Dr. Bauzan Visit to Minnesota Highlighted in StarTribune

Dr. Nury Bauzan's visit to Minnesota features centrally in a new story in the StarTribune about the Minnesota-Uruguay Partnership.

More than 200 people turn out for Estol book events

We were delighted with the success of the June 15 (Saint Paul) and June 18 (Montevideo, MN) events that highlighted Federico Estol's new book, Hello Montevideo. Photos forthcoming!

The events brought together some 200 guests (longtime volunteers, new members, judges, lawyers, businesspeople, social workers, scholars, artists, students, farmers), and drew significant media attention, with stories running in the Star Tribune, West Central Tribune, and even an investment advisory blog based in Buenos Aires.

Special thanks to Moonstone Farm (Audrey Arner, board member) for donating spectacular cuts of grass fed beef to feed 100 people in Lagoon Park, and Duane Ninneman (board member) for the fresh healthy greens at the asado.

Bargain family travel: Free National Parks Day

Geysers and waterfalls often nab the attention at Yellowstone National Park, but quieter Lamar Valley has its own beauty.

See more than presidents at Mt. Rushmore.

Celebrate the start of summer
In honor of the longest day of the year, the National Parks Service is offering free admission on Tuesday, June 21. It not only kicks off the summer peak travel season, but gives you the longest annual stretch of sunlight to explore America's best trails, scenic drives and historic sites across the country.

It's a great travel bargain if you're visiting parks that normally charge $10-$25 for a seven-day pass. Granted, you'll need more than one day to see America's most majestic national treasures, such as Yellowstone National Park, but for those you who are revisiting familiar parks or those that are smaller, such as Mount Rushmore National Monument, this is a perfect incentive to hit the road.

We're choosing Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore near Traverse City, Michigan, this year, but can highly recommend Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, Colo.; Mount Rushmore, S.D.; Badlands National Park, S.D.; Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Medora, N.D.; and Yellowstone National Park.

Minnesota travelers take note: Admission wasn't charged at either Voyageurs National Park or Grand Portage National Monument last summer. Both are excellent for explaining the rich history of local tribes, fur traders and voyageurs.

Have a favorite national park? Leave a comment and share your tips.


--Photos by Lisa Meyers McClintick

Minnesota's Cuyuna Lakes mountain bike trails open

You'd never know this ultra-clear lake near Crosby was formerly a mine pit.

Former mines transform into a premiere playground

Jenny Smith heading through Boot Camp.

One of Minnesota's best-kept secrets, the Cuyuna Lakes State Recreation Area, won't be under the radar much longer. The buzz has been building for years among mountain biking fans. License plates from across the country already have showed up in the parking lot since some of the rugged new trails opened just before Memorial Day weekend.

They're spectacular--and that's just the Boot Camp section for beginners. My son and I did about eight miles on May 27 with guidance from Jenny Smith, owner of Crosby's Cycle Path and Paddle. It's a blast.

We love the exhilaration of swooping around corners, riding into dips and rattling down hills. Terrain goes from pines to birch and hardwoods, from sand and soil to the red dirt and jagged rocks from iron mining days.

For hard-core mountain bikers, who can rumble and launch across 250-foot slag piles, it's an adventurous 22-mile, tire-shredding nirvana.

From diving and kayaking to IMBA destination
The International Mountain Biking Association has been working with the Minnesota Department of Nature Resources for years to carve trails through the former iron mine property. It sounds gritty and industrial, but it's surprisingly gorgeous. The hills created by excavating ore rise up steep and wooded, while the 500-foot pits below them form 17 emerald-green lakes. It feels like a mini Boundary Waters Canoe Area, but much closer to the Twin Cities.

How clear is it? This is one of the most popular spots for Scuba diving in the state. Really. Check out the excursions and beginner classes through the Minnesota Dive School in Brainerd, which also does dive trips to Lake Superior.

It's also amazing for kayaking. On my first paddle here about three years ago, I have to admit the thought of a 500-foot drop below me was a little creepy. But then the surrounding beauty takes over, and it's pure fun.

You'll find a few anglers here, too, as the deep, extra-cold water supports trout. And if you need an ideal way to cool off after a sweaty good ride, there's nothing like a mine lake.


Celebrate the trails' grand opening

Keep an eye out for iron ore and interesting rocks.

The trails' official grand opening and the first Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Festival is June 10-12. Hans "No Way" Rey, a California-based German mountain biker who travels the world, will be part of the fun. He's doing an extreme skill demonstration in the Yawkey Expert Skills Area and an outdoor big screen movie of his global mountain biking adventures that have taken him to pyramids, jungles and the ancient Petra ruins.

There will be a Night Ride, Grand Tour, Kids Bike Parade, Kids Bike Race, Trek Time Trial, and the Kryptonight Crusher cross-country race.  Not surprisingly, Red Bull will be there, too, along with assorted bonfires, live music and beer and wine to make it an official party.

