Last night we headed up into the local hills to catch the sunset. As we drove inland it looked like it was probably going to be a dull sunset as we couldn't see very many clouds. When we got high up on our chosen vantage point, however, we saw a nice cluster of clouds to the west. The sun was behind the clouds and rays of light were bursting through and washing over the landscape below. Even though it was really windy, it was worth the outing to see this majestic light show!
In case you haven't heard, it's been a very dry summer in northeast Minnesota. Until this past weekend hardly any rain fell since the first week of July. Over the past couple of days, though, we've finally received a decent amount of rainfall! Just under two inches fell in the Grand Portage area. Most of that fell last night and this morning the fog and clouds were crazy cool over Lake Superior. The landscape looked more like a painting than real life. The view over the Susie Islands was especially awesome.
We were in Grand Marais this afternoon to get some groceries and grab a burger for lunch. We typically sit over near Artists' Point to eat our burgers but today we went over by the campground. While we were sitting there eating our lunch the coast guard patrol boat entered the harbor. Not long after that someone came along in a kayak and paddled out beyond the breakwall. The sky was very overcast and a few intermittent rain drops were falling. It was a very peaceful afternoon.
Thanks to a plethora of wildfires across North America we sure have been seeing a lot of smoky days this summer. Some days our air quality has been extremely poor. Probably the worst days have been this past week as we now have around a dozen or so fires in northeast Minnesota. The largest of these has burned over 20,000 acres so far and is still listed as 0% contained. We have received very little rain since early July but this weekend the forecast is looking pretty promising for some moisture. Hopefully it pans out as we could sure use some rain to knock down the fires and the smoke.
This swan has been hanging around on the small lake behind our house for most of the summer. I'm thinking it must have lost its mate. It hangs out in this area most of the time but on occasion will fly away for a while then come back. It's been nice to see the beautiful bird so much but I can't help but feel a bit sad for it.
These photos were both taken with my Sony RX10 Mark III camera. The first one was at its full wide angle of 24mm and the second one was taken zoomed all the way in at 600mm. It's an amazing camera to have so much zoom range and image quality in a relatively compact package.
A beautiful night scene over a small lake in northeast Minnesota. The Milky Way shines brightly while some airglow adds a little mystique to the atmosphere. We had just finished watching for Perseid meteors from the middle of the lake when we noticed this cool view from the boat dock. It was an unforgettable parting shot to top off an incredible night of sky gazing.
Last night we got out for a little sky gazing hoping to see some Perseid meteors. We ventured out into the middle of one of the local lakes, dropped the anchor and started watching the sky. It only took a moment to see our first meteor. When we first got positioned on the lake the sky was free of clouds and the surface of the water was smooth as glass. A sky flooded with stars above us and the smooth surface of the lake reflecting those same stars below us made it feel like we were hovering in the middle of the Milky Way.
After just a few minutes, however, some clouds started to move in and a light breeze kicked up. The breeze made the front of the boat drift back and forth. As we drifted my 20 second exposures turned the stars into streaks making it look like a star trail exposure which are typically 30 minutes or longer. It was cool to see the star trail effect in such a short exposure. We spent about an hour out on the lake but the clouds were moving in more so we decided to call it a night. We saw at least 20 or more meteors in that hour. The whole experience was very surreal and one we will not soon forget.
This past Sunday was a rare day in the sense that we did NOT have any smoke haze from wildfires clouding our skies. The visibility was great all day and it was nice to not be smelling and tasting smoke throughout the day. It seems like virtually every day this July has seen smoke haze and air quality warnings. We decided to take advantage of the clear views and headed to a local overlook to watch the sun go down. I'm glad we went out as we witnessed a beautiful sunset. The conditions that day were short-lived as the next morning through today the smoke has returned and is thicker than ever.
