06.05.13 The amazing pontoon boat adventure – starring Roy and Rosalyn!

Hi folks, I’m having great difficulty getting the blog to “look” right. It will not create separate paragraphs any longer nor will it allow me to put captions under any of the pictures after the first two. I’m going to post this anyway now and when I find out the solution to this new problem I’ll correct it! Just wanted to let you know I am aware that it looks odd but all the words and pictures are there, so here it is!

Wednesday was my first day on the schedule we’ll keep for the rest of the season.  I started work at 1 and got off work at 7.  I watered plants and rocks (get the bird poop off them), tidied up the store, delivered fish for Roy to three cabins, helped him package one of them, sold a mug, rode in the golf cart to the maintenance garage to get an extension cord, went home to fix dinner and brought it back to eat with Roy, waved at Chip on our web cam and checked in someone who is renting a canoe from us for a few days.  All this on a beautiful Minnesota lake! I’m thinking I like this new work!  We’re going out on one of the pontoon boats tomorrow at Noon with all the other workers.  Can’t wait for that adventure!  I’ll write about it when we get back.

The Purpose Driven Life

Where is the glory of God? Just look around. Everything created by God reflects his glory in some way. We see it everywhere, from the smallest microscopic form of life to the vast Milky Way, from sunsets and stars to storms and seasons. Creation reveals our Creator’s glory. In nature we learn that God is powerful, that he enjoys variety, loves beauty, is organized, and is wise and creative. The Bible says, “The heavens declare the glory of God.”
From The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

The amazing beauty of this world God created was awesomely displayed for us Thursday on our travels through the lakes and rivers of Voyageurs National Park.  Tom, the resort owner, worked the docks and store today so the employees could take the pontoon out for a ride.  One of our guests, Victor, a really nice man from Florida came with us and we got to visit with him on this fabulous trip!  For a lot of our trip we were riding on the border between Canada and the United States. Not that you could tell the difference between one or the other but it was still the border and we’ve never been near there before.  We plan to go to Canada in the near future since it’s so close.  I’ve heard that things on that side of the border are much more expensive and a lot of the Canadians come down to the US to International Falls because the prices are lower on this side. Everything seems more expensive in Minnesota than in Louisiana so I can’t imagine how expensive it must be on the Canadian side.

One example of higher prices in Minnesota is that gas is $4.19 a gallon.  Somebody write and let me know how much gas in Hammond is now. Please!! We don’t go into town but once a week because of the distance and the cost of gas. Dora, our RV will sit still until we leave here October 1st so at least our diesel expense is now at $0 per month!

Our first stop was Kettle Falls Hotel and had our first Walleye sandwich with delicious wild rice soup.  I now see what all the fuss over the Walleye is about!  DELICIOUS!!!  Kettle Falls Hotel and Resort is a 100 year old place with a big porch across the front and side, a saloon, restaurant and hotel. There are several chairs outside for those folks winded like us who need to rest a bit before we go up the steps to the hotel.  The porch is lined with a few dozen comfy wicker chairs for relaxing. The saloon inside has a floor that dips from sagging and age.  It’s been stabilized but they put it back together with the dip still in it since it has become famous in the area!  The dining room is one big room with several tables in it.  I was surprised how many people ate there while we were there since you can only get to the hotel by water!  There were at least 25 other people than our party of 7.  There is a pathway to the hotel that is about a quarter mile long.  Lots of steps up and down the hills give you plenty of chance to work up a good hunger and plenty of walking to work of the delicious meal!

      

On our walk back to the boat we stopped at the dam to see the falls.  It was amazing to look down on the massive rush of water going from the United States to Canada.  In the walkway is a grate that you can look down into and see the metal pike that marks the Canada/US borer.  One of the pictures is the spike through the other picture is from below but you only see the U.S. side. Along the waterways you’ll see the same spike marking the border in several places.

Next we stopped at Ash-Ka-Nam which is a big place kind of like Tin Lizzie’s in Springfield.  I think it’s called Ash-Ka-Nam because it’s on the Ash River, the Kabetogama Lake and the Namakan Lake.  We rode the Ash River to get here and it reminded me a tiny bit of our Cajun rivers down south!

Our final stop was at Ellsworth Rock Garden.  When we arrived there and       saw the place us first time visitors were amazed at what we saw.  It is a rock garden of various shaped rocks and rocks shaped into things like a cat, or a table, and 62 rock terraces where flowers will bloom later in the year.   Charles Ellsworth built it over 21 summers beginning in 1944.  We climbed all the way to the top and enjoyed he view from up high and then worked our way down again o the beautiful green meadow that surrounds the terraces and rock sculptures.

The ride home was perfect and I must say our manager, Rick Long, was a gracious and safe boat captain!  We passed by the young couple who had rented a canoe and we were glad to see they were safe. The total trip was somewhere around 60 miles round trip and though the weather is still a bit cool here especially on the water, the day was beautiful and we all had a spectacular time.  Roy worked until 9 after we arrived back at the dock at 7:30 last night and then went back to work at 7 this morning.  He does that again tonight and tomorrow morning but then we have three days off to recover!

I’ve decided after going through the 170 pictures I took yesterday to put some in todays blog about the places we visited and make a seperate blog over the weekend of pictures of the scenery on the lakes and rivers.

Friday was a busy day at work and my back is hurting. Tomorrow is Saturday Crunch Time so I’m headed to bed for the evening to get well rested and less sore.  This old lady needs all the rest she can get to keep up with them young’uns!

Ya’ll come back now, ya’ hear!