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8-1-09 thru 8-8-09
Ahh, Minnesota time again! Like every year, I just have to do an account since there are always so many different things that happen every year. This year's main "attraction" was an injured pelican that Meghan decided to name 'Petey'. So, on with the account...
This was a real bummer right here. This is the tower near Galena, IL that we look forward to climbing every year. It has become sort of a tradition, but we don't get to it every year. Normally we take the interstate which is much quicker, but since this was Meghan's first year up here, we wanted to show her the scenes. As soon as we neared it, we could see the gigantic orange "CLOSED" plastered on the front of it. I was hoping for sunny skies anyway for some sun/fog pics like I grabbed a few years ago, but clouds hung around the entire day anyway. So it wasn't a total loss.
Fast forwarding all the way to Richmond. Josh and his family ended up getting the cabin right next to ours which worked out great. It was actually pretty darn chilly the entire week, especially the first day and in the mornings. Josh, Caden and I were gearing up to head out in this shot. Caden ended having one heck of a fishing vacation! He found all sorts of panfish holes that the rest of us had trouble with.
As I said.....he had one heck of a vacation! That bluegill was actually very large! First official Minnesota fish for the Ludin's in '09.
The one with Caden and his bluegill was in Becker. Now we are in Kron's Bay, possibly the most pictureesque lake of them all. It has all the characteristics of a traditional northwoods scene. Yep, Caden nailed the gillies here too. He's a natural!
First loon of the vaca. This guy wasn't phased too easily. We actually got the boat pretty close to him before he finally dove under.
Later that night. What a BEAUTIFUL sight. THIS is what I look forward to every year. Just indescribably relaxing, calming, and beautiful. This was right out in front of Josh's cabin. The orange glow is from the fire we had going behind us. I may be a bit biased in my opinion since we've been going for over 20 years, but I just can't possibly see vacationing anywhere else. Many people I know and have talked to say this just flat out doesn't appeal to them, or they'd rather travel to the cities or somewhere similar. Not me. My idea of the perfect vacation is a place where you can just let EVERYTHING in your life go for just a week. I need a place to completely relax and rest my mind and muscles. I need a place to converse with my family over a nice cold Minnesota beer or twenty. This is that place. It just the trick perfectly. Now that I am getting married, I can only hope to keep coming back here year after year and carry on the tradition with my own family as my mom and dad has done with us for all these years.
This puts me back there right now. Standing tall with my beer looking out over the lake as I take a deep breath of that crisp and clean northern air. Ahhhh......
Turned back around to the source of the orange light. This was the crew! Well, everyone but Katelyn of course, my 1 year old neice which I have to say is the cutest one year old girl ever. From left to right; dad, me, Meghan, mom, Caden, Josh and Amanda.
As the beverages were consumed exponentially, I discovered something on accident. I was taking pics of people around the fire and "smeared" the actual flames as I moved the camera. I thought "hmmm, I could make this work!" I would set the exposure for 3 seconds, take the shot with flash, then move the camera toward the fire. This was the result. Pretty good buzzed fun!
This one, however, isn't a camera trick. My dad can actually breathe fire.
Next morning. Yep...God's country. Brings a tear to my eye.
Later that night I finally got some lightning, something I've been waiting for since the incredible missed lightning opportunity back in '05. I also semi-accomplished one of my goals; lightning with the moon. Of course this isn't exactly what I wanted. I want the moon above the anvil with a positive stroke. I think I have better odds of winning the lotto.
VERY electric. IT was constant for a good hour. I actually quit fishing to get this. Too bad it couldn't give me a cg. That would have been nice.
Backed out to wide open (17mm).
I gave up on it for a while since the moon was covered back up anyway. I eventually brought it back out after the storm had moved enough for the moon to come completely out. This was the western side of the anvil. It was actually a very weak storm but it sure provided quite a light show. I had to shoot at ISO 1600 for these too, which I hate.
Hopefully in years to come it'll give me a better opportunity.
Josh and I were fishing out at "Suzy's Rock" one afternoon when I saw a huge bird approaching me. I didn't think anything of it since there are a million turkey vultures and hawks up there, but as it neared, I could see this guy's big white head. This is one of very few eagles I have seen in my years up there. But as the week went on, I ended up seeing quite a few. I wonder if the cooler temps had them hanging around a bit longer.
Greedy seagull. These things would eat all day long if they had the chance. I'm not sure where all that food goes.
Dad trolling for northern. For some reason I REALLY liked this shot. It has a certain appeal to it.
Another early morning with Earth's Shadow still visible on the horizon, though a bit over exposed. It was tough to expose both boats and sky correctly without stacking the photos (which I still have yet to try).
Smallmouth! Meghan's first ever. I think she had a great time. This is actually one of my favorite pictures of her. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with her!
Nephew Caden and his proud catch. Yep, crappie.....crappie that decided to really frustrate me this year. I normally catch literally hundreds of them. This year......ZERO. Literally zero. Meghan even caught one on a worm. Unbelievable. Oh well. I can't nail them every year. I think the temps had something to do with fishing too. It wasn't too great anywhere all week long.
The future Mrs. Ludin with a VERY nice pike! She's the perfect woman. (note her BEDAZZLED tackle box in the lower left hand corner)
Sunrise on Becker Lake while Josh and I were trolling for northern. Define perfect.
Zoomed in to try and get that boat with the steam in there.
Pigs.
I don't know HOW he did it, but he eventually swallowed that thing whole. Unbelievable. That fish was 1/3 the size of that bird's body length. That's Houdini stuff right there.
Painted turtle! I can't BELIEVE I actually got a net on him. Usually they jump off their logs and swim away before you can even think about grabbing the net. For some reason he stayed on until the pontoon was close enough to actually bump the log. I grabbed the net, he jumped off, and I scooped him up. Caden was absolutley ecstatic. That's Josh holding him. We fed him a dead minnow just before taking this.
Sunset over Becker, heading back in. One week is NOT long enough.
Now here comes Petey. Poor fella. I would like to know how he ripped his bill, but it was heartbreaking to watch. He was scooping up dead fish as we sat out there watching him, but he just couldn't get him down his throat.
Good shot of what I was talking about. We felt so bad for him, enough to ask about calling the DNR. Unfortunately, the American White Pelican is not on the endangered species list so there is nothing that could have been done about it. He definitely wasn't afraid of people anymore. I guess I would learn not to be too if I was him.
Every fish would just fall straight through his bill. He would eventually swallow every one we saw him try for, but it took him quite a while. One speculation was he tried to swallow a catfish and the fish's stingers on the side of its head tore it open as he tried to swallow it. Other than that, who knows. I couldn't see someone trying to hook him or something on purpose. If that is the case, that person should be locked up for life.
Poor guy. Hopefully we can see him when we go back again. I'm not sure if we'll make it next year since our wedding is on September 18th. Things will be quite crazy around that time and I'm not sure if finacnes will allow. I do know that if we AREN'T able to go, it is going to be the hardest thing to overcome. So we may not be back till 2011, and that really sucks. But, getting married to the love of my life is a pretty good trade-off I'd say.