Battle of Lake Erie

9/27/2005 -- Huron Ohio
Yesterday afternoon we all took a boat over to South Bass Island, site of Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial National Monument. This Monument commemorates a decisive naval victory in Lake Erie during the War of 1812 in which Commodore Perry defeated the British Navy. (Its a good thing for the Americans that Horatio wasn't in command of the British vessels.) From the top of the very tall monument building visitors can look over the small arcipeligo and see where the battle took place.

The Monument also had a small theater where we were able to see a film about the Battle of Lake Erie. I found a couple of books describing the battle and the ships involved to bring home.

After the visit to the National Monument we got a guided tour of the Ohio SeaGrant's Stone Laboratory on Gibralter Island.

Sheldon Marsh

9/27/2005 -- Huron Ohio
Clint and I got up early enough to join a very small group of meeting participants on the 7:00 nature hike to Sheldon Marsh, an Ohio state Nature Preserve next to the conference center. We hiked out to the beach, just missing the sunrise over Lake Erie.

The temperature was nice but the humidity must have been in the 90% range. Still it was a nice walk. Lots of waterfowl and other birds moving around. I'm regretting my decision to leave my binoculars at home.

Old Woman Creek

9/26/2005 -- Huron Ohio

Finding Old Woman Creek NERR was pretty easy. It's not far from the hotel. The 1 mile loop trail and estuary overlook was a nice change from sitting. There are some neat old oaks, black walnut and hickory as well as prolific hawthorns.

We saw chickadees, blue jays, great blue herons, and great egrets too. The photo shows a large stand of water lotus in the middle left and the exotic phragmites or common reed in the background.

Clint tried to take a piture of an egret through the binoculars on the observation deck. They didn't work too well as a telephoto lens.

Traveling thru Minneapolis

9/26/2005 -- Huron Ohio
We ended up with a bit of a re-route this morning. Instead of flying to Detroit we got hit with a flight delay and a re-route through Minneapolis. The picture is of downtown Minneapolis through the airplane window. You can see the Humphry Dome and the Mississippi River.

We left Duluth at about 7:00 a.m rather than 6:20 a.m. Getting into Cleveland about 11:00 Duluth-time. We checked in to the hotel, then ran around finding just about every closed restraunt in Huron. We finnaly ended up a Burger King. :-(

Destination: Lake Erie

9/23/05 -- Two Harbors, MN
Next week takes me, Clint, and Karla off to Cleveland and then Old Woman Creek National Estuarine research Reserve for the Great Lakes regional meeting of coastal programs. We'll be staying at Sawmill Creek in Huron Ohio on the south shore of Lake Erie.

Dipping a toe

9/23/05 -- Two Harbors, MN
Here is my first exploratory toe-dipping into the world of blogs. It seems a bit narcacissitic, but hopefully, it will be more useful than not. We'll see.

My interest in doing this largly stems from my work as Program Manager for Minnesota's Lake Superior Coastal Program. Most of the posts here will likely relate to that. However, coastal issues seem to be more and more in the news so maybe I'll range farther afield as issues warrant.

The Coastal Program is currently seeking proposals for projects to receive grant funding. Check out the Coastal Program web site for application materials.