Day break in Mason / Grandview Wi. Visiting with friends.

Most mornings when camping I'm up at first light. It is a peaceful time. 

Sunrise and the start of a beautiful day. It was very cool when this photo was taken. The rear window of the truck had a hard frost.

Cora. Soccer, Camping, Caterpillar and Grampa Dan

Cora with Grampa Dan

Soccer training with Grampa Dan.

Campground wildlife.

Wow...wow!

Camping near Two Harbors MN.

A weekend camping and fishing trip.

We had beautiful weather. Nice warm sunny days. Cool no bugs evenings. A lake nearly to ourselves. Everyone caught fish. Everyone! Good food. Hot coffee and cool Rolling Rocks. And of course great friends to make the weekend great. Oh yes and a fish fry on Sunday night.

Everyone caught fish. 

Some caught larger fish.

Some caught a nice stringer of fish.

Some caught bait fish. But looked good doing it.

Some caught nice fish and cooked a great fish fry for the group.

 Some took an un-scheduled swim. 

Some traveled in style.

Some floated the lake with oars in hand. And fished with "Dandelions".

Some cleaned fish with ease.

Some EVENTUALLY took a nap. Under protest.

We all enjoyed beautiful weather and scenery.

And of course we all ended the days sitting around the campfire with sticky marshmallow fingers, chocolate lips and Graham cracker crumbs in our laps. 

Three days on Duluth's North Shore.

Choice campsite at the "D&D Campground". We always enjoy our visit with our Duluth friends. This choice site is their front yard and this is the view(s) they see everyday.

One of the 3-5 ship we saw pass each day.

Great Lake Ship.

Three masted 'four sail' ship.

When seen together the sailing ship seems fairly large. Ok here is a guess. Based on the person on deck being an estimated 6 feet. I make the boat length to be 48 feet. Any photo analysts in the viewing audience?

"Little Miss Daisy"

"Little Miss Daisy Clover"

A teaching moment.

Dragonfly

Dragonfly.

Lightning over NW Wisconsin.

Lightning over NW Wisconsin.

This video is the 100th YouTube video I  have posted.

Early evening moon looking toward Wisconsin.

A special thanks to D & D for a fun few days.  As always.

First camping trip 2011

We took a quick overnight camping trip to the Twin Cities. Saturday night we slept in our Little Guy camper. First trip out this year. Thanks to Joe and Barb for "hosting" our overnight stay in River Falls WI. Saturday night we had some thunderstorms pass through. Lots of lightening, thunder and rain. What followed was warm temperatures. 

On our trip back this morning we rode with windows open from River Falls to just south of Grand View. Temps drop from mid sixties to mid forties in about a five mile stretch. Fog from 118 and 63 intersection to Ashland.

Packed and ready.

Animal Farm's  "Old Major" heading  home to the Twin Cities.

Herbster ("tornado alley") camping 2010.

We felt slightly out of place. The small guy on the block. The little brother.

This was the great part of the two days we spent in Herbster on the beach.
Sunny and quiet. 

 

Additional proof the summer is not over.

 

The next morning. The campground was emptying and the rain was falling.

The weather forecast called for occasional showers. We held out until 5:00 p.m.
  We waited for a break in the showers. Packed and headed home.

Leaving for this trip.  Hoping for one more trip before the snow flies. Donna and I decided we have been camping at Herbster for thirty years. On one of the first trips we gave the campground it's nickname 'tornado alley'. It probably should have been called water spout alley. But tornado alley sounded better.

TORNADO ALLEY... how it gots it's name.

On one trip in the mid 1980's. We had setup camp with two popup tent campers. We faced the campers door to door about 10 feet apart. In one camper were the two older boys and their grandmother.  In the other camper mom, dad and kids.

At some point in the late afternoon early evening the weather started to turn cloudy and windy. The skies darkened and the winds built. Across the lake we could see an approaching wall of rain with an occasional lighting flash. 

The storm was coming out of the northwest across Lake Superior. It is approximately 30 miles across Lake Superior to the Minnesota shore.

As the storm approached the winds had the canvas on the campers shaking and the roof swaying side to side.  Everyone had moved inside by now.  Inside our respective campers.  As we watch the approaching storm (not our first in the campers) we notice what appeared to be water spout building....... this was a definite first.

