Up North, Ya Know (part 3)
Other than a stop for food (at a McDonald's, I think) we continued the rest of the way to Bearskin Lodge without stopping. We talked about places we wanted to go on the way back: Iona's Beach and the Split Rock Lighthouse (which I have never seen). But, we were starting to get anxious to arrive before the sun completely went down.
We got there around seven and checked in. Bearskin Lodge is about thirty-miles up the Gunflint Trail and pretty much delineates the "Last Homey House." There are flush toliets, running water, and showers in the cabins. You can gave motor boats on parts of East Bearskin Lake, but the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) is just around the bend. A lot of people rent a cabin at Bearskin but use it as a place to take off from and come home to. We like to just call it "home" and do very short trips into the wilds.
Each cabin comes with its own, private dock. Inside are all the amenities including a kitchen (we packed all the food we'd need since the nearest store is MILES/hours away) and a fireplace. This time we took full advantage of the fireplace. It got very chilly late at night, so the fire was functional as well as fun.
Here's a blurry picture of me roasting marshmallows for our champaign and S'mores honeymoon feast (yes, you read that right. We had champaign and S'mores for our honeymoon):
Here's a better one of Mason doing the same thing (you can kind of see the main room of the cabin in this shot, too):
We had for the most part really good weather. As we left at the end of the week, Bob, the owner, told us we'd hit the "weather jackpot" and I think he was right, especially since we've come home to days and days of seemingly unending rain. While we were up there, both Shawn and Mason managed to get sunburned. For reasons of Bizzaro-World, I think, I managed to be the one who remembered to reapply my sunscreen early and often. I am a bit browner, but I managed to not get scorched. To be fair, I may have gotten burned if I'd brought more than one book to Bearskin, because this is what my family did most nice days (which is to say, sit on the dock and read):
I love to read, but I'm bad at it. I'm easily distracted partly because reading has always been a bit of a chore for me thanks to a mild case of dyslexia. Plus, I'm that person. Last time we were at Bearskin, Shawn teased me because I was always the one up at 6 am ready for a hike deep into the underbrush. At the time Modern Family had just had its Hawaii special episode and there was a funny bit about the two dads and how one of them preferred to relax and sip Mai-tais and the other wanted to visit the obscure lavender farm that had all 50 varieties of lavender. I was the lavender dad; Shawn was the Mai-tai dad.
Mason, too. He could read all day.
But here's my dock queen in her element:
Okay, I think that's it for tonight. My internet has been very come-and-go thanks to all these storms we've been having so any more pictures might break it. More tomorrow.
Also, if you're curious how my class went today, the answer was very well. My lecture started out a bit rough, but I could see it hit some of the students because I watched their gears turn and eyes light up and suddenly people had things they wanted to share. I love moments like that. Plus, we had this one as well: http://tatehallaway.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-dragon-of-awkward.html.
We got there around seven and checked in. Bearskin Lodge is about thirty-miles up the Gunflint Trail and pretty much delineates the "Last Homey House." There are flush toliets, running water, and showers in the cabins. You can gave motor boats on parts of East Bearskin Lake, but the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) is just around the bend. A lot of people rent a cabin at Bearskin but use it as a place to take off from and come home to. We like to just call it "home" and do very short trips into the wilds.
Each cabin comes with its own, private dock. Inside are all the amenities including a kitchen (we packed all the food we'd need since the nearest store is MILES/hours away) and a fireplace. This time we took full advantage of the fireplace. It got very chilly late at night, so the fire was functional as well as fun.
Here's a blurry picture of me roasting marshmallows for our champaign and S'mores honeymoon feast (yes, you read that right. We had champaign and S'mores for our honeymoon):
Here's a better one of Mason doing the same thing (you can kind of see the main room of the cabin in this shot, too):
We had for the most part really good weather. As we left at the end of the week, Bob, the owner, told us we'd hit the "weather jackpot" and I think he was right, especially since we've come home to days and days of seemingly unending rain. While we were up there, both Shawn and Mason managed to get sunburned. For reasons of Bizzaro-World, I think, I managed to be the one who remembered to reapply my sunscreen early and often. I am a bit browner, but I managed to not get scorched. To be fair, I may have gotten burned if I'd brought more than one book to Bearskin, because this is what my family did most nice days (which is to say, sit on the dock and read):
I love to read, but I'm bad at it. I'm easily distracted partly because reading has always been a bit of a chore for me thanks to a mild case of dyslexia. Plus, I'm that person. Last time we were at Bearskin, Shawn teased me because I was always the one up at 6 am ready for a hike deep into the underbrush. At the time Modern Family had just had its Hawaii special episode and there was a funny bit about the two dads and how one of them preferred to relax and sip Mai-tais and the other wanted to visit the obscure lavender farm that had all 50 varieties of lavender. I was the lavender dad; Shawn was the Mai-tai dad.
Mason, too. He could read all day.
But here's my dock queen in her element:
Okay, I think that's it for tonight. My internet has been very come-and-go thanks to all these storms we've been having so any more pictures might break it. More tomorrow.
Also, if you're curious how my class went today, the answer was very well. My lecture started out a bit rough, but I could see it hit some of the students because I watched their gears turn and eyes light up and suddenly people had things they wanted to share. I love moments like that. Plus, we had this one as well: http://tatehallaway.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-dragon-of-awkward.html.