Week in review: July 14-20

Even though we had trekked to The Devil's Kettle last Thursday, Dick thought he'd do a short and easy hike up Mt. Rose on Friday, which is near the Grand Portage Historical Monument. It's only a mile hike round trip, but the hike is very steep (Easy? Huh!). He was pooped when he got back. Here's a view of the Grand Portage Bay from the top of Mt. Rose.

Sunday we went back to Grand Marais to attend the Cornerstone Community Church (formerly 1st Baptist). I still have family members who attend there, so met up with them and then went to my aunt Bernice's home for dinner following. Was good to share that time with family, over wonderful food and great conversation. There were 11 of us at the table (mostly relatives); stories kept us laughing for a couple of hours. Good times. (Oh, and if you're in Grand Marais next weekend, I'll be playing for the church service--just can't get away from a keyboard!)

Afterwards we met up with a 3rd cousin, MaryBeth (up from Dallas) and her family, who were visiting her mom. (Her mom has the best sloppy joe recipe -- let me know if you want the recipe!) Hadn't seen MaryBeth for about 40 years so we had a lot to catch up on. Another old friend from Grand Marais happened to be there, too (Glen Larsen and his wife Renee), so lots of stories were shared. 

This rest of this week was spent pretty close to home, with the exception of Wednesday the 18th. We took a day trip across the border into Thunder Bay, Ontario to see Fort William Historical Park and Kekabeka Falls.

Fort William Historical Park is one of the largest living history attractions in North America, devoted to re-creating the days of the North West Company and the Canadian fur trade. With 57 heritage and modern buildings on 250 acres, Fort William offers a vivid look at fur trade life, from culture to crafts, medicine to business, domestic life to heritage farming. In the 1800s, Fort William was a major center of commerce whose history was deeply intertwined with the economic and political development of North America. Formed officially in 1784, the North West Company was comprised of a loose coalition of independent traders based in Montreal. It was not long before this coalition challenged the long-established Hudson's Bay Company for domination of the fur trade in North America, moving it from Grand Portage to Fort William. Fort William operated from 1803 to 1821.

It was interesting to dialogue with costumed characters who explained the workings of their individual homes, shops, and working areas, where we could meet with Scottish fur traders, French voyageurs, artisans, farmers, Ojibwa and aboriginals who inhabited the Fort.

Below is an aerial photo of the reconstructed Fort William Historical Park as it existed in 1815.

After spending a couple of hours at Fort William, we headed to Kakabeka Falls.

Kakabeka Falls plunges 131 feet over sheer cliffs and some of the oldest fossils in the world. This is the largest waterfall in the Lake Superior watershed, and is known as the "Niagara of the North."

On our way back to Grand Portage, we stopped at Thunder Oaks Cheese Farm, which is the only farm in Ontario that produces Gouda cheese. We sampled almost 2 dozen flavors, from jalapeno to black pepper, smoked to plain. YUM! Of course we had to purchase some for our enjoyment. Here's their link if you wish to order.Thunder Oaks Cheese Farm. Oh, and the cheese curds are just too hard to pass up, so we noshed on those, too.

 

 

 

A little history: Jacob and Margaret Schep come from cheese-making families in Holland. They emigrated to Canada with their children in 1981, and began a dairy farm in Scoble Township, just south of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Margaret's mother was a World Champion cheese maker in 1975, and her brother and his wife still make cheese on the family farm in Holland. In 2002, Thunder Oak won the Dairy Farmers of Canada Grand Prix award for best Firm Cheese.

Oh, I should mention that we're never short of wild life, even at our site. Tuesday morning we woke to find that a little green toad had taken up residency on one of our outdoor chairs. He stayed until the next morning, even though we moved the chairs around quite a bit during the day.

Friday we left for Cloquet for a weekend with my mom. My brother Ron and wife Debby (from Roseau, MN) will be there, as well as their daughter Jess and husband Andy from Wisconsin; and daughter Lindsay, husband Aaron, and 1 year-old daughter Evangeline (Eva) from California. My brother Rich, wife Karen and niece MacKenzie (from Cloquet) will also be around, so it should be another fun time.

That's all for this week. Hope you're all doing well. Until next week...