Friday, July 24, 2009

Blueberry Art Festival Ely MN

Friday July 24th 2009 Big Balsam Camp and Resort 

Click on any picture to enlarge.

Only 10 more days and I get the cast off my arm.  Mike has been doing dishes, but today I found if I put a one gallon zip lock bag over the arm and tighten with a rubber band I keep everything dry.  I will leave the rest of the cleaning to Mike, I don’t want to tear any of the stitches out by lifting or moving things around.

The one that didn’t get away.  Last night Mike went fishing for the first time since we returned.  He caught a 34 inch northern, and this time he had his camera with. He has pictures for proof.  A northern between 24 and 36 inches has to be released in Big Balsam Lake.  I would believe him even without pictures, maybe.

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Highway 169 going to Ely. This was a first for us, never saw a do it yourself pet wash facility.  

Today we went to Ely for the 29th annual Blueberry Art Festival.  Years ago when we did art shows Ely was one that we participated in.  We saw many old friends that are still doing the show circuit, sure was nice visiting with everyone.

Ely is a little more then 100 miles northeast of where we are staying.  It is the entry point for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and is home of the International Wolf Center, and the North America Bear Center.  Dog sledding is also popular in the winter.  The cities main street is lined with canoe outfitter, outdoor clothing stores, and restaurants.  A very busy little town. 

 

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I love the architecture in the small towns in northern MN.  Do you believe this building is going to be condos soon.  What a waste of a beautiful structure.  

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Downtown Ely

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Getting close to the Art festival, they have over 300 artists participating this year. 

The Festival is held in a beautiful park.  Lots of food vendors also participate.  You can buy all kinds of food products with blueberries in it, including beer brewed with blueberries.

In the winter it can get as cold as –40 in Ely.  It does warm up a little in the summer, but I don't think it ever gets really hot.  We did see a few people with winter jackets on. 

Another town we stopped in today was Chisholm, a mining town on the Misabi Iron Ore Range. 

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Downtown Chisholm.

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Public Library                             City Hall

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Former Major League baseball player Dr. Archibald “Moonlight” Graham played by Burt Lancaster in the movie Field of Dreams lived in Chisholm. 

Dr. Archibald  "Moonlight" Graham

It sure was a busy day, but lots of fun. 

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Tonight's sunset picture.

3 comments:

Idaho said...

Hello Sandy & Mike.

Idaho said...

Mike-Hi,
Sandy's doing pretty well.
Sometimes screeching cuz her arm hurts her, but usually OK.
Her and Gary talk too much before I go to work. It's a good thing I'm sleeping most of the time.

George said...

Great Blog..:)

I saw that picture about that old building that was suppose to be a condo someday.That's the old hospital,and looks no different now,than a decade ago it seems.

I have not checked it out lately,but I think whoever had the dream of making it a condo...backed out of the project.I could be wrong though.


That place needs an awful lot of work,and the way the economy is up here I'd say a risky adventure.

It sure is a cool looking building though,and rumor has it haunted too.