The adventures of a cedar canoe
Now at the end our vacation and waiting to see what sort of chaos waits us at the airport. I want to share some of the peaceful memories we had from our time in Minnesota.
Deep breath, bags packed, memories documented, blog adventures to write, and an eight hour flight home to the Netherlands. My wild heart and love of the Minnesota wilderness renewed.
© The Cedar Journal, 2022, all rights reserved.
This year the excess water in Northern Minnesota has all lead to a record hatch of mosquitoes. Worst in 40 years, according to some locals in the Ely, MN area. Canoeing in the BWCA can be challenging with all the wildlife, but being prepared helps in our over all enjoyment.
Mosquitoes don’t bug me much but they love the European Hubby.
The one thing that my Hubby has never seen in Minnesota was a black bear and it has been at the top of his “must see list” for years. Each summer, when I still owned a home in Carlton County, I would report seeing black bear. I never would seem to have the phone ready to take a picture. When I was hiking, and would see a black bear, I really would just want to get out of the area as fast as possible. So, the Hubby thought maybe I was telling “Bear stories”. He is a “Must see it for myself” kind of guy. After so many years of doubts we can finally check that experience off the list!
The universe finally granted his wish of seeing a black bear with an additional bonus of three very cute cubs. Granted, I had to explain the difference between Yogi Bear and Smokey Bear to the Hubby, but to experience a (at a safe distance) Mama bear and three cubs for a good ten minutes before she finally had enough of roadside entertainment, was priceless. I couldn’t help feeling happy for the Hubby who was excited about the entire encounter.
Bears are a local attraction here in Ely. The North American Bear Center is located just outside town. We had already planned on visiting before we encountered the wild bear. I would highly recommend the center to anyone visiting Ely. The bear center contains a wealth that of information on bears, Northern Minnesota wildlife, and offers behind the scenes tours of the captive black bears housed at the facility.
I don’t get very excited to see deer in Minnesota, even the Hubby doesn’t anymore, as they are found everywhere. In fact several have tried to scare the heck out of me on this vacation as I am driving down the road. I can almost hear them conspiring as they see me driving.
“I heard she hasn’t really driven in three years.”
“hahaha, should we see how her reflexes are?”
“Oh, she is driving like an old lady this will be easy!😂🤣🤣”
“NOW!”
“Did you see the look on her face? 😂🤣😳, she even yelled at her Hubby as to why he didn’t let her know we were about to jump in front of her! Soooo….funny!!!”
Yup, I am sure the deer have had tons of fun at my expense on this vacation, but then they gave back to us some special memories.
These wild experiences are priceless.
With our Northern Minnesota vacation coming to a close soon, it will be hard for me to return to our life in Europe. The peace of the North Country will hopefully follow us through whatever comes next.
Carpe Diem! 🦟 🦌🐻
© The Cedar Journal, 2022, all rights reserved.
We are paddling in Northern Minnesota and in the coming weeks readers will be able to read about our battles with the alternate Minnesota State bird. Until then…
Hummmm…
Close to the start of this vacation we crossed the border into the neighboring state of Wisconsin and drove the backroads following the St Croix from Douglas County south to Osceola, WI. One would not think there could be so many instant Hummm… available. Here are some but not all we witnessed.
The restaurant Tippy Canoe is right next door and we had the best wait staff and loaded up on cheese curds. Thanks Bobbie for the wonderful service and conversation. Then we headed back to the hotel and it seems that the universe was trying to keep us in town.
I can report that we made it out of Wisconsin safely and we want to thank the State for the making us think outside the box.
We hope you enjoyed this addition to our Hummm… collection. Enjoy looking for surprises in life and Carpe Diem!
© The Cedar Journal, 2022, all rights reserved.
I have had a pretty boring month but even a boring month can place a few Hummm… things into the digital file. Plus, May brought a close to an era, but more on that later in the blog.
Amsterdam is always full of Hummm… and this month as I walked through the center of the city towards my destination, through several clouds of sweet smelling plant smoke, I saw the following, Yes! I got a picture at this point as I wasn’t actually sure it wasn’t my brain reacting to the inhaled smoke.
Once I reached my destination I walked through the door and asked in Dutch if the place was open and got the “deer in the headlight” look. With a delayed response “I don’t speak Dutch!” in broken English. 🙄 Hummm… all those Dutch language lessons and years of experience living here and Amsterdam is now only speaking English (well… forms of English or American language) but Dutch? Then again, there was that smoke cloud I walked through.
