The North Shore -- June 11, 2010

The North Shore

When Dale Christensen heard that I was going to be in northern Wisconsin for the first few weeks of my sabbatical, he suggested that I might enjoy Split Rock State Park and Gooseberry Falls State Park on the North Shore, which is an hour north of Duluth, Minnesota on Lake Superior. So, I went and he was right: spectacular! (check out the photos.)

The main feature of Split Rock State Park is a beautiful old lighthouse, which for approximately 50 years helped ships navigate the dangerous waters of Lake Superior. Talk about a metaphor: a beacon in the night, a light shining in the darkness, dangerous waters. And if you add the fog horn, you have a voice calling out in the wilderness!

Gooseberry Falls was gorgeous. Later, I stopped for pie at the famous Betty’s Pies near Twin Harbor: pecan pie with a cup of great coffee.

And then there was the drive. Do you remember a little over a year ago, when I bought my car? What did you think of that? Silly? Self-indulgent? Preposterous? Don’t worry that’s what I was thinking too. “There goes Bill Bernau, a walking, talking (driving) cliché.”

Fine… I can take it. When I bought that car, I could imagine the perfect drive. Thursday I took the perfect drive. There is a scenic highway along Lake Superior from Duluth to Split Rock State Park: perfect, absolutely perfect.

So today I am thankful and happy. I’m thankful to God for creating such a beautiful world. And I’m thankful for Dale Christensen’s pointing me to one little corner of that world.

And now I’m off to St. Paul to see the Dead Sea Scrolls and some old friends.

By the way, I’ve been reading too…

I’ve caught up on some professional magazines: The Lutheran, Working Preacher, People, Christianity Today.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. Brilliant! It’s been a classic since before I was born, so why did it take me 45 years to pick it up? The book opens like a silly dream, in which nothing really makes sense and in that way it feels like a celebration of the absurd. It closes like a nightmare. Heller is not only lampooning the military bureaucracies which are a constant character in the book, but also war, capitalism, democracies and religion. There are three or four scenes in the book about God and Christ and prayer and religion that were priceless for me.

Brief Encounters with Che Guevara by Ben Fountain. Honestly this book just isn’t doing much for me and now halfway through it, I have to decide whether or not to continue.

Self-made Man by Norah Vincent. This is a really fun and fascinating book. In a nutshell the author effectively disguises herself as a man and then tries to experience the world from a man’s perspective enabling her to consider how a “man’s world” differs from a “woman’s world.” If you’re interested in the differences between men and women, this is a book worth checking out.