Hello and welcome to a happy, happy Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is November 9th and I am in Grand Marais attending the North Shore Readers & Writers Festival.
On a serious note, today marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This is especially important to my family. Had the Wall not fallen, my husband and I would have never met. This life we've spent twenty years building, would not exist.
A section of the original Berlin Wall can be viewed at the Mennonite Village in Steinbach, Manitoba, about a 90-minute drive northwest of Wannaska.
According to Steinbachonline.com, "This portion was purchased in Germany by Mr. Martin Bergen of Winnipeg, after the wall came down, and donated to the museum. It recalls the story of thousands of Mennonites who fled the Soviet Union after WWII and sought then to get to West Germany and other countries in the search for new homes. Henry’s Red Sea is the book many people have read, telling the story of this movement of families, often difficult in the extreme."
If you're looking for a good children's book about life behind the Wall, I heartily recommend The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, by Czech author and artist, Peter Sis. This book is perfect for adults as well.
The Wannaskan Almanac Kid Writer-In-Residence (WAKWIR) was on the North Shore a month ago during MEA Weekend and has put together a post on his adventures. Enjoy!
Boom!
And a crash!
Buzzes of light!
Evil laughter!
Sparks flying and all of a sudden, after two months of mysterious disappearances, the Kid Section of my mom’s blog is back!
And with a whole new buzz to it (not really)! That’s not the point. The point is, that over the long (and relaxing to some point) MEA weekend, my brother, my dad, and I went camping the semi-old school way.
Now you may be wondering, what does it mean when I go camping the semi-old school way? Well, nowadays people travel in RVs or have have camper trailers and watch TV at night, buy food from the store, sometimes cook it on a stove, and so on. Now how we did it, was quite different.
On our first day, we left at eight-thirty in the morning and left on a six-hour drive toward the North Shore, where we would camp. So we drove on highway 11, towards International Falls, where we would turn on highway 53 towards Virginia. Now, I don’t know where we drove next from Virginia, because I fell asleep. But all I know is that eventually we ended up on highway 61, the road next to Lake Superior.
So we were driving, and I took some selfies of me and my brother and we pull into Split Rock Lighthouse. My dad said that we would go to Day Hill, which was three miles away. We walked across pebble beach and hiked all the way past Day Hill, and all the way to Corundum Point. By then, we were playing the sunlight game, and it was starting to get dark, sooo, we ran 3 miles to our car.
We then drove to the Leveaux and Oberg trailhead and we (illegally) set up our (old) tent in front of a cross country skiing sign. In the dark. So, after 15 minutes of setting up our tent, we went to bed. In 40 degree weather. It was cold. No camper or RV. Just an un-insulated tent.
The next morning, we woke up, packed our tent, and went up the Leveaux mountain trail. It was a long, and semi-hard trail, but the view at the top was spectacular. We got back from our 3.5 mile hike, then had breakfast. We had yogurt and ham. By then, it was almost noon and we wanted to hike Eagle Mountain. We had to find a campsite though, because we didn’t want to set up our tent at night, where we had to use our flashlights. We eventually found a nice campsite, which was right next to Two Island Lake. It was a nice campsite, but it was very rocky. While my brother and I set up our tent, my dad went and paid.
After an hour of lunch and camp setup, we went to the Eagle Mountain trailhead. It was packed. There were tons of cars parked on the side of the road and the parking lot. It was 3:00 and we had just stolen a good parking spot, and we got ready right away. We were playing the sunlight game again. We walked very fast, and with only one break at Whale Lake, we got to the summit. By the time we got there the sunset was away on its way, and we were starting to get anxious. It was 5:00 and we had to hike down a 3.5 mile rocky trail, in two hours maximum. So we walked very fast. By the time we got to Whale Lake, it was almost dark. We walked faster. I fell once, but by the time we got back to the trailhead, it was 6: 49 p.m. It was pitch black outside. We quickly celebrated our achievement, and since it was cold, we got into the car, and drove to our campsite. We had steak for dinner, and boy, was it good. After a nice warming dinner, we quickly went to bed due to the cold.
The next morning I woke up very early and couldn't go to sleep. I ended up taking my flip-phone that I took originally for pictures, and played games. I got sleepy after a while and turned the phone off and slept till about 9 in the morning. After we all got up, we had Cheerios and yogurt, and some steak from the previous night. It turned out that my brother’s friend was camping right next to us. We saw him and his family the day before on the Eagle Mountain trail, so we talked to them. We eventually packed up, and left the campsite. My dad told us that we would be going to Bear and Bean Lake. It was a tad bit longer than Eagle Mountain so we had to start the trail earlier. We got to the trailhead at about 1:00. I had to wear my dad’s hiking boots because, where I fell at Eagle Mountain, I fell into water. People that were finishing the hike told us that the trail was super muddy. I started to feel glad that I wore my dad's shoes. And the people were right. The trail was really muddy. There were trails that went off the trail to get around the mud, that were filled with mud. To add to the mud mess, there were big hills. At least three of them. You go up a lot, then down a lot. Up and down, and up and down. It got quite annoying.
