Category Archives: travel

11.11.12
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Dark-eyed junco brings bird relay to my yard

Creative Commons http://www.flickr.com/photos/91499534@N00/4258434540/sizes/m/in/photostream/

I saw my first dark-eyed junco of the season in my yard today, perched in my bare lilac bush. That means he’s here for the winter, from someplace cold enough to make Central Illinois feel like a haven. Then I noticed not one, but many, robins flying about. Right now, six are gathered in my yard. If this is a track meet, the lone junco is here to hand the baton of winter to the relay flock of robins. They’ll carry it somewhere south. The lovely junco reminds me that winter is a matter of perspective.

08.11.12
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Fishing on Little Bass Lake

We fished for large-mouth bass with friends Mike and Kathy Campion at Camp 400, where they and 9 other families who own 400 acres and pristine little Bass Lake, have tended over their northern Minnesota property and cottages for more than 40 years.  A serene, pastoral place, if ever there was one!

Camp 400 and Little Bass Lake near Merrifield, MN.

The dock at the cabin of Mike and Kathy Campion.

Mike is getting ready to fish for large-mouth bass.

Mike and Kathy have a beautiful place to relax.

We caught the bass…

… and cleaned the bass.

… and cooked the bass

… and ate the bass!

… And then we watched this loon and world go by! 🙂

08.01.12
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Headed Back home…

Morning coffee break…

Good morning, North Dakota.

Getting ready for dinner at Lake Bemidji … Bemidji, MN.

Dinner at Lake Bemidji wearing my new cap. Go “Fighting Sioux.” What university?

Would you order this in a restaurant? You wouldn’t get it this good.

Pancakes, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, fresh cantaloupe. Bring it, baby.

One more…

One more stroll along Lake Bemidji. 26 miles around this lake…

07.29.12
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Cleaning out the ice chest

We head to Edmonton tomorrow.  We ate tonight in downtown Jasper.  See the mountains in the background.

Sunday night dinner at the park in downtown Jasper. Great view of the mountains from anywhere in Jasper.

Just before we set up for dinner we were driving on the highway 93 (the Ice Field Parkway) about 5 miles south of Jasper.  Suddenly we saw a grizzly foraging alongside of the road.  We pulled over as did LOTS of other people.  The biggest danger is the traffic jam and the real possibility that someone will get hit by a vehicle.

One man ran close to the grizzly with his camera and the bear charged him.  Grizzlies can do a bluff/charge and this is what happened.  The man bolted back across the highway without looking.  The guy was incredibly unwise getting so close.  Suddenly a Canadian park ranger pulls up and blares over his loud-speaker, “Everyone get in your vehicles … now.”

Geesh … but what a sight.  Our car happened to be the closest one to the grizzly.  Wow…

 

07.29.12
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From Banff to Jasper

We made it up the spectacular Ice Field Parkway.  It’s a 4-and-a-half drive where wild life and glacier dance in unison…

Standing on the east side of Lake Louise, with the Canadian Rockies behind us. Almost every hiker we met had bear spray strapped to his side. You can see mine under my Banff t-shirt on my left side.

Lake Louise… Nope, this is not a painting. Someone actually created this.

Picturesque waterfall on this afternoon’s hike.

Oatmeal and french toast both this morning!

This is the Athabasca glacier. Solid ice 10 feet thick for miles.