Day 284. May 16, 2014. Up North Adventures

LOCATION:  Ely, MN, in north central part of Minnesota

WEATHER:  Sunny, but cool.  Highs in 50s.  Lows below  freezing!

Our campsite is right on a lake.  We listened to loons this AM.  Here is the view from our picnic table.  Fun fact:  Last winter, we saw loons wintering in Texas, but they don't  sing until they return to their northern homes.  

We took a 3-mile hike into a birch tree forest.  It was beautiful.  Parts were swampy so we had to negotiate around those spots as well as trees that had blown down during the winter.  We looked for wildlife.  We saw a ruffed grouse, a male strutting around with his tail feathers fluffed up.  

We had lunch in a nearby fish camp/resort right on a sparkling lake.  All the rivers and lakes are full, with some of the docks under water

Then we visited the International Wolf Center.  Here are some napping in the sun.

We are really experiencing the Up North life.......loons, campfires, deer, bears, ticks.  Yikes!  Yes, I said ticks.  I found one crawling on my arm!  We thought it was too early/cold for them.  Guess not.

When we first moved to Minnesota from Georgia, I thought we were pretty far north, so I was surprised to hear people talking about vacation homes "up north".  One has to travel almost to Canada to be "up North" .....And here we are

George grilled some chicken thighs for me to use for dinner.

DINNER:  I marinated chicken in oil, chili sauce and Worchestire.  We had grilled  chicken with leftover risotto.  (I made way too much risotto the other day, so we will be eating it for several meals). I added a bit of goat cheese and kale to jazz it up.