Nah! Everyone Up Nort' knows that the MN state bird is the mosquito! An' the WI state bird is the bitin' black deerfly!

But MN is the only state that pays a bounty for killing its mascot! The Golden Gopher is the official MN state mascot. And you can get $4 for every dead gopher you turn in! (S'true!)

Yup and I was the aphrodisiac blood feast on three Quetico canoe 200 mi. wilderness treks that enabled them to breed! Three weeks each of heat, bugs, pouring rain and more portaging with everything on my back between lakes than actual canoeing; The A&W rootbeer stand in Ely was a oasis of pure bliss after the prepared food mixes and cooking for 20 people over a fire 3 times a day: is as bad as chef Olaf on a VII Boot!:88)Actually met and knew the famous hermit, Knife Lake Dorothy, who kept a trading post in the middle of it all. Her passing was noted some years back in the press...in the spring when the snow cleared.:03:

Suffering is good for the soul.

After three trips, yours should be in pretty good shape!:D

BTW, that's why we enjoy ice fishing. In winter, the bugs aren't as bad!

That's what this boot is all aboot!:Kaleun_Salivating::Kaleun_Cheers: :k_confused:

So you met Knife Lake Dorothy. Cool!

But did you meet Bob?

Bob's Grill sits at the corner of Main and Douglas. It was built in 1948 and originally operated by Myron Shaefer, a realtor. His son Bob was a free spirit who liked to hunt, fish, and trap, but who was not much into working indoors. Myron planned to get the business going and then turn it over to Bob, so the kid would "make something of himself" and "settle down". Bob took one look at Bob's Grill and headed off to the Boundary Waters. He disappeared into the woods, and lived by doing what he loved the most. Occasionally, people would encounter him on hunting or fishing trips. The last recorded Bob Sighting was about 10 years ago. By now, Bob has either passed on or is a 90-something Man O'the Woods.

And Bob's Grill is still open, still Bob's Grill, and still the place where people in town congregate for breakfast. Great, huge pancakes! Over the years, it has had a dozen different owners.

But it has never, ever, been owned by anyone named Bob!

Never met the fellow; that's 'couer d'bois' to us "voyageurs"; perhaps he's Bobbing around up in the Bass Lake chain tho' I spec't he'd be 'Muskie' scat by now!:hmmm: