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I woke up before 6am and heard rain. I got up and pulled in anything getting wet. I closed the windows and laid down a while. At 6:15 or so I cooked sausage and eggs and we cleaned up the boat and packed our stuff. Around 7:45 we left the island and headed to the lodge. It was still a long way away and took a long time. It was a cloudy dark day and we were sad to leave our boat on Birch Lake but talked about all the fun we had. We got to the lodge unloaded our stuff and settled up with the front desk.

They refunded the deposit and after gas ice and the boat rental our total was $1,004.00. We were amazed at what an amazing time we had for a grand. The owner gave us directions for a scenic dirt road drive and we took that to Lake Superior then drove down the coast of the worlds largest lake. We stopped every few minutes for a scenic overlook or lighthouse or waterfall.

The first overlook was some rail car thing and a mining town.The overlook was not very impressive but it was our first glimpse of the lake and fairly high. On a clear day it was rumored you could see Wisconsin.

Then we drove on to a nice marina in a bay.  The water was crystal clear and calm in the bay.

After exploring the area a bit we decided not to leave the path to hike to a huge rock and instead drove on to Beaver River and stopped to run along the rocks in a small waterfall.

The next stop was the Splitrock Lighthouse.

It was packed and $8 a person to see and take a tour so we looked through the trees and drove on. Just down the road was another state park for the Gooseberry Falls.
This was free, beautiful and lots of fun. We got to climb around the falls and find several of the various falls that were in the park.
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We played and explored for a while and the clouds moved aside for a bit and it got hot and sunny. On the way to the car I got really hungry and we drove to Twin Harbors and stopped at a bar and grill. It turned out to be more bar then grill ans so after our beers we passed on the frozen pizzas they served.  Our stomachs were drained and the one beer made us tipsy.  So Heath made sandwiches from our cooler in the car as I drove on. We stopped just before Duluth to watch the massive waves crash on the rocky shore.

Then we drove on to Duluth. H called hotels and I drove around the city. There were some really cool hotels in cool places but they had huge prices or no rooms. A Best western 1/2 mile from the touristy Canal area for $130 was the best deal we found.

We booked a room, parked and walked down to the water. There was a lot to do and going on. We watched their famous bridge go up and down and looked at the lighthouse there and explored the city for a few hours.

Then we went to the hotel and took hot long showers and took a nap. Then we got dressed up and headed back to the canal for dinner and drinks. It was sprinkling a bit but not enough to get us wet. We looked at menus on windows for a while. We did not want to eat at a chain that we have in KC and we were in the mood for more Walleye. (this is a local fish we tried at lunch in Babbitt) We ended up at Hell’s Kitchen. It has nothing to do w/ the TV show. This place was a goth decorated place 2 semi famous chefs ran together. I got a walleye BLT and Heath got a walleye quesadilla and we split them.

We tried out several of their special brews too. The food was good but not my taste and made my stomach feel strange. After dinner we walked some off and stayed out of the stronger rain by going through the shops. This bored the heck out f e so we headed to one of the many bars in the area named after Grandma. After a big beer I had Jack and Cokes and H had Mojitos. Then we walked most of the way back to the hotel and had a few more drinks at another bar before heading back tired and full of drinks.

We got a block from the hotel before we came to a side street that was closed. A bar had reserved the street to have a street party with a band and outside drinks and a huge crowd.
Well we could not pass this up and got more drinks. We danced and partied and wandered the area until the police shut down everything and reopened the street for traffic. Then we finally headed back to the hotel and crashed hard.

I woke  up and went to sit on the cliff and post. It was a nice spot with a great view and a good rock to write on. Then I came back to the boat and cooked up steak and egg burritos.

Heath and I went for a little walk then found some fisherman had moved in close to our spot. Other then this it seemed like no boats came close to other boats if they could avoid it. They were loud and a fairly annoying family of kids and parents and stuff.  We laid around in the boat and relaxed and tried to ignore them for quite a while. They didn’t leave so we swam a bit but they still fished right beside us. We decide it would be up to us to get some space so we untied and moved on. I took some pictures from afar of the black cliffs.

We continued north for a while but it was really windy. We intended to go all the way to the northernmost part of the lake and look at some bluffs that were supposed to be up there. Heath was worried about some rocks up there and the wind was really slowing our progress and eventually we decided to turn around and forget the bluffs.

Heath took over the wheel

and I packed the rest of our hamburger and some of our sausage into hamburgers and cut some fries and grilled everything. I was not sure how well the grill would work while the boat was going full speed and the wind was blowing good but the grill worked fine and the burgers with a bit of pork in them turned out really good. We kept driving south and ate in the boat. We wanted to make it most of the way back to the lodge to lessen our driving on Friday.

We decided to stop at the Kurry Islands and hope the beach spot was out of the wind. We beached really well then went for a hike around the new Island.  After that we got out our books on the roof of the boat. We both fell asleep for a while then got lots of wine and read and drink and worked on suntans.

