The Wind River is a minor tributary of the Mississippi River in western Wisconsin in the United States. It flows for its entire 9.0-mile (14.5 km) length in western Pierce County. It rises in the town of Trimbelle and flows southward through the towns of Oak Grove and Diamond Bluff. Wind River joins the Mississippi near the unincorporated community of Diamond Bluff, which is within the larger jurisdiction (the town). ~wikipedia
I’ve driven past Wind River on Highway 35 thousands of times and never really gave it much thought. It’s rather small and not particularly picturesque from the the highway. You can bet a better look at in along 1005th Street. The view from the air provides an entirely different perspective. There are so many of these little pristine spring-fed streams and rivers feeding into the mighty Mississippi.
Horizon to Horizon PanoramaWind River Delta @ Mississippi RiverVertical PanoramaThe view from Wind River Valley facing South; beyond the main channel of the Mississippi River toward Sturgeon Lake and Treasure Island
Some additional view of sandbars in the backwaters of the area
A French settler, Monte Diamond, named the community after the area’s limestone bluffs. The unincorporated community of Diamond Bluff is located along highway 35, the Great River Road, on the mighty Mississippi River.
Looking West from Diamond Bluff. Treasure Island Casino and the Prairie Island Nuclear Plant is off in the the distance.
Looking East at Diamond Bluff
Mid-river views
Vertical panorama, up river with post sunset colors on the horizon
Base
2 cups Soy Sauce
2 cups Water
6 limes
1 cup BBQ Sauce (I use Sweet Baby Rays)
2 cups Brown Sugar
Optional
Jalapenos to taste and heat; I add 4 whole to this mix
Garlic to taste; I add 2 whole cloves, minced
Green Onions; I add 6 chopped, but was out of them this time.
3 whole sweet bell peppers
Base
2 cups Soy Sauce
2 cups Water
2 cups Apple Juice
1/2 cup Ginger Tea
1/2 cup Maple Syrup
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
Optional
Jalapenos to taste and heat; I add 4 whole to this mix
Garlic to taste; I add 2 whole cloves, minced
Green Onions; I add 6 chopped, but was out of them this time.
3 whole sweet bell peppers
Other
12 oz Whole Cranberry Sauce, happen to have it on hand; why not toss it in there
Marinade in blender
Add all base ingredients in the bowl. Add options ingredients to a food processor prior to adding to the bowl with the base ingredients. Too much volume to all fit in a standard size blender, but could blend in two batches.
Hunter’s Point Park is a special place to Copper Harbor residents as well as visitors to the area. Access to the point was in jeopardy a few of years ago when a development company purchased it along with the surrounding property. It is now a Township Park and continues to be open to the public.
Hunter’s Point is bursting with natural wonders. Flora is abundant; wildflowers, lichen, mosses, cedars, hardwoods and pines. Otters, martins, beavers, deer, squirrels, chipmunks and various other wildlife enjoy the area too. The geological formations are special on the point. The basalt in this area is the oldest rock on earth-essentially, the earths crust. It’s like a window to the past.
Add Hunter’s Point Park and other attractions to your Copper Harbor trip itinerary using our Copper Harbor route maker tool.
~www.inspirock.com
Hunters Point park is just under a 10 acre parcel of land with 4000+ feet of shoreline. It is a great spot to explore and stretch your legs. There are interesting rock formations to examine and lots of birds and other wildlife scurrying about.
The upper peninsula of Michigan is a splendor of color to behold in the Autumn season. It was also windy when we were there. I didn’t get to fly my drone as much as I would have liked, but did manage to get in the air a few time when the wind calmed down for a moment. Hunters Point was one of those calms spots…for a moment.
The Garden of the Gods’ red rock formations were created during a geological upheaval along a natural fault line millions of years ago. Archaeological evidence shows that prehistoric people visited Garden of the Gods about 1330 BC. At about 250 BC, Native American people camped in the park. They are believed to have been attracted to wildlife and plant life in the area and used overhangs created by the rocks for shelter. Many native peoples have reported a connection to Garden of the Gods, including Apache, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, Lakota, Pawnee, Shoshone, and Ute people.
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In 1879 Charles Elliott Perkins purchased 480 acres of land that included a portion of the present Garden of the Gods. Upon Perkins’ death, his family gave the land to the City of Colorado Springs in 1909, with the provision that it would be a free public park. Palmer had owned the Rock Ledge Ranch and upon his death it was donated to the city.
In 1995 the Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center was opened just outside the park. ~wikipedia
Our visit to Garden of the Gods in early September 2020 was a bit hazy. The smoke from the all of the wild fires were blowing South in the general vicinity of the National Natural Landmark. Even though the views were somewhat obscured, they were beautiful.
The park features 21 miles of hiking trails to explore. However; given the fires in the mountains, this recreation area was jammed full of people. We spent some time hiking around keeping our distance from other in the era of Covid. It was nice to be outdoors in the early hours of a warm Fall day. The view of the beautiful red rock formations, flora and fauna were a welcome change from being in our home office.
