Somewhere in Wisconsin

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Sunday June 24th - Two Harbors, MN

I thought I was going to enter an update from the motel where our workshop was held after we wrapped up. But for some reason the internet connection has been challenging since I arrived in Minnesota.

What a great week here in Minnesota. Wish I had planned on another week here.

Can’t even begin to recap all the fun things I’ve seen, done, and learned.

The weather the first days here was cool (almost nippy at times) and windy. The last two days have been almost hot by comparison.

I drove down to Duluth after we finished and it was HOT. I felt like I was in a big city after having been here along the North Shore where towns are few and far between and the population is often in the hundreds or low thousands!

We had fog last night and this morning and it made for some interesting photographic opportunities. I haven’t had much time to review my shots.

I hope tomorrow will be a laid back day. I’m planning on a little more sleep tonight and it will be a relatively short drive tomorrow - about 250 miles if I recall my numbers correctly. I’ve already reattached the bicycle rack (and bicycle) to the rear of the Jeep, put up the grill and stored the sewer hose. I thought about driving a little north around sunrise for some early morning shots along the cliffs, but I’m just too exhausted.

So for now I’ll just share a couple of images from the past few days. More detailed stories will be forthcoming when things are less hectic and I’m a little more rested.

Hopefully I’ll be able to connect to the blog and upload this when I go over by the office where I can get a signal here in the campground.

Monday June 25th - Northern Wisconsin

Perhaps the 3rd time will be the charm. As you can see from the beginning of this entry I tried early in the afternoon and then last night to make a journal entry. Obviously I wasn’t able to connect and upload.

I had a short drive today - about 200 miles and arrived at my campground about 4:30. I knew it was supposed to have wireless. I also expected to have laundry facilities. Since I arrived early and had no sightseeing planned this evening I was going to wash a few things and get the blog updated.

Well I don’t have cell coverage here - no big deal, and they are renovating the laundry area so I can’t do that (can you tell how disappointed I am in that!!!). But I couldn’t get websites to come up either. I was able to check email, but no websites would load.

After closing out Explorer a few times, it appears to be working.

IF it does continue to work, this entry and a couple of photos from the past few days will be uploaded.

Again, thanks for checking in with me as I explore the roads less traveled. Hope you enjoy the latest images.

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Photos

Along Lake Superior
Here is a view of an arch formation in Tettegouche State Park.

Rocky shoreline
This is a closeup of the rocky shoreline at Tettegouche State Park. I was fascinated by the rocky beaches.

Palisade Head
This is Palisade Head. Like Split Rock Lighthouse, this is one of the most photographed areas along the North Shore of Lake Superior. The cliffs are over 100 feet above Lake Superior.
I had every intention to go back either Sunday or Monday morning to get this with the early morning light on the cliffside. But I didn't make it. I think it was likely both mornings were foggy and I may have seen nothing at all.

Grand Marais harbor
Grand Marais is about 45 miles from the Canadian border. I believe it is the largest town north of Duluth on the North Shore. It's a very popular summer destination. Canoes and kayaks appear on the tops of MANY vehicles here. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area is close by.

Two Harbors
Two Harbors and Duluth both have tacconite (iron ore) loading docks. Duluth I learned is a MAJOR international shipping port. This is a ship loading taconite in Two Harbors.

Split Rock
This image doesn't show up very well as a small image for the blog. I hope to be able to work on it a little more in Photoshop (applying some of the techniques I learned in the workshop) and get a better image.
I'm including this because of the technique we used.
This was done after dark and is called light painting. This is beginning to become a popular photo technique/style.
We had someone give us a hands on demonstration on light painting at the CNPA annual meeting in Boone last month.
I know Split Rock Lighthouse is very hard to see in this small image, but both the rocks in the foreground AND the lighthouse (which was probably 1/4 mile away - maybe further) were lit with two 1 million candle power flashlights!!!
I'm hoping when I have time to open the RAW file and edit it, that this will be a good image. I'll post it here if I get something better.