All creatures great and small, shown here in the order we observed them.  We saw a great many others that we couldn’t capture, especially birds.

Wednesday, June 7-Thursday, June 8                                                                                     Neys Provincial Park                                                                                                                     Terrance Bay, Ontario

We crossed into Canada at Thunder Bay, Ontario.

I was ready with my camera for this one!!  Hey Girlfriend!

There are provincial parks about every 50 miles along Highway 17 through Ontario. We stopped at Neys for the night.  The parks cost more than US parks (about $25 a night), but they have nice facilities (i.e. showers and laundry rooms).

Thursday, June 8-Friday, June 9                                                                                                    Chutes Provincial Park, Massey, Ontario

This park is situated on the Sables-Spanish Rivers, and is named after a logging chute that used to divert timber around a falls.  The park is right on the highway, and although we had a nice campground, there was a lot of traffic noise.

We knew this would be our last night camping, and I felt a bit disappointed in this park, which just can’t compare to most of the national parks that we’ve seen.  We made dinner and built a fire, and as the skies darkened we were treated to the most amazing chorus of bird songs that I have ever heard.  I was reminded to be grateful and open to new experiences every day.

Friday, June 9-Saturday, June 10                                                                                           Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec

We wanted to spend our last night in Montreal, as neither of us have been there and we’ve heard a lot about this city and its beauty.  We discovered that this was the weekend of a grand prix race and the city was filled to capacity with people who had come to see this popular event.  We ended up in this suburb in a very strange little motel.  

The woman at the desk told us that motel was full because of the race, but she did manage to find us a room.  Ours was the only car in the parking lot. (?)  It was a fitting, quirky end to our adventures on the road.

Saturday, June 10                                                                                                                          5 Union St, Belfast, Maine

We got an early start and arrived home in the afternoon to this welcome site.

Not only had Phil put up this sign, he was waiting to help us unload the car.  It sure felt good to be home!!

Yes, I know I am posting this on August 29, and we have been home for 2 1/2 months. I never have been able to keep a daily journal!!  I have several more posts planned to pay tribute to the wildlife and plant life that delighted us so much, and to make notes of other things I don’t want to forget.  Thank you for reading and commenting on our trip!  I would encourage everyone to visit as many national parks as possible; they are such a treasure.  I have been so disturbed about many things that are happening in our country, and this trip did a lot to restore my faith in America and the people who live here.  We found beauty and kindness around every turn, and I feel so grateful, so lucky, and so blessed to have had this experience.  I could not have had a better road companion than Andy.  He woke up every morning in a good mood, and never lost interest or enthusiasm for traveling, camping, hiking, and exploring.  I love that man!!

 

Tuesday, June 6-Wednesday, June 7                                                                                         Judge CR Magney Campground                                                                                             Minnesota North Shore

Minnesota continues to impress us with its lakes, its beauty, and…

Driving from Voyageurs NP across to the North Shore, we went through a forested area on a two lane road. Up ahead, I noticed some kind of structure on the side of the road.  As we got closer, I suddenly realized, IT WAS A MOOSE!!! We slowed down and stared in stunned disbelief as it casually crossed the road in front of us.  It was a huge bull with enormous antlers, and he was wearing a collar!  We later found out that the moose population is declining in Northern Minnesota, and some have been collared so scientists can track their whereabouts.  I was too surprised to take a picture, but neither of us will ever forget him.  We were so excited!!

This monument is located on the border of Minnesota and Ontario, on the shore of Lake Superior. It was not a planned destination, but proved to be an interesting place to visit.  This nearby campground is nice, too.

We can set up and break down camp with a smooth rhythm now; we each have our own tasks, and every item has its own place.  I thought maybe we’d get tired of sleeping in our tent and living outdoors, but honestly, I will really miss it.  Andy has said the same thing.We bought this tent at REI before we moved to Maine and had used it a lot before this trip. We broke a pole during high wind conditions on Padre Island in Texas, but a little splint worked just fine for the rest of the trip.  We’ll have to send the pole for repair after this season.  One of our smartest investments was a high quality queen size mattress by ExPed.  It self inflates when unrolled, and comes with a hand pump so that air can be added to make it firmer.  There is a layer of memory foam inside that keeps the mattress warm as well as making it extremely comfortable.  I can’t recommend it highly enough for car camping.  Add a double sleeping bag and real pillows, and it’s just as good as any bed anywhere!!

