Escape from Moose Mountain

Every time The H and I plan a trip involving Duluth something goes horribly wrong, which is a shame since we get really excited about the Superior Hiking Trail.  There were two beautiful week-ends in October with weather in the 60s but we couldn’t go because of our stupid jobs, so we made plans for the first week-end in November.  The H set up reservations at a cute bed and breakfast, The Cascade Lodge, in Lutsen and we both took off Friday.  On Thursday the temperature dropped, by Friday morning it began to snow.  But the air was crisp and it was kind of romantic.  We threw our bags in the car and headed north.

On the way up we stopped at a cute little cafe, The Vanilla Bean,  for grilled cheese and tomato soup, reaching Lutsen around 3:00.  We had just enough time before dark to take a quick walk to scout out the trail we’d be taking the next day.  For dinner we drove back down Highway 61 to My Sister’s Place, purportedly The Best Place To Eat In Grand Marais.  The decor was fun, a mix of progressive bumper stickers and animal skins.  I ate a gigantic chili dog, which is kind of out of character – The H and I are not health nuts, but we don’t generally eat huge servings of meat and I’m kind of obsessed with watching my salt intake.  We learned from the waitress that it was the first week-end of deer hunting.

We headed back to the B&B thinking we would watch a Netflix on-line, but the advertised “free internet connection” was not quite up to streaming a movie.  We checked our printed map which came from the Cascade River State Park website.  It said, “The use of firearms, explosives, airguns, slingshots, seines, nets, bows and arrows and all other weapons are prohibited in state parks.”

In fact the big news from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources was:

Visitor Alert!

Gypsy Moth Control Treatment

… If you have questions about the proposed treatment, please contact the Minnesota Department of Agriculture at 1-888-545-MOTH.

Great, all is well.  We’ll avoid getting shot by staying on a trail inside the park.  The map clearly showed which trails were in the park.  We crashed early and in the morning were the first guests for breakfast at 8:01 am. 

All bundled up with our hiking sticks and GPS locator we set off for Moose Mountain.  We didn’t actually need the GPS but I want to practise using it in case we go on a bigger trip sometime.  Also I had this great plan to put all the Waypoints onto my GoogleMap, but I can’t figure out how to correctly enter the latitude and longitude.  I got all excited about setting up ”My First Waypoint,” but then scrolled out and discovered I had put my icon near Ust-kamenogorsk, between Mongolia and Kazakhstan. 

The trail was fairly easy, but interesting.  We stopped at the waterfall for a bit.  The water looks like rootbeer from the mineral deposits.  A little ways on we saw two men ahead of us completely covered in bright orange gear and carrying very large rifles.  We thought we must have gone the wrong way so we headed back on the trail.  After consulting one of the posted trail maps we discovered that the map we had downloaded showed a different State Park area than reflected on the posted signs.  We had been wandering out of the safe State Park area.  We figured out a different trail and headed away from the border.  I took off my orange undershirt and tied it around my neck (please don’t shoot me.)

About 20 minutes later we heard gunshots.  REALLY LOUD GUNSHOTS REALLY CLOSE BY.  We checked both maps again and realized that we were far into the State Park and that there must be people shooting deer inside those limits.  As a person who has just recently been leaning towards supporting the second amendment I found this very frustrating – the freedom thing only works if everybody is follows the rules.  Also, we were really close to the road and to cabins.  I’m not usually one to throw around the “what about the children” argument, but in this case I was wondering about the kids staying nearby.  And me.  Did I mention me?

Basically we freaked out and headed down towards the river as fast as we could.  We found a road and were walking on that when we heard even more shots and passed by a parking lot with several trucks with gun racks.  We made it back to the lodge by 11:30.  They kindly let us check out early for half-off the unused Saturday night and we high-tailed it out of Lutsen. 

On the way back 61 we stopped at Betty’s Pies in Two Harbors and bought ourselves an entire pecan pie.  We thought we could save our vacation by stopping in Duluth and checking out some antique shops and the used music store.  But, like I said, we don’t have much luck in Duluth.  By the time we got there the temperature had dropped again and there was this nice sleety rainy snow blowing horizontally.  Plus, there are no free parking spots anywhere in Duluth and we hadn’t thought to bring a pound of quarters for the overpriced meters, and the closest parking lot was $10 and several blocks away.  I ended up running into a restaurant to beg change from a bartender.  We spent half an hour looking around Old Town Antiques and Books and The Electric Fetus then drove back as fast as possible to our nice cozy home in the suburbs.  Next year we’ll check the hunting schedule.  And maybe we’ll try out Wisconsin.

