’s starting to fade a bit. Water temp., though, is still below 60. I may try to swim on my last day here (8/17).
Another crazy aspect of the summer is all of the wildlife that we’ve been seeing. Of course we see squirrels and birds and fish etc. But we’ve got a ton of Moose on our road. There have been a few bear sightings, some too close for comfort. Recently we’ve seen a bunch of turtles (Kirsten’s fav.). Also on our last two trips we saw beavers, loons, grey-jays, toads, and (my personal fav. so far) a peregrine falcon.
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