Day 104, Sunday July 15, 2018--Church service, Great breakfast, Shut Out at the "Iron Bog".

It was a  leisurely morning as the church service wasn't until 10:30 at the Bemidji UMC. There was a guest preacher as the resident one was on vacation. He was young and presented some young , vibrant ideas about Paul, the disciple and Paul Bunyan the local folk hero. It was a neat contrast.  In the pew ahead of us was 'Lois'. One of the elder members  of this very senior congregation.  She kept us in stitches with her humor before the service. She had sung with the Mayo Clinic choir in Rochester for many years. We did not see ANY families with children, nor were there any adults there in their 20's or early 30's. Yep, you can ask the question? ---
It was a very welcoming congregation as many UMC's are. We are always grateful for that. There is nothing so lonely as attending a church for the first time and not "being seen". On one wall were 6 huge paintings , by a local artist, that start as a framed design and as they reach up, spread out into the frame itself. Very unique in style. They were mostly in light shades and very colorful.

Bemidji United Methodist Church

We went right to the breakfast place as we had seen that it was advertised as "Expect a  wait for breakfast usually". That was true and there was a 20 minute wait to get seated at the "Minnesota Nice Cafe". They were backed up in the kitchen as one cook was ill. But the decor on the walls made up for it as they were all natural scenes of stretched canvases and frames. That included moose, flowers, woods and trees and animals of the north. The climax was the walls themselves as there were whole trees painted on a white background. In some of the trunks there were little animals (raccoons) with their heads poking out of holes. That gave Ruth and I a chance to talk about ways to present photos in future shows and discussing ways to group the mats and photos. It was a very comfortable place to be. The food when it came was delightful. Ruth had the pancakes which in her words "Were the best I have ever tasted". I had the fresh (from Red Lake) Walleye sandwich with sweet potato fries. Very delicate and flaky.  We took home two homemade muffins (blueberry and orange cranberry) for breakfast tomorrow.

Great food, great help, and great stop.

Airy, good light, and reasonably quiet.

Then in the afternoon we attempted to see a Bog called  the "Iron Bog" It is a place where many flowers, especially in the spring, grow. It includes the Pitcher Plant, Sundew, and many orchids of all types in the wildflower category. I knew the route to get there, and about where it was, but when we drove to that place, we could not see it.

The Mississippi River just after it comes out of Lake Itaska which is its source. It is about 1/4 mile from the "Iron Bog".

Here is the Mississippi River  just below that sign above.

The Mississippi River is about 1/4 mile from the Bog, but after three stops to ask folks who worked at stores or lived in a nearby house we could not find a way to get to it, even though we knew about where it was just off the highway MN 200.

Finally, I stopped at a house and a young man came out (from Ohio) who owned the property that was adjacent to the Bog. He explained how the main road (MN 200) had originally  gone through the edge of the bog and when the state moved the road to higher ground, the road that was originally there was left  without maintenance. So it was a two track, with no signage (the state took it down).  He advised us not to go too far down that road, as it was not a drive-able road even with 4X  drive.
We did as he advised and traversed as far as we could but could not get to the bog itself.  It was a "dry run", so we turned around and headed out. Few birds and no flowers to speak of. Every drive is not a complete success.

We headed home and called it a day, but not before stopping (as we are wont to do) at a pond where we did see some birds. Hallelujah! It was two Swan and a single duckling no more than a week old. It was at  a great distance  so no photos, but we did get to see them. Later with the campground manager we discussed if it was a Tundra or a Trumpeter. I stick with the Tundra Swan as it had  yellow at the base of the beak.

That ended the day and we were back to the trailer in time for some R and R.  The weather was great at 73 F and sunny most of the day. It will be a bit cooler tonight. Might have to turn on the heat!