Casa Blanca: August 2013

Rusty decided that when he turned 65, he would take a solo trip into the wilderness. Before the trip could begin, he carved a new paddle for himself.

This was a multi-wood, wide-blade paddle.

We drove to Ely and spent the night at Fenske Lake. The moon was beautiful, but the mosquitoes were awful.

View from the dock at Fenske.

Rusty enjoys a sip of vino at Fenske.

The next morning we drove to Snowbank entry point and Rusty readied the canoe.

Rusty is packed and ready to set sail on his solo trip into the wilderness.

Paddling east, into the sunrise.

It would be four days and three nights before I would see Rusty again. Here are some photos he took while alone in the wilderness.

Rusty selected a spot on Ahsub Lake, hidden behind an island.

It takes several trips to unload all the gear from the canoe. When Rusty landed the canoe, he did not have it securely up on shore. After taking the first packs out of the canoe, Rusty turned around for the second load and saw the canoe drifting away. He jumped in with all of his clothes and shoes ( and PFD) and swam to catch the canoe. Then he had to drag it back to shore!

Just imagine being here with no canoe and no paddles.

It rained the first night, so Rusty made use of the tarp.

The one-man tent didn't offer much room.

One night Rusty enjoyed fresh bass for dinner.

The quietness of the canoe allowed Rusty to get very close to this eagle.

It looks like a beautiful spot!

Yup! Really beautiful!

The morning that Rusty was to return, there was a mist over the lake.

Meanwhile, back in Ely on the same morning, I saw a mist over Shagawa Lake.

This picture was taken from my breakfast table!

While Rusty was in the wilderness, I explored Ely on foot and by bicycle. I did my best to stimulate the local economy.

This cute little place was half art gallery and half coffee shop.

I thought the decor was very cute!

Enjoying an afternoon latte.

I spent some time with the beautiful wildflowers.

A family favorite read is Blueberries for Sal by Robert Mc Closkey.

I felt like I was living the book when I climbed up on the ridge to pick blueberries with Steve Johnson, our guide.

The blueberries are tiny, but yummy!

While waiting for Rusty to return on Sunday morning, I hiked back to Kawishawi Falls.

I spent some meditation time in the clouds.

...and reflecting

I hiked to the portage points and saw the power house below the falls.

Rusty survived and enjoyed his solo wilderness trip, but he says he prefers going with me. Me too!

A week after the Minnesota trip, I flew to Philadelphia to be with Felicia and Ruby while Sam was working in Saratoga, NY.
We took a bus ride to the Archeology Museum, which had an outdoor space offering dinner and music from a mandolin band.

One night we went to Bailey's (friend of Ruby) birthday party. I understand these parties always have pizza and cake. This one did not disappoint.

Many days we played in a park.

This was in Bear Park.

This park has a corral full of riding toys.

At daycare, Ruby invited me to join in the music fest.

Mommy shows Ruby how to manage that big ice cream from John's.

One of Ruby's recognizable people also ate at John's, but not the same day we did.

Ruby is very close to understanding how to pump herself on the swing, but she still enjoys being pushed.

I had a wonderfully exciting day with Felicia at the Korean Spa.

We started by taking a shower with one of three options: normal shower; room with low benches and flexible shower heads; or, (as Felicia calls it) the car wash with lots of shower heads.

Then we began testing the various rooms, each one with it's own level of heat.


This was the granite room, supposed to be good for arthritis. One is to lie on the floor and let the granite warm your body.

We also tried the jade room (good for high blood pressure and type II diabetes) and the sea salt room where you can massage your feet in a giant pile of sea salt. We also tried both the dry sauna and the wet sauna.

They had various pools with different temperatures. This one had water flowing from the ceiling.

And the very best part was our 90 minute body scrub, massage, facial and hair washing.

I highly recommend this experience. I felt like I had been reborn with brand new skin. One caveat: you have to be down with being naked the entire time!