At that moment we realized we were committed there was no where to go. The winds continued to build and the rains intensified while we watched through the windows.

At a point grandma decided it was time for her to move to the other camper with us. As she crossed between the two campers I met her in the middle and asked where the boys were. She said they were sleeping and didn't want to get up. Sleeping! Who could sleep through this? Howling winds driving rains and what sure looked like a water spout...tornado coming across the lake toward us. I jumped in the camper grab the two boys and pushed them out the door toward the our camper. 

Once inside we all huddled together while the storm passed through. At the high point it tore off the canopy on one camper and blew tree branched and other debris through the campsite. 

It was gone as quickly as it had come. No one was hurt and the damage to equipment was minor and repairable. We all got out of the camper and surveyed the damage to the campground.

To this day we don't know if the "eye" of the storm passed through the campground. But on that day as we sat there recovering from the experience my mom said "well this is the last time I'm coming to this tornado alley to camp". 

So Hebster campground on that day became tornado alley to our family. 

My mom didn't stick to her promise to never return to tornado alley. We would often take her there on her summer visits. Sometime just a ride and a picnic. On a few occasions an overnight camp over.  

Now that she has passed she is still with us on our trips to "tornado alley". 

It always brings a smile to my face and a tear to my eye when I remember her saying "well this is the last time I'm coming to this tornado alley to camp".

This is not "our" water spout but it sure looks like what I remember crossing toward us that day. 

Spending a few days with friends in Duluth. Camping on Lake Superior

One of the tallships that visited Duluth over the pass weekend. This photo was shot from a moving car with a 400 mm lens. Hopefully you can still tell it is a tallship under sail.

This was shot from shore again at the maximum range for my 400 mm lens.

Here our campsite screen house and all. In an earlier post I said I was looking forward to no mosquitoes and yellow jackets.......I forgot BLACK FLIES. So here is a revision of my final word in the previous post.

Mosquitoes, yellow jackets and black fly free camping. Yeah!

Mosquitos be gone... Bug free camping.

We just received this screenroom via UPS. We have been waiting for 6 weeks (back order).

We just set it up to test out our vision of enclosing the camper under the screen room. Our hopes have been confirmed. There is plenty of room for the camper with room left for chairs and a small table for cooking and having meals.

We love camping but each year the mosquitos and Yellowjacket (and here) numbers seem to increase making it more and more difficult to enjoy the outdoor experience.

So let the mosquito/yellowjacket free camping begin.

Michigan U.P. fishing and camping trip.

Traveling east in the Michigan U.P.

Camping near Paradise MI.

Entrance to Paradise MI. Paradise...? Look here. Read and enjoy. For another take on literary connected locations in the MI U.P. see here.

Suspension Bridge over the mouth of the Two Hearted River.

Crisp Point Light House on the north shore of Michigan U.P. (West of White Fish Bay).

Shore of Lake Superior looking west from the lighthouse.

Shore of Lake Superior looking east from the lighthouse.

Anyone know the name of this moth?

Trout caught under the bridge at the mouth of the "Big" Two Hearted River.

Grand Marais MI

Now known as The Lake Superior Brewing Company.

Great bar. Good drinks. Fun locals.

Thanks Ashleigh and Dan. Ashleigh is by far the hardest working bartender I seen in a longtime. Dan just moved to the region to help run his granddad's business.

"THE BEST" juke box in the U.P.......... I'm told

Rock hunting and swimming.

There are hatches and THERE ARE HATCHES. This was latter.

Dandelions. It isn't Wareham MA and it isn't Tautog.  I'm still fishing 55 years later. I still think of my first fishing partner every time I wet a line. Thanks again Dad for teaching me to fish. Here (#1) is a Google Map image of the spot where I caught my first fish circa 1952-1955. Spot #2 are the "finger piers"

An underwater photo taken with my new underwater camera when it was working which was just before it wasn't working. 

May fishing trip part 2. May 30th was "species day". I caught Smallmouth bass (3), Largemouth bass (1), Northern Pike (4), Bluegills (10), Walleye (1). All catch and release. All but the Largemouth Bass were in season and legal size. Most but not all were caught on a foam fly I tied from a pattern (see here and here) found here on the internet.