The year 2013 came to an end quietly in Stillwater. We stayed in on New Year's Eve but celebrated with Morey's smoked salmon and cream cheese on crackers, fresh lobster and home made clam chowder.The 'chowda' was made from a recipe out of an old cookbook from Mystic, CT which I got from my grandmother. For dessert I made one of our favorites; tofu chocolate moose topped with real whipped cream.
Dave had been working long hours during the holidays. Luckily, he had New Year's Day off. We decided to go on an adventure and headed North toward Knife River. We planned to check in on
Mystic, our Alberg 35, then drive North to Split Rock Lighthouse to take winter photos. On the way, we stopped at McQuades' Harbor of Refuge, north of Duluth along scenic 61. It was mighty cold at -1 F, but the die hard ice fishermen were out on the ice trying their luck. The lake was beautiful. We took photos of the shoreline with fresh snow covering the jetty and ice coating the shoreline.
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| McQuade's Harbor of Refuge Jetty |
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| Lake Superior, North of Duluth, McQuade's |
We stopped at Stony Point Road, our favorite section of Scenic Rt. 61. The view was magical! The lake was open in spots but the shoreline was dramatically frozen in patterns and glazes. We walked along the rocks which we'd used to sun ourselves on all summer after taking a quick dip in the lake. The shoreline is rocky with small round stones. Our instincts reminded us to walk carefully as the rocks can shift under our weight. On this day, there was no movement. Everything was frozen together. Dave made his way onto a section of flat rock and tried to slide on his back. Although it had a coating of ice a couple of inches thick, it was not slippery underneath his clothing. We laughed as he tried to slide to no avail. He was able to get some gorgeous closeups of the frozen flora from his vantage point though.
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| Stony Point Road Shack |
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| Dave hamming it up on the ice! |
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| Sitting atop the glaze at Stony Pt. Rd. |
The shoreline was frozen in layers creating a Dr. Seuss-like pattern. The larger rocks were capped with ice which made them look like crystal mushrooms. Everything else was glazed over like a warm glazed donut.
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| Dr. Seuss-like scene, Stony Pt. Rd. |
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| Mushroom capped rocks |
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| Glazed shoreline |
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| Ice varnished rocks |
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Ice varnished rocks
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We got cold quickly so we headed for Knife River to check in on Mystic. It was very quiet in "downtown" Knife River. My chest filled with excitement as we crossed the train tracks and entered the parking lot at the Marina. Mystic was close to the launch and only three boats into the line of vessels standing at attention on their winter storage. We rounded the first boat, sighted the second boat and then saw Mystic as we had left her, on the cradle and wrapped in old advertising tarps. Dave drove a bit past her and we both gasped and exclaimed at the same time, "OH NO!" My excitement was replaced by anxiety. I felt a wave of cold fill my chest, much like the feeling of being dipped in the Great Lake Superior in the middle of June. Knife River had suffered a major winter storm earlier in the season. It appeared that the northern blow had shredded the aft tarps, pulling out the grommets and throwing the tarps off of the cockpit. We could see that the cockpit was filled with a couple feet of snow which covered the cabin hatch as well. With dread we left the truck to survey the damage. Two tarps on the port side were in a tangled mess and were shredded in places, frozen and virtually unusable. We would need a new tarp. We drove to Two Harbors thinking that stores would be closed on New Year's Day but found that the local general store was open and had tarps in stock, but the cost and value were not worth it. In addition, the temperature was dropping. It would be frigid and dangerous to attempt the repair today. We decided to wait and buy tarps in the Cities then return the next weekend. We would have more time to do the job right in safer conditions.
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