Paul and Babe

To play it safe - and to feel best prepared to enter the Boundary Waters the next day - Matthias and I decided to arrive in Ely, Minnesota, today in order to buy groceries, pick up our canoe, and prep our equipment. We had reached the Bemidji KOA last night. The KOAs I visited on my trip were clean and orderly and every one had wifi access. But I couldn't imagine wanting to spend any time at one except to sleep; they are also crowded and worn.

From Bemidji, it was only 175 miles to Ely, so we had plenty of time to get there this day. We purchased some equipment and food at a Gander Mountain outdoor/sports store in Bemidji. Then we spent a short while walking along Lake Bemidji. The city was celebrating Crazy Days as well its first annual dragon boat races. People swarmed around the town. It was a perfect day in northern Minnesota. We stopped in the Bemidji visitor center and I took pictures of the iconic Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe. From Bemidji, we passed through classic northern MN towns on our way to Ely, towns like Grand Rapids, Chisholm, Virginia and Hibbing.

We arrived in Ely in the late afternoon and scrambled to find accommodations for the evening. (We had decided earlier to sleep in a hotel.) We struck out at several places before grabbing the last spot at a Super 8. The room was probably available because it had only one bed, a gigantic hot tub next to it, and cost a (relative) fortune. We convinced the manager to haul in an extra mattress. We stocked up on groceries at Zups and picked our canoe and bear rope at Piragis Outfitters. We dined at Dairy Queen and watched the Twins on television. I felt like I was back in my "element." I love the north woods. I looked forward to dropping the canoe in the water the next morning. However, we would first need to carry it through the woods for two miles. (I wasn't looking forward to that part as much.)