15 june 2003 - a great weekend
but of course i forgot my camera. below is a copy of an email i sent out to some friends explaining why i've suddenly come to really appreciate being here.

_____________________________________________________

of course i immediately (really) fall in love with isle royale just hours after sending a fairly disenchanted email out to y'all the other night. the past 5 days have been the most 5 beautiful days weather wise - bright sun shimmering on the channel and lake; 75-80 degrees in the daytime; the sun not setting until 11:00 PM (yes, 11 pm); and full moon at night (feels like home) - and the 5 most beautiful nights moon-on-the-water wise. there's no longer this oscillating good day | bad day | good day going on since thursday; and that's good.

how come the about face? i don't know; something about sharing strong bad with everyone that night before we left mott and having everyone in stitches, followed by brandi making us elephant ears for a midnight snack, and the moon so bright on the water.

and friday i went on my first passage island walk with visitors; you've most likely seen the pictures and so you know how gorgeous it is. it's one of the most enchanting places i've ever been, and i'm actually getting excited about the prospect of leading a group of visitors on a walk tomorrow. i'm going to discuss the enchantment and childlike wonder the island instilled in its former tenants - namely anna hoge who's published her reflections on growing up as the lighthouse keeper's daughter on the island. full of stories of make-believe "wee people" hiding in the rocks; encounters with freighters from thunder bay; the idea of Passage Island as her family's own cathedral.

and i get to lead the walk twice this week; there's something restorative about getting out of the rut and routine of spending all day in the visitors center and then procrastinating on my presentation (a week from today and i'm the first of all interps presenting...) some more (no worries, i always do fine with last-minute prep anyway; for some reason, there's a climate against that in the interp world, but whatever...).

so as there were a grand total of three people coming into the visitors center from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm today, Scott just brought me to Mott to get working on my research. I'm even going to spend my days off (Wed & Thursday) here to have as much time as i need. And hopefully that way I can actually write personal emails and catch up with people's adventures at home, in Alaska and in Budapest... But being here also means, I'm staying at my boss' boss' house (Smitty's) - which is humongous, gorgeous (the dining room wall is entirely a glass pane looking out on the channel), and whatnot (and I'll have it all to myself since he and his wife are going back to Houghton this week). I think this will be a very very nice week ;).

Anyhow, two other integral events made a world of difference. Finally going to the America Dock - the historic dock for the cruiseliner that sank in 1928; all wooden, just like the porch at the beachhouse my family vacations at every year in Ocean Isle. And going there, looking out on the lake and how utterly pristine this island is, I think I found contentment truly for the first time in 3 1/2 weeks. And even more so, Valerie and I went paddling yesterday - my first time in months and months. We went down Tobin Harbor and back, about 4 miles or so, and the highlight of the trip was - besides meeting some mergansers, hearing the loon calls, and seeing three gaggles of mama and baby geese - watching a mother moose swim with her newborn calf from moose point island to isle royale. it was pure magic. ears flapping, dog paddling, all the like. valerie actually brought her camera, so whenever her photos get in, i'll post them up to the site.

anyhow, i'm going to try my hand at scanning some things in, so my site might have a few more things up. but i should get cranking on my research too... we'll see. but hope all is well your way.

take care, -Collin.

back