Cascade Inn porch

Lake Superior view

river foam

river foam 2

Cascade Falls

Waterfall

Cascade spray

Cascade waterfall 2

Waterfall 3

 

Have a tasty Thanksgiving!

Letter from the Midwest on the “Feminist Agenda”

October 30, 2008:

I’ve been bothered by the clip I saw recently of John McCain saying that Sarah Palin is the “counter to the liberal feminist agenda.”  In light of his scary dismissal of the “health” of a woman many have assumed this is another call to rouse the pro-life base.  I think there’s more going on here.  I think that when middle-class non-urban white men, hear “feminist agenda” what they think of is gun control.  This hasn’t been much of an issue in this campaign, but I think it’s floating there under the surface and while it may not make or break this election it’s not going away and should not be dismissed.

Guns are too easy to get?  Yes.  Guns are too easy for children to get?  Yes, they are.  We celebrate a culture of violence?  I agree.  Too many people die from gun violence and accidents?  Yes.  The NRA and the gun manufacturers push weapons at the expense of responsibility and perspective?  Yeah, pretty much.  BUT NOT EVERYBODY THINKS THAT.   What I have learned in the past few months is that it is possible to own a gun and not be an uneducated liberal-hating, gay-hating, black-hating, hippie-hating, government-hating conservative.  Since moving to Minnesota I have met many people who are against the Iraq war and in favor of forward-thinking environmental policies, sex education and evolution; they are pro-choice, pro-union, pro-gay rights, have passports, have been to Europe, cook with local organic food, practise Tai Chi, bike to work AND go hunting on the week-end.  I know it’s difficult to comprehend at first but let it sink in.  I have venison in my freezer right now from a deer shot by one of the more progressive people you are ever likely to meet.   

Are the people in my happy downtown liberal social bubble going to stop voting Democrat because of gun control?  Probably not.  But expand that circle a little and you will find people for whom these issues are not so clear cut.  These are the undecided voters.  They’re not undecided about what they think, they feel left out of both parties.  Perhaps they’re somewhat socially conservative or they’re disgusted with the country’s financial situation or the media and politics in general.  These men don’t hate women - they want women to have access to health care, jobs and education, they go to women doctors, learned from women professors and for the first time in history have women supervisors.  But it’s not their imagination that gun control is an issue that has been pushed by women and I think the word feminist elicits a scowl for this reason.  For them gun control becomes a divisive wedge issue, not because the only thing they care about is owning a gun, but because it becomes symbolic of the “liberal elite” deciding what’s best for everyone and looking down their noses while they do it.  I can’t count the times I’ve heard the sentiment from liberals that anyone who cares about this issue enough to have it effect his vote is a gun-toting redneck and will never vote Democrat anyway.  That is narrow-minded and short-sighted.  Unlike many other issues that divide us the Right to Bear Arms is actually in the Bill of Rights.  It is so important it’s listed second.  In case you haven’t read it in awhile here it is:

Amendment II

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

You may not like it but there it is.

I have said and heard many Liberals say, in reference to abortion or gay rights, how can Conservatives focus on this one issue at the expense of other larger issues for which we are all far more effected?  But this is exactly what we have done concerning the issue of gun control.  From my experience it is assumed by Democrats and Republicans alike that if you are a Democrat you will be in favor of strict gun control and that if Democrats were to have a majority in Congress and a president in office that gun control will be on the agenda.  (Ironically, one could argue that private gun ownership has been endangered less by the Clinton-era Brady Bill, but by the civil liberty eroding Bush-era Patriot Act.)  Is it really sustainable political strategy to continue ignoring the middle-class non-urban white male voter?

Gun control is rarely brought up by Democrats as a central issue.  Almost worse, being for gun control is assumed rather than debated - as if all civilized people agree.  Well they don’t, and if we expect people to compromise on an issue like gay rights I think we need to be ready to compromise on gun ownership and not sneer while we do it.  Don’t like gay marriage?  Don’t have one.  Don’t like guns?  Don’t own one.

 

McCain clip:

Update:  October 30, 2008. 

