Please do feed the wildlife

When farmers market and gardening season winds down, it's time to go on vacation! And that's where we've been. Matt was so pleased to be reunited with Lake Superior, he took off all his clothes and jumped in.

From Duluth, Minnesota, with Matt's dad and step mom, we drove to the end of the Gunflint Trail in the Boundary Waters, to wait out a night of wind and snow flurries at a lodge where Matt's friend works as a fishing guide. In the morning we had Close Encounters With Wild Foxes, which all revolved around buttered toast.

We paddled into Duncan Lake, and gathered firewood, and hiked on the Border Route Trail, overlooking Canada. I made acquaintance with the tiniest chipmunk I've ever seen, and offered him a small selection of mixed nuts and dried fruits, from which he chose two peanuts.

I'm pretty sure that Minnesotans don't normally haul along their winter tent when camping in the autumn, but if they are hosting a Pennsylvanian, they (very graciously) do. There is a little woodstove in the winter tent, which makes the whole experience deluxe. We kept cozy and cooked lots, and heard the sounds of the wild north country: owls, loons, wolves and wind.