Grand Portage was designated a national monument in 1958. It is on the Ojibwe reservation, and has been reconstructed to give visitors a glimpse of a bustling fur trade depot in a location where a major canoe fur trade route of the voyageurs left the great lakes. The route began with a grueling 9 mile portage.

There are docents here dressed in period clothing who explain to visitors what this place was like during its heyday in the late 18th century.  This man not only dresses the part, he spends each day building and maintaining canoes, using the same methods as the original builders.  We talked to him for quite a while, and it’s clear that he loves his work.  After we left his workshop we heard him playing a button accordion (beautifully).

We had dinner at Naniboujou Lodge, very close to our camp.  Named for the Cree god of the outdoors, this lodge was intended to be an exclusive private club.  Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey were among the charter members, but unfortunately, the club opened in 1929 and went bankrupt soon after.  The establishment changed hands many times over the years and fell into disrepair, but is now privately owned and has been beautifully restored.  The dining room is painted with Cree symbols and is pretty amazing!  We were told that this is the original paint.

You just never know what the day will bring!!

Sunday, June 4-Tuesday, June 6                                                                                       Wooden Frog State Campground, Lake Kabetogama

Here is another park that we almost skipped.  When I investigated the camping options, we learned that camp sites are accessible by boat only, and it wasn’t clear how much of the park we could actually see by land.  Andy really wanted to go, so we found a state campground right outside the park and took a chance.  Wouldn’t you know it, this place turned out to be one of our favorites!  The campground was great.

This is what we saw right behind our tent.

The park straddles the border of Minnesota and Canada.  There are 4 main lakes; Rainy, Kabetogama, Namakan, and Sand Point.  In the early 1700s, European demand for beaver pelts brought fur traders into the region. These voyageurs paddled large birch bark canoes carrying trade goods and furs between the Canadian northwest and Montreal.
Our campground is on the shore of Kabetogama.

This was taken at a nearby market.  We had never eaten walleye; it’s really good. Kind of like our haddock; it’s the local catch.

The Voyageurs visitor center is accessible by car.  There were 3 young women working there and they seemed very glad to see us. Business is pretty slow this time of year, apparently.  They encouraged us to find a way to get on the lakes and see the park.  We thought we might rent kayaks from the lodge we noticed next to the campground.  We got up the next morning and drove over there. We saw a pontoon boat leaving the dock, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else around except these white pelicans.

We did finally find a guy inside the main building.  We asked about kayaks and he said he could probably hook us up.  Andy asked about the boat we had seen leaving the dock and it turned out to be a tour boat. “I can call the captain and see if he’ll come back and get you,” the guy said.  That sounded like a plan, and sure enough, it was only a few minutes before the boat pulled up and we got on.

There were two other couples in addition to the captain.  Both couples were long time campers and national park junkies, and we got along great.  The trip lasted all day and took us on 2 lakes, Kabetogama and Namakan. We went to 3 park destinations, all of which were established before this area became a national park about 40 years ago.

The first place we went was a resort that was owned for many years by a family who built and maintained several cottages, a main house where meals were served, and (my favorite part), an ice house.  The ice house was designed so that it could keep ice cut from the lake for up to 2 years.

The cabins have been preserved by the park service but are not available to rent. The grounds are available for day use, though.  It must have been a lot of fun to come here in the 50s and 60s to fish, swim, and relax.

We went to the Kettle Falls Hotel.  This hotel was built in 1913 as lodging for men working in the lumbering industry. It was sold a few years later for $1000 and a few barrels of whiskey.  Due to its proximity to the Canadian border, the hotel undoubtedly had a role in illegal activities during Prohibition. Our guide told us that many famous people stayed there, including Charles Lindbergh and John D. Rockefeller.  It is still open for business as a hotel and restaurant.  We had lunch on the screen porch (walleye, of course) and enjoyed the bar specialty, some kind of spiked pink lemonade.

