Lake Kabetogama, MN

 We took an all day cruise on this lake in Voyageurs! It was a beautiful day and the water was incredibly calm.  We saw blue herons,

 and loons.

 We went to Kettle Falls where we had lunch at this old hotel that is still functioning.

 Afterwards we saw the falls that are on the dividing line between the U.S. and Canada and are jointly operated.

 We also saw eagles

and more eagles!  Some on the U.S. side and some on the Canadian!  They can cross the border more easily than us.

Orr

Our campground, the Ash Riviera, was quite remote.  One evening these two came to visit after dinner!

Orr, Minnesota

 We drove way out of town to this Bear sanctuary.

It was started to protect the bears that were wandering into camps and being killed.

 The bears are wild and there is no enclosure.  Food is put out nightly and the bears can come and go as they please.

 We were bused in and observed them from decks.

 Baby bears were very close by as the mamas were busy eating.  They all will soon go into hibernation.

International Falls, MN

 We went into town (40 minutes from our campground) to look around and see what was happening.

We were there just in time for the international Bass Festival!

Rainy Lake, Minnesota

 We took a 2 hour cruise on Rainy Lake, a part of Voyageurs National Park.

 Most of this park is accessible only by water.  It is made up of hundreds of islands.

 The early settlers thought they might find gold here.  This is one of the deserted mine shafts.

 There were many eagles to be seen.  They just seemed posed for us.

Nova Lab in Minnesota

We happened upon this site on the way to our campground and ended up taking the last tour of the year.  It is a joint effort by the University and the Dept of Energy to learn more about neutrinos, very small particles that have mass.  They study these things that are shot from the Fermi Lab in Chicago.  The whole tour was very interesting but way above my head in physics!

Solar Eclipse in Minnesota

 We took our chairs and the guys took their fishing gear to LaSalle Lake to wait for the eclipse.  You know it was in August 21, the middle of summer.  Notice what we are wearing to keep warm.

 We didn't need special glasses because the clouds protected our eyes and made it very difficult to see anything.

David was busy waiting for it!