Most of you who read this blog on a regular basis (that includes the one regular from China) knows that I am a huge tree hugger! Yup, I have hugged hundreds of trees and feel it is my duty to try to save as many of them as I can (unless they are seedlings coming up in my garden😬), so maybe this next Hummm won’t be shocking.
But then on the same day in another part of the country the Hubby sent me this Hummm…
The last of the Hummm… for the month is how we started the blog. With a picture of our beloved Cedar.
It is the end of the Cedar era at our house. She has now been passed on to a new family in Friesland who will restore her to her former glory.
It was bitter sweet to see her go but knew it was the “right” time for her. To us she seemed to have gained weight over the winter and that alone would not be a good reason but my old shoulder injury/back issues couldn’t lift her without causing me to feel crappy for days afterwards.
Canoeing is fun and hurting is not!
So we are now in search of a Minnesota made light weight canoe in the Netherlands.
Hummmm…
© The Cedar Journal, 2022, all rights reserved.
This blog is a bit late… I completed this section of the Floris V in late April…No excuse for publishing late only that sometimes it is hard to get a blog to flow…
Last week (end of April 🤨) was the first time since last August 2021 that I had hiked on the Floris V Pad heading towards my goal and end point Bergen op Zoom. I have taken my own sweet time in hiking this trail, not on purpose or by design, just that life sometimes interferes with what I want to accomplish. (Guess that can also be said for writing a blog!)
The Floris V Pad up to this point was fairly easy to get to my start and stop points by public transport. This section is getting more challenging to use bus or train, this is a less populated area of The Netherlands.
This time I asked for transport help from the Hubby. He volunteered (yeah, right… you think he had a real choice?) to get me to and from my start and stop points for two days while we camped in the Biesbosch National Park.
You think he had an easy job?
I think not… but let me get started before I jump ahead of my story.
At this point I had completed 158 km of my total goal to reach 245km. In August 2021 I had stopped just outside the De Elzen nature area. So this is where I started.
My plan was to hike to a small industrial area close to the Kiltunnel (a long large traffic and pedestrian tunnel that goes under the Dordtsche Kil River). A nice restaurant where the Hubby could meet me and we could have a celebration coffee.
I started hearing birds everywhere in the canopy of the trees.
The air was cool and the sky a crystal blue above the trees. I saw only two other people while inside the nature park. After dodging people for the past two years during COVID (even when hiking in this densely populated country) I was so glad to be hiking alone in nature.
The trial now started to incline, here that means I was climbing a small dike and soon I saw that there was even a bigger dike on my left. The trail was now a roadway, hot, long, with the occasional pair of +65 cyclists speeding by me on electric bikes. That did very little for my enthusiasm for continuing the hike but I didn’t want to throw in the white flag and stop. Yes, I did want to do that, but I convinced myself I needed to keep moving.
Flat farmland surrounded me, except for the dike. I could see Dordrecht in the distance.
I finally came to a small wooded area with some shade and stopped for a drink of water. Luckily, there were two very busy birders. You might know the kind, two pair of binoculars, scanning the trees, fields, looking very intense. I asked what birds they had seen and they rattled off a list of Dutch bird names that made my head spin. I offered the De Elzen nature park as a possible next location to them and they happily thanked me, jumped into their car and headed in the direction I had just hiked.
These are the interesting interactions I love about hiking. These are real people with real passionate hobbies who are willing to be just who they are, down to earth and friendly with a fellow outdoor person.
The trail now was on top of another dike so I was looking over flat farmland. Tractors were speeding through the fields, kicking up dust. It seemed that it was awfully dry. I was getting hot, the pavement was hot and I was just looking for the next bunch of trees to be a bit cooler.
For those readers who remember my Hummm…blog from April that is when on this hike I started seeing American post boxes. I did think maybe I was starting to hallucinate, so I started taking pictures of each one I saw, just to make sure…I was still in my right mind.
Now I had to cross a railroad track.
Heading now into a very industrial area the hike provided little in the way of scenery. Large logistical buildings lined my route towards the river front.
I was finally approaching my end point and hopefully a cup of coffee in celebration. I texted the Hubby and my motivation was killed as he texted back that the restaurant where he was sitting was closed. Oh my!
When I arrived at the link up location the Hubby informed me of his less than enthusiastic adventure of dodging construction just to get to my location. If he only knew what was to come on day 2…
Day 1 hike total 9 km.
© The Cedar Journal, 2022, all rights reserved.
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