White Rabbits Don't Die

Years ago some little kids, namely Rob, Liz, Britt, Jane, and Jackson would chant the incantation "white rabbits don't die" when our campfire got smokey.  This was supposed to keep the smoke away from them.  Let's just say their hocus pocus wasn't always successful.  Read "wasn't always" to mean "never."  Bob & I have a campfire each night and the smoke still travels whichever way it pleases.

This morning I walked around the campground.

The water was glass-like which allowed me to get these shots.  I'm particularly pleased with the slide one.

Wherever we travel, I look at real estate ads.  I thought I found our perfect cabin on Potato Lake, but it looks like we'll continue to use Vagabond as our base when we come here.

If we bought this, we would be buying it from the CEO of Sprint.  The $5,250,000 isn't the deal breaker.  Okay, it is, but there's another problem.  For this price there is no view of the lake from any room in the house.

We went to Bemidji today.  When I was a kid, long before I knew about Rotary or about the amazing things Rotary clubs and Rotary International do, I knew about Bemidji and its gigantic Paul Bunyon and Babe,  Neighbors took their kids there in the early '60s and it was as exotic as anywhere I could imagine at the time.

So when our kids were little, I was thrilled to bring them to Bemidji.  What impressed them the most?  It wasn't the size of these two, but rather Paul's gigantic fingernail clippings.  It's strange what kids remember.

The Nelsons recommended a place to eat in Bemidji, the 209, and I had the best burger of my life there.  We watched Olympic coverage as we ate, the first of the Olympics we have seen other than the opening ceremony.  We head home tomorrow and I am going to binge-watch the rest of the Olympics.

We walked for a couple of miles in Bemindji State Park part of  which was a bog walk.

Before we got to the bog, we had a really pretty forest walk.

We saw red pines...

... and I mistook aspens for birch.   I know better now.

We were on a boardwalk with the bog below us.  When we were in Ireland we wanted to go on a bog walk and we found the right place - almost!  We could find signs for it from all four directions, but we couldn't find it in the center area.  Here we saw the peat bog.

The boardwalk is made from a compound which includes recycled milk cartons.

Here's why we needed to be on a walkway.

Nothing in the bog is blooming now, but in early summer orchids and lady slipper would be two of the flowers to spot.  Pitcher plants bloom then too.  Here are the seed pods of pitcher plants.

This bog has an outlet to Big Bog Lake.  How imaginative is that?

The bog has a very different temperature than the areas around it.

Later in the day I spent time on Park Rapids' Main Street and I'll tell you more about that tomorrow.

Guess the River

I was lazy last night and didn't post, so I posted two today.  Check the one right before this too when you have time.

Guess the river.

Did you guess right?  This puny little bit of water is the Mississippi.  We spent part of the day at Itasca State Park which is the location of the headwaters of the Mississippi.  At home I have the cutest picture of little Bobby King who visited with his parents in the late 40s or early 50s.  When our kids were little we came here too. 

Here is the headwater of the mighty river:

Itasca State Park is the best deal around as it costs $5/vehicle for the day.

Last week the area had a wicked wind storm and the park lost a large number of trees, particularly  red pine which are the state tree.  Some that fell were over 200 years old.  The park had to close so fallen trees could be inspected, cut and moved.  There's still lots of work to do.

I love the play of dappled light in the forest.

We took a ten mile boat ride on Lake Itasca.

We saw bald eagles, loons, and deer.  Can deer have triplets?  One doe was being followed by three fawns but perhaps she was babysitting one or two.  There is no lovelier sound than that of a loon.

I hate tomatoes; you know that, right?  Selecting a BLT for lunch is out of the question.  Today for lunch I had wild rice soup and an BLA - bacon, lettuce and avocado.  It was delicious.

My cup of coffee this morning commanded me:

... so I did!

I'm in Love

Indeed I am in love, but more about that later.  We left Weyburn two days ago and our first tourist stop was Estevan.  We wanted to see the new soldier statue.  You should see it for real.

We traveled on to Fargo having mainly blue skies and no wind.

Then yesterday I did a bad thing.  I checked Tripadvisor to see if there was anything to do in Detroit Lakes and a flea market  popped up.  You can see from the sign that it's been going on for awhile.

The flea market was great with some permanent vendors in cabins, others in tents and some spreading their wares on the ground.

This was the painted floor in one of the cabins.  The proprietor told me the last owner painted it when she was eight months pregnant.

My heart wouldn't be still if I could sell individual Scrabble tiles for fifty cents each.

One place was selling this old ballot box ...

and another was selling this sign ...

I hope they have nothing in common.

This old dog was begging for affection.  He's almost seventeen and his owner told me she spends $200/month on the dog's heart medication.  Notice that his leash is a thin piece of plastic.  The owner explained that he never moves from her side, but that she forgot his leash and he "likes to be connected."  Who am I to doubt that?

These two fellows found two Ms and were digging around for an O.  I asked if I could take this photo and the one on the right said, "you mean my bald spot is going to be on the internet?"  His brother said, "I told you to wear a hat!"  They never did find an O so I said that perhaps they could find the letters for their mom's first name instead.  The reply was, "we don't want to spend that kind of money on her."

The booth they were at was my favorite as it had lots of kingly items.

Here's a close up of the fabric on the dog bed.  The bottom of the bed said "Life is RUFF."

So what was Bored Bob doing while I was spinning from one vendor to the next?  He was relaxing with a grimace on his face.

I should add that we were caught in crazy traffic going to the flea market because Detroit Lakes had a huge outdoor music festival ending.

We moved on to Park Rapids and set up our home with a water view.  And here's where my love is explained.  For thirty years we have been coming to Park Rapids, Minnesota, and twenty-eight of them have been at Vagabond Campground at Potato Lake. We love this place and we love the people who run the campground.  Most evenings are spent in the lodge chatting with them.  Last night I gave them until today to tell me whether they are Trump or Hillary supporters.  I don't want to put my foot in my mouth.

I'm thinking that in these North Woods of Minnesota, you are never more than a five minute drive from a lake or two.  Here are some we saw today.

Just a few more things...

Rob & Elizabeth, what was in this?

You guessed right.  It's my annual turtle sundae at the Minnesoda Shop.

Stage manager Liz, I'm reading this and can totally picture it as a movie.  However, as a play?????  The first act has 19 scenes alone!  You and I need a trip to London to see it.

I'm expecting more good times tomorrow.