“You wind among rocks of every conceivable and inconceivable shape and size… all bright red, all motionless and silent, with a strange look of having been just stopped and held back in the very climax of some supernatural catastrophe.” ~Helen Hunt Jackson
I have been thinking about starting to smoke again; it’s been far too long without a proper smoker. I’ve made due smoke grilling ribs on a Weber kettle, but it just isn’t the same. I have made and bought all sorts of smokers over the years. The first few I made from old freezer units with a hotplate for heat/smoke sources. I experimented with charcoal and wood burning in an offset chamber as well. They all worked incrementally better as I gained more experience.
Bradley electric smoker
My last smoker though was a Bradley electric. It had a pretty slick wood biscuit feeder system. You could smoke for hours; eventually the discard pan would run over. I smoked a lot of homemade venison sausage and jerky in that unit. I didn’t care much for all the plastic in build though and eventually the plastic around the temp control broke.
After that mishap, it was just the Weber and smoke/grilling pork baby back ribs for a long while. Fast-forward ten or so years; It was time to get another smoker. I’ve done lots of research and have read posts from one end of the Interwebs to the other. There is quite a variety of smokers out there: bullet charcoal smokers, barrel and drum charcoal smokers, offset side firebox charcoal smokers, cabinet style charcoal smokers, Kamado, egg, and ceramic smoker/grills, propane gas smokers, pellet smoker/grills – the list goes on.
Electric Smoker
I had my eye on another electric smokers. This time I would look for something with a more quality metal build. Theelectricsmoker.com listed a total of three Masterbuilt smokers in their top 10 list, two of which were #1 and #2. I did a bit more research and liked what I
Wood chip port
saw. Reasonable price point and the build quality seem to be better than the other electric I had used. I especially liked the side port for adding wood chips. The one issue I read about with these smokers is that the digital control units were flaky at best – a lot of people commented on this. Sure there were likely thousands of people that had no issues, but that isn’t my luck. I would get a flaky one and I just don’t want to deal with that. I looked to the analog electric version, but that didn’t have the side port on it; I’d have to open the door to refill. I was thoroughly disappointed at this point and began to look at others makes/models of smokers.
Propane Smoker
Masterbuilt 340G open
I was set on an upright cabinet smoker. Given the reviews, I went back to Masterbuilt to take another look and started to look at their propane line. One of my homemade smokers had a propane burner in and it worked pretty well from what I recall. The Masterbuilt 340G40″ ThermoTemp XL smoker caught my eye. I immediately noticed that there was a separate firebox door
from the smoking cabinet. When you open the firebox door, the attached wood chip tray swings out
Masterbuilt 340G 40″ ThermoTemp XL Propane Smoker
for quick/easy filling. I really like the propane tank bracket on the right side as well. This was an easy choice for my next smoker. Sold. After approximately 2 hours of assembly time and a 3 hour seasoning Saturday evening I was readying to go for Sunday morning.
First Cook
I prepared a selection of chicken legs, rack of pork baby back ribs and small brisket. Chicken legs were rubbed with a creation of mine – little something I call Magic Sprinkle. It’s great on a hard boiled egg, steamed vegetables, avocados and it makes a nice rub for any sort of meat. It has six ingredients: white pepper, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder and dried cilantro leaves.
Mesquite smoked chicken
The baby back ribs rub is one I’ve created over the years; it shares some of the ingredients of Magic Sprinkle plus a few more. It consists of: onion powder, garlic powder, Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, paprika, dried cilantro leaves, cumin, white pepper, black pepper and Mrs. Dash original blend.
Mesquite smoked baby back ribs
The brisket was rubbed with Weber Steak ‘N Chop seasoning and black pepper.
Mesquite smoked brisket
Mesquite smoked brisket
Overall I am very pleased with the results. Looking forward to the next smoke event.
Red Wing Photography Club September meeting was at Covill Park in Red Wing, MN this evening. Perfect weather – mid 70s. Hazy skies no doubt from the massive amounts of forest fires out West.
I shot several series of frames from the Mavic Mini drone for panorama and HDR compositions as well as a few single frame images.
Single Frame Images
Towboat with barge downriverDog Poo Bag, an aerial perspective
HDR Images
The dynamic range on the Mavic Mini is not great; bracketing does the trick to make up for its shortcomings.
Covill BayCovill Bay | River Valley Marina
Panorama Images
Covill Bay | River Valley MarinaLooking out over barges towards Wisconsin
Towboat with barge downriver
Covill Park, River Valley Marina and Covill Bay Sunset
Off in the distance, a front was drifting by Red Wing Sunday evening as the sun was setting. The sun was still shinning brightly behind the clouds; shooting rays into the sky. [click on images to enlarge]
A bit later I shot two more panoramas to capture the full length of the cloud bank (21 frames each).
21 Frames (left)21 Frames (right)
I then combined them both together into a 42 frame panorama
