savor september -- a day on the river

Yesterday my brother took Matthias and me out on his boat on the Mississippi. Phil is a bass tournament fisherman who has recently leapt for his dreams (it's become contagious in this family) and has been fishing the river all summer. 

The day dawned beautiful, perfect early September.

The Mississippi is really gorgeous here where it touches Wisconsin and Iowa and, further north, Minnesota (my photos don't do it justice).

The ecosystem is so diverse. In some areas the river is wide and seems much more like a lake than a river. In other areas it's much narrower and surrounded by wetlands. Often there are soaring cliffs on either side. While we were on the water we saw many bald eagles, including a group of three flying in circles overhead. We also saw lots of pelicans, some sandhill cranes, a great blue heron and others that I didn't know.

Railroad tracks run beside the river and freight trains rumbled by. In one, windows of the engine were open and the engineer waved at us as he went by. On the river a couple barges passed us, too.

We fished, Phil sharing his techniques, but the day was kind of slow in that regard. I caught one small mouth and one large mouth bass and I lost count of how many fish Phil caught, though most weren't the bass he wanted, but sheephead also known as freshwater drum, a fish I'd never heard of before.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. Thank you, Phil, for sharing the beauty of the river with us.