Now let’s have another short geography lesson for you Brits out there. No points for knowing that there are five Great Lakes of North America, that straddle the Canada / U.S.A, border. But there are five points for knowing which one is Lake Superior. Yes, well done Mark Hookey; It is the most inland one.
Here are some other random facts about this lake. It is (roughly) 300 miles long by 160 miles wide (Nearly the size of the U.K.). Phewee. It holds 10% of the world’s fresh water (so no crabs), and at minus 40 degrees in the winter, froze over completely in 1992.
Of course, you will all know that Lake Superior is “Gitchee Gummi” in the poem Hiawatha, by Henry Longfellow (as in “...by the shores of the Gitchee Gummi”). Well waddya know! http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/LonHiaw.html
Here are some other random facts about this lake. It is (roughly) 300 miles long by 160 miles wide (Nearly the size of the U.K.). Phewee. It holds 10% of the world’s fresh water (so no crabs), and at minus 40 degrees in the winter, froze over completely in 1992.
Of course, you will all know that Lake Superior is “Gitchee Gummi” in the poem Hiawatha, by Henry Longfellow (as in “...by the shores of the Gitchee Gummi”). Well waddya know! http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/LonHiaw.html
We arrived at Beaver Bay on the shores of Gitchi Gummi, last Sunday (26 Sept) and have now (Friday) returned to Minneapolis. We have had a great five days, despite the best efforts of the weather, which swung from the really good to the truly appalling. But we stayed in a fantastic group of lodges, equipped with everything that you could need, and linked to centre with a swimming pool and Jacuzzi. There was even an 18 “hole” frissbee course.
The sunrise and sunset over Lake Superior is a wonder to behold (inadequately captured by our camera) and the forests that surround the lake are filled with wild and bright colours as the Autumn approaches. The hiking through the forests was filled with these colours. There was plenty of the usual wildlife around (birds, chipmunks, but no Bears or Bison), including a demonstration by a local snake on how to swallow a frog very slowly.
Beaver Bay is about 220 miles from Minneapolis. The journey takes you through Duluth (pronounced “de Luth”), and up Minnesota Highway 61. Yes – THE Highway 61. The Highway 61 of Bob Dylan fame. (Bob Dylan is a Minnesota lad). I am not sure if the video helps you to get into the swing of this.
The sunrise and sunset over Lake Superior is a wonder to behold (inadequately captured by our camera) and the forests that surround the lake are filled with wild and bright colours as the Autumn approaches. The hiking through the forests was filled with these colours. There was plenty of the usual wildlife around (birds, chipmunks, but no Bears or Bison), including a demonstration by a local snake on how to swallow a frog very slowly.
If you know anything about the history of Lake Superior (which, of course, we Brits do not), you know the story of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a freighter, in 1975, when the November storms came earlier. The lake really is that brutal. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgI8bta-7aw
Beaver Bay is about 220 miles from Minneapolis. The journey takes you through Duluth (pronounced “de Luth”), and up Minnesota Highway 61. Yes – THE Highway 61. The Highway 61 of Bob Dylan fame. (Bob Dylan is a Minnesota lad). I am not sure if the video helps you to get into the swing of this.
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