Fading and Falling

Great weather again; but wind gusts up to 40-50 mph.  With gusts like that…there are a lot less colorful leaves on those trees today.  We came across a plowed field that was having it’s own little dust storm going on due to the high winds and nothing planted to hold the soil in place.  I can only imagine the dust storms of Arizona that engulf miles and miles of terrain.  It must be a pretty scary thing to get caught in the middle of that!  Our's are only little dirt devils.

From Iron Mountain, Michigan we headed south toward home.  We were so glad we sought out the colors when we did because the colors were fading fast.  It’s hard to believe that in 4 short days the bright, eye-catching colors could melt away so quickly.  And now with the high winds, those blotches of colors were floating to the ground to form layers of blended browns.  There's something beautiful about that too… as we noticed that same transformations when we arrived at our own home.

The warm weather is suppose to continue… so we will have at least another week to enjoy this wonderful Indian Summer.  The crunch of the leaves beneath our feet is always a reminder that shortly, a layer of snow will cover these leaves and silence them once again until next fall.  Ahhhhhh  



Finding Fantastic Falls in Fall...???

Yesterday set a high temperature of 88 in Minnesota, a record that took 132 years to beat! Today…another “put the top-down” day. Our route today will take us north until we reach Lake Superior. We have been this way before; but the trees are gorgeous and the drive along Lake Superior is worth seeing time and time again. We have a tendency to stop and revisit places we enjoy numerous times. Some of these stops are the magnificent waterfalls found in Wisconsin. South of Superior are two of these great waterfalls. One of which is the highest in Wisconsin and the 4th highest east of the Rocky Mountains. The falls, known as Manitou, is 165 feet high and is absolutely magnificent!

We were amazed at the work put into building this beautiful stone wall by the Manitou Falls.

Just when we think we have seen the most colorful display of trees…there are more around the corner competing.

The other falls, south of Superior, is the Amnicon Falls. It’s only 20 feet high; but it is the result of a fault that is found there. When standing on the bridge, you are actually standing on the fault line. Looking up at the falls you see volcanic rock that was pushed up forming the falls. If you look down river, you can see the many layers of sandstone on the other edge of the fault line. There is volcanic rock under that sandstone, but some 3,000 feet under. Just one of those wonders of the Earth’s formation.

The bridge on the Douglas Fault Line.

The shoreline of Lake Superior is a goldmine for rock hounds. I have collected my share of them over the past years to decorate my garden, to use as doorstops, and even to make pet rocks out of. They are great for many uses because they are worn smooth by the wave action of Lake Superior. Yes…of course…there are more rocks in our trunk to take home to do something with. Oh…I wish I had a trailer to haul lots of them back home!

Bill has a friend he used to work with at Chrysler and hasn’t seen for over 20 years.  We looked him up near the Ashland area and had a real nice visit with him and his wife.  No pictures; but the fall colors near their home was a spectacular glow of yellow produced by the Birch trees and the sun filtering through the leaves.  This is one of my favorite photos of the fall colors.  It makes me wonder what other colors Mother Nature has thrown together around the next corner.  Of course...we drove around the next corner and found out.  She didn't disappoint us.



A Day of Reminisce

Stayed at the Holiday Inn last night in St. Croix Falls, the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River. The room was soooo comfortable, not to mention the Sealy Ultra-Plush mattress on the king-size bed! No…I didn’t get that name off the side of the mattress; but I do admit…I did look and there was no label to be found! (isn’t there jail time to those who remove those labels? J) Remembering that our mattress is about 6 years and “they” keep telling us that a mattress should be replace somewhere around 7 years…I should find out the name of this mattress -“made in heaven”. So I brought myself to stop at the desk, as we were leaving, and ask the name of the mattress and who made it. They were happy to provide me with the information and if we replace our mattress….that will be the one. Now I’m also wondering if the ‘king-size” had anything to do with the comfort level….ummmm, another variable to deal with. Sorry…no picture of the “no need to count sheep mattress"; but I do have a beautiful view of the Mississippi as we crossed over into Minnesota country again.

A good-nights sleep, a breath-taking view and now a rainbow? Oh…life is good.

Did a little reminiscing today. Wildcat Mountain is a water park outside of Taylor Falls where the kids enjoyed going on our Minnesota camping trips. Down the road is St. Croix State Park where we spent many family vacations camping, canoeing, biking, hiking, and sometimes just sitting around the fire… burning marshmallows. Happy Memories.

As we drove down the road that leads to the campground and St. Croix River, we began to notice damage to the trees on both sides of the road.  Many of the trees were broken in half, uprooted and pushed over.  We couldn’t believe our eyes at the amount of destruction over such a wide area.  Everywhere we went in the park looked so different from the heavily wooded area we remembered.

