↓
 

words and images

🇺🇦✏️✒️📚📔🌜dreamer 🌕 thinker 🌕 aspirant📱📷🚴‍♀️🏕🍄🌻

Menu
  • Home
  • About Diane Schirf
  • Articles
  • Book Reviews
  • Hodge
  • Letters
  • Photography
  • Poems & Stories
  • Site Map

Category Archives: Video

Post navigation

← Older posts

Lodgings I have known: Arrowhead Lodge, Kabetogama, Minnesota

words and images Posted on March 9, 2023 by dlschirfMarch 9, 2023
July 16, 2013

One of my favorite stays may have been the shortest. It wasn’t a choice, but came about serendipitously.

The drive from Superior, Wisconsin (Amnicon State Park), to Kabetogama, Minnesota, started late, after the summer sunset. J and I spent eternity passing through what, at night, looked like sparsely populated areas. It was a relief (literally) to find a roadside bar. When we arrived at the planned destination, it was probably after 1 a.m. — late enough to find the windows dark, the door locked, and the phone unanswered. It turns out family-run lodges aren’t like a Hilton or Marriott, with 24-hour desk attendants. Oops.

I was too tired to sit up or think, but I didn’t fancy trying to sleep in a car not designed for camping. Somehow I came up with the thought of calling around, which was not easy to do because cell coverage was weak and intermittent. It was difficult both to find places through Yelp! or websites, then to make phone calls. I can’t remember now, but I think i made some calls that went unanswered before I got to Arrowhead Lodge (still in the “A” section). A tired-sounding woman answered.

I quickly explained the situation and probably warned her the call might drop. She said she had space for us — hallelujah! When I said we’d be right over (before she changed her mind), she answered, “No hurry. I have to get dressed.” Yikes.

Arrowhead Lodge is 2.5 miles, or 7 minutes, from Sandy Point Lodge via dark rural roads. I didn’t know if I could stay awake that long. We made it after 2 a.m.

I stayed in a no-frills room with several beds to choose from, a fan, and maybe a radio — my memory is dim. The floor had a shared bathroom, in which several people (maybe even over time) had left assorted toiletries. I didn’t mind — all part of the adventure and shared outdoor experience. I didn’t see anyone, though, and several of the rooms were empty (open doors).

In the morning (a mere few hours later), we ate a great breakfast (al fresco, I think). Our perch overlooked Lake Kabetogama, which I’ve since learned is “Kab” to the locals, plus a flock of white pelicans. If we hadn’t been due to join a Kettle Falls cruise, I could have stayed there the rest of the day, but we left reluctantly. At the cruise departure point, J. realized his camera bag was missing. We raced back to Arrowhead to find our host keeping an eye on it while it took up a barstool. With our wee hours arrival and forgetfulness, she must have thought we were quite the characters.

Sadly, I took only a few poor photos at Arrowhead Lodge.

Sleeping quarters at Arrowhead Lodge
Arrowhead Lodge and Resort
Sleeping quarters at Arrowhead Lodge
Arrowhead Lodge
Lake Kabetogama at Arrowhead Lodge
The view during breakfast at Arrowhead Lodge
White pelicans on Lake Kabetogama at Arrowhead Lodge
White pelicans

Later the owners, including the poor soul I’d woken up, sold the resort. The new owners have restored Arrowhead. which had deteriorated over the decades since its 1931 opening in the extremes of Minnesota’s climate. The first part of the video below shows the restoration effort and is well worth a look.

First part is about the renovation of Arrowhead Lodge
Posted in Adventure, Blog, Video | Tagged lodgings, Minnesota, National Park Service, photo, travel, video | Leave a reply

Pileated woodpecker pair at Sapsucker Woods

Christmas present for birders from the feeders at Sapsucker Woods (Cornell). The pileated woodpecker to your right (middle feeder on the post) is the male.

January 7, 2023 by dlschirf Posted in Blog, Video, Wildlife Tagged birds, holiday, New York, video, wildlife Reply

Eternal flame waterfall at Chestnut Ridge

This is at Chestnut Ridge, a county park near where I grew up in western New York. I didn’t know about it until a few years ago. Sadly, the one time I was back there in 2015, my energy drained on the trail before I could get to the waterfall, so I’ve never seen it. I’m not sure my dad knew about it. He would have loved it, I think. Video is by John Kucko, who specializes in WNY/Finger Lakes photography and video.

