Today was a sightseeing day for us – while Dave suggested another bike ride, that was not in the cards for the OWGs.  After breakfast Dave drove us up the northwestern shore of Lake Superior. First stop was Hawk Ridge, which provided spectacular panoramas of the lake and sky.

The next stop was Gooseberry Falls State Park, where we hiked a ways and took pictures of the falls.  Dave recounted drowning victim recovery stories here and elsewhere in Minnesota which were fascinating.

After lunch and we proceeded to the most photographed lighthouse in the Minnesota (according to the signs) – Split Rock Lighthouse.  This lighthouse is no longer manned, but you can climb the stairs to the top (not too many stairs, as it is perched on the top of a cliff already.)   You can also tour one of three houses where the lighthouse keeper, and his two lieutenants and their family lived, with lots of stories about how things got easier when the built a road to the lighthouse, then later provided electricity.

For Scott the most amazing thing was the telephone.  Apparently, the lighthouse agency determined that the mail – picked up and delivered three times a week or so – was all the communication they needed.  The lighthouse keepers had to pay for the phone with their personal funds.

When we returned to the Phillips’ house, it was nap time for Scott and pressure washing time for Dave and Tom, who got both Khan and Polo sorta clean after all the grime we picked up in Nebraska and South Dakota.  Then we had a really great BBQ meal with the Phillips and Tom and Terri Crossmon – Tom having just returned from a training mission in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan.

After dinner, we took a group phot, but Spencer was in bed and Tom took the picture.

The OWGs took the opportunity to do laundry using the Phillips’ facilities, then one last night at the best camping resort in Saginaw, MN.