It was kinda windy but not bad and we got kinda hot in the sun. We hiked out to a point on the island that was almost an island as the water was up over the grass between it and our island. We explored it and took some pictures of our boat from it. We walked through the water back in about thigh deep water. I went down the slide and swam for a while as Heath took a bath with shampoo and everything in the lake. We swam some more and continued to drink wine. When we got out I pulled a good sized leech off my ankle and it bled a lot. I think they do something that makes it hard to clot the blood.

Then we fried up steak and chicken with onions and a can of chillies and jalapenos.

We sat on the front of the boat and ate as the sun began to set. We rushed to finish our fajitas and moved to a good spot to watch the sun set through a tree on the island.

We kept drinking wine and started a small fire. As the fire died we got real tired and had enough wine so we went inside. We decided to go to sleep early then wake up before dawn to see a sun rise. We got out the laptop and downloaded all the pictures to make sure we had room on the camera and went to sleep.

I got up at 9 and cleaned up. This was our only day with a scheduled item and that was the supply boat at 9:30. I repacked the coolers for the new ice, got the trash ready to be picked up and cleaned up the boat a bit. Then we cooked sausage egg and cheese on bagel sandwiches. The staff showed up during breakfast and we took a break to help get gas and ice. We had blue moon with an orange slice in it with breakfast.

After breakfast we swam a bit then then took a short hike that we cut short for bathroom breaks. Then I worked on my post about yesterday. We packed up some beer and water and took and extended hike to explore the whole island. We made our way to a large cliff I had seen from the water that had potential for jumping off. We took a break on this cliff and drank the beer.

We could see grass growing in the water beneath the cliff and decided it may not be deep enough to jump off. So we bushwhacked our way back to the boat for a short cut and then grabbed the rafts and played on the rope swing a bit.

Heath scratched her knuckles

so we left the swing and swam out to a mini island off from ours. It was an easy swim out w/ the wind pushing our raft out. We took some pictures, drank some tea and played around. Then we swam back against the wind. We were ready to leave the island but not done with the swing so went back for some more jumps.

I tried to learn to do a good flip off he swing but never made it look smooth.

Then we got out and dried off on the roof of the boat. Once dry we left the island. We drove east and north on up the lake and Heath decided to take a nap. I drove on looking for a good spot. I was working our way toward some bluffs at the far north side of the lake.  I found a few good campsite areas and decided to anchor for a while until Heath woke up from her nap and have her help beach.

This worked ok for a bit but not as good as the day before and the strong wind quickly blew us close to shore. I had to wake up Heath and quickly maneuver away and wind up the anchor at the same time. We went to a nearby campsite. The wind was strong, H was half asleep and our landing did not go smoothly. We came in too fast and at an angle so 1 pontoon got stuck on a rock and then the wind blew us sideways.

I got in and held the boat from blowing into the rocks and tried to push us out. H put it in full force backup but we didn’t budge. Some fisherman were watching and came over to help. They hooked on and pulled us out. We had left our plank on the shore though. So after a couple of loops we tried to get in again. The wind was still too strong and H could not hold the boat against the shore long enough for me to tie us in. We tried for a while then abandoned. I pushed the boat back and swam the plank over. and we moved on up the lake looking for a spot not directly in the wind.

We were getting far from the lodge and there were not as many campsites. We had an idea where one was out of the main area in a bay.  However there was a boat in the area with some people playing. We anchored again out in the middle to wait for them to leave. We barely got the anchor at the bottom before they left the spot so we cranked it up and pulled in. It was a little rough as our nerves were on edge but we had no real problems beaching. It looked like we had some serious problems though as I got a bloody nose just as we were pulling in. I had to get us tied up quick and did not worry about the nose till the boat was secure.

We were tied up at the end of a cliff that was about 2 feet above the water and 4 feet deep. The cliff ran along the shore getting higher and higher with the top part 30 or so feet off the water. We got out and explored around. We found several fire pits, the toilet and a great view of the bay and lake. The whole area was big black flat rock and easy to climb. It almost looked like asphalt after an earthquake or something.

The hiking, exploring and #2s made us hot so we went for a swim and cleaned up a bit in the water and Heath shaved her legs. Then we went in and having skipped lunch cooked up 2 massive steaks, a pile of rice, a can of peas, and the last of our asparagus.

We stuffed our faces and had more then half of the steak left over. Then we got the camera, a couple of beers and hiked to the top most part of the cliff with the best view of the the sun.

After it set we started a small fire in a grove in the rocks as the lake went from blue, to yellow, to orange, to pink, and then to dark blue.  As our small fire burned down the bugs began to come out. We had not gotten a mosquito bite yet but they were really out tonight so we retreated to the boat.

We lit the propane light and made up a drinking game called sevens. The game was ok but Heath was worried about mosquitos that were getting in and we were too stuffed from dinner to get drunk or get too excited. My wrist had been bothering me and I took off my watch so I was not sure when we went to sleep or when we got up the next morning.

