Vision is seeing what others miss.
Sep 14
in travel 0 comments

Mercutio – Flying Out

We awoke this morning at 7:30. There was still some packing of odds and ends to do. We needed to clean the cabin to get it ready to close up for the season. The freezers and refrigerators needed to be emptied. A lot of final preps before the float planes arrived at 9:30.

We all pretty much skipped breakfast in favor of knocking out the last bits of work. Thanks to Gary the coffee kept us going. Everything came together nicely, though, and our gear was on the dock and ready to go when the planes arrived right on time.

The gang ready to board the first float plane on our way out.

Edward, Jerry and I took the first plane back. It was another beautiful day for flying. Jim picked us up and did a great job. It’s easy to see why they call Minnesota the land of 10,000 lakes.

Aerial view from the DeHavilland Beaver while returning to sea base.
An aerial view of a log from seen from the DeHavilland Beaver.
Aerial view on the return trip from the cabin to the sea base in Atitokan, Ontario.
Aerial view on the return trip from the cabin to the sea base in Atatokan, Ontario.
Flying into the sea base in the DeHavilland Beaver.
Shadow of the DeHavilland Beaver as it skims the surface of the lake before landing.

So, I won’t go into details, but I’ll post it for the guys.

The last beer of the trip. Only the famed PBR survived the great beertastrophe of 2023.

Now here’s where things skipped a beat. Somehow, our ride had us down for returning the next day. Rather than being there at 10am to take us back to the US, they were nowhere to be found. Keep in mind that we’re two hours from where we need to be. Jeremy got on the phone and made some calls including one to Canoe Canada. We were going to have some time to kill so we might as well do it in town. Once Joey and Gary arrived, we brought them up to speed and waited for our interim ride.

We lucked out and one of the cab drivers was off but went into the office to drop off paperwork. He heard that we were stuck and didn’t hesitate to jump in the van and hit the road. While we waited, we had a nice lunch at the Backstreet Bistro in Atikokan. Even though we hadn’t really been roughing it, I think we all enjoyed having a restaurant meal. After filling our bellies we walked back to Canoe Canada and waited.

Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten his name, but our driver was great. He had a pretty interesting round of stories and kept us entertained for the ride back. The weather was pretty nasty and rainy. We cleared customs and he dropped us off at the Cobblestone Hotel. If you ever find yourself in International Falls, you should stop in. After a short break and a trip to the hotel bar, we headed over to the Chocolate Moose for dinner.

The beds were very comfortable at the Cobblestone, and I think the week finally caught up to me. I was out pretty quickly.

With a lot of time to kill after returning to Atikokan, we took a break for lunch at the Backstreet Bistro.
Edward and Jerry walking back to Canoe Canada after lunch at the bistro.
Interesting flower pot at the farmer’s market in Atikokan, Ontario.
The Cobblestone is a very new, very nice hotel in International Falls. It’s less than 5 minutes from the airport and a recommended stay. The breakfast is good and the bar is nice.
The Chocolate Moose restaurant sign in International Falls, MN.
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