land of 10,000 lakes

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Greetings from the land of 10,000 lakes - Minnesota. Actually I learned there are closer to 12,000 lakes of at least 10 acres (back in NC I think those 10 acre 'lakes' would probably be called a pond) and around 15,000 if you count those smaller than 10 acres.

Anyway... I'm settled in for a week here in Orr, MN. It was an easy 125 mile drive today. I delayed my departure and waited until some early morning thunderstorms passed. In Duluth, I stopped to buy a computer cable I inadvertently left at home. I could have made do without it, but it will greatly assist in simplifying my redundant backups I do on the road. Yep I back all my images up to 2 separate external hard drives before formatting my memory cards.

I had been in my campsite about 15 minutes when Bill Lea, the workshop leader for my bear photo workshop, came strolling up. He arrived in the area Monday evening and wasn't sure when i was arriving. He had stopped by to leave a message for me with the owner. When he learned I had just arrived he came over. We had a nice chat.

I kicked back this afternoon and worked on some iPhone techniques. I didn't even go 'into town' to check things out. I'll have plenty of time to do that on Wednesday.

By far I'm in the most remote/rural area I've been in this trip. Yet it appears the wireless internet is the BEST of any campground thus far. Go figure... 😊 Phone service will be spotty. I have service in the campground, but Bill said there is no service at the sanctuary.

I'm camping on Pelican Lake, between Orr and the wildlife sanctuary so it couldn't be more convenient. I snapped a few images along the docks of the Cabin 'O Pines (the 'resort' I'm staying in) this evening.

If you are interested in learning more about the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary, the website is: www.americanbear.org

Even with the good internet service I don't know how much time I'll have to post in the coming days. Bill mentioned that we might be out photographing VERY early - like around sunrise. Not that we will be photographing the sunrise, but will want to take advantage of the early morning 'golden hour'.

As always, thanks for checking in with me. I appreciate all the comments folks have been sending. Sorry that I haven't replied to them. Wish I could send everyone a long note of thanks, but just run out of time. I usually spend several hours picking out images, editing them, writing, etc. for each blog posting. But I DO thank you all very much. It's always nice to hear from family and friends.

Bruce

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Photos

boat 1
The reflections were very nice late this afternoon on the lake. This is one of the boats they have available for rent.

another reflection
This lake is a good sized one. It's about 7 miles long and 5 miles wide in some spots.
If you notice the boat in the background, it is a Lund boat. I noticed the majority (probably 75 to 80%) of the boats tied up at the dock were Lund. I made a comment to a guy who is here with his family that Lund must be the boat of choice in this area. He replied yes and said if he had a boat it would be a Lund. Lund is headquartered in Minnesota.