The End of the Road

I've just completed my 3rd week up here  I'm getting used to working in the clinic pharmacy, and  I started in the hospital pharmacy last week for two days. I'm getting to know the other pharmacist I work with in the clinic pharmacy and she is good to work with.

At one time there was an iron ore mine in Ely and most of the homes were miners homes. The town is now known as the "entryway" into the wilderness. And they call Ely "the end of the road" because once you are here, you need to turn around to leave because the wilderness is all beyond it. It's the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It is the boundary between US and Canada. The boundary is filled with  hundreds of lakes. People come up here and take canoe trips from one lake to the next and camp overnight. Mike and I have been coming up here and taking canoe trips for many years. In the lakes you can't have any motors on your boat; you can only have canoes that you paddle. The lakes are connected by streams or by land that you have to walk over and carry everything from one lake to the next. Many of the businesses in town are called "outfitters". They "outfit" people with all the equipment and gear that one needs to go on a canoe trip.

The town is not very big. There is forest all around it. What I like most is the pine trees up here. There are so many pines. In some areas up here, their height draws your eyes upwards towards the sky. I've heard it called a cathedral of pines: that it is.

At this time of year the snow stays on the pines, making it a winter wonderland.

In the lakes there are big granite rocks, left by the glaciers after the ice age. Some are as big as houses. On some lakes it is difficult to get your canoe landed because it is so rocky. 

The town has 2 grocery stores, many restaurants, (however most close up for the winter months). There's a hardware store, post office, police station and a city hall.  There are many different churches here. One grade school, one high school and a community college.

There's so many different people up here and some have moved up here from other cities. In the clinic-hospital I've met a couple (a nurse and lab tech) that moved up from Chicago, one of the pharmacy tech's is from New Hampshire. There's a lot of artists up here. This weekend is the Ely ArtWalk. The Ely businesses remove their own window displays and exhibit artists work. I went yesterday. It was a beautiful 30 degree day to walk around town and see the art. There are people here who cross country ski: I met members of  the Nordic ski club yesterday. They take care of two ski trails. There's people who race dog sleds. And there's fishermen, and dog mushers that take them on trips into the boundary waters. There's a couple scientists stationed up here evaluating the area for future mining, there's biologists studying the bears. The list goes on.

Today I'm going to walk over to the city park to see the finished snow sculptures. Yesterday teams were carving them. Lots of sculpting tools were all around. They take it very seriously and the pieces were amazing. The sculptors start out with 8 foot cubes of compressed snow.

The days are getting longer and the falling snow is still beautiful. I'm getting spoiled living in an apartment where I don't have to shovel.

Week 3

 I am managing to stay warm. I don't check the temp like I used to because I don't dress any differently whether it's 15 degrees or -22! and it's not cold/doesn't feel cold unless there's a wind. I did notice it was still light out after 5pm today! Just having the days longer is great!

Mike came up last weekend and got here early; about 3pm and the snow started about 4pm and snowed all night. He stayed until Sunday at about 1pm.  I sure do miss him. It's pretty special to only see him when we're both not working! It's been years since it's been like that; feels like dating again; I can't believe it! I've heard when you have kids to make sure and have "dates" with your spouse. Mike and I always thought it was hard to find the time to do.

Last week I went to the community college for a presentation of a Mixed Blood Theatre (from Mpls) show, open to the public, that my landlord and his girlfriend invited me to go with; it was good to get out. My landlord is originally from Chicago, built his own cabin and lived in it up here for 15 years, then went to Hawaii for 10 years and just got back this year. There seems to be a lot of people with a varied background like him up here.
 
Yesterday at work I couldn't believe it was my third week! Tomorrow I start in the hospital pharmacy.
Next weekend Mike won't be up, but I'm looking forward to the start of the Ely Winter Festival. There are the 8 foot cubes of snow all over town for the snow sculpture competition. I heard they get teams from as far as Mexico. And next Sat there's the Ely Artwalk around town with exhibits of art by artists from the Ely area in almost every business around town so I am looking forward to that.

Mike brings our dog, Bailey, up too, and it sure is hard to not have him around all the time. And funny that since I've been gone he clings to Mike now.

The stars are out tonight. A goodnight to all from Ely.