northern minnesota is gorgeous!

sunday (jul26) i decided to drive up the north shore. turns out minnesota past duluth and along lake superior is so beautiful! driving up I35 into duluth is gorgeous as you see the harbor from the higher up hwy. then (as suggested by the vetrinarian i shadowed on thursday) i drove through duluth and took the scenic hwy61 along the north shore.

here's a scenic pullout right north of duluth. i love rocky beaches!




someone before me had piled up some rocks.

the vet had suggested i drive up to grand marais, but that would have been a day of 8 hours of driving, which did not sound attractive. i made it up to split rock lighthouse, about 20 miles north of two harbors, mn. unfortunately for the cars behind me i drove pretty slow so i could take it all in. i guess that's their fault for choosing the scenic drive instead of the express route ;)



here is the lighthouse and the view from it.



another view from the lighthouse. you'd fall right into the big rocks, green water, and along the rusty orange cliff!



the rocky beaches below the lighthouse were pretty and had some fun rocky puddles!




after split rock lighthouse, i drove back down to two harbors, which is pretty unremarkable.



i walked out on this dock.



until i got to these bikes, i noticed the swarms and swarms of nats. OMG. after i got as far as that last picture, i ran back to shore. didn't even make it all the way to whatever that is at the end of the dock. the view was still nice despite the bugs.



after two harbors, i drove back toward duluth. i stopped at scenic cafe, just north of duluth and highly recommended by one of the vets, for dinner.



scenic cafe's building is unassuming (which is nice), but the food was kind of expensive and fancy without being spectacular. i had curried mussels.

finally i stopped back in duluth, this time with a camera. it had gotten darkish and cloudyish.



a view of the famous bridge in duluth. 3 kayaks are going to go under it; i guess they don't have to raise the bridge for the kayaks.



i left duluth just as it was starting to rain hard. the interstae out of duluth is kind hilly, that, plus the rain, and the setting of the sun, created a beautiful orange and shiny view as i was driving out of duluth. wow, north of duluth is WAY prettier than the stretch between moose lake and duluth.

a bit after i got back from duluth, albert, one of my classmates, arrived to start his internship in moose lake!

monday i didn't do much after the internship. it was really nice weather in the evening. i gave albert a tour of moose lake, we ate at art's cafe, and then took a two miles walk on the bike trail.

tuesday i decided to drive my bike up to carlton to bike the last 15 miles of the munger trail from carlton to duluth. from carlton, the trail starts out going through jay cooke state park. wow, the trail immediately is beautiful, incomparble to the whole stretch from finlayson to carlton that i had been biking. unfortunately this part of the trail also has a lot of patches of very torn up pavement, so it was a very bumpy ride. the most ominous part of the trip was that the whole way to duluth was basically downhill, which meant a glorious trip there, but a hard trip back! it was evening, and there were clouds, so i thought it would be wise to hussle. i finished the 30 mile trip in 2 hours and 12 mins, even with all the uphill, which is pretty good for me! i think the air in my tires was KEY! i got rained on a bit, which was even more motivation to keep up the pace. my legs were exhausted, but it was amazing! and the trail really was beautiful: patches of forest, ravines, mini canyons, rivers, lakes, etc.

wednesday (today!) i biked my favorite route (moose lake to mahtowa and back, 25 miles). i don't know why, i just like biking toward mahtowa so much more than biking toward willow river. 25 miles has become my standard longish-but-still-doable-after-work. today i tried to keep up a good pace. i ended up averaging 14 mph and finishing in 1 hour and 47 mins. i think this will have been my last bike ride during my stay here. (sad.) i've gotten kind of hooked on biking. i always start every trip regretting my decision to go, but by the end, it is exhilerating to know that i have biked 25 miles, or even 50 miles! tomorrow there is rain in the forecast and i leave on fri. i am sad to see my retreat come to a close.

truly, it has been a retreat. i have gotten used to life here: basically no responsibilities save showing up to follow someone around during the day, biking in the sun, or crafting during the dark and raining hours; eating well; sleeping well.