Heath had put up towels over the west windows on the boat so the sun came in early on the East side. We were tired though and rolled over and slept. Our first day not needing to be anywhere by anytime in a long time. I got up at 8:30 to check my fishing pole and drink some tea and write two and a half of my blog posts. I wrote all of Sunday then discovered I needed to use the bathroom ASAP. On our hikes Heath and I found a toilet in the woods and a big coffee can w/ a roll of toilet paper in it.

I opened the lid on the toilet and found it was full of crawling and flying critters. My business was too urgent to abandon and go back to the boat for and I didn’t have time to clean the bugs off or shoo them away so I quickly hovered as best I could. Things were a bit messy and I opened the coffee can to find there were about 3 squares on the roll. I’m not going to get into the dirty details but I’ll tell you I ended up going for an early morning swim in the lake.

This was my 3rd swim since we had been on the boat and the best so far. It started out as just a clean up swim but the water felt good and I had a nice time swimming around. I was behind the boat and out of the wind. Heath got up after my swim and we cooked breakfast burritos then took the boat out. We did not go far just getting to the other side of the bay. This was the area where the staff said we might see a moose so we hiked around trying to find one. The trails were not great hear and so we bushwhacked through.

This was tough going and way to loud to see any animals so we worked our way back to the boat hot and dirty and went for a swim. This may have been Heath’s first real swim and she enjoyed it too.

Then we left the bay and Heath took a nap while I drove us on further up the lake. I got to another campsite but Heath was sleeping when we arrived so I passed it by and cruised out to the middle of the lake. I was 1/2 expecting the wind to pull the anchor along and slowly work us toward shore but we held really well and stayed put. I packed and grilled 2 massive burgers.

Heath woke up and we ate the delicious beasts then went for a swim.

We used the slid on the back a bunch and jumped off the roof and had a blast in the water for quite a while.

After swimming we pulled up the anchor and boated over to an area with several islands. Heath drove and got us too close to a buoy and we got stuck on the rocks it guarded. We worked together to get our boat off the rocks and no harm came. We explored some more around the islands and found a great spot to beach on one. Once tied up we explored our very own island. It was a great spot with a swimming area, a rope swim, some possible cliffs to jump off and easy trails all around.

We hiked and gathered fire wood for the evening then cooked up some spaghetti with pork sausage and hamburger in the sauce. We rushed dinner then carried some wine over to the West side of the island to watch the sun go down.

It was real nice. Then we built up the fire we had started up before dinner. It burned well and kept us warm for several hours as it got darker. We sat on a large rock watching the fire burn down and the moon rise up. This went on for several hours before we got really hungry again and dipped beef sticks in peanut butter and ate them. This protein overload got the best of us and we fell asleep.

The Alarm went off at 6:30am. I got up from a deep sleep and a dream about the honeymoon. I took a shower and another alarm went off. Heath got up and showered. We packed up, ate the free breakfast and left. We hit the road at 7:30am. We were still very excited and seemed to be more tired then the night before. Coffee took care of that and we cruised along north and north.

Finally with the help of the GPS on my phone we made it to Babbitt, MN. We drove a bit then found Timber Bay.

They got us set up and went over the map of the lake and stuff. Then we went to town for steaks, eggs, chicken breasts, hamburger, asparagus, etc.  We ate a great lunch at a local dinner then got some beer from the local bar and went back to the boat.

They gave us directions, instructions, warnings, etc. and then we were off. I backed her up and got it pointed in the right dirrection then gave Heath the wheel and I tested out the boats bathroom. We got away from the lodge and out into the middle of the lake then dropped anchor, grabbed our beers, the chaise lounges and headed to the upper deck to watch the lake, relax, nap and enjoy the perfect weather.

We stayed on top for a few hours too excited to sleep. Then we got the cabin all set up for our week. We drove on to a large island we had picked out on the map but found another boat there when we showed up.

We cruised on at a steady 7 mph and found a great rock point with a spot beside it for beaching the boat. We tied up then explored out from our boat in every dirrection.

We got a huge pile of firewood then headed into the boat to cook dinner. We made skillet potatoes, lemon pepper chicken and asparagus. We took a break to watch the sun set from the rock point.

Then we had a great meal.After dinner we cleaned up then put on warm clothes as the wind was getting strong and cold and started up our fire. The wood was dry and the wind was fierce so the fire exploded with flames in no time.

The pile of wood next to the fire caught so we beat it down and spread it out. Then things calmed down and we relaxed and drank by the fire keeping an eye on it for a long time just to be safe and because we love to sit by the fire in the wilderness having a drink.

Jon came over after work and we played fiberglass repairmen.

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Well 20 days ago I was working on my post here in my office and I have not been back until today. I had busy getting ready for wedding days, then an amazing and very memorable wedding day. Then the honeymoon began and as usual we did not take it easy, for a week we played in Minnesota on the boat then came home and had a week of unpacking cleaning, fixing, adventures, planning etc. We went to several lakes, the zoo, a shower, the t-bones, hung out w/ friends, had people over, went out to eat etc. Way to much stuff to catch you up on it all.

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Here is a quick update on my life then I will go back to working on the honeymoon stories. I have been so busy this week.
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