We eventually got to Bean Lake, and I saw why it was called that. It was literally shaped in the form of a bean. We had a nice look, then continued up to the Bear Lake view. I thought that because Bean Lake looked like a bean, Bear Lake would look like a bear. I was disappointed. Bear Lake looked like a round blotch of water. The lookout was still good. We had a short break,then we started on our way back. We actually made great time. We passed a lot of people that went back at least 10 minutes before us, and we ended up getting back to the trailhead at about 5:00. My dad told us that we would be camping a Sullivan Lake, which is about 255 miles (source, google maps) from Warroad.
It was dark when we got there. We had stopped at a Super One Foods and bought some BBQ sauce because we would have cooked ham. We eventually picked a campsite that was still rocky as Two Island Lake, but it would do. We gathered some firewood and started cooking the ham. After some time, my brother, dad, and I had delicious cooked ham with Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet and Spicy sauce with buns. It was extremely good. Then it started to get very, very cold, so we went to bed. I slept terribly. The temperature in the tent eventually got below freezing and I was very cold.
The next morning, I had Cheerios and yogurt, with some leftover ham from the night before. We had to get up at 5:30 in the morning because we had to go to church, and yeah...we got there a half an hour early. After church, we had cookies and we then drove home and after a couple of long naps we arrived home, where I fell to my bed and slept for about a minute and then I unpacked from a very exciting trip.
THE END
2009 - 20th anniversary of the fall of Berlin Wall
On this day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the last soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and Polish ex-president and Noble Prize winner Lech Walesa walked through Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
1994 - Darmstadtium created for the first time
The heavily radioactive element with an atomic number of 110 and symbol Ds, was created at Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (Institute for Heavy Ion Research) in Darmstadt, Germany, the city after which the element is named.
1985 - Youngest person to become World Chess Champion
22-year-old Russian Gary Kasparov won the 13th World Chess Championship against Anatoly Karpov to become the youngest World Chess Champion.
1967 - Rolling Stone makes its debut
The biweekly popular culture magazine was founded by Jann Simon Wenner in San Francisco. The magazine launched the careers of many famous authors and published the early versions of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
1938 - Night of broken glass
A pogrom against Jewish businesses, synagogues, and Jews in Germany and Austria was carried out by Sturmabteilung troops and civilians. The series of attacks that killed about 70 people and put 30,000 Jews in prison is known as night of broken glass or Kristallnacht
1974 - Alessandro Del Piero, Italian footballer
1970 - Chris Jericho, American/Canadian wrestler, singer-songwriter, actor
1934 - Carl Sagan, American astronomer, author
1928 - Anne Sexton, American poet
1918 - Spiro Agnew, American politician, 39th Vice President of the United States
On a serious note, today marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This is especially important to my family. Had the Wall not fallen, my husband and I would have never met. This life we've spent twenty years building, would not exist.
A section of the original Berlin Wall can be viewed at the Mennonite Village in Steinbach, Manitoba, about a 90-minute drive northwest of Wannaska.
According to Steinbachonline.com, "This portion was purchased in Germany by Mr. Martin Bergen of Winnipeg, after the wall came down, and donated to the museum. It recalls the story of thousands of Mennonites who fled the Soviet Union after WWII and sought then to get to West Germany and other countries in the search for new homes. Henry’s Red Sea is the book many people have read, telling the story of this movement of families, often difficult in the extreme."
If you're looking for a good children's book about life behind the Wall, I heartily recommend The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, by Czech author and artist, Peter Sis. This book is perfect for adults as well.
The Wannaskan Almanac Kid Writer-In-Residence (WAKWIR) was on the North Shore a month ago during MEA Weekend and has put together a post on his adventures. Enjoy!
Camping MEA
(by the WAKWIR)Boom!
And a crash!
Buzzes of light!
Evil laughter!
Sparks flying and all of a sudden, after two months of mysterious disappearances, the Kid Section of my mom’s blog is back!
And with a whole new buzz to it (not really)! That’s not the point. The point is, that over the long (and relaxing to some point) MEA weekend, my brother, my dad, and I went camping the semi-old school way.
Now you may be wondering, what does it mean when I go camping the semi-old school way? Well, nowadays people travel in RVs or have have camper trailers and watch TV at night, buy food from the store, sometimes cook it on a stove, and so on. Now how we did it, was quite different.
On our first day, we left at eight-thirty in the morning and left on a six-hour drive toward the North Shore, where we would camp. So we drove on highway 11, towards International Falls, where we would turn on highway 53 towards Virginia. Now, I don’t know where we drove next from Virginia, because I fell asleep. But all I know is that eventually we ended up on highway 61, the road next to Lake Superior.
So we were driving, and I took some selfies of me and my brother and we pull into Split Rock Lighthouse. My dad said that we would go to Day Hill, which was three miles away. We walked across pebble beach and hiked all the way past Day Hill, and all the way to Corundum Point. By then, we were playing the sunlight game, and it was starting to get dark, sooo, we ran 3 miles to our car.