We left the park and drove further east and continued to see the evidence of the horrific storm.  It wasn’t until we reached the little town of Danbury,WI that we found out more details.

The information we received for a local said that a windstorm and tornado happened at the worse time. It was Friday, July 1 at 7 P.M. on the weekend of the 4th of July when so many people we out and about when it struck. He said it was amazing that more people were not killed. Unfortunately, an 8 year old girl died when a tree fell on her and an elderly man died of a heart attack while working on his fallen trees

We were told that the tornado covered an area 30 miles wide and 70 miles long.  We had told him that we had seen the destruction out at St. Croix State Park.  He said that the park covers an area of 10,000 acres and 7,000 acres have down trees.   We asked him if there were many injuries at the campground at St. Croix.  He said luckily the park was closed due to the state budget problem and no one was there.  The park only opened two days ago because there was so many down trees that needed to be cleared away.  Now the locals are very concerned over the enormous amount of dry wood and brush and the fact there has been so little rain.  They are trying to lumber as much of the wood as they can; but the fear of a fire is always on their mind.

My last reminisce of the day.  My dad use to go deer hunting, for as long as I can remember, to a place called Webb Lake, WI.  He use to send me post cards of what the lake and cabin looked like with a note written on the back..."help your mom and don’t fight with your sister."  I still have those post cards and a few years back Bill and I set out to find that cabin and lake pictured on those cards.  We found them and thought we would revisit the place today again.  I always will remember Dad coming home from hunting and us kids running out to see if he returned with a deer and a Christmas tree on the top of the Chevy station wagon. Truthfully, the Christmas tree was the real source of our excitement.

Spending the night in Hinckley, MN tonight.  Staying at the Grand Northern Inn…not a Holiday Inn; but very nice for the price.  Comfortable room, clean, a pool and the cost is $29. a night!  Can you believe that?  The reason is that it is owned by the Grand Casino here in Hinckley and that’s the mid-week rate.  Guess they want you to have more money in your pocket to gamble with.  We had the pool all to ourselves….everyone else must be at the casino.



Following the Colors of Fall...No Color Purple

The colors on the hill outside our front window are close to peak.  All it took was a few nights of frost  and within a week the green leaves of summer began to fade.  The change wasn't subtle as one would think.  It seemed like every time we looked out the window...another tree was showing off its beautiful fall wardrobe. 

 We usually wait until the show is over before we head North to see what those trees have to offer.  Three things convinced us that we had to exit before the grand finale' of our own trees... 1. Frost had come to Wisconsin and the leaves were changing faster than expected,  2. The weatherman guaranteed the temps for the next week to be around 80 degrees, and 3. We have a Mustang convertible.  Need I say more for the decision of our early exit north?  So today we followed the Mississippi north.

  Our eyes marveled at the beauty of the colors as we enjoyed the warm air of Indian Summer blowing through our gray hair.

We visited this park in Minnesota "AGAIN!"  I emphasize "AGAIN" because the last time we were there I had an uncomfortable experience.  Bill and I decided to follow a path down to a lookout deck.  I was halfway down as anxiety set in when the side of the trail dropped off and I could see down the steep side of the bluff. (did I mention there wasn't a railing?)  Bill said to sit down and he would come back and help me go back up.  Now I know what the term "fight or flight" means.  I didn't have anyone to fight with...but I sure knew I had to fly out of that place fast!  I couldn't wait for Bill and I crawled up the path until I was able to walk on my feet again.  It was such a weird experience and have thought of it often over the years. 

Soooooooooooo...as we approach the same path today I decided I had to face this trail again and see if I could overcome the fear I had the last time we were here.  With every step down, I waited for those feelings to resurface. It wasn't happening! Then...right in front of me was the  part of the trail with the steep side and no railing!  I focused only on the path and not what was (or wasn't) on the side of the trail.  "I did it!"  I was so happy I was able to make it all the way down the path and even walked back up without crawling on all fours!

The view was beautiful of the Mississippi River from the long- awaited deck.   I was finally able to reach a spectacular site I would have missed, had I not faced my fear.

I certainly can understand why people love living by the Mississippi River.  Besides the beauty of the river, there are unbelievable rock formations along the way.  It's amazing how these trees can grow  amongst the rocks (check out the tree growing in the crack).  Where there's a will....there's a way... I guess.

My title of this blog is wrong...the colors of fall do include purple!  The wild Asters give a beautiful splash of color to a field that has lost it's summer color.  I guess it's their turn to be noticed.   

Just Some Cute Pictures!