Kadunce River Trail

Last Monday, I decided to bicycle along the North Shore starting at the Kadunce River Wayside. After 20 miles on the bike, I decided to hike inland from the wayside on the Superior Hiking Trail.  In all the years I have been in Cook County, I have stopped many times at the wayside and hiked along the shore, but have never hiked inland along the river.  I found it to be a very pleasant surprise.

The trail followed a narrow, but steep gorge with lush vegetation up to a scenic bridge crossing.  There were multiple waterfalls as the river made its way to Lake Superior.  The gurgling of the river made for a very relaxing hike.

After crossing the bridge, I turned around and headed back to the wayside.  There were people along the way photographing the beautiful scenery along the trail, and we talked about how Cook County was such a great community.  Some of the great aspects we talked about were the WTIP radio station, and the Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire department, both of which one of the photographers and his wife support.

Upon reaching Lake Superior, I walked along the beach, and took some pictures of the shoreline and the river.  I also got a nice look at some Lapland Longspurs, which were species number 116

in my Big Year (see my other blog).

Kadunce River

Lapland Longpurs Calcarius lapponicus)

Lapland Longpurs Calcarius lapponicus)

Minnesota State Fair

A few weeks ago, I got to go to the Minnesota State Fair.  As a whole, it was a very fun and fulfilling day.

The one frustration of the day came before I even arrived at the fair.  Being a Sunday, the park and ride lots located at the churches did not open until 1:00 PM.  I had planned to meet my friend Les on the west side of the fair at 1:00 PM, so I needed to pick up a bus at one of the other lots well before that time.  One piece of advice I can give you is to get to those lots very early if you are going on a Sunday.  I found all three lots to be full, and had to go out of one of the church lots anyway.

When I finally disembarked at the fair, I was on the east side, and it was already 1:13 PM.  I walked very quickly across the fair (not easy in those crowds), and arrived at the Schells stage seven minutes later.  Les arrived about ten minutes after I did, having gone to the same three full parking lots, another church, and having missed the first bus.  After that, the whole day was uphill for both of us.

Fair-sized Crowd!

It was a little while until the fiddle contest began, so we decided to do a bit of exploring.  One place that sounded like fun was the Miracle of Birth Barn.  In it, they had a bunch of incredibly pregnant animals, and bird ready to lay their eggs.  It was virtually wall to wall people, but we did manage to get up close to a pig giving birth.  After much struggle, she sent two piglets into the world in quick succession.  There were already some walking around (dragging their umbilical cords), and it looked like more were on the way when we left.

Newborn Piglet

I also enjoyed seeing the chickens.  They were is a pen with a curved floor, so every time one of them laid an egg, the egg rolled to the outside of the cage.

The next leg of our journey brought us back to the Schell's Stage, and the Minnesota State Fiddle Contest.  The contest had already started the day before, so we got to see most of the finals in multiple categories including, trick fiddle, fiddle tunes played on another instrument, double fiddle, and (to determine the State Fiddle Champion), the open fiddle.  In the open fiddle, each of the contestants played three different songs, and were given combined scores from both days.  Also during the open fiddle, the judges were behind a curtain, and the contestants were announced by number only.

 One of my favorite parts of the event was when the judging was all done, and the fiddlers got on stage and jammed together.  I took some videos of the whole group doing Redwing, and The Girl I Left Behind Me.

After the fiddle contest, we went to the education building, checking out the booth for our alma matter, Concordia College - Moorhead, and other booths as well.  I went to the AMPERS booth, and talked to the people from one of our sister stations.  Our WTIP station broadcasted there the following Wednesday.

I tried a lot of different foods while I was there.  Most of them were great, with only one thing that was just good:

Deep Fried Pickle Sampler
$8.00
The pickles had several types of breading, and I liked the spicy Cajun one the most.

Sweet Martha's Chocolate Chip Cookies
$9.00 for a large cone.  I ate a few before taking this picture.
They were very good, but I wouldn't get the gigantic bucket.

Chocolate Creme Puff
$4.00
Messy, but very delicious.

Corn
$3.00
Tasty.  I ate this right before the heavy rain shower.

Foot Long Polish Sausage on a Stick
$7.00
I thought this was a great alternative to the a corn dog.  The insides are better tasting and not as scary as a hot dog.

Deep Fried Candy Bar (Milky Way)
$4.00
The chocolate and caramel inside were molten, and quite tasty.
As of a few years ago, It was the highest calorie item at the entire fair.
Luckily, I only go to the fair every few years.

Cheese Curds
$6.00
Greasy, but good.  Another great food to eat every few years.
One of the most famous foods of the Minnesota State Fair.

The only food that was good, but not great, was the $4.00 Carmel Apple with Nuts.  It was late in the evening, and the carmel was kind of hard (it might be better earlier).  The Granny Smith Apple inside was good.

Another place we visited was the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) building.  The outdoor exhibits were closed since it was getting dark, but there were some fun things to look at inside.  I especially enjoyed the fish and the snakes.

It took a while, but I finally got this sturgeon to smile for the camera!

At the end of the day, we sat outside the Grandstand, and listened to some modern Country artist while waiting for the fireworks.  Here are some pictures of the show that followed:

You can watch a video of the grand finale at Minnesota State Fair Fireworks.