Bluefin Bay

Sitting in a second story condo at Bluefin Bay on the North Shore of Lake Superior looking at a serene lake with some clouds rolling in. I love the ocean, but the ocean is too violent to build beautiful condos 25 yards from the waters edge, even if they are built on solid rock. The sound of the ocean surf is nice, but the lapping of the Superior "mini-surf" floating up to the room is just perfect for a Monday AM that bears no resemblence to 99% of the Mondays for one having just hit 30 years in a corporate career. I'm not going to bother to check my e-mail this particular day.

Yesterday was our 23rd anniversary, and we drove up from the Superior Shores hotel that we had spent a couple nights at in Canal Park there. Saturday was the "ultimate perfect June day" my wife and I both agreed, and we rode our bikes north on the lake shore bike trail to tour Glensheen, the Congden mansion. The day was the 100th anniversary of Glensheen, it having been completed in 1908. I was struck with the inclusion of electric lights, an intercom system and a servant call system that had little indicators that clicked to the room where a servant was needed when a button was pressed. It was interesting to see that our master bedrom complex will exceed the Congden's, who were the richest family in Minnesota in 1908, and we wouldn't rate in the top 100K in 2008.

That theme is what struck me about the mansion. In 1908, the real difference that wealth provided was that of servants, and it was the servants and education that made the Congden's a different "class". Technology has replaced those servants, and mass production has expanded the accessibility of all manner of conveinience to ever wider swaths of the population. We have not conquered envy, many still waste their precious mental cyles worried about what it is that someone else may have, but progress has expanded the amount of wealth available in aggregate, heavily leveraged the capabilities of that wealth (cars, computers, home appliances) and made the key advantages (education) available to all. We have had a lot of success in 100 years, why do I suspect that we sit on the cusp of throwing away a significant amount of that success? I certainly hope that I am wrong.

On our way north we vowed to stop at all the falls available since the water flow is at historic highs. A few years ago when we were up here, the drought was in full swing and the DNR had helpful little pamphlets explaining how that was due to Global Warming. I'm sure that the historic highs are due to "Climate Change", and they just haven't gotten the pamphlets printed yet. I'm always interested in having the Government give me the proper political view on water levels.

All the falls at Gooseberry were thundering with the most water at least we had seen over our years of coming up here, including the summer before our engagement 24 years ago. We then stopped at Palisade Head, a spot that most pass by, which is good, since it has a very narrow little road to the top, and is mostly visited by rock climbers. It is a great spot to experience the 100+ foot sheer rock cliffs that are occasionally in evidence on the North Shore, and Sunday was a great day to do that with the lake generally calm and light breezes.

We next stopped at Tettegouche park on the Baptism River and went up to hike to the 60' upper falls. The hike in went well, with the only problem being a number of muddy spots on the trail that needed to be snuck around. The falls was beautiful and roaring, and the cable bridge over the river above the falls was exciting. On the opposite side of the river though we made the mistake of thinking that there was a bridge at the lower falls. We hiked down to that, including the 100+ steps down to river level, and discovered that there was an important feature missing-no bridge. So, we had a lot of "up" for our hike back to the vehicle, and althought I do a lot of stairmonster for excercise, it really isn't the same as the real thing. Upon arrival at the car we decided that the jacuzzi at Bluefin sounded really nice, so we headed north, skipping Temperance River for one of our remaining two days.

The evening at Bluefin in no way disappointed. The suites here with their fireplaces and jacuzzi tubs probably gave us too much inspiration for our new master suite, and staying here while we are stuffed into our son's bedroom at home sharing a bath with the boys makes us even more anxious for the new setup to be completed. We aren't likely to have a restraunt like the Bluefin Grill in walking distance down a beaufiful boardwalk with Lake Superior beside us at our home however, unless virtual reality really moves along at a rapid pace. We had a baked brie with roasted apples and french bread for an appetizer that was to die for, and the New York strip done with some wondrous garlic sauce and beautiful Yukon Gold garlic mashed potatoes certainly more than undid any health benefits of the hike!

I'm going to have to work on the right kind of wave lapping sounds to see if I can't have something fun to wake up to in the new bedroom. The effect of looking out on the expanse of Superior isn't going to be possible to duplicate however.