 

All day we passed campsites only accessible by boat, some on islands and others on the shoreline of the many peninsulas in the lakes.  Each one has a bear box, a table, and a fire pit, and from what we saw, all of them have amazing views.

Our last stop was the Ellsworth Rock Garden. This beautiful and whimsical place was created in the 1940s by Jack Ellsworth, a carpenter from Chicago.  For twenty years the family summered on this property while Ellsworth built a terraced garden on the rocky outcrop. He planted 13,000 lilies and built hundreds of abstract rock sculptures.  After his death the garden was neglected and some of the sculptures fell into disrepair, but the park service, with the help of local volunteers, has been hard at work to bring everything back to its original splendor. Unfortunately, the lilies weren’t blooming during our visit, but the place is still amazing.

There are over 40 pairs of eagles that return to the same nests here each year.

It was a beautiful day and a beautiful evening, too.  Voyageurs makes the list as the most pleasant surprise of the trip.  Thank you Andy, for following your instincts and making the decision to come here. Our guide told us he’d be happy to take us out to an island campsite if we come back.  We’ve got his telephone number and we will definitely see him again!!

I felt a little sad as we packed up to leave the last national park we’ll see for awhile. Not a single park disappointed us; we could have stayed longer at every one of them. And we haven’t seen half of them yet!

Saturday, June 3-Sunday, June 4                                                                                           Bemidji, Minnesota

We stopped at this park on the way to Voyageurs, the last national park on our list (this trip!).  The park is named for both the lake and the town of Bemidji, and is located in the the northern central part of Minnesota.  The lake is almost 7,000 acres. We spent a nice afternoon on the beach in our campground.

It was a little too cool for swimming, but we enjoyed sitting out with a book and a beverage.  In the evening, we went into town and walked around.  We ran into these two characters.

That Paul Bunyan sure got around in his day.  This version looks a bit different than his statue in Bangor.

The moustache adds a certain je ne sais quoi, I think.

 

Friday, June 2-Saturday, June 3

Of course we had to go to Fargo!!  I’m a big Cohen brothers fan, and Fargo is one of my favorite movies.  (The TV series is pretty great, too!).  We spent the night in a motel on the outskirts of town.  It was nothing special, but happened to be located near a Mazda dealer. That was good, because we needed an oil change and tire rotation.  They discovered a nail in one of the tires, which accounted for the low tire pressure warning light that had been showing up for a couple of days and requiring Andy to put in some air.  This was the only automobile issue we had during our entire trip, so we can report that we’re very happy with our Mazda CX-9.

On the way to Fargo we saw a sign for the Enchanted Highway, featuring the “world’s largest outdoor metal sculpture.” Since we had been unable to find the world’s largest ball of string, we figured we better check it out.

Here it is!  There are several more pieces on this road, but we only went a little ways, then decided we better keep heading east.

The artist created and installed these works to encourage travelers to visit his town-Regent, North Dakota.  Next time!

Fargo is a pretty neat town; lots of old buildings and some interesting shops.

I like this business model!

We didn’t see anything weird or diabolical; I must say I was disappointed.  The only strange thing we noticed were the three old time barber shops downtown that were closed on Saturdays.  Isn’t that a prime day for haircuts??  Pretty fishy, if you ask me.

Wednesday, May 31-Friday, June 2                                                                                             Cottonwood Campground, Medora, North Dakota

Theodore Roosevelt bought a ranch here in 1883, and later bought a second one. These lands became part of the park.  Roosevelt came here to heal after the death of his wife and mother, who died in his home on the same day.  The land looks much the same as it did in those days; remote, largely uninhabited, somewhat forbidding, but also very beautiful.

Roosevelt credited his time here as instrumental in healing and growing from his deep grief. He often said that he could never have become President without the time he spent here.

We shared the campground with more wildlife than people.

We went on a long hike through what used to be open range.  We saw beautiful wildflowers,

bison on the trail,

a herd of wild horses high above us (this is the stallion),

and another prairie dog town!

