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| | Hiking | 4.00 Miles | 2 Hrs | | 2.00 mph |
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| no partners | | Had to take a break and get away from the yard work for a couple of days so we took a driving tour of Northern Minnesota visiting family and friends and get in a little hiking too.
We headed to Grand Rapids, MN and spent the day with Mike (minermike), Pat's brother, and his wife Joan. They have recently retired, sold their home and are now living in a 40 foot camping trailer parked on a scenic lake just North of Grand Rapids. This will be their summer home since they now will be wintering in Apache Junction 
We drove to another resort to visit with friends of ours that also winter next to us in Apache Junction and toured their summer digs. This has been a cool, wet start to the summer so mosquito's are at their worst and it's best to keep moving if you're outside.
The next morning I took a short hike along one of the trails outside Grand Rapids. The trail is blacktopped so it's used a lot by bikers, joggers and inline skaters through the summer and cross country skiers and snowmobilers through the winter.... making for a very busy trail. During my hike I saw an albino squirrel but it wouldn't let me get close enough for photos, just memories 
Unpaved trails in the area are a bright red due to all the iron in the soil which makes them stand out against the dense green of the surrounding forest. I decided against going off-trail as there was a lot of healthy poison ivy waiting for anyone foolish enough to accept the challenge  After only a couple of miles I was a quart low on blood from the mosquito's and deer fly's so I made my turn and hiked back to the sanctuary of the trusty Explorer at the parking lot (I'm still recovering from all the bites, two days later) 
On our drive home I stopped at a roadside memorial to the Viet Nam war with a Bell AH-1 Cobra gunship helicopter sitting on a pylon. This old aircraft brought back memories of the days when I worked at Honeywell's Aerospace Division where I worked with an advanced design team. One of our projects was called "Helmet Sight" and we designed the system where the pilot, wearing a special helmet, had full control of the 20 cal mini-gun in the nose. When activated, the canon would follow the pilot's head movements so all he had to do was "look" at a target and squeeze the trigger. The Helmet Sight system, from back in the late 60's, is still in use today in the dreaded Apache Gunship helicopters. Notice the tail markings of this ship with it's Arizona flag, in it's former life it was flown by Arizona Army National Guard 
Fun's over now, we're back home and back to yard work  |
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| On every trip into the Superstitions, I find another Gold Mine. Today the mine was filled with Memories. I can not wait for the next trip. |
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