Strap in for a rollercoaster ride through the sunny escapades and candid reflections of our recent Florida getaway. We spill the beans on airport anxieties, Cocoa Beach chill-outs, and the stellar sights of Kennedy Space Center. From navigating new roads in a rental to finding the courage for self-reliance, this trip was a blend of thrill and therapy. And hold onto your Mickey ears, because we're also bringing you the inside scoop on Disney World, where the magic meets the wild in the heart of Animal Kingdom and the gator-loaded golf cart trails.
Our wanderlust doesn't end in Florida; back up north, guest Melissa, from North Shore Explorer MN, shares her transformative journey from Maryland to the rustic charm of Minnesota's North Shore. She's not just surviving but thriving, painting a vivid picture of local life and the birth of her acclaimed guide, a testament to embracing change and community. The narrative takes a creative twist, revealing the arduous yet rewarding process of content creation amidst the North Shore's majestic backdrops and small-town dynamics.
But that's not all—ready your senses for a chase of the Northern Lights and a glimpse of the elusive moose with insights from Hayes Scriven. Meanwhile, we keep the vibe light with a quirky game, pondering the pros and cons of extra facial features. And, as the cherry on top, next week's chat with Audible's very own Xe Sands promises to dive into the artistry behind the audiobooks we adore. Join us for these stories and more, where laughter and learning go hand in hand.
Strap in for a rollercoaster ride through the sunny escapades and candid reflections of our recent Florida getaway. We spill the beans on airport anxieties, Cocoa Beach chill-outs, and the stellar sights of Kennedy Space Center. From navigating new roads in a rental to finding the courage for self-reliance, this trip was a blend of thrill and therapy. And hold onto your Mickey ears, because we're also bringing you the inside scoop on Disney World, where the magic meets the wild in the heart of Animal Kingdom and the gator-loaded golf cart trails.
Our wanderlust doesn't end in Florida; back up north, guest Melissa, from North Shore Explorer MN, shares her transformative journey from Maryland to the rustic charm of Minnesota's North Shore. She's not just surviving but thriving, painting a vivid picture of local life and the birth of her acclaimed guide, a testament to embracing change and community. The narrative takes a creative twist, revealing the arduous yet rewarding process of content creation amidst the North Shore's majestic backdrops and small-town dynamics.
But that's not all—ready your senses for a chase of the Northern Lights and a glimpse of the elusive moose with insights from Hayes Scriven. Meanwhile, we keep the vibe light with a quirky game, pondering the pros and cons of extra facial features. And, as the cherry on top, next week's chat with Audible's very own Xe Sands promises to dive into the artistry behind the audiobooks we adore. Join us for these stories and more, where laughter and learning go hand in hand.
Hey guys, welcome back to Honor Breasts Behavior. You're here with Mac and Kelly.
Speaker 2:What's up, bro? I don't know. I keep telling myself I'm not gonna call you bro anymore, but it just keeps coming out.
Speaker 1:I know it's staying with you. It's so hard not to what's up bro.
Speaker 2:What's new? What do you have to talk about? It's been a minute because, to be honest, when I released the last episode, the Pyrex with X we didn't even do an intro outro because we were so busy. You were at your dad's, we were getting ready for Florida. We ran out of time.
Speaker 2:So I just had to let that one go without you in it, Cause we left on Sunday and you came home from your dad's like Saturday night. So by the time we like got ready and packed and we had to go, we went to Florida and it was magical, don't you think? Did you like the trip?
Speaker 1:It was. Yeah, it was really good. Yeah, I had way more fun than you did.
Speaker 2:I felt like a kid again.
Speaker 1:Did you actually?
Speaker 2:Yeah, didn't you see me Like?
Speaker 1:I was like so excited and smiling and happy and laughing the whole time.
Speaker 2:All right, do you want me? To start telling about it, or do you want to talk about it?
Speaker 1:You can go, I'll kick in there.
Speaker 2:You kick in when you. I didn't really make a lot of notes because I was having so much fun and if you know my uncle Dicko, he is about 160 miles an hour, so there is no break, which is not a bad thing.
Speaker 1:but you're he talks constantly, he's always moving.
Speaker 2:There's no sitting unless it's bedtime. So we were busy, All right. So we left on Sunday and we got there late and you got to see my anxiety kick in high gear because we got there late.
Speaker 1:I was gonna say, like when you're done talking, okay, so keep on.
Speaker 2:Okay, and we got a rental car because it was a little bit of a drive to the Dicko's house from the airport and then it was late, so yeah, so he's like just get a rental car and come. So we did that. But I kind of freaked out. That airport in Orlando, I'd never have been there and it's big, and then I didn't know where to go to get the rental car and then I didn't know, I don't know, I just felt anxious because I didn't know. When I was trying to get there I knew Dicko was waiting up for us.
Speaker 1:It only works when you don't have anyone. You had me, so you got a second eye.
