Coop's Corner: MEA Weekend 2025

Friday, October 24, 2025

MEA Weekend 2025 - 2025/10/16

Lots of photos, not many words. Even though it may seem impossible, there are quite a few images and video footage that don't make this finished product. Use your discretion, no refunds.

M(innesota) E(ducator's) A(ssociation)....the Minnesota Teacher's Union hosts the weekend event for training and has, in one for or another, since 1861. Wisconsin, North Dakota and New Jersey the only other States that have something equivalent.

What it means to MN families with school-aged children is a long October weekend...many of them travel locally or fly to destinations far. What it meant for this school bus driver was another long weekend on Lake Superior's South Shore. Not only were the local schools closed Thursday-Friday, but Wednesday was our monthly 2 hour early release. That meant that I could begin my 4 1/2 hour drive north starting at 2:30 instead of 4:30.

It was dark when I arrived at camp, after a quick scan of the campground's 10 sites, I just backed into #8 which when morning arrived, seemed the perfect spot to stay. The pop-up canopy was raised and placed with just a bit of overlap over the truck's topper.

The Siskiwit Lake Campground....

Breakfast coffee Thursday morning....

Siskiwit Lake....

Thought about a Pastie but didn't take one.

Back to camp Thursday afternoon, started a campfire and started getting dinner ready.

Friday morning's first cup....

The location of the 3 waterfalls....Morgan Falls southwest of Marengo, Houghton Falls just north of Washburn and finally Big Rock Falls up above Washburn

I decided that Friday was going to be Waterfall Day and to that end, I visited 3, two of them repeats. I started out by heading east and south for Morgan Falls. On the way it only made sense to stop in Washburn at Coco - Artesian Bakery and Good Eats.

And (not so) incredibly, the baker's well-put-together Himalayan parked out front. I'd have stopped...AND enjoyed even without his mode of transport there anchoring the establishment.

Had to stop in the Harness Dept at Tractor Supply to get a leather punch....my tightest belt setting just wasn't cutting it.

I've seen evidence before but I'm still always quite surprised at the level of large(r) agriculture going on in the area just south of Ashland.

Almost to Morgan Falls.....looking back North toward the lake.

Parked, paid and perambulating to the falls....

It looked like rain and teased with a few drops but it never really happened. I drove back to Ashland and decided to stop at the Ashland Baking Company for some pastries.....I can't be expected to enjoy a vacation day without pastries, how could I??

One each of the top row and one from the lower shelf.....that makes 5 by my count.

Bagged and in there....for now....

So it was back into Ashland for those yummies and then back through Washburn to Houghton Falls. An interesting and popular place. The relatively small parking lot has a gate that closes on a timer (don't get caught inside!!) and many signs warning against parking on the road.

"If Parking Lot Is Full Come Back Later"

At any normal, touristy hour, don't be surprised if the lot is full.

After leaving the busy, still full, Houghton Falls parking lot, I drove a short distance up County C to the Big Rock Falls Park on the Sioux River.

I backed into campsite #4 right above the falls, a perfect place to have lunch.

Looking up, peeking through the woods to the lunch-time truck.

The Big Rock....the entire width of the river runs over this broad base for a length of maybe 20', stopping fish from moving any further up the river.

I ventured west after lunch to Long Lake, always a favorite. No swimming this trip but we've, meaning Peg and the kids, played at the beach and picnic'd numerous times, we bikers have been to both ends of the lake for photo ops as well.

From the east end of the lake, always my favorite place to stop.

Looking west from the west end...

You can see the trail cut across the marsh....

Looking east towards the beach and picnic area....

The beach....

Headed west back to where I'm piloting...

My plan was to take the back way up to Birch Grove Campground...(north from the east end of Long Lake) and I did only to find the gate across, "Campground Closed". No matter, I've got a drone.

Well in fact I do have a drone but one must remember to push RECORD.....there's a button to do just that. Essentially 5 cameras along.....sometimes I struggle to make all of the hookups.

Decided to have Friday's dinner at The Fish Shed in Corny. It and the IPA were extremely satisfying. Whitefish Taco's and a Bent Paddle on the deck.

Back to camp on Siskiwit Lake, excited about a campfire. But 10 minutes in, it was doused. Way, way too much wind.

Later the wind calmed down and burning up my wood continued.

Early Saturday coffee time in the truck....I'd not been out yet. In the bakery bag, two remaining Delightful's.

This one savory....

Saturday sunnier, warmer and still windy...I stopped at the artesian well in Corny to refresh my water before heading west to Port Wing and the Boreal Forest.

Not sure what I'll do when this log is no longer on the beach....

Looking North from the Boreal Forest Natural Area....

East toward Port Wing.....

West back to the Boreal Forest....

Back to the harbor at Port Wing...

Heading back toward Siskiwit Lake....the back way on Touve Road.

Stopped on Bark River Road....

Then South on Klemik Road back to Siskiwit Lake...

Back at camp ready to settle in, then remembered that I wanted to get some smoked whitefish at Halvorson's so I made another trip back into Corny.

Had fun watching this couple....strong cold wind off the lake. Two pups, one intent on digging beach holes and filling shoes.

Saturday evening's steak and veg....

Finally a campfire without wind....

And to wrap up my South Shore weekend, a stop at Angie's in Iron River for a couple of Apple Fritters. One did make it back to Red Wing and was shared.

A glorious weekend of fun, quiet time and colors that could not have been better.

1 comment:

AnonymousOctober 24, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Dear wanderer, thanks for sharing your trip with us. The pictures are great. I really like the pics of Ruby.
Regards,
Dave C.
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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)