Dance in the North Sky

Some friends had told me about seeing the Aurora in the early morning hours of March 10th, but unfortunately I was already asleep and missed the activity. The following evening, however, I noticed the telltale green glow in the Northern sky at 9:30 PM. I called a friend of mine and within 15 minutes we were both headed up into the woods to get away from any man-made lights. Just moments after we arrived in my planned shooting area the Aurora intensified and really started to put on a show. By 11:00 PM the sky was bursting with dancing lights. At one point the lights filled about 50% of the entire sky. I would have needed a fisheye lens (which I unfortunately do not own) in order to capture the entire breadth of the lights. We stood in awe at not only the movements but the colors we were seeing. Dominated by green, we also saw shades of red, purple and white. Rarely is the aurora seen this powerfully in Northern Minnesota. I was almost in a trance staring at this amazing show and I kept having to remind myself to keep taking pictures!

Beechmont owns you

Simply put, yesterday was a memorable day. I awoke at around 5am (as is normal at this time of year), knowing I needed to rest for the evening ride, but unable to bring myself to do so. The options were persist with a futile attempt to sleep on a morning that was simply way too hot, or get on my bike and go somewhere. It didn't take long for me to settle on option number 2. I chose the rainforest of Austinville because it was likely to be a few degrees cooler than the coast. I took my time and lingered, wishing I could spend the day here. If I could afford it, I'd buy a little shack out there and probably never return to suburbia again.

The evening ride was even better. I set off at around 4.30pm with the intention of seeing a mountain sunset. Even though it was swelteringly hot (as per usual), I managed to make pretty good time. I guess it was the determination to escape from the heat that drove me on. While the mountain sunset wasn't quite as spectacular as I'd hoped, the twilight views from the Beechmont Range were a delight to behold.



An interesting thing happened on the way back. Darkness had fallen just after passing the village of Beechmont, and the moon had continued it's rise as I slaughtered my legs on the final ascent of Mt Roberts. Actually, the moonlight views from here were spectacular enough, but returning through Beechmont I was able to behold the moonlight reflecting in the South Pacific ocean from a good 25-30km away, with at least one mountain range silhouetted in between. Scenery doesn't get much more spectacular than that, day or night. It was that moment more than any other that showed why I do this, why I put my body through the strain of climbing mountains.
It's the moment when Beechmont owns you.

How to get to the Jesuit Mission of San Ignacio de Mini

To get to San Ignacio de Minithe easiest way is to fly to Puerto Iguazu, or alternatively to Foz do Iguaçu, on the Brasilian side if you are planning to visit also The Iguazu Falls.
From Puerto Iguazu an early morning bus connects Puerto Iguazu with San Ignacio de Mini.

The bus is comfortable and the ticket cheap, the travel lasts little more than 4 hours.
You can plan the visit to San Ignacio de Mini as a day trip and take the return bus around 4 pm to Puerto Iguazu.
The ticket to the ruins of San Ignacio entitles you to access many other Jesuit ruins scattered in the area and certainly worth a visit, although not as impressive as San Ignacio.
If you want to see also the other Jesuit Reductions of the area you should consider a night step over in San Ignacio.
Definetely, if you are visiting San Ignacio de Mini you should also visit the fantastic Iguazu Falls.
Read about The Argentinian Side of the Iguazu Falls and The Brasilian Side of the Iguazu Falls

Family Celebrations

April and May have been crazy around here as we celebrated three birthdays, two graduations, a graduation party, Mother's Day dinner, and spontaneous crab and shrimp dinners complete with fireworks.  The cooking, dishes, and laundry have seemed endless.
Tonight was the last of the family get-togethers as Dylan and Leigh Anne came over for dinner to eat crab legs, shrimp, and sausage since they couldn't make it yesterday when everyone else came.
Today Laurel and I planned the meals for the Fripp trip next week.  I am SO ready to get out of town!  I'm packing my beach trash books, about two changes of clothes, my toothbrush, deodorant, and hairbrush and that's about it.  And my computer, of course.  Can't let my blogroll build up!
We leave Sunday afternoon and get back the next Sunday for night church.  I hope to be in a near catatonic state for most of the week.  The spring is always hectic with end-of-the-year concerts, recitals, etc.  This one seemed worst than most, but Laurel reminded me that I always say that!  What would I do without her to bring me back to Earth?  Thanks, hon! (Not)

Keeping Dreams Alive

Never again, she vowed, would she live a noisy life that killed her dreams. They were her reason for living, the only thing that she had to give to the world, and she must live in the way that suited them best.

From A CITY OF BELLS by Elizabeth Goudge

Inventing Your World

Invent your world. Surround yourself with people, color, sounds, and work that nourish you. Sark

Sun, Wind, Rain, and Ice (Hail/sleet)

Friday night was the BHFTF Welcome Social. Saw some of the folks from last year. Sat wth the guys from MSP. Lots of SWAG given out. Pretty good social. I was tired, left once the raffle was over.
Yesterday was the second day on the Mickelson Trail Ride. The guys from MSP (most of our ride group) wanted to delay the start, so it was almost 11 by the time we got to Hill City and the bikes off-loaded. I stayed with the vans over the first section.
At The Mountain Trailhead (near Crazy Horse) I joined the ride, the goal to ride to Pringle (17+ mile). Most of that section is downhill. We stopped in Custer for lunch.
For some reason, my bike computer changed from MPH to KPH. Called Zach from our lunch, got most of it changed. At least it was reading at MPH. The prolem that my odometer was way off. Last night, using my log, I got the bike miles reset. (Have 184 miles on it so far)
Back to the ride --- The hill and wind out of Custer amost did me in. For basically the first 3 miles I was at max heart rate. Stopped once at a driverway to bring the heart rate down. Once the trail was downhill again, I was good to go. The wind was still rough at times. It would cause my speed to drop from about 15mph to 7mph, and everything between.
After a brief stop at the White Elephant Trailhead, it was on to Pringle. Just out of the traihead it started raining. that wasn't too bad. But then some kind of ICE came out of the sky. With the wind, rain, and ice, it was not pleasant. The support vans stopped along the road as the storm passed. Asking if I wanted off the trail, I said - I'm heading to Pringle". Only 2 miles to my goal for the day -- I made it.
I and several others called it quits at Pringle. Four kept on. A very strong squal came through. We picked up 3 riders off the trail. the last one made it to the Minnekahata trailhead (as he saw us leaving to pick up the other riders. Everyone made it back safe.
Last night was the viewing of "Seasons", the new film by The Collective". Lots of fast riding, jumps, awesome riding, and crashes. Over the the Firehouse for a beer and needed purchases for the Beer-Muda Triangle.
A great and tiring day. I felt good about making it through some of the worst weather I have ridden in.