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Second attempt at Carlton Peak

Author’s note:  This is the second post on our hike up Carlton Peak in Northeastern Minnesota. In case you haven’t heard, the most devasting, damaging floods in history have recently struck this part of Minnesota.  Over 100 million dollars of damage is estimated.  Roads are closed, homes and universities are flooded.  Even the zoo was impacted with a dozen animals drown and the dramatic rescue of a seal and a polar bear who escaped the escalating flood waters.  Let’s keep our thoughts and prayers in mind for the people impacted by this devastation.  To read full updated article, click here. 

Adventure Travel Minnesota TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking United States
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A touch of nature along Lake Superior’s North Shore

Our first morning along Lake Superior’s North Shore wasn’t looking too promising.  Dark clouds had rolled in over the lake and we could hear the low rumble of distant thunder all the way across to Wisconsin. I sat out on the oversized verandah, sipping my morning juce (mi gasolina, as it was nicknamed during my recent trip to Guatemala) and listening to the dramatic, haunting call of the loons.

If you have never heard a loon before, then you probably don’t know what their song is like.  One you hear it, you will never forget.  It is perhaps one of the most beautiful, melodic sounds I’ve ever heard. To prove it, see for yourself.   Click below, close your eyes and listen.  It is a cry you will never forget. A beautiful mourning wail…

Adventure Travel Minnesota TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking United States
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Life without electricity: A moment of reflection

The last week has been the most crazy stormy summer weather imaginable in Minnesota.  One moment the sky is blue and then without warning enormous, black thundery clouds sweep in and take over the sky leaving us in a downpour of electric lightening and roaring thunder. It has been so wet that I haven’t even had to bother watering my garden (one bonus) but so wet that I can almost see the millions of super sized mosquitoes (which we often joke are the State Bird) breeding in its wake.

Global Issues SOCIAL GOOD
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A Night on the North Shore

We arrived on the North Shore of Lake Superior mid-afternoon on a Thursday. The weather was perfect and amazingly cool compared to Minneapolis, just a few hours south. We made a few stops along the way to Gooseberry Falls and also pulled over to take a shot of the most photographed site in Minnesota, the Split Rock Lighthouse.

The air was fresh and pure. The brilliant blue waters of Lake Superior glistened in the sun. I could hardly wait to get to our destination, a log cabin along the shores of the lake, and spend a weekend relaxing, hiking and doing what I love best: Enjoying nature and being together with family. There couldn’t be a more ideal place for it than here.

The Split Rock Lighthouse.

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Around the world and back with dad

In honor of father’s day, I thought I’d do this next post on my dad. I made a promise to him that it wouldn’t be sappy or a tear-jerker like the one I wrote for my mom. You know how us women can be!  We love to be emotional, don’t we? So, I will try my best to make this post light and fun, ok dad? 

Picture of my dad and I on top of the world at the highest point along the Annapurna Trek in Nepal in November 2010.

Picture of my dad and I on top of the world at the highest point along the Annapurna Trek in Nepal in November 2010.

Around the world and back with dad.

Adventure Travel Trekking/Hiking
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Photography: If a rose could last forever

Remember back in early and mid-Spring, I did a series of posts on the perennial gardens over near Lake Harriet?  (click here to see most recent post). I found some delightful surprises that captivated my soul and I’ve gone back several times since to see what new has come up.

The biggest attraction of all of course is the Rose Garden which blooms each summer in hundreds of colors and types of roses.  When it is in full bloom, it is perhaps one of the most beautiful places in the city.

I’d been watching the Rose Garden often during my daily runs around the lake and nothing  had transpired since the last time I’d checked.  However, Monday was entirely different.  Sophia and I set off on a bike ride along the lakes and on our way home I noticed a blur of color as we passed by the Rose Garden.  I wondered out loud….is it ready?

Minnesota TRAVEL BY REGION TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY United States
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Destination North Shore: Our first stop along the way of Lake Superior

The state of Minnesota may have some severely cold winters, yet one thing that makes up for it is the fact that we do have lakes.  Lots of them.  Recent estimates have put Minnesota’s lakes in the 11,000-13,000 range, depending on what you count as a body of water.  Lakes not only provide us with water but with everlasting, pure beauty and recreation.  You can hardly drive anywhere without seeing a lake.

Adventure Travel Minnesota TRAVEL BY REGION Trekking/Hiking United States
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The Child Survival Call to Action

Over the last month or so, my work as a Shot@Life Advocate for the UN Foundation’s campaign at vaccinating children in the world’s poorest countries has lead me to become active working with another impressive global advocacy group called Results.  Results is a grassroots organization lead mainly by a huge group of volunteer advocates who share one main goal:  An end to poverty around the world.  Their mission is “to create the public and political will to end poverty by empowering individuals to exercise their personal and political power for change”.

Global Issues Poverty SOCIAL GOOD Women and Girls
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Markets: An afternoon in the souq

A fellow WordPress Blogger, Ailsa over at “Where’s my backpack” did it again with this week’s travel theme of Street Markets.  What a fantastic topic for who doesn’t love the vibrant colors and fragrances of a world market?  Markets are amazing as they give you such a slice of culture.  Whether it be the divine floral markets of Paris to the brilliant indigenous markets of Peru, a market always has a treasure to find.

One of my favorite markets of all is the souq.  In the spring of 2011, I spent a week volunteering in Rabat, Morocco and had a wonderful time exploring the ins and outs of a Moroccan souq.  You could truly find literally every thing for sale; pretty much whatever your heart desired.  The colors, the sounds, the people, the smells and the diverse offerings of goods made the souq one of my favorite places to wander and buy gifts for my family and friends.

Follow me through the winding paths of Rabat’s central souq….

There is always a mosque shooting up towards the sky and summoning the daily call to prayer.  The sound of the call echoes throughout the souq, bouncing off the curvy walls of the serpentine streets.  

CULTURE TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY Weekly Photo Challenges
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The Doors of Guatemala

Doors are fascinating. They are also quite mysterious for who knows what lies behind the doors of a place. They are the gatekeeper when closed. Yet when opened, they offer you a look into a whole new world of possibilities inside.

When I think of doors, there is one place in particular in which I was utterly blown away by the doors:  Guatemala. This colorful country had perhaps some of the most unusual and interesting doors I’d ever seen during my travels. For those of you who have been following my blog, you have already seen these photos. However, I decided to spruce them up a little by playing around with the colors.

Come, take a walk with me and admire some of my favorite doors I found…..

Guatemala TRAVEL BY REGION TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY Weekly Photo Challenges
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A trip around Andalusia: The route

I promised I would move on to my next series and here it is: Sumptuous Spain!  I am digging back through my archives a bit as I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from readers on it.  So, I am going to go for it even though (a) The trip was 8 years ago (b) I had to scan every single picture as it was before I had a digital camera, and (c) I am going off my old, leather-bound travel journal as memory.  (My own brain is way too foggy for a trip in 2004, especially after two kids). 

Thus all in all, this series of posts will not be anywhere near as detailed as my recent ones on Guatemala, China, Nepal, Morocco, Costa Rica or Argentina, all relatively recent travels.  But on the bright side of things I don’t have many pictures or stories written down thus it will mostly be a few fond memories per city.  So here goes nothing, Hasta Spain!

Photo credit: Wikipedia Free Commons

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