The misrememberings (Bengtson visit, too)

(editor's note: these pix are completely random)

The blogging has definitely been slower lately. Been busy. After the state park camping, the week flew by (because it was a 4 day work week), and then the Bengtsons arrived and all hours of the day were packed. Hopefully this post will quench your thirst for recent O’Brien activities but if not… too bad, because we are going on another trip on Wednesday and won’t be blogging again anytime soon!

I can’t quite remember all that happened between the waterfalls and the Bengtson’s visit. That might be a combination of lack sleep, my old age (well, relative to my coworkers), too many badminton birdies to the head, or simply the length of time between now and then. Anyway, the ramblings from that dead period included a big feast of hard boiled eggs after cabin cleaning, adventures with the BakePacker (a bread maker for the trail), lots of grad. Readings, moose hunting (with a Canon, camera that is), a hook through Kevin’s finger, and a whole lot of badminton birdie destruction and campfires.

Perhaps my memories was have also faded due to the wild and crazy moose hunting adventures with the Bengtsons. The times were so crazy that I had to take a nap before they showed. But then it was off to Trail (Service) Center for a Goober Burger. That’s right, a Peanut Butter and Mayo hamburger. It wasn’t as great as I expected, too sticky so I added ketchup. Try it and let me know what you think. Then we went driving the Gunflint (Hwy. 12). We popped our heads in at the ‘Walmart’ of the ‘Trail, Gunflint Lodge, which just happens to be a year (1926 vs. 1927) younger than Clearwater. We win. After doing some burn area viewing, we headed over to Honeymoon Bluff, a great little hiking trail on our lodge’s road. We got to enjoy the sunset with some real honeymooners. But then it was on to the trip’s real purpose: moose hunting. We had seen two a few nights before, so we had high hopes. And a plan. Kirsten driving, me shooting the pix (based on our reaction times). Night one was moderately successful: one fox, multiple turtles, a bear’s head. But no moose or pix.

The next day we started with a boat tour of Clearwater. Though navigator Mark missed one rock, we enjoyed burning off the clouds on the picturesque tour. Then we headed to town. First stop, lunch at the Wild Onion. Good, unique menu; but with only one server on the end of a 10 hour shift, the service was slow. Or maybe it was just that we broke the no cellphone policy. Then it was off to the beach to join the rest of the tourists. With the week leading up to the fourth, town was getting busy. It was actually hotter in town then on the trail, which is a rarity (in the summer). We shopped, visited the lighthouse, and wore ourselves out on the Streets and shore of Grand Marais. On the way back to the lodge we grabbed some BBQ fixin’s and had a nice dinner, with some surprisingly good corn. It turned out to be the highlight of the night as moose hunting was again an exciting let down (don’t let the Moose Viewing Trail sign fool you).

It is officially summer up here (which has likely jinx the weather for tomorrow’s trip). The next day we salvaged some well used birdies (for those of you one the outside world, this is an SOS for good birdies, the kinds that don’t break after a short rally). After the vigorous game was punctuated with another busted bird, we tested the waters with the Bell 4 man Kevlar. We headed to the palisades for a ‘high payoff’ hike. The trail has grown a lot with our summer’s rain volume, but the Deet 100 was superb (and the wind at the top helped). After managing not to dump the canoe, we continued to sun(burn)bathe before heading back to Pigeon river for another visit to the High Falls and Naniboujou’s restaurant. Both unique and enjoyable, but the binoculars gave the falls visit the upper hand. Then it was back to the lodge for funny stories about 90 year olds and their driving adventures. Unfortunately there were no moose to be seen (although rumor has it that Mark and Nora got to see a swimming cow and calf on the way out).

Then it was the fourth. While we didn’t brave the crowds at the Marais Marina, we did put on our own show. Salvaging more birdies, even creating some hybrid shuttlecocks at times, we played and grilled the night away.

And that leads us up to now. Besides a solid 3+ hour nap (definitely need a few more), search and rescue for a lost hiker (don’t worry, happy ending), funny cabin cleaning finds, Tory and Jill getting engaged (congrats!), going swimming (for the first and second time), finally getting a Sven and Ole’s bumper sticker, working on a recycling project (more on that later), and learning to gunnel pump (to bad I won’t be around for the Gunflint races) not much has been going on.

We are headed out tomorrow, and hopefully will have some more pix and stories soon.