My friend DD wanted to respond but didn’t want to leave a really long comment so I am publishing her unedited comment here:

Well said my friend.  Well said.  Look, before I say what I’m going to say, let me preface by stating that I am still the super liberal, pro choice, gay loving, freak that I have always been…….however, this whole year working out in the field with the military, and also at times in the office in a more corporate environment in general, well it’s broken a lot of stereotypes for me (enforced some others granted…) and made me sort of disgusted in general a lot of times with not only with myself but also some of my “liberal” friends who have a holier than thou attitude that is really no better than what they accuse some of their conservative counterparts of being.  Isn’t part of being liberal being tolerant?  Right we are so tolerant to everyone who thinks exactly the way we do.  Not every conservative is a neo nazi right wing facist and not every liberal is a granola crunching, gun hating hippie.  There are still some REASONABLE and LOGICAL people out there. I know crazy concept.  My best friend is a Conservative and will vote opposite me in this election, but we have been friends since we were 11, and why because she is a REASONABLE person who can back up her beliefs with well read and solid arguments which I can respect and vs. versa.  She takes the most important issues to her and bases her vote on how she stands on those several issues, while on others she may hold a more liberal view or agree with my candidate on……..and I do the same and the issues that we base our votes on happen to be different for each of us, that is part of what is supposed to make this country great.

I’m just tired of the bashing, the demonizing and all the hate.  And as a liberal, I do I feel we tend to condescend, look down upon and generally feel superior to anyone who is “conservative”.  All I’m saying is there are reasonable people on both sides and I just wish we could see and hear more of it. 

Miss you! Come back, it’s really boring here without you.

Swords, Shields, Sheep and a Good Night’s Sleep

Settle in with a cuppa tea mate; this one’s kind of long.

Our latest adventure begins with a simple on-line reservation at a bed and breakfast in Chesterfield, Derbyshire.  We picked Chesterfield because The Husband used to live in Chesterfield, Missouri.  We located a cavern we wanted to visit, packed our bags and turned in early for a good night’s rest.  This was not to be as we were awoken at 3:13 am by the fire alarm outside the door.  As this is the second or third time this happened I was pretty sure there was not actually a fire.  As it always happens on a Friday night after midnight, I suspect some drunk jerk is pulling the alarm.  Perhaps the same drunk jerk who sprayed beer and curry all over the walls of the lift.  The H and I really think there should be a special penthouse lift just for us and our neighbours.  We would consider sharing it with floors 11 through 13.

The H popped in his earplugs and was amazingly able to continue sleeping, albeit fitfully.  I heard our new neighbor – the possibly gay Sam who politley ignores me but says cute, friendly things to The H – go out into the hall, stand there for a minute and go back into his flat.  I put in earplugs as well (they were on my night stand due to having recently vacuumed upstairs) but after 15 minutes I just could not take it.  I went downstairs and tried to figure out who to call to deal with it.  I started with the Emergency Help Line listed in our tenant’s handbook.  The woman asked a bunch of questions then said that she would pass the information on to the help desk in the morning.  Great, thanks, that’s so helpful, HELPLINE.  I finally called what I thought was the building manager’s cell phone, leaving him a message at 3:39 am. 

I grabbed a chair, the broom and one of our crappy Ikea dinner knives and climbed the spiral staircase.  I went out into the hall.  I’m not exactly sure what I thought I could do with the broom, maybe break the alarm if all else failed.  I managed to twist the alarm open and used the knife to move around the tiny switches.  The alarm went from ree-oo-ree-oo-ree-oo to eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee which is the same volume but less annoying.  I went back in the apartment in search of my Gerber multi-tool to unscrew the two little screws, although I wasn’t sure if I should continue as I’m pretty sure I was bordering on vandalism.  However, the alarm stopped after a minute or two.  The other alarms in the building were still going off but at least the one by our bedroom door had stopped.

Just then my mobile rang, it was the building manager telling me in a groggy voice that he would be there in 15 to 20 minutes.  I am pretty sure that no one else had contacted him or anyone.  Shouldn’t someone somewhere be alerted when a 14-floor building’s fire alarm system goes off?  Why didn’t anyone else in the building do anything?  What if there had been an actual fire?  Sometimes it takes an American to get things done.  An American Woman.

