Lake Superior Style. . .

Yours truly solo on the shores of Lake Superior just outside of Marquette, Michigan. There are those orange shorts again!  I packed and wore several other pairs during our visit, honest.

Joined by the Young Master.  Why does it always take a dozen shots just to get one where the kids aren't making faces at the camera?

The Grand Duchess in the the forward seat of an ocean-going kayak on Lake Superior.  Among her considerable outdoors experience, Sonja has enjoyed previous time in a kayak, but not in some years, so she was eager to revisit the activity.  By all accounts, an amazing three hours was had.

 

The von Boffke family spent last week on the shores of Lake Superior in the Marquette area of Upper Michigan.  Cool, overcast or partly sunny most days with heavy rain several nights running (usually around midnight to very early morning), and wonderfully rugged country for exploring with numerous skiing, boating, hiking, and biking possibilities.  All of which were enjoyed, barring the first since that requires snow.  ;-) 

Loads of wildlife too as you might expect for such a remote area.  We even saw a bear waiting to cross a quiet highway during our first day on the way to an activity.  No moose made an appearance although we heard Loons off in the distance during the evenings.

Our cabin -- kitchen, bath, two bedrooms, and living-dining area -- was on the shores of Shag Lake outside the small town of Gwinn.  Evenings were amazing, with daylight until almost 11pm before later rains moved in.  It was almost like being back in Norway during the summer months.  The Grand Duchess and I enjoyed four evenings out on the lake itself in a couple of different boats as well as wine and campfires once ashore.  Our place was only about 75' (23 meters) from the dock.  

The Young Master (13.5), as seems typical for so many kids in 2023, opted for other tech-related activities indoors at the end of relatively full days.  To be fair, he is working pretty diligently on the ground school portion of a flight course in which he has enrolled.  Completion of that will earn him an actual flight lesson come August or September.  Needless to say, he is driven by that prospect.  

His maternal grandfather was a certified airplane and army chopper pilot in an earlier life, narrowly missing a tour or three in Vietnam.  Still not sure how he avoided that.

Like his father, our son also enjoys some quiet time to himself after a busy day, to mull things over and recharge before the evening meal, as well as whatever activities take place between clearing the table and bedtime later.  

But back to winter sports for a moment.

During the trip home last Saturday, we made a quick stop at our favorite Nordic skiing center in the northern part of Lower Michigan -- aka "The Mitten" -- to pick up a long overdue pair of Madshus racing skis.  These were sent from the factory in Biri, Norway (about 10 miles/17km south of Lillehammer) to replace a previous pair that arrived about 18 months ago with very slight cosmetic damage.  

It turns out that I get to keep both that pair AND the replacement pair.  It seems the Madshus people don't wish to pay return shipping for the damaged pair, which is the more usual procedure as explained to me by the lady who handles ski sales for the shop at Forbush Corner Nordic Ski Center.

The end result is that now I have two pairs of high quality racing skis and bindings for the price of one.  A very pleasant surprise to say the least.  An A pair for ideal groomed conditions further north, and a B pair for our less ideal conditions down in our neck of the woods.  My two old pairs of waxless skis, Madshus and Fischer respectively, purchased in the late 1990s, will become so called "rock skis" for those early and late season forays when the snow is thin, typically November or December through mid-March where we live outside East Lansing.  

We're only about a month into summer according to the calendar, but come ooooooon winter!

-- Heinz-Ulrich