Whiteley Creek Homestead Bed and Breakfast

winter solstice lunar eclipse

Yep, Dick and I were up in the wee hours of this morning to gaze in awe at the amazing dark amber colored lunar eclipse. I took this photo at 2:33 a.m.

 

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth blocks the sun's rays from the face of the moon. The moon is then fully in the shadow cast in space by the Earth. Today's partial eclipse was scheduled to begin at 1:33 a.m. Eastern and the total eclipse was to last between 2:41 a.m and 3:53 a.m., so I shot this photo 8 minutes before the total eclipse. The partial eclipse was to end at 5:01 a.m. It is an unusual occurrence because the last time a total lunar eclipse happened on the winter solstice (1st day of winter) was way back in the year 1638. The next time it will occur on the winter solstice will be the year 2094, so I figured it was this year or never for me. I convinced Dick of it, too. He stood behind me holding my upstretched arms steady to minimize my camera's movement. After the fact, we thought it would have been easier if I had lied flat on my back on the ground, but I liked that it turned into a two-person effort... a tender moment.   

salt water taffy

So very pretty...

  
two big bins of salt water taffy at Cub Foods. I came home with a handful of red striped white taffy with a hint of peppermint... certainly not as colorful but less artificial coloring without sacrificing flavor.

 

wild raspberries and canoeing

Last night we ate the last of 8 quarts of raspberries I had picked two weeks ago. The owner of the berry patch called to see if I wanted to come and pick again this morning. Sadly, I had to decline because I had too many responsibilities I couldn't put off. This evening, Dick informed me that the bushes growing along the wetlands area on our property were full of wild raspberries. By that time of day I had finished what I needed to accomplish, so we grabbed some empty containers and headed down the hill.  

  

We quickly filled these two containers with plenty more to pick tomorrow.

 

After picking the berries, our canoes on the bank beckoned us to go for a paddle in our wetlands area. Notice the paddle straddled across the canoe in front of where I was sitting. That paddle pretty much stays in that position throughout every canoe trip. Whether it's traveling down a road or a waterway, Dick says he is "driving miss daisy". Oh, yea. That's pretty much accurate. 

 

Our presence didn't frighten a duck that was out for a leisurely swim as we paddled by.

 

Picking wild raspberries and canoeing without leaving our property... I can't think of a better way to wrap up a busy day.

pies... oh, my!

    

In the August 2007 issue of Midwest Living Magazine, the editor so wisely stated, "To know a community is to know its pie." Dick and I are continually searching for the best pie as we travel across the country, so we have learned that one must veer off the Interstate onto the backroads to talk to the locals who live in the small towns to find it. We have concluded that the best tasting pie is in our own backyard! In fact, it was chosen for the distinct honor of being one of three restaurants in the Brainerd/Baxter area chosen to be in the "57 Restaurants Worth the Drive" feature in the Minnesota Monthly Magazine July 2007 issue.

"The Barn", a restaurant located on Washington Street just a block from Brainerd's landmark water tower, opened in 1945 and was owned by a family from Iowa. In 1970, Gary Kinney's parents bought it. For almost twenty years his mom made the pies and helped run the business with his dad. In 1989, Gary bought the restaurant and started making the pies himself. The pies are stored in the original pie case to entice new customers to try a slice and be forever hooked. See the old-time tables and booths through the glass of the pie case? There are four of them along one wall and three on the other side of the room, as well as two small two-seaters along a third wall. You can also choose to sit at one of nine stools at the counter. The Barn has retained its small size throughout the years, which gives it its small town coziness where regular customers, as well as newcomers, quickly become family.

   

It was 9:30 this morning when Dick and I shared bites of this banana cream pie with mile-high meringue, still warm from the oven, after eating breakfast at The Barn. Rhubarb custard and sour cream raisin are other favorites of mine, but the coconut, lemon, apple, cherry, blueberry, and pumpkin are equally yummy. Gary bakes twenty pies early each morning and increases that number to thirty during the summer months. In addition to pies, The Barn, which is part of the original Maid-Rite franchises, offers menu selections as well as daily specials, homemade soups, and Maid-Rites. A "Maid-Rite" is finely ground, specially seasoned, ground beef on a bun... like a sloppy joe but without the sauce. It is served with mustard, pickles or chopped onions.

One of my mottos is: "Of all the paths you take in life... make sure a few of them are dirt." Translated that means to me that we need to slow our pace to be able to discover the true gems that so easily can be hidden from our view in life's hustle and bustle. The Barn is one such gem that you must not miss during your visit to the Brainerd Lakes Area. 

Hours:
5:30am – 4:00pm Monday through Friday
5:30am – 3:00pm on Saturday
Closed Sunday

Sunday-To Church and Mine Pit Lakes

On a warm afternoon, Dick and I like to drive through the backroads that wind through the Cuyuna Range Mine Pits near Crosby, Minnesota located twelve miles northeast of Whiteley Creek Homestead Bed and Breakfast. Today, on this early spring Sunday afternoon bright with sunshine, we did just that.

The dirt roads, which were spread with iron ore when they were originally constructed as an access to the mines, are no longer colored as dark a red as in years past. However, their hue is still unique enough to imagine the former activity that took place on these roads for 80 years. More than 106 million tons of ore were mined and shipped from the Cuyuna Range between its discovery in 1904, and 1984, when mining ceased. Dick's father was employed there for many years and his Grandma Olive Dullum ran a boarding house for the miners in her home in the nearby town of Woodrow.

The open-pit iron ore mining in this area, and the little towns that once thrived from serving the miners needs, has long ago become a meer skeleton of former booming activity. Remnants of building foundations can still be found in the dense undisturbed overgrowth. Tremendous beauty, however, abounds in these former pits that are now lakes stocked with trout to fish, canoe, kayak, and scuba dive.

The Cuyuna Lakes Trail for hiking, rollerblading, and biking weaves in between the mine pit lakes. The trail, which was built in 2005, is lesser known than the Paul Bunyan Trail in Brainerd but is as, if not more, beautiful. Cycle Path & Paddle in Crosby, a source for "silent sport" adventures, offers canoe, kayak, in-line skate, and bike rental. They offer drop-off service to a mine lake where you can paddle from that lake into four additional mine lakes. The area, owned and managed by the DNR, is very much a wilderness without human inhabitation... a hidden gem.