A Busted Day Trip
I had a good plan. I would drive to Duluth, Minnesota to pick up my Duluth Pack shoulder bag that had just been repaired. I’ve had the bag for thirty years. It’s one of my prized possessions, especially since Duluth Pack is discontinuing that style. I drove three hours and was within a half-dozen blocks of the Duluth Pack store when traffic stopped dead. I was not moving. I could see the intersecting street that led into the Canal Park area. There was a steady stream of vehicles on that street pouring into the area. Spot decision: I wanted no part of the crowding, so I turned around and headed for the second stop on my itinerary, the marina on the Lake Superior shore at Port Wing, Wisconsin. I was looking forward to a pleasant lunch, enjoying the warmth of late June at a picnic table where I could see the lake stretching into infinity. Before I got out of my car, I was startled to see that the temperature was 58°. There was a brisk north wind which probably dropped the wind chill to 50°. I lasted ten minutes before giving up and heading to the last stop on my itinerary. Within ten miles of the lake, the temperature had rebounded to 80°.
My third stop was a chunk of the North Country National Scenic Trail along the St. Croix River near the Gordon Dam. There, it was too hot for my 77-year-old self, and I managed only 3/10 miles before turning back. It was along this short stretch of trail that I got my only photographs of the day. At one point, I was ambling along, not paying attention to where I was going when I looked up, and there was a deer standing in the trail not ten yards away. For once, I was ready to react quickly. As soon as I raised my camera, the deer bounded across the traiil and away into the woods. I managed to get off a dozen shots; all except one were rejects. One was acceptable.
Two days before the busted trip to Duluth, I went on another drive. This was was through heavy rain and thunderstorms. I shots a few shots in the rain that are in the second gallery below.
