Grand Marais MI

We hung out in Grand Marais MI before one of our surveys and made some rock towers. I made one with 9 rocks which is a lifetime record. YAY! We also climbed up and walked around on some of the sand dunes. They are pretty amazing!

Mini rock collection with one agate

It takes a lot of concentration to make a good rock tower, OK????

YAY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

hole rock!

sand dunes

Oh Canada

Here are some funny-looking road signs we found in Canada. The "slippery when wet" sign is my personal favorite, and that's why I am in that picture.

This is a sign... of a sign. There is the road, that's the thing you drive on. There is the yellow sign on the right side of the road, that says "night danger" with a picture of a deer, warning you that deer might jump across the road. And there is the GIANT buck that might prance across the road at any time. Plus, if you didn't understand the pictures, they had to include another NIGHT DANGER

Look, this guy has a little pinhead like me. I would not want to be caught in a rainstorm with raindrops twice the size of my head, that's for sure.

Look at the strange cars they have there. 

This sign is great, because they use color and tons of detail. I'm not exactly sure what the red star in the corner is, but watch out for the top of that bus. It could hit you in the pinhead.

Oh, Canada.

Manitoulin

Here are some pictures from Manitoulin Island and a couple from the UP. Manitoulin Island is in Lake Huron and is the largest freshwater island in the WHOLE WORLD. Oooooo. Anyway, Manitoulin has a lot of alvar, which is a habitat found on limestone with shallow soil and very sparse and stunted vegetation. 

onions!

typical alvar with low vegetation - there are usually a lot of flowers

Prairie smoke

the lone dandy

oaky junipery stuff

Scenic vista

Jello lady slipper!

view from Cup and Saucer trails on Manitoulin

Lower Tahquamenon falls

and Upper.

Salt Steamery (Sault Ste Marie)

I'm not really sure why, but we couldn't find one place that spelled out the entire name of this strange city. How would you ever know that Ste stands for "Sainte"? Even maps don't list the full name. I say, if you're gonna abbreviate it, make it short, instead of slightly-shorter-than-super-long.

We spent a couple windy days in SSM doing our usual bird surveys and looking for moose everywhere (no luck). We went for a bike ride around SSM and seemed to be going into the wind the entire time. Here is Lizzie doing a survey with her new friends. They looked tough at first but you can see that they are not.

This guy is really a leaner

"never stop petting me. NEVER STOP."

Sandhill Crane

Lizzie

Me doing a survey. Yep. All we do is stand there.

We tried to make the car look a little less Grandma-y by adding some bikes.

I guess our job isn't too bad.

Time off between surveying

We had some days off after Chicago work and before we started the rest of our summer surveys (we are now in Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario -- blog entry for this coming SOON). I spent some time at our family's cabin in Schroeder, MN with my aunt Gayle and my Grampa, pictures below. I also moved all of my stuff to Ironwood, MI, where I live with Jonathon now. For entertaining shots of how much crap I have, see below. Also see below if you want to see our tiny new garden in Ironwood or the gum-ball-sized hail we got. 

Gayle and I went on a wildflower walk - this was our first find: bloodroot!

Fiddleheads

Spring beauties!

Gayle and bloodroot

Me and Notary Sojac

At Father Baraga's cross

As a general rule, you have to wear at least one of the crazy hats that live in this cabin while you are visiting.

Me in my only piece of furniture, surveying all of my stuff. I'm sorry to say this isn't all of it. The pile of skis, my bikes, rollerskis, etc are all upstairs. I now own 2 full carloads of stuff. Last time I packed I think it was only 1.5?? MAJOR shout-out to my cousin Abby for helping me pack all my stuff up in Duluth. She is an organization queen. Jonathon helped quite a bit too. Shout outs all around.

JR's parents came to visit and brought us delicious dinner! Grilled pork and asparagus and beans, and we made a fruit salad. 

In Ironwood. We went canoeing on something I named Swamp Creek. Nice reflections. Saw a beaver and paddled up some beaver dams. Some day I will post a video of this process. It mostly involves me screaming and trying to direct the canoe while Jonathon paddles violently over the dam. 

We planted some peppers and tomatoes that Vicki gave us, in a little garden in the yard. I am calling it the White Trash Garden. The house is a bit... funky (see corner behind garden in this picture) and we have a bunch of stuff that lives on the porch, and also a dog named Harley (kidding). So we feel a bit like "white trash" in Ironwood. Stay tuned for a White Trash Christmas Picture!!

Hail from our first big t-storm. That thing in the background is not hail, it's my big rock which sits on the porch. Do you like the green astroturfy porch?

Chicago again

1 year later... and still in pursuit of a master's. But I have finished all my classes, and just have to write my thesis! Lizzie, Jessica and I are back in Chicago, doing field work for Lizzie's project on the effects of urbanization on migrating birds. This time we are only here for a week. Here are some pictures so far:

Portillos Chicago style hot dog

We set up a slackline in the yard of Lizzie's house. It consumes our free time.

Triliums!

Nissan Juke. One of our rentals. It's known as the batmobile around here.

Black-throated green warbler

Know this plant? It's all OVER the place here! (buckthorn)

Happy spring everyone!