It was...

a very nice day.  Really.

I spent much of the day in Superior, the nearest big city.  I didn't go for the metro feel of the town, but I was heading for a gun show.  Really.  It was an experience, one that I probably could have lived without.  It is a bit odd to be in a room where you are the only person who voted for Obama.  I didn't mind the guns, but the rhetoric was hard to take.  I heard more comments and conversations about the Affordable Care Act than I expected  I would and I didn't hear or see one favorable comment or bumper sticker.  I am still processing it all, but generally I would rate it as a negative experience.

The town itself was kind of fun.  It was the weekend of the East End Family Festival and since I was driving through it, I had to stop.  It was a mostly a big garage sale but there were the required mini donuts, so in mind it was a darn good festival.  The East End of Superior is not the subdivision filled with McMansions but rather it is decidedly blue collar.  It really has more of a mill town feel, so that is kind of fun.  I even found a camera!

The best find of the day was a radio station out or Cloquet.  It was an independent public radio station and it was a blast.  It really was fun, and it was so unpredictable as to what would play next.  From Abba to Bach to Cold Play to Dillon to Electric Light Orchestra to Fleetwood Mac to well, you get the idea.  And yes, there was a "G" band.  They played a Guster cut.

I found the sunflowers just outside of Iron River.  While I was taking photos, I met the owner who shed his previous life to raise hops to sell to small micro-and nano-brewers.  That is kind of brave, thought I. I told him about growing potatoes and he mentioned that the local mead maker is expanding into spirits--maybe he will start making potato based vodka.  The water photos are from the mouth of the Brule where it enters the big lake.  It is a Zen-like spot.  I even saw a fish.  No bears, but I did see a bunny.