Lights, Memories, and Bears, Oh My

The past two days felt more like a very long weekend with all the activities going on between here, Up North and back again.

First of all, even though I left by 8:30 a.m. Friday, it was a long haul going up to Grantsburg. For you future travels, it's almost all one lane going north on I-94 from Osseo to Bloomer (via Hwy 53). In the picture above we were pretty much at a standstill the last few miles on I-94 before I could exit onto 53. 

Guess Friday is a travel day even if it's not summer. Of course, those weren't my only delays.

Saw at least 5 deer – hey, they even cross roads in daylight! And, for the first time in my life, a black bear crossed the road in front of me. I was so startled that between slamming on my brakes and trying to grab my phone for a picture, I only caught this...

His quick scamper into the woods. Unreal! I mean most of my siblings who live in the Northwoods have seen a black bear – even Carter did vacationing up there as a child – but not me. Wow.

The only other delay was one of my own choosing – stopping to visit Dad. Unfortunately, the only flowers nearby were dandelions. 

Still, it was nice to visit with him and see my childhood church! 

I also stopped to see Mom at the nursing home before going to her apartment so I could give her her Mother's Day gift and visit a bit one on one. She's been having good days and not-so-good days. But she wants to get better and get her strength back!

The main purpose of my visit was to help go through her apartment with my siblings and decide what we wanted, what others might want, and what we could donate as we clean out her place by the end of the month. Friday afternoon was spent with a handful of my sisters as we cleaned out things and organized them into piles we could all look at today to see what we wanted to keep for ourselves.

Four of us had dinner at T-Dawg's in Grantsburg and Renell, who I was staying with, had some work training. 

I was enjoying the pretty sunset view from her apartment and considered it a good day. 

But it wasn't long after she got home that Jim texted me a picture of the Northern Lights from the Rapids area. My mind has been in so many places this week that I didn't realize this was a big thing that pretty much everyone in the contiguous United States could see.

So we got in the car and headed north of town to Phantom Lake in the Crex Meadows area. And dozens of other cars full of people had the same idea.

It was really strange. To the naked eye, we couldn't really see the colors, just some wisps of "clouds" in the sky. But then when we took pictures with our phones, we could see the brilliant colors everyone else was capturing. Pretty amazing.

And pretty cool seeing them by a lake where we could capture the color reflecting on the water. First time since childhood I've really got to see them. It was awesome!

This morning, the 7 of us (with Rachel there in spirit) were sorting through things at 10 a.m.

I wasn't expecting that Mom had all our baby shoes ready for us to take home. Yes, I guess my tiny shoes are antiques.

And yes, Mom wanted evidence that we were all alive and not fighting each other over anything. We survived it fine and really didn't had any reason for fisticuffs. 

By mid-afternoon, after I had two boxes of stuff "I don't need" but took anyway, I stopped by to see Mom one more time and hit the road.

I took a different route back. But turns out Highway 53 from Spooner to Rice Lake was just one lane so that wasn't a quicker route home. And, if you can believe it, I saw another black bear cross the road in front of me between Neillsville and Pittsville. It was far enough down the road, I didn't have to slam on my brakes but too far for me to get a picture. Just unreal to experience 2 bear crossings in 2 days.

And tonight, I could experience the special lights 2 out of 2 days. At least some of my unexpected surprises were good. And the others, thank goodness, didn't cause any damage to my car! 

Thanks, God, for the beauty and the safety!