We headed out on the 19th to grand portage, fought the rain and stayed at the casino to catch the voyager in the morning. I guess I am really glad the weather was horendous right off the bat since I forgot my watch and we were an hour late..
thanks for waiting guys!!)The boat ride was something to be desired, I should not have put anything in my stomach. All it took was a simple monkey see and monkey do. Get the point?
Anyway arrival was beautiful and welcoming. My father joined me this trip, his first experience. We chose to stay at washington creek since it was not crowded. My favorite shelter was available so we set up camp. I thought this best with my dad being over 70. Thankfully the picnic table was already inside and he enjoyed unpacking.
The view from the shelter area was beautiful, and he had never seen anything like it. One thing I had noticed was when we went looking at the other shelters, I had momentarily thought of moving to a different one until I saw what was "carved" into the whole lower wall. It was not a scene I needed my father to see or read. I did talk to the rangers about it and they had me fill out a complaint sheet and they had their workers on it right away. Glad for that.
Animals we encountered: silver fox, pesky little thing, ducks, a loon, mergansers and babies, 2 squirrels, a blue heron, and a cow with a pretty large calf in the creek. We also saw her daily along the shoreline of windigo.
We took several day hikes, some were long, some were short. The nature trail had many blooming flowers and berries. The hike to grace creek overlook proved to be worthwhile, in the distance a bull moose still with antlers and 2 cow with calves.
Dad caught a small trout off the dock, fell into the water while trying to manuver the canoe and boy was he mad about getting his tobacco for his pipe wet. I tried not to laugh but come on, really, you would laugh too it was sooo funny. The park employees doing maintence saw it and tried real hard to hold their expressions, but that didnt last too long either.
One thing that bothered me, construction. There was construction going on while they were building the 2 housekeeping cottages. It was unusual and it took me a few days to realize that it was all the noise from the machinery that was a huge distraction to my visit this time. Even though we did not hike into the depths of the island, there is much to enjoy where we were.
Ranger programs are great entertainment and also educational with a fun twist. I really had fun trying to steal a base while playing one of the games. Dad laughed alot too, that was great to see.
We held to the ready mountain house meals, added cheese and a few snacks from the store. At night after we returned from the ranger programs there was yahtzee wars for quite a while into the night.
I had to almost take dads book away, something about being a prisoner in a chinese bakery. OMG he was laughing so hard he was cryng and I apolagize to anyone he disturbed. yeesh!
All in all it was a wonderful experience. To those yet to go, don't forget to open your eyes, your ears, and your heart. You don't want to miss anything.
p.s. congrats to the married couples who were spending their honeymoons on IR, and safe travels to the men who were from across the seas.