January 7, 2023 by dlschirf Posted in Blog, Video Tagged nature, New York, video Reply

Lessons and Carols, 2022

This is the first time since 2019 that Lessons and Carols, a Christmas Eve tradition at Rockefeller Chapel, has been held in person. I remember in 2020 and 2021, it was streamed. This year it was both in person and streamed. I attended, but within a few days had developed my first bout with COVID-19. I held out almost three years.

Rockefeller is always an experience. The snow was a great touch.

I love that the children don’t have to make or buy costumes to be farmyard animals. These days they can wear pajamas. My favorite was the Holstein cow (possibly an anachronism).

Lessons and Carols, 2022
Lessons and Carols, 2022
4 photos
IMG_5421
IMG_5423
IMG_5428
IMG_5438
January 6, 2023 by dlschirf Posted in Blog, Life, Music, Video Tagged Chicago, health, holiday, Hyde Park, life, music, photo, video Reply

Water feature in Furnessville/Chesterton, Indiana area

August 23, 2022 by dlschirf Posted in Blog, Oddities, Video Tagged Indiana, travel, video Reply

Ridge and swale topography at Miller Woods, Indiana Dunes National Park

Miller Woods is part of Indiana Dunes National Park. The Wolverine, Amtrak’s train from Chicago to Pontiac (and back), passes it and offers an opportunity to see ridge and swale topography.

June 22, 2022 by dlschirf Posted in Adventure, Blog, Video Tagged Amtrak, Indiana, National Park, National Park Service, nature, train, video Reply

Tadpoles at Fullersburg Woods

I wanted to repeat an experience of hearing and seeing frogs at Fullersburg Woods from a few years ago, but instead I saw tadpoles — many tadpoles.

May 22, 2022 by dlschirf Posted in Adventure, Blog, Video Tagged Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, nature, video, wildlife Reply

Tundra or trumpeter? Swans in Palos Preserves area

I was excited to see swans that aren’t the mute variety near Little Red Schoolhouse. Their galloping takeoff is something to behold.

May 15, 2022 by dlschirf Posted in Adventure, Blog, Video Tagged birds, Forest Preserves of Cook County, video, wildlife Reply

Lessons and Carols at Rockefeller Chapel, 2020 style

Normally I’d have taken a couple of Amtrak trains to Pennsylvania for Christmas, but 2020 isn’t normal so here I am in Chicago. Normally if I were in Chicago I’d attend Lessons and Carols for Christmas Eve at Rockefeller Chapel on the University of Chicago campus. But it’s 2020, so here we are. I lit my own candle.

December 26, 2020 by dlschirf Posted in Blog, Chicago, Life, Video Tagged Chicago, holiday, Hyde Park, life, music, video Reply

Spring sunrise over Promontory Point

Untitled
June 5, 2020 by dlschirf Posted in Blog, Video, Weather Tagged Chicago, Great Lakes, Hyde Park, Lake Michigan, photo, Promontory Point, sunrise, video, weather Reply

Post navigation

← Older posts

Recent Posts

  • Signs of the times, part 5: Red-winged blackbirds, a wildlife hazard
  • Petunia (January 16, 2008 – April 29, 2023)
  • Pomona General Store
  • RANI incense cones
  • Backyard games

Top Posts & Pages

  • "I'd rather be slowly consumed by moss"
  • Everyday poetry: "Ode to Billie Joe"
  • Pennsylvania spring water
  • Book review: House Made of Dawn
  • Pomona General Store
  • Book review: Tropic of Capricorn
  • Wopsononock Mountain, or Wopsy, in Blair County, Pennsylvania
  • Google Maps most viewed photos
  • Book review: The Complete Claudine
  • Bookman's Alley in Evanston, Illinois

Other realms

  • BookCrossing
  • Facebook
  • Goodreads
  • Instagram
  • LibraryThing
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Good viewing

  • bensozia
  • Bill of the Birds (no longer updated)
  • BrontëBlog
  • Edge
  • Karen Winters Fine Art
  • Mental Floss
  • Musical Assumptions
  • National Geographic News
  • Orange Crate Art
  • Sexy Archaeology
  • The Creative Journey
  • The Introvert's Corner
  • The Pen Addict
  • The Raucous Royals
  • Thrilling Days of Yesteryear
  • Woodclinched
  • World-O-Crap

BOINC Stats

Copyright © 1996–2023 Diane Schirf. Photographs and writing mine unless noted.
↑