Saturday

 Our snow is going nowhere for awhile.  Headed into the deep freeze with below zero temperatures for Sunday and Monday.  We are escaping the Blizzard that is happening in Central and Southern Minnesota.  Andy spent a good part of the morning snowblowing and shoveling.

Remember that old commercial... Calgon take me away? 

Jen and Maddie sent photos of their Costa Rica vacation!

Minnesota weather: High 25F or -4C  Low was -2F or -19C eh! 

We received sad news from my sister. Her Father in law (Dean's Dad) died on Saturday morning...just three weeks after his son Dean died.  Double heartache for the family. Dean had been caring for his Dad who was on hospice. 

Far Side

Hawaii: Day Eleven

Our last day in Hawaii began with a breakfast of various meat, eggs and fruit...oh and a bit of Passionfruit Jam!   The lanai was a perfect place to eat.

Goodbye Ocean View Condo

We headed out to visit some different beaches.  Our flight did not leave until 9:30 in the evening so we had all day. 

Kukio Beach

We watched turtles in the water and sunning themselves on the rocks. 

We headed out to The Lava Lava Beach Club for a late lunch.

We played Giant Jenga whist we waited...well Andy, Logan and I played.  I lost, I had my board removed but as I was placing it on top the whole thing toppled.

The table next to ours was vacated and the birds moved in...birds must eat too!

Me, Jen and Far Guy (Photo by Andy)

Jen loves Hawaii, the sun and the warm weather. 

We headed to the old Kona Airport Beach to watch the sunset before we headed to the airport.  Just as we got there a whale was sighted just off shore...we watched and watched but we didn't see it again. 

Andy, Adam and Jen

Goodbye Ocean, Goodbye Sun, Goodbye Hawaii

Off to the airport to get checked in with just one tiny glitch that was quickly corrected.  I think Far Guy had visions of another paperwork/oxygen nightmare.  

We got to Los Angeles in the middle of the night and then from there to Minneapolis in the afternoon and home in the evening of day number twelve ( or day number 15 if you count blizzard days in Fargo in the motel.) 

The change in weather was drastic.. but it was good to be home safe and mostly sound...Far Guy had a bad cold that he is still recovering from. 

We cannot thank our daughter, son in law, grandson and grandson's friend enough for putting up with us old folks.  It was a wonderful multi generational vacation!

It was a trip we had always planned to do after we completed our pet responsibilities.

Far Side  

Claws

After visiting the wolves we headed to the North American Bear Center.


This is their sculpture surrounded by flowers.
We went on a tour that didn’t impress me.  It was called a back stage tour.  I thought the holding pens were small and that yes a bear in a cage will eat peanuts out of a persons hand…but what did that teach us?

Bear jail

After that tour we went outside to the parking lot and took photos of their flowerbeds.

The next tour was an hour later and was called an Enrichment Exercise.

There is inside viewing or outside above on a catwalk.  We chose outside.

They threw some food out to get the bears attention, and then put some kind of feed in the feeder part of the bear scale.

They said that the bears are not particulary hungry this time of year as they are done bulking up eating everything in sight and are on the verge of hibernation.

The bears are fed lettuce, almonds, seeds, berries and grapes…oh an apples.  Apples are thrown into the water on hot days .

The bear pool

They put some grapes in the tire that they threw out for the bear.

After the bear finished she sauntered off into the woods.

Jen and I talked about what we would do next as we figured the bear sighting was over when the bear came back.

This one only stayed a short time and took of into the woods also.

All of the bears there (four) have been rescue bears,  several were raised in homes, some were rescued when their Mothers died. Two male and Two females…Ted, Lucky, Tasha and Holly.

The grave of one of their older bears was out near the flower beds. Honey came to the center as a ten year old along with Ted, a couple in Wisconsin had raised them but could no longer care for them.

This Center for Bears serves a purpose, it rescued bears that would have otherwise been euthanized.  Their enclosure was 2 1/2 acres…and they let the bears out during different times of the day…not everyone gets along together.

We headed out for a little shopping and onward to Grand Rapids to the Trial Gardens before meeting Far Guy in Bemidji…we returned home safely Saturday night.  It was a fun adventure!!

Paws first

Saturday morning Jen and I got up early and headed to find a place to eat.  We ended up at the Chocolate Moose for breakfast.  I had eggs, ham, hash browns and cranberry wild rice toast.

The International Wolf Center was our first stop as they opened the earliest.

Wolf Sculpture

Jen at the Wolf Center.  It is her birthday today!  A number of years ago she was born  and once reaching 40 she declared she was going backwards instead of forward… Happy Birthday Jen!  Thank you for the adventure!

The International Wolf Center is an educational center, they understand that there is much controversy about wolves. The staff was friendly and knowledgeable. 

There were only four other people in the viewing room at various times.  The wolves were out the entire time we were there.  They have a 1 1/2 acre enclosure.  All photos were taken from inside through the glass.

They have five wolves on display and two wolves in a retirement area who are not viewed except on camera.

A Northwestern Gray Wolf this guy is the largest wolf his name is Denali. He is one impressive wolf.

Great Plains Wolf or Timber Wolf…the kind we have here in Minnesota. This is Boltz born in 2012.  He was more standoffish than the other wolves.

Arctic Wolves these two are characters they are young and playful. They were born in May of 2016 in captivity in Canada. They are brothers Axel and Grayson.  (Boltz in the background.)

The other Northwestern Gray Wolf Aidan who was born in 2008. Aiden is the leader of the pack.

All of the wolves are males and they have all been neutered.

The Arctic Wolves playing. In this photo you can see how the wolves vary in color.

Arctic, Timber and Northwestern wolves. 

I really enjoyed watching the wolves and learning a bit more about them.  Did you know they only eat once a week?   At the Center they eat deer…road killed deer.  We were fortunate to see them, one of the volunteers said many people don’t see them at all as they are elsewhere in the enclosure.

Next stop in Ely Minnesota is Claws!

Paws and Claws Adventure

Jen and I headed North.  We met up  in Bemidji, where I found out where we were going. It was a 200 mile trip for me and 276 miles for Jen to one of the coldest places in Minnesota. The top three coldest places in Minnesota are International Falls, Embarras and Ely.

Ely is a small town abot 3,900 people and real touristy.  Ely is the gateway to BWCA  (Boundary Waters Canoe Area).  It is similar in size to Park Rapids but it is a hilly area.  I pictured it as being quite flat. Ely is also known as “The end of the road.” To go further North in this part of Minnesota you need a canoe.

We stayed in a small Inn.  An older home converted into an Inn.  The rooms were comforatable and clean, hot water took awhile to come upstairs in the attic room.

What brings us to Ely?

Jen would say “Because we can.” Jen likes adventures and going places she has never been.

Paws and claws.

It was an amazing experience!  More tomorrow!

We both arrived safely back home last night…me with 394 photographs to sift through.  Jen may have more than that as she carries two cameras.

Far Guy and Chance did just fine in their 28 hours all alone.