Lake Vermillion, MN   Lee Frelich
  Jun 19, 2006 17:20 PDT 
Bob:

I just returned from Timbuktu (at the end of the road in northern MN),
where I took a group of local residents to see a grove of 400 year old
cedars on one of the hundreds of islands in Lake Vermillion. With thick
bark in a twisted pattern and knarled branches, they look like redwoods in
miniature, at least they are as close to redwoods as trees in MN get, at a
height of 60 feet. I stayed in an Adirondack shelter near sunset rock, on
top of a round knob of granite, with 100 year red pines growing in a
feather moss blanket along with reindeer lichens. The pines were at the
edge of the lake and throughout the night were silhouetted against the sky,
and although the sun does set, the sky has some glow all night long at
these northerly latitudes. Lake Vermillion, and the rest of the border
lakes region reverses the usual pattern; instead of land with occasional
water, it is water with some land. All transportation is by boat, every
house has a dock, and even the mail is delivered by boat. Everyone has the
latest solar technology and biosystems for disposal of waste water. It is
interesting that if they try, people can live on a bunch of granite knobs
protruding from the water and not really have much impact on the environment.

BTW, Minneapolis is making a good recovery from last Friday's supercell
downburst storm with its 1 inch hail, 3 inch rainfall in 20 minutes (a
total white out), and 65 mph winds. A few of the great cottonwoods at Lake
of the Isles came down, but many survived with minor damage. Streets are
open again, most of the mess from the flood in the streets (and my garage)
is cleaned up, conveniently done by others while I was at Timbuktu. Even my
geraniums have already sprouted new flower buds and leaves to replace the
ones macerated by the hail.

Lee