Day in the Life of an Idiot

 My family has a funny divide. As I mentioned in my previous post, we are generally, as a family, “indoorsy.” However, despite also being this way, I have this weird compunction to get out and see things every now and again. I like to read up on all the various nearby ‘attractions.’ Sometimes, I can even talk my family into heading off to see one or two of them with me.

 The title of today's journal entry is curtesy of Mason, who spent much of the day in the back seat as we were driving around, reading. Occasionally, he would look up and wonder what we were doing.  We also spent a surprising amount of today on dirt roads... only once were we terribly, terribly lost.

But, I get ahead of the story.

We left Grand Rapids, Minnesota, today in gray, overcast weather.  Our first stop was Deer River a town that "roadside attractions" told us would have a giant statue of a northern pike.  We even knew that this supposedly large fish was supposed to be at the intersection of highway 2 and "Division Street." We circled that town three times.  Finally, giving up, we turned up Highway 6 and lo, and behold! Highway 6 WAS DIVISION STREET.  We found our fish (which, for reasons of goofy driver syndrome, I called a 'duck' and several other animals instead of fish.)



Because the only thing we had to do today was get from Grand Rapids to Bemidji, we decided to do a lot of scenic touring.  Shawn had picked up a brochure in the National Forrest Center on highway 38 near Marcell. It advertised a "self-guided auto tour" of the Chippewa National Forrest. The directions take you in a loop from Highway 38, down a few county roads, and then some very narrow forrest roads. It was TOTALLY WORTH IT.  

For one, all of the "spots of interest" were extremely well marked. Our first stop promised wildlife, and it actually delivered. Not only did we see a beaver swimming in the pond (our fifth of this trip), but we also saw four ducklings making their way back to their parent.  On the other side of the road was reported to be an osprey nest.

It was there... complete with osprey.



All the stops were fairly interesting, but I think my family's second favorite part was when we turned down a section of Forrest Road 2182 (the brochure warned: "this road is narrow. Proceed with caution" and they weren't kidding!). The location site was entitled "Tunnel of Trees" and it was really quite amazing. At several points we were driving under a dark canopy. The road was so narrow that it took us over a plank bridge that was really not much more than a few planks set at tire width.  VERY NARROW. 

My family likes to say "Might be worth a detour!" and this one really was.

The next place we headed towards was an area called "The Lost 40" because it really was lost at one point. A surveyor back in 1882 flaked. He and his crew left this section of woods off the map. They accidentally plotted "Coddington Lake nearly one half mile northwest of its actual location," and thus, when it came time for logging companies to divvy up the land, they missed 144 acres of virgin pine.  These are some of the oldest white and red pine trees in Minnesota.

There was another self-guided trail, this one a walking trail, for the Lost 40. Since we had such good luck with the scenic byway, we marched into the woods with confidence.

It was spectacular.



We also took the classic shot--hugging the ancient tree, to show how thick the trunk of some of the trees in this forest were.



Then we got terribly lost.  There were large informational markers on the trail, but the trail itself was not terribly well marked. This is somewhat problematic as pine forests (as you can see from the picture of my tree huggers) tends to be barren and thanks to the pine needles. But, we only went off-course a bit, accidentally going to the trail's end at Moose River. We were able to turn back and reconnect with the walk... but my "indoorsy" family was getting hot and sweaty.  The weather was cool, but we had our hoods up on our hoodies to try to mitigate a very serious mosquito situation.  At one point, when it looked like our informational markers were out of order, Shawn let out a disparaging sigh and said, "Okay, but if we're going in the wrong direction, you will have to CARRY me out of this forrest, because I am DONE."

But, did I mention how gorgeous it was?

It was really f*cking gorgeous.



After this, we probably should have headed directly to Bemidji, but we had planned to eat lunch in Blackduck, Minnesota.  Before we left the wifi at the Grand Rapids hotel, Shawn had found us a diner that looked pretty good. It was actually fairly amazing. It was Restaurant 71 in Blackduck and I don't know if it was so good because we were all so exhausted, but I may never have EVER had a better California burger in my ENTIRE LIFETIME.

We also took a picture of one of the two black ducks in Blackduck, MN, because we are totally the people who take pictures of all the cheesy statues.



We tried another scenic byway, this one called "Lady Slipper Scenic Byway."  A lot of our byways have been under construction this trip. As I told my friend Dorian on Facebook, it's the old Minnesota joke: "there are two seasons in Minnesota: winter and road construction."  The ranger at the information center told me that, despite the gravel bits, the road was open. It was, though, what she neglected to mention was that a lot of the "sites" were actually fairly far drives from the actual scenic byway. I had given up doing a bog walk on our earlier Chippewa Forrest scenic byway, because I was more hopeful that the bog walk advertised as part of the Webster Lake Campground would have showy lady slippers, which is a flower I have never seen in the wild.

But, WOW did we get lost trying to find Webster Lake Campground. It was here that Mason poked his head up and wondered, "Why are we on a dirt road AGAIN?"

We ended up having to abandon our search for that bog walk, but a few clicks down the road we saw a pull-out that said it was a "Lady Slipper Interpretative Site."

There was a tiny boardwalk there, but the lady slippers were fairly amazing.



I don't seem to have much luck with bog walks. We're spending a day here in Bemidji and Shawn found me a brochure advertising a bog walk in Bemidji State Park. We'll see if I actually make it there tomorrow.  The big thing we want to be sure to do is hit the Mississippi headwaters in Itasca State Park, but other than that we've got no plans. 

After that, we head home to see if the kitties are still alive and if the house is still standing (pretty sure our cat sitter, Mr. Murphy, is doing a great job, but you know how you worry when you've been gone a long time.)

So far, it's been a wonderful vacation. There has been, as Mason has said, a lot of "looking at trees," but they have been very good trees, indeed.

I'm writing to you from the Bearskin Lodge just off the Gunflint Trail, not far from the start of the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area, for those non-Minnesotans who might be reading.) We've decided to extend our stay here another day, so I won't be back to blog about life, the universe, and everything until Wednesday.

Despite what you see before you, internet does not come easily here. It's a short hike to the main lodge, but I'm not planning on sitting here when I could be out there with the pristine lake, moose, and more.

See you when we get back!