We then drove to the Leveaux and Oberg trailhead and we (illegally) set up our (old) tent in front of a cross country skiing sign. In the dark. So, after 15 minutes of setting up our tent, we went to bed. In 40 degree weather. It was cold. No camper or RV. Just an un-insulated tent.
After an hour of lunch and camp setup, we went to the Eagle Mountain trailhead. It was packed. There were tons of cars parked on the side of the road and the parking lot. It was 3:00 and we had just stolen a good parking spot, and we got ready right away. We were playing the sunlight game again. We walked very fast, and with only one break at Whale Lake, we got to the summit. By the time we got there the sunset was away on its way, and we were starting to get anxious. It was 5:00 and we had to hike down a 3.5 mile rocky trail, in two hours maximum. So we walked very fast. By the time we got to Whale Lake, it was almost dark. We walked faster. I fell once, but by the time we got back to the trailhead, it was 6: 49 p.m. It was pitch black outside. We quickly celebrated our achievement, and since it was cold, we got into the car, and drove to our campsite. We had steak for dinner, and boy, was it good. After a nice warming dinner, we quickly went to bed due to the cold.
 |
| Dad's steak on the grill. |
The next morning I woke up very early and couldn't go to sleep. I ended up taking my flip-phone that I took originally for pictures, and played games. I got sleepy after a while and turned the phone off and slept till about 9 in the morning. After we all got up, we had Cheerios and yogurt, and some steak from the previous night. It turned out that my brother’s friend was camping right next to us. We saw him and his family the day before on the Eagle Mountain trail, so we talked to them. We eventually packed up, and left the campsite. My dad told us that we would be going to Bear and Bean Lake. It was a tad bit longer than Eagle Mountain so we had to start the trail earlier. We got to the trailhead at about 1:00. I had to wear my dad’s hiking boots because, where I fell at Eagle Mountain, I fell into water. People that were finishing the hike told us that the trail was super muddy. I started to feel glad that I wore my dad's shoes. And the people were right. The trail was really muddy. There were trails that went off the trail to get around the mud, that were filled with mud. To add to the mud mess, there were big hills. At least three of them. You go up a lot, then down a lot. Up and down, and up and down. It got quite annoying.
It was dark when we got there. We had stopped at a Super One Foods and bought some BBQ sauce because we would have cooked ham. We eventually picked a campsite that was still rocky as Two Island Lake, but it would do. We gathered some firewood and started cooking the ham. After some time, my brother, dad, and I had delicious cooked ham with Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet and Spicy sauce with buns. It was extremely good. Then it started to get very, very cold, so we went to bed. I slept terribly. The temperature in the tent eventually got below freezing and I was very cold.
The next morning, I had Cheerios and yogurt, with some leftover ham from the night before. We had to get up at 5:30 in the morning because we had to go to church, and yeah...we got there a half an hour early. After church, we had cookies and we then drove home and after a couple of long naps we arrived home, where I fell to my bed and slept for about a minute and then I unpacked from a very exciting trip.
THE END
On This Day
Historic Highlights (credits)
2009 - 20th anniversary of the fall of Berlin Wall
On this day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the last soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and Polish ex-president and Noble Prize winner Lech Walesa walked through Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
1994 - Darmstadtium created for the first time
The heavily radioactive element with an atomic number of 110 and symbol Ds, was created at Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (Institute for Heavy Ion Research) in Darmstadt, Germany, the city after which the element is named.
1985 - Youngest person to become World Chess Champion
22-year-old Russian Gary Kasparov won the 13th World Chess Championship against Anatoly Karpov to become the youngest World Chess Champion.
1967 - Rolling Stone makes its debut
The biweekly popular culture magazine was founded by Jann Simon Wenner in San Francisco. The magazine launched the careers of many famous authors and published the early versions of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
1938 - Night of broken glass
A pogrom against Jewish businesses, synagogues, and Jews in Germany and Austria was carried out by Sturmabteilung troops and civilians. The series of attacks that killed about 70 people and put 30,000 Jews in prison is known as night of broken glass or Kristallnacht
Happy Birthday to You!🎶
1970 - Chris Jericho, American/Canadian wrestler, singer-songwriter, actor
1934 - Carl Sagan, American astronomer, author
1928 - Anne Sexton, American poet
1918 - Spiro Agnew, American politician, 39th Vice President of the United States
Remembering You
2005 - K. R. Narayanan, Indian politician, 10th President of India
2004 - Stieg Larsson, Swedish writer
1970 - Charles de Gaulle, French general, politician, President of France
1953 - Ibn Saud, Saudi Arabian king
1940 - Neville Chamberlain, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Hug your people, go see the section of Berlin Wall in Steinbach, and make it a great Saturday!
Kim
2004 - Stieg Larsson, Swedish writer
1970 - Charles de Gaulle, French general, politician, President of France
1953 - Ibn Saud, Saudi Arabian king
1940 - Neville Chamberlain, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Hug your people, go see the section of Berlin Wall in Steinbach, and make it a great Saturday!
Kim
 |
| Today marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall |
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