I’m not sure what this structure is, but it looks like a human dwelling of some sort.

Our hike reminded me of old western movies.  I wasn’t sure at first that I would like it here; it was very hot (100 degrees), dry, and pretty desolate.  The land seemed more like the badlands I had imagined than what we saw in South Dakota.  By the time we left, though, I was beginning to feel the charm of these hills, and ravines, and could understand why Roosevelt was so impacted by the time he spent here. There’s a timeless, eternal quality that is hard to describe, but very powerful.  I pray that this land and this park will remain protected and cherished so that future generations will find it unchanged and powerful in its ability to heal and teach us.  I pray that for all our national parks, because they truly are our finest treasures.

Saturday, May 27-Wednesday, May 31                                                                                   The Black Hills of South Dakota

We decided to stay in Wind Cave instead of Badlands NP because of the proximity to other sites we wanted to visit.  We liked the Elk Mountain campground, which was not crowded and had large sites on grassy hills.  Once we had moved our picnic table off the anthill, it was a very pleasant place.

We also learned to look for a level spot to place our chairs.

The drive from Wyoming to South Dakota was beautiful.  I couldn’t stop taking pictures from the car; the mountains, the beautiful colors of the landscape, and that sky!!

We did a lot of sightseeing in South Dakota.

Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, South Dakota is an active paleontological dig. Sometime in the 1960’s this site was discovered when a developer began grading in preparation for a residential project.  The bulldozer uncovered some large bones, the developer called in some paleontologists from a nearby university, and the bones were determined to be those of wooly and Columbian mammoths.  The owner halted his plans, excavation of the bones began, and the work still continues. This is the largest concentration of mammoth remains in the world.  Most of the findings have been left in situ, and there are ramps and walkways around and over the site so that tourists can see the work in progress.

26,000 years ago, there was a hot springs here.  The warmth of the water encouraged plants to grow around the springs, which were lined with shale. Mammoths and other animals, attracted to the vegetation and the warmth of the water, went into the springs and then were unable to climb the slippery shale to get out.

This place is way cool.

We drove to Mt. Rushmore.  This is what we saw on the way.

We arrived just in time for a thunderstorm.  It was one of the few days that we were restricted by rain, and the storm passed over in about 20 minutes.  This gave us time to examine the gift shop.  Our collection of pins, walking stick medallions, and bumper stickers is growing.

We watched a video about the creation of this monument.  Pretty amazing engineering and artistry.  The rain made their noses run.

We spent a day in Badlands National Park.

On the way there, we passed through Scenic, South Dakota.  The buildings were all long abandoned, although many of them had new American flags flying above them. I was excited by the tumbleweed that rolled across the road while we were taking pictures.  It was kind of like a movie set.

There are many cool things about Badlands NP, and one of the coolest is the prairie dog town.  These guys are so cute!  Sometimes they’ll jump straight into the air like something is shooting them out of their holes.  They talk all the time, and it’s been discovered that their language is extremely sophisticated.  They are endlessly amusing to me; like watching a giant wack-a-mole game.

We went on a hike that featured scrambling over rocks and climbing up hills, and also led us through the prairie dog town (yay!).

While we were hiking we met a little boy and his dad coming toward us.  The little boy said, “better turn around, there’s a rattle snake back there!” I looked at the dad, who nodded to confirm this report.  I wanted to see it, so we kept going, but never saw the snake or heard a rattle.  Dang.

I didn’t see anything bad about the Badlands!

We visited Crazy Horse Monument.  When completed, this will be the largest sculpture in the world.  The sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, was commissioned by the Lakota Nation and began work here in 1948.  The family still continues his mission, with 4 of his 10 children and several grandchildren involved in the daily operation.  The family has never accepted public funding and the work is entirely financed by donations and admission funds.  There is a large visitor center with a gift shop and restaurant.  The center is also home to a Native American museum that houses a tremendous collection of artifacts from tribes all over North America.