A few Cuyuna Trail tips:
Bike with a buddy. 
The terrain is rugged and remote. Local EMT crews have gone through special training to deal with trail emergencies, but that doesn't mean it's an easy task--especially if no one knows you're there.

Wear long pants or leggings. You'll protect your legs better and shield yourself from the poison ivy. One crash off the trail, and you may be swimming in it.

Take extra tire tubes. Some of the most extreme areas have the highest potential for tire-shredding terrain.

Start with an expert.
If you've never tried mountain biking, go with someone who can coach you through it. Jenny at Cycle Path & Paddle also may be adding some family mountain bike sessions or do some women-only sessions as the summer progresses.

My first time on a mountain was on North Dakota's Maah Daah Hey Trail. It took about half an hour for me to loosen the death grip I had on the brakes. Cuyuna's boot camp session isn't quite as challenging, but if you're brand-new, you need to feel comfortable enough to trust momentum, let it carry you down the hills and back up the next one.

Trust me. You don't have to be a Red-Bull-slammin' extremist to enjoy this exhilarating sport. It's a joy ride no matter what level you're at.

If you need pavement beneath your wheels, Cuyuna has a fine paved trail system, as well, and you'll get some of the same picturesque views of the mine lakes and forest--just not the whoops of triumph when zooming up and down mountain bike trails. Consider it a mostly silent sport.

For maps, details on the celebration, and info on rustic campsites, check for updates through the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

June 15 Reception in Saint Paul

Uruguay's Foreign Minister, Dr. Luis Almagro, and a delegation of officials coming from Uruguay to Minnesota next month have confirmed they will be attending our June 15 reception to celebrate the United States launch of Hello Montevideo, a new book of photographs by Uruguyan artist Federico Estol.

The reception will take place on Wednesday, June 15, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m., in the Founders Hall reception area of Metropolitan State University, at 700 East Seventh Street, Saint Paul, Minnesota. The artist's work will be on display and copies of his book will be available. Light food fare and wines from Uruguay will be served (voluntary donations appreciated).

Please see the program at right. RSVP to erikbrand10@gmail.com or 612-242-1863.

Thunder Bay, Canada, Family Road Trip

A disgruntled Fort William employee gets ready to start a fierce argument that will land him in jail.

Fort William delivers lively look at fur trade

An apprentice cowers from the fiery argument.

By Lisa Meyers McClintick
Written for Star Tribune Travel

The argument started like any would: insults building to a spittle-flying shouting match. A man waved his tankard of ale and told high-hat superiors just what he thought of their rules and questionable politics.

Apparently life wasn't easy during the 1815 fur trade.

The feisty ale imbiber was portraying a Fort William employee in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and as he carried on, modern gawkers drew close to the hubbub while a few costumed actors cowered by the blacksmith shop and behind the well.

Fort William's offices and one of about 40 historic buildings.

Like other lively history lessons throughout the fort, this fiery debate quickly sucked in our kids, ages 6 to 10. They snapped to attention when a smart-aleck 21st-century boy told officers "I know everything!" when questioned about a scandal. Constable Tate hauled him off like a sack of potatoes to a windowless slammer.

Our son laughed and begged to join him -- briefly.
It was one of many entertaining moments that made Thunder Bay the highlight of a summer road trip tracing the routes of Voyageurs from Grand Portage, Minn., to Thunder Bay, and from Canada's Quetico wilderness to Minnesota's Voyageurs National Park.

Visitors can learn historic dances from the early 1800s.

My husband, Bob, who kept falling behind to admire the craftsmanship of Fort William's 40 historically accurate buildings, said it felt on par with Virginia's Colonial Williamsburg.

Fortunately for Minnesotans, Fort William's hands-on, living history is easier on the wallet and much closer at just 40 miles beyond the border.

A hands-on look at the fur trade
It was that international border -- and ensuing U.S. taxes -- that led the Northwest Fur Company to build the grand Fort William in 1803 to take the place of the humbler Grand Portage trading post on the American side. Fort William actors generally portray the year 1815, by which time the fort was bustling.

We hadn't even reached the fort, with its imposing palisade fence, when our kids eagerly ducked into a tepee outside its walls. Elaine Foster-Sergeant, one of many "fort nerds" and a longtime volunteer, portrayed a Metis woman whose heritage blended Native American (or First Nations as it's called in Canada) with European, usually French. She invited them to crawl across fragrant, pine-cushioned bedding. She showed them the native way of life, from sleeping on curly-furred buffalo robes and drying food to gathering moss for makeshift diapers.

A life without Pampers boggled their modern minds, but before they could learn more, bagpipe music beckoned us to the fort's main entrance and a humble stretch of the Kaministiquia River. We arrived to see costumed dancers circling and promenading, keeping time with a lively fiddler, and visitors linking arms to give it a whirl.

