Agate Hunting

This weekend I went agate hunting with Offspring #2, my daughter-in-law and the grand kids. We drove up in a very nice Audi sport utility vehicle which was more spacious than my Honda Fit. I did not know that when you open either of the front doors of an Audi, the name Audi is projected from the bottom of the car door to the pavement below. Fancy! I sat in the back between two child safety seats. I barely fit in there but I managed somehow. We drove up on Friday after having a lunch in Duluth at the Saint Benedict's Tavern. We  arrived in Lutsen in the evening. I proceeded to build the campfire while the other adults put up the tent. Unfortunately the tent had been lent to someone who returned it minus the stakes (which we could live without) and the rain tarp (which  we could not live without). Lucky for us we were camping in my sister-in-law's yard. She was not going to be home but she told us we were free to use the beds, kitchen, and bathroom. We used all three rooms. We slept in her room for company that slept six. We using our sleeping bags and pillows so she did not have more laundry to do. She also invited us to browse in her garden. Her garden was magnificent. Her garden is so magnificent I felt humbled as a gardener. We ate raspberries, snap peas, green beans, and basil. We could have had yellow squash, Swiss chard, kale, carrots and broccoli but didn't. We made corn on the cob, hot dogs and brats on the fire followed by Colorado peaches and s'mores.We saw bats flying by and we heard a loon calling at night.   In the morning we found one girl with her hair plastered to her head with marshmallows. I got up early. I remember my sister-in-law having access to a lake. I walked down her driveway, took a left, and saw a tiny opening on grass on the side of the road. Three brown steps lead to a wood chip path. I go down the three steps and follow the path through the woods. I see huge cedar trees with roots so large and thick I am reminded of the forests near Mount Ranier in Washington. At first I don't see the lake but I do hear the loon yodel. Then I see a metal boat painted camouflage. Then I see a lake and a dock and a big pontoon and two canoes and two kayaks and a swinging bench on the dock. I walk out on the dock and sit on the swinging bench. What a beautiful lake!  Across the way I see the mist rising off the lake. As I sit there I see a bird flying toward me. This bird flies right toward my head until finally it sees me and veers off to the right about ten feet away. I think it was a sandpiper bird. I see the loon in the distance. I sit there for about 15 minutes drinking water until I head back to the house. I see someone is up so I get busy setting up the camp stove and making coffee. After coffee we make breakfast with the stove on a tree stump. We have hash browns with corn from the one cob left over from yesterday, seitan bacon, fake vegie sausage, hard boiled eggs, blueberries and peaches. We clean up the dishes and head down to the lake. One of the younger members of our group spots fairies in the woods. I didn't see any fairies. We sit on the swing. We lay on the dock on our bellies watching the minnows swim by. Offspring #2 googles this lake and we find out it is Lake Christine and it is a lot larger than what we can see from this dock. Across the lake we see a person on a paddle board paddle along the far shore. After visiting the lake we climb into the Audi and drive to Gooseberry State Park. We park at the parking lot by lake Superior and walk to the mouth of the Gooseberry River. We eat our picnic lunch of pb&j sandwiches, carrots, hummus and blueberries. We swim or wade in the water watching a family of common mergansers swim and hunt fish. The young mergansers can swim in remarkably shallow water. The water is clear enough to see them clearly. One of the youngsters has a leech on her toe which is very upsetting. When I take the leech off I see it is a half inch long and just examining her toe. The leech did not bite her yet. I allow her to look at the leech for awhile. The girls finish swimming and climb into the child carrier backpacks so they can be carried up to the falls. The hike is 1.25 miles. I carry the lunches and diapers and clothes. At the falls we swim again and climb on the rocks. The sun is shining bright on us as we wade in the water, watch the other guests of the park, climb up and down rocks and examine rocks. One of the swim diapers gets so bloated from the river water that it cannot fit into the trash bag. We use a wet swimsuit to contain the diaper until we can find a trash can. After that we hike back to the car, get rid of the trash, refill our water bottles and climb into the car. Our next stop of Split Rock Lighthouse. We climb up the steps to the top of the lighthouse. A window is open. The breeze from the lake comes in the window so anyone standing by the window has their hair blown like a movie star. After that we are exhausted so we drive back to Lutsen. I start the camp fire while the girls play on the elaborate swing set and the other adults prepare the foil dinners. We have our protein sources of real and fake chicken, onions, potatoes, red peppers, and zucchini wrapped up in tin foil. We set the dinners on a hot log and wait. Soon  our food is cooked and we eat outside watching the stars come out. We eat the last of the s'mores and go to bed happy and content. In the morning I get up early and start the coffee perking. I take my cup of coffee down to the lake to see the sights. The wind is blowing toward me and waves form already at this time of the morning. We make a hearty breakfast of oatmeal fortified with peaches, dried cranberries and sliced almonds. Some of us add Greek yogurt and others add soy milk. We examine the magnificent garden again and take some beans, peas and raspberries. We write a thank you note to our host and hostess and take off for home. We leave a bottle in wine and a knitted dish cloth with the thank you note. Right away we stop at Lutsen lodge to pick more agates. The resort is crowded. Some people are fly fishing in the river. The water is cold and refreshing. The youngest one of our group does not like sand on her feet. She likes to be in the water but without the sand. She prefers to be dangled by her arms in the water which I do but I can only do that for so long. I set her down in the sand. She wipes the sand off her feet. She stands up and gets sand on her feet. She sits down to wipe the sand off her feet over and over and over again. We finally put her shoes and socks on and she promptly walks into the lake getting them wet. Eventually she takes her shoes and socks off. She fills one sock completely full of rocks to take home. She is less discriminate than the other agate pickers. Some of us have so many rocks in our pockets the pants start falling down. I do not take any rocks home. This agate picking has taken so long we are ready for lunch so we stop at the  Schroeder bakery just past the Temperance River state park for lunch. After that we head home. Traffic is slow in Two Harbors because of an art festival. We crawl through that town. By the time we get to Pine City the girls have had it. They need a break. We see a park in Pine City. We exit the freeway. Unfortunately the bridge over the freeway to get to that park is completely missing. We find a tiny park without any facilities except for a few benches, a display of common birds and a bird blind. We walk the short path and see a few frogs and a muskrat but no birds.The break helps and we are on our way again. By the time 7 p.m. comes we are  in Minneapolis. The girls run up and down the sidewalk with joy. They have another short leg of their journey to get home. The one song that was requested many times and played nearly every time it was requested follows: