Jenyfer Matthews

I have so many pictures of my time in Minnesota - what do you want? It’s a picturesque place! - I can’t possibly share them all here. I took the most pictures when I was out hiking in the woods so those are the ones you’ll get to see

My first stop in Minnesota was Duluth. We stayed in town a couple of days after flying in so I could do a bit of back to school shopping (school starts tomorrow - woo hoo!!) and take the kids to do a few town things, like visit the zoo. As zoos go, it is fairly small but it had some nice exhibits and was just big enough for the kids to get a good run around.

I try to resist taking animal pictures because they never turn out very well, but this guy was practically posing for the camera!

Calm down - it’s not a real tortoise…

Once I arrived in the woods, the first really long hike we took was actually just over the border in Ontario - called Fingerpoint Trail. The trail head actually starts in the parking lot of the Ontario Welcome Center and following the trail to the summit is actually about a 3 mile walk.

See that bump? The top of that knob is our goal…

The view from the top of the knob - beautiful!

This is a beach along Lake Superior where the trail passes. If you collect driftwood, this is the beach for you!

This shiny log caught my eye - hasn’t dried out quite as much as the others and was shining like gold in the sun

The children loved to play on the various beaches along Lake Superior - any excuse would do. It’s hardly the worst place in the world to hang out for an hour so I spent a lot of time there while they stripped down and swam. I thought after the first time that the frigid water temperatures would put them off, but what do I know? So while they played polar bears, I snacked. Look at all the wonderful beach food I found:

There is nothing tastier than wild raspberries - picking them yourself makes them taste better!

Wild beach peas - they only grow in the rocks and gravel along the beach.

These are best eaten raw - like most fresh peas. Yummy!

Tomorrow - more pictures from the deep woods…

Summers are short in northern Minnesota (for frame of reference, it’s been down to about 42F the last couple of nights). So when the weather is nice, as it has been lately, you have to get out and take advantage of it. Which is what we did, non-stop, all weekend long.

Saturday was cool, breezy, and clear. We took a morning walk, and then headed out to the Grand Portage reservation around lunchtime to catch the grand entry of their dancers at the annual pow-wow. We’ve been for the last several years and the children really enjoy looking at the elaborate costumes and head dresses and watching them dance to their traditional drumming. It is a striking display.

After the dancing and a look at all the sales tables - my daughter bought herself and her brother each a buffalo tooth, because hey, it was there - my dad and step-mother and I took the children to a beach along Lake Superior. It was windy enough that the waves were pretty high but that didn’t put the children off at all, nor did the fact that the water couldn’t have been more than 40F - they both stripped down to their underwear and dove in! What doesn’t kill them…

Sunday was another gorgeous day. We packed a picnic lunch, the canoe, and off we went to the Swamp River. First we had lunch - bratwurst cooked over a campfire, cheetos, and smores - and then we got in the canoe. I’m surprised we didn’t sink it as much as we all ate! The river was tranquil and lovely as always - so calm in places it was like a mirror.

After our big lunch and our canoe trip, we went blueberry picking. That makes it sound easy - before we found any blueberries we first had to climb a small mountain along a trail that was a tad overgrown. I really should have brought along a machete. I had on jeans and insect repellent, but someone needs to write to the makers of Off! and tell them that the Minnesota mosquitoes and black flies laugh in the face of their floral fresh spray. They bit me through my shirt so thoroughly I look like I have measles on my back! (we won’t talk about my face!)

We were at least rewarded at the top with a bumper crop of blueberries.

So my city children learned a thing or two this weekend: 1) don’t rock the boat - particularly if you are in a canoe, 2) always wear jeans when going hiking with grandpa, 3) don’t beat on rotten logs unless you want to stir up the ants, 4) it’s a good idea to pee downhill if you want to keep your shoes clean.

Less than a week left now. Time flies when you’re having fun…