Things We Saw on Our Vacation

As remarkable as it might seem, sometimes extraordinary things just aren't happening on Gunflint Lake. What is a blogger to do then? Well, in my case, I am going to post some more pictures of our recent trip to Hawaii. One of my loyal readers commented that she has been waiting to see some of these photos, so here is another sampling.

As I was going through my album, I was again reminded of how we Minnesotans love water. I thought about a trip that my boys and I took in 2004, down to the high desert of New Mexico. We were intent on backpacking, which went fine, until the stream we were following ran dry. At that point, we decided it was time to head on back out. It just feels natural for us to be near a body of water. The ocean, as seen above, is a major body, no doubt about it. I've visited the Pacific and the Atlantic before, but had never really gone swimming in either, and hadn't done any snorkeling. It took some getting used to, as well as becoming comfortable with salt water. I didn't realize how spoiled I am to live on such a great freshwater lake as Gunflint. The ocean was warmer than our lake, but I was surprised that it wasn't as warm as I expected.

Probably because we traveled in a bus for so many years, these vehicles are near and dear to our hearts. We always notice them on our journeys, and quite often take pictures of them. Though we did not buy a smoothie from this vendor, we did enjoy those tropical fruit delights in other places.
I often say, when asked why I would want to leave Gunflint Lake to vacation elsewhere, that it is to see other peoples' trees. We were not disappointed. These are painted eucalyptus, an amazing tree. There does not seem to be any bark as we know it, and they have vivid colors growing right in their trunks. Definitely not like any we've ever seen before.
Without a doubt, the most exciting part of the trip for me was to see the whales. I should probably write a separate post about that, though I think I'll wait until I can use some of our friend Ruth's photos to illustrate it. This is the best I could do for a tail shot...

Finally, for now, this flower's structure makes me sigh with the perfection of its beauty. I love the spiral of the petals. My eye follows it around to the tight inner circle, and I am truly amazed. I don't even know what it is called, but it has me spellbound.

More pictures in a few days, unless something big happens around here!