The brevity of this blog does not reflect the magnitude of changes that have happened for us since the last posting.
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| On my August 9 birthday, Rusty and I paddled Fine Lee, our canoe, at Holmes Lake. |
The following week some of my Lincoln bike riding friends and I rode along the North Shore in Minnesota.
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| Beautiful boardwalk and adjacent bike trail along Lake Superior. |
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| Beautiful biking weather for us in the Two Harbors area. |
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| Dipping toes in Lake Superior |
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| Enjoying lunch at Fitgers in Duluth |
As we began our bike ride on August 15th, a forest fire broke out just north of Two Harbors. It was a rapidly spreading fire about 20 miles south of our cabin. As of Oct. 1 it was reported to have burned 26,797 acres and be 80% contained. We never felt our cabin was in imminent
danger, but with dominant south winds, it was concerning.
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| The Greenwood Fire |
The Greenwood Fire, the multiple fires in Canada and the extremely dry conditions all contributed to a two-week closing of the Boundary Waters--the first time in its 50-plus years. Lucky for us it re-opened before our scheduled September trip.
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| We had another beautiful fall-color trip with our favorite guide, Steve. |
Rusty made a lovely white oak table for the kitchen in our cabin.
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| Celebrating our new addition. |
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| Both the Sauna and the Woodshop/Bunkhouse were completed during our stay. |
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| Our builder, Mark Olson. What a great guy! |
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| This is the changing room in the front of the sauna. |
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| This is the steam room, completely lined in cedar. |
During our fall visit to the cabin, we made multiple trips to Duluth, MN, shopping for a home. The market there is beyond hot! After multiple bids well over asking price, we finally secured a home on our 5th attempt.
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| This is our small cottage, 99 years old. We have yet to set foot in it. All of the negotiations and paper-signing have been done on-line. |
For the past 6 weeks in Lincoln, we have been busy closing on houses, packing like crazy, and saying good-bye to friends. Oh, and we also made a trip to Twin Falls to see family.
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| It's always good to wrap my arms around my beautiful 95.5 year old mom! |
Dar and Tom are fabulous hosts. They fed us great meals, took us on nice hikes, and I especially enjoyed our quiet time in the hot tub.
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| Dar and I make really good sour cherry pie! |
I took my bike in for its last tune-up with Eric. He's been my main man mechanic for nearly 30 years.
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| Thanks, Eric, for such great service! |
My teacher-friend Cathy and I did several joint projects while at Irving Middle School. I gave Cathy one of Betty Wallace's saga pots, which was an inspiration for our best collaboration.
This picture is of four of our favorites. We've enjoyed many dinners and tons of good stories with them over the years. We had a nice evening saying our goodbyes.
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| Dave, Sue, Lou, Karl |
Next week my good friends Becky and Sissy are throwing a going-away party for us. It will be good to see everyone, but sad to leave them. The moving van will arrive at our Lincoln home on Dec. 1, pick up our worldly goods, and arrive in MN sometime between Dec. 4-11.
We expect to live at our cabin, 105 Sunset Road, Ely, MN 55731. When we require relief from the wilderness, special physical assistance, or a dose of culture from the city, we will travel two hours to our home in Duluth. It's also where we expect to land when we have "aged out" of the cabin.