The face of Crazy Horse is complete, and the work now focuses on his outstretched hand, which points to the land where his people are buried.  We are grateful to have had a chance to see this place and learn about the vision behind it.  Andy and I agree with Mike and Tricia, who were more impressed with this monument than with Mt. Rushmore.

We liked the nearby town of Custer, South Dakota.  It still has a feel of the old west, with saloons, trading posts, and a variety of shops.

There is a great trading post in Custer; bins full of bear claws, buttons and beads made from various types of bone and horn, bags made from bison testicles (!), skulls of every description, Native American artifacts and jewelry, and all manner of other things.   I neglected to get a picture of it, unfortunately. We bought a deer skull to hang somewhere on our house or fence.  Every garden needs one, right?

In Hill City, we took a ride through the Black Hills on a restored steam engine train.

I loved this outbuilding that utilized an immense boulder as part of the wall.

Resourceful architecture!

South Dakota is beautiful, and from what we saw, largely unspoiled.  It felt like the “real” west.  Mikey was on my mind during our stay here; he and Tricia spent quite a bit of time in this part of the country.  Now I can see why they recommended that we visit here.  Next stop, Theodore Roosevelt National Park near Medora, North Dakota.

Wednesday, May 24-Saturday, May 27                                                                                     Jenny Lake Campground

We drove straight to Jenny Lake campground, which is located roughly in the center of the park.  We liked it because it’s tents only, and the sites are large and wooded.  It was windy when we arrived, but we’ve gotten pretty expert at setting up the tent in high wind conditions.  The weather was good for the most part; cold at night and 40s to 50s during the day.

We came here determined to see a moose after being denied at Yellowstone, so the first thing we did was a hike to Moose Lake.  Lovely, but no moose in sight. We also drove to some spots in the park known to be favored by moose.  No luck. Everywhere we heard people talking about seeing moose.  “I saw one in the parking lot of the visitor center!” I heard a woman say.  “I saw a mom with her calf on the road yesterday!”

Despite driving to every location recommended by the rangers and other “experts,” hanging out for hours at Oxbow Bend and Willow Flats while scanning the marshes with binoculars, and being keenly attuned to every movement in every bush, we saw nothing.  We did see a beautiful yellow warbler and there was a martin in the campground one morning, but that was about it for wildlife.

The Tetons, however, are the most magnificent mountains I’ve ever seen.  French trappers called these three peaks les Trois Tetons (the three breasts). There are no foothills; the peaks rise right out of the earth for a mile.  They were covered in snow during our visit, and we could see many tracks where hikers climbed up and skied down.  I can’t begin to imagine how terrifying that would be!

We did some hiking as well as driving through the park, and we had a very pleasant and informative boat ride around Jenny Lake.  Our guide grew up in the area and is very knowledgeable about the history and geology of the mountains.  The Tetons are young and still growing. They extend for 40 miles and were formed by earthquake activity along a fault line.  We could see the fault from our boat.  We could also see a glacier at one of the peaks.  Our guide told us that he has climbed this glacier and has also seen it diminish by 75% in his lifetime.  He’s 30 years old.

 

We were near Jackson Hole, the famous ski resort, and the town of Jackson.  We spent a pleasant afternoon exploring there.  There is an elk preserve nearby (the elk aren’t around this time of year) and every spring, the local boy scouts collect the antler shed and sell them at auction in Jackson.  The money goes to maintaining the preserve.

We saw some interesting art in Jackson, including the closest thing to a moose we could find.

 

I always fall for the smart ones.

We went to the local rec center to take a shower.  The town has very nice amenities, including this facility.  As I was getting out of the shower in the women’s locker room, I heard someone calling for help.  I ran around the corner to find a woman lying on the floor.  She had slipped and hit her head and was bleeding.  I went to the front desk to report the accident; several staff people sprang into action and surrounded her while they waited for the ambulance.  She had come to swim with her husband and grandchildren, and their happy afternoon was interrupted by this event.  I didn’t get her name, but she is one of the people from our trip that I continue to think about.

Grand Teton National Park makes the list of top 5 most beautiful parks; I think I may have more than 5 places on the list already, but this one is definitely a winner.