8/17/2007Actually the first part of this is still in International Falls.
This statue of Smokey is right in downtown International Falls at the Smokey Bear Park.There is a museum right behind Smokey which has two parts. One part is about Bronko Nagurski, for those of you who don't know who he was here is a web site to visit, that tells all about him
http://www.bronkonagurski.com/ . He was possibly one of the greatest football players of all time. He played for the Chicago Bears in the 1930s. The other part of the museum is about the voyageurs. I'll tell you more about the voyageurs when I get to the Grand Portage.
We took a bike ride on a trail they have constructed that runs along route 11 which goes out to one of the Voyageur National Park visitor center. The bike trail goes through the town of Ranier. We rode it about 3.5 miles one way so the trip was about 7 miles, it goes further but that was all we could handle. On the way back through Ranier we stopped at a little restaurant and had lunch. I had a great patty melt sandwich. It was made on home made bread with cheese, onions and a nice portion of cooked just right ground meat. Peggy order garlic bread on toast. She said it was delicious. It also was home made bread.
This sign and statue is at the entrance to the little town of Ranier.
These flowers were all over the place along the bike trail. I don't know what they are called but they certainly add color at this time of year this far north because all of the spring flowers are gone in fact they are getting ready for winter. Their tourist season is over about August 17th.
8/18/2007
We left International Falls and drove through Canada to Grand Portage, Minnesota. We were pleasantly surprise on entering Canada. It was the first time in about four crossings that we weren't searched. We were begining to think we looked dishonest. From the stories were heard we thought we would have a problem crossing back into the US. Again we were pleasantly surprised. The guard even was joking with us and let us go straight through. One of the things that probably helped was that we had our passports with us. I hate the thoughts of having to get a new one in a couple of years, the price of them has gone sky high. The drive on Canada route 11 was beautiful there are so many lakes. The biggest part of Rainy Lake is in Canada. The road is a good two lane black top with little traffic.
When we crossed back into the U.S. this was our first view of Lake Superior.
This was our campground at Grand Portage. It had this great view of Lake Superior. It had full hook ups and as you can see it had no trees so our satellite worked fine. It did have more RVs than the picture shows but it wasn't full by any means.
8/19/2007
The campground was just off route 61 which is a scenic drive along Lake Superior and goes all the way to Duluth. We went back up it to the Voyageur State Park, it is right at the border crossing. There is a falls in the park which is the highest falls in Minnesota. I guess that's why they call it High Falls. The following pictures are from the park.
I had to put both of these pictures in even though they are not real sharp. The little fellow wouldn't stay still for me but a fellow on the trail that was watching said, " He certainly posed for you, first a frontal view then a side view." So here is the frontal view
and here is the side view.
While most of the country was having 100 degree weather it was cool up here, about 60 degrees, with a cool breeze off Lake Superior. The blue coat Peggy has on she made. The red plaid coat is mine which she hates but in this Paul Bunyan country it is very appropriate. The blue wool shirt around her legs is mine also which I had taken off because I was too warm.
This view though not very scenic is across the river into Canada. The falls are to the left. If you blow the picture up and look close you can see the remains of an old flume. The loggers used it to get their logs around the falls.
View of High Falls. There is an other falls up the river about a mile but we didn't go to it. It's called the Middle Falls and isn't as high as this one. These falls are the reason for this area being called the Grand Portage. The Indians and the Voyageurs had to portage 9 miles around this area to start their voyage back to their forts or depots.
This portly gentleman was one of the park employees that dressed in period attire and told the stories about the times. He and some other employees build birch bark canoes and snow shoes. He was extremely knowledgeable. He has been doing this for 25 years and really loves his work. He explained that there were two types of voyageurs. One came from Montreal and brought the trade goods to this depot and returned with the furs the other voyageurs brought. The other type voyageur brought the furs from the Indians to this depot picked up the trade goods and went back and spent the winter with the Indians or at the depots. They didn't like each other and when they got together there usually was some blood shed. He told us much more and in great detail it was extremely interesting. one thing was that none of the voyageurs were trppers, they got all of their furs from the Indians who did the trapping.
This is one of the birch bark canoes they just finished building.
This is a view from inside the Grand Portage Depot. He told us the walls were not built for defence just to keep people out at night. I'm sure he was right because it certainly was nor strategically located. There was a hill right behind it that any one attacking the fort could shoot down on it.
This sign explains the next picture.
The reconstructed Great Hall. Just on the other side of the parking lot was the path of the Great Portage, a nine mile trek. We walk about a block of it.
There are many stops along the way with scenic views and walk ways to other views such as the one above of the hidden falls.
This is the hidden falls and you can see why they are called the hidden falls. You have to go up on the overlook and peek around the corner to see the falls.
This was another stop along the road to see this scenic view where this river emptied into Lake Superior. There were fishermen here trying their luck. There was also a rapids on the other side of the road which I have pictures of in my picture album. We stopped at a bakery in a small town to get some fresh baked goods. We spent the night in the Wal-mart parking lot in Hermantown which is a suburb of Duluth. The next day was another drizzly day so we left for the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan. 