Kylie holds an heirloom chicken.

A jolt of historic reality

We arrived too late for the fort's morning wedding ceremony, but enjoyed plenty of pomp as fort officials in coats and top hats and the colorful Metis residents sent off a departing officer. As he was paddled away, a cannon boomed a farewell. Smoke drifted across the water as dancers headed back to fort posts.

We followed them back to the fort, where the kids gingerly held heirloom chickens in the barn and grubbed around the garden, triumphantly yanking out a fresh carrot or two. When a fort crew pumped water from a vintage firefighting wagon, youngsters shrieked and darted away, only to taunt and beg for more.

We ducked in and out of buildings, enjoying the surprises within: a woodworker turning a bowl with a foot-pedaled lathe and a tinsmith crafting a lantern. Inside the bakery, with the heady aroma of wood smoke and baking bread, our kids eagerly grabbed rustic brooms, eager to trade a chore for a tasty sample.

The doctor's office and primitive apothecary.

We ended our fort visit with a fresh appreciation for the modern age after seeing the doctor's office with its lineup of mysterious medicinal powders and rustic surgical tools. Even gingerly testing a primitive electric shock machine didn't have the same jolt as seeing 16 ominous razor blades on a "mechanical leech." The kids squirmed as the doctor's wife explained how they were used with heated glass cups to bleed Fort William's sickest residents.

"I'm glad I don't live here," our son, Jonathan, exclaimed with sudden enthusiasm.

Breakfast at Hoito's.

Feasting Finnish-style

We began the next day gorging on Finnish pancakes. Thin and deliciously crispy, they spilled across the edge of plates at Hoito's. This local institution in the lower level of the historic Finlandia Club blends Ikea-like simplicity with church-basement hospitality and timelessness.

Our waitress patiently and easily rattled off explanations of viili (clabbered milk), kropsu (an oven pancake), mojakka (beef or fish stew), and salmon sandwiches. We opted for the giant pancakes with red sausages that carry a sweet hint of nutmeg or allspice. We got a little daring, and despite having no chance of pronouncing it, ordered lohiperunalaatiko, a tasty rice pudding nestled in a moccasin-shaped rye pastry crust.

As we feasted, our waitress chattered away in Finnish with diners at the next table. Thunder Bay, it turns out, claims the highest Finn population outside Finland.

You can't go wrong with breakfast in Thunder Bay. Besides the fame of Hoito's, the city is known for Persians (a strawberry-frosted pastry), as well as 30 doughnut shops mostly ruled by Tim Horton's and Robin's Doughnuts. Anyone who grew up with these chains tends to scoff at America's Krispy Kreme fanatics.

A few of our treasures from the amethyst mine.

Finding Canada's real gems
About 34 miles northeast of Thunder Bay lay the day's big attraction: Amethyst Mine Panorama. The elevation makes it a good vista point for spying Lake Superior in the distance, but it's also been a working mine since the 1960s. It's one of a few open mines that tap the vein of purples that formed in cracks of granite hills west of the Great Lakes. The Lukinuk family dynamites and drills out the best pieces to sell, including $30,000 amethyst boulders for millionaires craving something flashy for driveways and gardens.

We climbed a platform to gaze into the mine, where deep purple, lavender and white streaks ripple through brown rock. Then we joined other visitors at what looked like a gravel pile. We grabbed hoses to wash off rocks and look for flashes of purple.

"Look at this one! And this one!" we repeated, holding the best of the best up to the sun to show off the prettiest patterns and shades of purple.

We left with 15 pounds -- $45 worth of rocks -- a hefty souvenir from a gem of a day.

'Niagara of the North'

Our last stop in the Thunder Bay area -- a thundering 131-foot drop of the Kaministiquia River -- left us gasping. The impressive Kakabeka Falls curves and horseshoes, giving it the deserving moniker "Niagara of the North."

Interpretive signs were there to tell us more about the fur trade, but it was hard to pull our gaze from the sheer power of the falls. Like turning amethyst around in our hands, we savored views from every angle.

When we finally pulled ourselves away, it was with the satisfaction of discovering yet another Canadian treasure.

Dawson Creek campsite, Quetico Provincial Park, Canada.

Camping in Quetico

Read more about travel to Canada and Greg Breining's feature on paddling through Quetico in this Sunday's Star Tribune. If you want to an easier trip, Quetico does have a Dawson Creek campground for car campers. Go mid-week or reserve early for the best chance at a spot along the beautiful lake. And take good bug spray in case there's a fresh hatch.

Alina Gil press coverage

Patrick Moore writes that Alina Gil, a Teacher in Residence visiting Minnesota this month, is "one of the most pleasant people I have ever met."

That's no small praise coming from Patrick, someone who knows everyone!

The Tribune published a story on Alina this week.