I was able to nap lightly with the alarm noise in the distance.  I woke up suddenly at 4:26 and discovered the noise had stopped completely and then I went to sleep for real.  The H thanked me in the morning but was somewhat disturbed by my near-vandal activities and confused by the presence of the broom.

We headed off around 10:30 for Chesterfield.  If you’d like to see all the locations of all the places I’ve referred to recently, you can check out my latest obsession, a google map of my travels.  There’s a link under Favorites.  The last time I was unemployed for this long I spent many afternoons in a fog on my slanted porch watching the traffic on the Bloomfield Bridge and playing with my cat Oliver.  I think this is an improvement.

It was a lovely drive to Chesterfield.  Very scenic with field rock walls winding through green pastures.  We passed what may or may not be a nuclear power reactor.  I’ve done several searches and can’t figure it out.  The towers you see are commonly used to cool reactors, but can be used for other plants as well.  In any case there are 18 reactors in the UK but all are scheduled to be closed by 2023.

 

We arrived at the bed and breakfast around noon where we were informed by the “kindly” old lady that she doesn’t accept on-line reservations and doesn’t have any rooms available.  Initially I was going to rant about this more, but I’m pretty much over it.  Unless of course the charges show up on my credit card. 

The H and I headed to Stillwell Caverns, about an hour away, where we took an underground boat ride through old lead mines.  I called it the date boat as we were with 3 other couples.  I was especially glad for this after seeing that the next two boats were packed full of children.  

This is the only area of the world where Blue John crystal is found.  The caverns were spooky and beautiful and I was feeling quite claustrophobic by the end of it and very glad not to be a 19th century miner.

Cavern:

 Underground river:

After the tour we explored the area and hiked up a hill, or maybe a mountain, I’m not sure.  This was the best part of our week-end.  We hiked up for an hour, we would have loved to have gone even higher but it was getting late and while it wasn’t dark the mist got thicker with every passing minute and we couldn’t see more than 20 feet ahead and we decided the best thing to do was to not fall off a cliff.

We went up there:

Mysterious sheep skull:

Partway up:

A sheep I stalked:

9 creepy sheep in the mist:

Having lost our reservation at the Bed and Breakfast we decided to head up to Leeds where we located a Holiday Inn Express.  We ventured to Leeds City Centre, which was hopping.  There large groups of girls in matching outfits having bachelorette parties and large groups of roving young men as well.  We picked a restaurant called Brio and returned to the hotel pooped.  We settled in for a good night’s rest, but alas it was not to be.  We were awakened at 4am by a party going on next door.  It sounded like drunk people re-arranging furniture and bowling.  One guy was singing and several people started running up and down the halls.  This time I was all for ignoring it but The H was up in arms.  Against my groggy advice he opened the door and glared at the chaps.  This resulted in them standing outside yelling at us through our door.  I called the front desk and the gentlemen said they would send up security.  I didn’t even have to give the room number, I’m guessing they had just watched the people enter the hotel and were anticipating a problem.  The noise stopped with 5 minutes and we went back to sleep.  When did we get old?

Sunday morning we headed to the Leeds Royal Armoury and spent four hours looking at swords, suits of armor and all sorts of fantastic stuff.  Here’s a few highlights.

Outside the museum:

The only known full suit of armor for an elephant:

This is the only thing that’s really ticked me off here.  I think the slavery issue was more than a convenient political tool.

A tiny knight:

Evolution of Weapons display photo.

 

I think everybody should enjoy this man’s bum hair:

Falcon:

Okay, this one has become an endless source of discussion between The Husband and me.  We have very different views on gun control, but are in agreement that the knife laws here are absurd.  I was horrified recently when Edie Brickell’s drummer was shot dead through a door by his neighbor in Texas, resulting in no prosecution, however I think some level of self preservation should be legal.  Here in the UK pre-meditated self-defense is illegal.  Meaning, if I were attacked and stabbed someone with a knitting needle, that might be okay if I had been knitting earlier that day.  But if any person carries an item purely for the purposes of self-defense then uses that item in defense of their person he can be prosecuted and jailed.  Actually, one can be prosecuted just for carrying almost anything even if it’s not used.  This includes kitchen knives and scissors.  Unless of course you need it for religious reasons.  The H is considering starting a religion.  Perhaps he should consult L. Ron Hubbard.

Fortunately The H and I returned to Birmingham without encountering any knife crime.  We had a great week-end and I am happy to report we slept through Sunday night in peace.

Cheers