Last week on our adventure day, Tom and I went to Canada to visit Fort William. We live about six miles from the Canadian border, so it wasn’t a long trip. We went with Val, Johnny, Debbie and Walker – all fellow RV volunteers here at Grand Portage. Fort William is like Grand Portage on …
From June 2016
Neebing Roadhouse
After our visit to Fort William on Saturday we were starving, despite the food samples at Fort William. We saw all we wanted to see – or all our starving bodies could stand – and headed to a nearby restaurant named Neebing Roadhouse. The decor inside and outside was unremarkable, except for some gorgeous irises, …
Second Week of Training
The second week of training is over! Tom and I are pretty excited about it because it means we can finally start working and acting like we know something. Two weeks of training makes your brain and behind tired but also makes sure that we are trained the Grand Portage Way. We still have a …
Flag at Half Staff Again
One of the duties that Tom and I are often privileged to be able to do is to raise and lower the flag at the start and end of the work day. Sometimes (too often it seems) we have to put the flag at half staff, signifying that our nation is in mourning. Today the …
The Gunflint Trail
On our adventure day last week, Tom and I took off with two other volunteers, Val and Johnny, and drove up the Gunflint Trail. The Gunflint Trail is one of several scenic drives in the area. It follows MN 12 from Grand Marais to the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area, 55 miles each direction. Saturday was …
Mosquitoes and Biting Black Flies
We are having our first encounters with the mosquitoes and biting black flies here in Minnesota. We had been told they could be bad so we came prepared with extra DEET in the form of Deep Woods Off. Which is fine if you don’t mind smelling like you bathed in DEET every time you go …
Canoeing on Lake Superior
The most fun thing we did on training last week was canoeing on Lake Superior. But we didn’t canoe in plain, old, aluminum canoes. No – we had 16 people in a reproduction Montreal Canoe! Montreal Canoes were the semi-trucks of the fur trade. They could carry up to 16 voyageurs and passengers and four …
First Week of Training Finished
Grand Portage is the first place where Tom and I have had formal training. It is also the only place where we have not been the only volunteers, so it makes sense that they have formal training here. Last week we were in training from 8 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon. So …
Trinity Lutheran Church in Hovland, Minnesota
Today Tom and I attended worship at Trinity Lutheran Church in Hovland, Minnesota. Hovland is a tiny little town with one business and one church about 20 minutes down MN 61 (MN 61 runs along the north shore of Lake Superior – ne is up and sw is down). Trinity Lutheran is the closest mainline …
Grand Portage National Monument
Tom and I will be working at Grand Portage National Monument for the summer. You have probably never heard of Grand Portage National Monument, so this post is an introduction to the monument and its purpose. Grand Portage is the place where east met west in North America. It was the place where fur merchants …