Walking The Trails

Dear Knittah,

Noricum's family maintains a network of trails near the cabin. I thought you might enjoy some of the sights.

Near the cabin there's an abandoned gravel pit. The city of Flin Flon used to dig gravel there in the winter time... the gravel could only be dug in the winter because they had to drive across the ice to get to the gravel pit. Recently a family of foxes has been living in the gravel pit. On our walk, we went to check out the various dens:

However, it looks like they haven't been used for some time. Perhaps they were used earlier in the spring and summer, and the family moved out when the kits were older?

Here's a view of the gravel pit from the top, looking down:

You can tell from the size of the trees just how long it's been since the city dug there. (Also, remember that this is northern Manitoba... we counted rings in a tree that was cut down... it's only 4" in diameter, but there were over 100 rings!)

This is the view from the top of "Lookout Mountain":

It's not actually a mountain, but it is the highest point near the cabin, and it has a nice view. If you look closely, you can see one downside of the location of the cabin: Flin Flon is a mining town, and has a smelter operation. When the wind is from the wrong direction, we get to breathe the smelter smoke. Yuck!

This tree at the top of Lookout Mountain is the climbing tree:

Noricum's grandfather carved some of the branches to make it easy to climb higher for a better view. However, the tree is quite old, and the carved branches are now quite brittle. No one climbs it any more.

One of the good things about the location of the cabin is the wild blueberries!

Sadly, our trip was *after* blueberry season. *sigh*

More to come!

Love,
Swatchy

The Cabin

Dear Knittah,

This is Noricum's family's cabin:

When Noricum's grandfather bought the cabin, all that was there was the stone foundation and an outhouse. The rest of the cabin was built and added-on to by him and the family.

One recent addition is what Noricum's mother christened the "$1000 Per Night Suite"... because at a resort, that's the kind of money you'd have to pay for it! It's a screened in porch... and when the weather is warm enough, it's the *ideal* sleeping spot! There's a breeze, you can hear the waves lapping and the loons... heavenly!

Anyway, the $1000/night suite is the addition on the right of the cabin in the photo. Here's the view over the bay from it:

Noricum often came out here to escape from the ticking clocks. (Her and her family have a difference of opinion about clocks at the lake... especially the ticking kind!) This was her favourite knitting/reading spot:

(The view from that spot is what's shown in the previous photo.) On colder days (we had a bit of a cold snap when we were up there) she'd sit here with a fire in the stove:


On warm, sunny days, these chairs on the deck were even better:

(This pair is newer than the chair Noricum painted... they're more curvy, and thus more comfortable to sit in.) This is the view from the deck:


Here's the dock where we keep the boats:

When Noricum's uncle installed running water, Noricum was sad that the pump was gone. So her uncle added a fish-cleaning station on the dock, with the pump to wash it down:


This is the swimming dock:

It's nice to have for jumping off of (but too shallow for diving), leaving towels on, and sunbathing. Mmmmm! What a great way to warm up after swimming! (This trip was really too cold for swimming, but Noricum went in for a few minutes anyway... brrrr! the air was 15 C!)

Here's another "view" of the cabin, this time from the swimming dock:

If you look closely at the little beach, you can see some purple sand:

There's a bunch of rocks with garnets (not very good ones) that get ground down... and since they're lighter than the other sand, they settle on top after a storm. Isn't it pretty? I wonder how many places have purple sand?

Now, although you might be looking at the beach and saying that it's not much of a beach... but it's actually really nice for the area. There are very few cabins on the lake with a beach, and most of them had to truck in their sand. The one here is natural... although Noricum's family did dig the shore back a bit, and moved lots of rocks. In fact, the cabin's foundation stones are probably originally from the beach!

Look at how clear the water is!


There are a bunch of flowers planted around the cabin. Noricum's aunt likes gardening and making the place look pretty. She planted all of them.


One time when Noricum's uncle from BC was visiting, he made a horse swing from a tire:


Quite a number of years ago... back when Noricum was in grade school, her and her family built a new outhouse. This is the wall that Noricum painted:

They still have the old one too, but it's getting quite decrepit. There wasn't any point in tearing it down, and people can use it if there's more than one person that needs to "go" at a time. However, Noricum doesn't like how the floor is rather... um... "spongey"... she's worried about falling through! (It is older than her mother, after all!) The new outhouse also has the feature of a screen door to keep the mosquitoes out, while still having a view. Yes... with no neighbours, you don't need doors for privacy! (Some visitors get a bit nervous, though.)

One more photo for this post... here's the back of the cabin:

The addition on the back is called the "summer kitchen". It has the propane fridge and stove, plus a shower. The fridge was moved out there to reduce the chances of carbon monoxide poisoning. (Thankfully we've never had that problem, but it's better to be safe than sorry.)

More posts later!

Love,
Swatchy

Going To The Lake

Dear Knittah,

Noricum and I had a *wonderful* time at her family's cabin! There was no internet access (there was barely cell phone service) so we couldn't blog while we were there. I'll try to catch up now.

Noricum lives in Winnipeg, and her family's cabin is near Flin Flon.

According to google maps, Flin Flon is "766 km – about 9 hours 29 mins" from Winnipeg. Noricum says it's more like 8 hours of driving, 9 if you stop for lunch.



See that long stretch between the two lakes? It's something like four hours long, with only one place to stop: Devil's lake. Devil's lake used to only have an outhouse and some picnic tables. Now it has a hamburger stop and a pay phone too. Upscale! Since it's near the halfway point between Winnipeg and Flin Flon, that's where Noricum always stops for lunch on the way up. We packed our own lunch, though.

Here's me at the exciting destination of Devil's Lake:




In the background of that last photo you can see Noricum's parent's car and that of their friends.

The next stop is several hours later, at Easterville. It's on a reservation, and there's a gas station by the highway:

We didn't need gas, but we used the washrooms. (And bought some chocolate bars... Noricum's mom likes to financially reward places for letting us use the washrooms. If we don't buy gas, we buy chocolate. Noricum has absolutely no objection to buying chocolate!)

We stopped in The Pas too, for gas and food for the first few days. Noricum forgot to get the camera out... but there wasn't anything worth taking a photo of either. Just your standard grocery store & gas station.

Well, that was basically the excitement of the drive up. Noricum didn't do any of the driving... she spent most of it reading or napping. I did likewise.

Oh... I forgot! How could I forget? You can't actually *drive* to Noricum's Family's cabin! We drove to a spot on the lake where they dock their boat, then take the boat from there. Noricum didn't take any photos because she was busy helping unload the car and load the boat.

Next post: at the cabin!

Love,
Swatchy