Our trip to the Great North Woods, part 2

On to part 2 of my post about our week-long getaway up north!  So far we covered Friday and Saturday.  I had thought that today I'd share about Sunday and Monday, but the post is becoming long so we will just go with Sunday.

Sunday morning we ate breakfast at the cabin, then went to church and enjoyed some wonderful fellowship and encouragement from God's Word.  After stopping at a visitor center to get some maps and other information, we came back to the cabin and enjoyed a simple lunch before heading out again to do some exploring.

We had it in mind to visit Lake Francis State Park, with an eye to camping there sometime in the future.  (We would dearly love to get back into tent camping, but we will see!)

However, before going to the state park, we made a stop at Moose Alley Cones for some ice cream.  Although we have been coming to this area for 20 years, this was the first time it worked out for us to visit this ice cream place.  We were enticed by the description of the Muddy Moose (see below) and so we each ordered one. You could pick 2 flavors for ice cream, so I chose vanilla for one and a coffee cookies and cream for the other.  That's right -- coffee ice cream with Oreos in it.  I had never heard of that flavor, but it was delicious.

 

 In hindsight (always 20/20, right?) we should have ordered one to share!   I couldn't finish my brownie.

After finishing our ice cream we headed down to the state park.  It was a pretty afternoon and we wandered around and snapped a few pictures.

 I loved the ribbon-like reflection of colors in Lake Francis.  This is near the boat launch area.

 This is in the day use area where picnic tables, grills, etc. are located.

This mountain ash tree was also in the day use area.

We asked the park ranger about hiking trails in the area, just low-key ones, and he gave us a few ideas.  We decided to try the Lake Francis Trail, which is also a snowmobile trail.  It was quite lengthy -- it goes around the back side of the lake -- but he said we could turn around at any point.  Mr. T went first along the trail,  at my request,  to warn me of any upcoming hazards.  There were a few culverts and some had been damaged by snowmobiles so there were holes in them.  The other major hazard along this trail was various types of scat.  It seems that wildlife uses this trail as well.  Bears, for sure, and we couldn't identify the others positively, but we took to counting the piles.  I think we counted seven in the time we were on the trail.

 My hubby snapped this photo of an unusual tree.  It was so pretty in the woods that afternoon.

 I have never happened to see a plant with leaves that turned purple in fall.  This was so unusual that we had to get a picture.

We never did get to see the lake, but that was fine.  My hubby intended to take the kayak out again upon our return to the cabin, so he wanted to allow plenty of time and daylight for that.

 The scene above was directly across the lake from our cabin.  We kept trying (and failing) to get a photo that did this scene justice.  It would look perfect from the living room window, but when we actually got out there to take a picture, it didn't come out so well.

Love this tree leaning out over the water!

 We saw loons several times.

This flotilla of ducks was fun to watch also.

 That evening, we kept watching the sky as the sun gloriously set over Back Lake.

 The colors were truly amazing!  Only God, the Master Artist, could create colors like those we saw in the trees, water, and sky.

And that was Sunday!  We are so thankful for how God expanded our time on this trip.