3M Museum and Lighthouse

Another cool,cloudy day. We decided to drive into Two Harbors. We stopped at the 3M Museum.

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing was founded in Two Harbors in 1902. The Museum is located in the original office building and highlights the development of 3M and their products. We were interested in it as when we both worked at Utilities Supply Company, an industrial tool company, we sold 3m products, such as their sandpaper. Their early inovations were waterproof sandpaper, masking tape and cellophane "Scotch tape". Now of course they are a hugh corporation with 132 plants andn 167,000 employees worldwide. Across the street from the Museum is a park. You can see the stage where different events take placed during the summer.

We then drove over to Two Harbors Light Station which is the oldest operating light station on the North Shore and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Driving along the North Shore

Tuesday and Wednesday we just took it easy, just doing some shopping in Duluth and Two Harbors. Also more rain. Had another thunder/lightning show one night. At first, since we have been traveling, we enjoyed this as we don't get see much lightning or rain for that matter, in SO CAL. However, with all the storms we have been having, and it's summer!!!, I said enough already.

Thursday looked nice and so we decided to take advantage and go for a drive north. We stopped at Gooseberry Falls State Park, which is the most popular state park in Minnesota. There are five waterfalls found in the park. We walked down to a few of them to check them out.

We also stopped at Silver Bay Marina to eat the lunch that we brought with us. Joe's appetite has still not come back and so no going out to lunch or dinner yet. The Marina is next to Northshore Mining, a taconite processing factility. It produces and ships taconite pellets to steel producers throughout the country. Big mining area. 3M is in Two Harbors and we may take a tour there this week.

North Shore of Minnesota

We arrived at Penmarallter Campground in Two Harbors, MN Monday afternoon. It is about 20 miles north of Duluth and is on Lake Superior. It is a pretty nice campground, though no water views. We later saw some nice places right on the water but we already had some mail being sent here. Joe is continuing to recover but not 100% yet. Here we are in Minnesota, land of a 1,000 lakes and we might not be able to even kayak while we are in this state. He does need to take it a little easy for awhile to get better so we have many opportunities to kayak and bike, etc in the future.

Pictures are taken from the MH going through Duluth. The North Shore Drive is an All American Road and spans 145 miles from Duluth to the Canadian border. There is a lot of biking in the area as well. The Gitchi-Gami State Trail , once completed will be a 86 mile non-motorized paved trail between Two Harbors and Grand Marais. It will be a safe alternative to riding on Highway 61. There are already about 28 miles completed in sections.

That's LIfe

We have had a lot of good times so far and only a few not so good such as having to get new tires and dental issues. However, we have now run into a pretty scary time. Joe had not been feeling well all week but seem to be better Friday, the 13th (sign of things to come?). We left Maplewood State Park on are way to Duluth,MN. Joe was driving and doing fine. Then he was starting to have problems keeping the motor home straight and said it was the wind. It seems a little more than that to me and when he said he had a little double vision, I had him pull over and I took over. I was doing fine. Joe started actually a little weird, laughing a lot and seemed almost like he was drunk or something. Then I stopped to get gas and when he got out of the motor home, his balance was completely gone. I ran into the store and had someone call 911. The paramedics arrived within minutes and when we explained how he was feeling and mentioned he is diabetic, they checked his blood sugar right away and it was extremely low. They gave him something and by the time we got to the Hospital in Aitkin, 20 miles away, he was more himself. They did some tests and determined he must have been bitten by a deer tick and had anaplasmosis, tick disease, which is similar to lyme disease. He hadn't been eating much as he had no appetite and that is why he ended up with such low blood pressure. They decided to keep him overnight. I got a ride back to the MH with the paramedics and drove the MH back to the Hospital. Joe ended up staying in the Hospital for 2 nights and then we also stayed a third night in the area so he could go back to the Hospital for one more set of blood tests to make sure his white count and blood sugar were more regulated. He will be on antibiotics for 2 weeks. One week is enough for anaplasmosis but as it is possible to test for lyme disease this early, the doctor recommended he stay on it for 3 weeks which is the time needed for it. When trying to determine how he got it, the doctor was first confused. It is very prevalent in Minn but we had only been in the state for 5 days and it usually takes more like 10 or 15 to start showing symptoms. When we mentioned we had been in South Dakota, he said it is prevalent in the Black Hills which is exactly where we were to fit the timing. Anyway, we were very glad to finally be able to leave. I do say that everyone from the person in the store at the gas station who called 911 and told me I could leave the MH there as long as needed to the paramedics and the doctors and nurses were so nice and helpful and made a bad experience a little easier.

Maplewood State Park

Monday we left Lake Poinsett and headed north through 23 miles of North Dakota and then turned east into Minnesota. We had about a 4 hour drive to Maplewood State Park. It is another beautiful green area that has about 5 lakes within the park area. We are in Otter Tail county and there are 1,000 lakes in this county alone. We didn't get a spot right on the lake but have a small view of it. Again we are in the midst of a lot of trees and so no satellite for tv watching. We still have internet and phone access though.
Unfortunately we haven't been able to go kayaking as Joe came down with a bout of some type of flu. He was up most of one night with aches and pains, chills and then a lot of sweating. He is still pretty weak as of today, Thursday. We had sun on Monday, rain off and on on Tuesday, sunny Wednesday. Then Wednesday night/Thursday morning came the lightning and thunder and more rain. We read this morning that there were 7 tornadoes in North Dakota and western Minnesota. Not sure how far from here. We haven't had any wind so far which is good. Looking at the forecast it seems there will be rain off and on no matter where we go in the near future.

Just part of traveling though. Joe though he was feeling better Wednesday and we tried for a bike ride but didn't go far as he started feeling bad again. Hopefully he will be back to his old self soon.