Page 59 - USA ROAD TRIP SUMMER of 2000

underarms. He looked very well groomed when finally chased

away by the gulls.

The only hike of the day was at Temperance River; named by some

wag that commemorated the fact that this river is the only one in
the area that enters into Lake Superior without a (sand) BAR at its

mouth. The hike was really a walk of less than a mile along the rim
of a magnificent gorge with a powerful river roaring through. The

rain of several hours had swollen the volume to a torrent. I’d love
to see the fury of this water at the spring melt!! It was a very

satisfactory way to spend midday.

We learned more about the geology of this part of Minnesota. The

land split apart from Lake Superior southwest to Kansas 1.1 billion
years ago. This long rift valley allowed molten lava to well up to

the surface, which it did intermittently for the next 20 million
years. Between the slow eruptions, there were shallow seas that

produced sedimentary deposits over the lava. When the glaciers
came, there was a layer of lava and sedimentary rock arranged like

a layer cake more than 20 kilometers deep. The glaciers scoured
the land over and over. When they finally retreated for the last

time (for now) about 11,000 years ago, the lava bedrock was left

behind with the lakes as their progeny. That explains the table
rock formations on the shore and the cliffs behind them.

We went to a “nice” restaurant for dinner. The sign said, “Please

wait to be seated”. We did and no one came. We decided it was
too warm in the dining room anyway and went outside to the

lakeside patio for dinner seating. Shortly thereafter, the manager
came out and embarrassedly asked if we had a reservation. We

admitted we did not and he hesitantly told us that there were

people ahead of us for seating. Lois muttered under her breath,

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