Speaker 2:So usually when I go I was telling this to Maggie like usually when I go on a vacation I go with somebody like Emily or Jackie or Justin or somebody's always taking care of me and I feel like I'm just kind of like getting shuffled, like go do this, go do that, and I like that. I like just kind of not having to think about it and be on vacation. So I feel like I pick friends who are more and I mean this in the nicest way like caretaking and doting and whatever.
Speaker 1:And I like that.
Speaker 2:I like that a lot. And with Maggie I was telling him like you need to learn how to start taking care of me because I'm not doing well right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you did help me a lot on the way back, but it was way easier on the way back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was Dropping off the rental car and stuff.
Speaker 2:But yeah, that airport was big, the car.
Speaker 1:Oh, the car was so weird it didn't have like the shifting thingy for like all, like the parking neutral and all that stuff and drive you like push buttons.
Speaker 2:It was really weird I know, I'm like it took us like a little bit. You're like what the heck? Maggie, if you can figure out how to get this car in reverse, that would be awesome.
Speaker 1:I know it was so weird. And then the car was like so, like happy, like you just tap a little bit and go like You're like why are you slamming on the brakes?
Speaker 2:I'm like these are really touchy.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so it was. It was interesting. You were giving me a hard time about my driving and I'm like I don't know where I am. It's so dark out I can't see anything. I don't have any idea where we're going. I don't know how this car works, but it all worked out. So we got to Dixette like 1130 at night.
Speaker 1:We just went right to bed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was hot. It was hot, you couldn't sleep. So day two we woke up early. You were busy, you didn't get to sleep much and we were busy, so it was kind of funny. But we went out to Cocoa Beach because I always have to see the ocean. If I'm anywhere near the ocean I need to dip my feet in that water. It was cold, it was ooh, it was chilly and it was. I mean, it wasn't cold, but it wasn't like hot and humid the rest of our trip, just that first night was humid, but then every other night we had like the windows open and it got.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say it got cold, but it got comfortable. Yeah, it got comfortable.
Speaker 1:It was like a good coldness. It was like cool yeah.
Speaker 2:And so then we went to the Kennedy Space Center. We got to see the launch pad where they launch off the rockets.
Speaker 1:I was really looking forward to seeing what we did.
Speaker 2:It was.
Speaker 1:yeah, it was so much just videos and stuff. It was kind of boring, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm glad we did it.
Speaker 2:I wanted to experience that and like see that we were going to watch a rocket launch but we ended up not doing that because it was like at 1 am in the middle of the night one day, and then it's never 100% sure and I don't think they even ended up launching it. But so we did that. We got home like at a decent time, enough time to like hang out, see Shelly have dinner together and Diggle has the sweetest golf cart. Oh yeah, and he lives in like a community, like a gated community. I was like what's that Cardi B song? Now it's a gate with a crib. What? Ha, ha, ha, ha ha. I'll play the song for you another time. I was like, oh, we got a crib with a gate.
Speaker 1:That's what it is Now it's a crib with a gate. Do you got the little shotgun pistols? No, no, the shotgun pistols. I don't know what that means. Oh OK, All right, let's keep going.
Speaker 2:Is that a song?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:So we got to get in that golf. He had like a six-seater golf cart and we got to just buzz around. You loved that.
Speaker 1:We saw Gators. I was so good at driving totally, you didn't drive that first night.
Speaker 2:But no, I was the first night and it was fun because that is private property, you can drive your golf cart on the road and you can have. It was like happy hour, so we had a drink. Buzzing around the town, we saw all the stuff they have spa there, pools, hot tubs, golf course. What did they have? They had like a like where they have shows like theater shows, pickleball, basketball what am I missing? Tennis. They just had some pharmacy, yeah, yeah it was.
Speaker 1:It was cool, oh my God, but you know it sucked. What the way back? Why the plane the way back? Oh why.
Speaker 2:We're not there yet, and the kid behind us.
Speaker 1:We're not there yet. Oh, I thought we were.
Speaker 2:No, we're on day one. Oh, it's on day one.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, but we did go back to the golf club on the day we left, so I guess I can see why you're thinking that you got to go bass fishing To go out.
Speaker 1:I caught a fish and it flashed on in his backyard with gators. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But the gators. I was really nervous about the gators, but they weren't as bad as I thought. They really didn't care.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I was really worried about the water moccasins, but thankfully we never saw any of those. But we saw signs that were like there's water moccasins in this area and that's snakes, and I don't like snakes.
Speaker 1:You know they kill you or you're dead.
Speaker 2:Also loved Dekko and Shelly's puppies. Oh yeah, Do you remember their names?
Speaker 1:Yeah, eddabow, and the poons. Her name's Lucy.
Speaker 2:Lucy and Eddie.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But who is the prettiest girl in the whole wide world? It's the poon bear, still stuck in my head. I see that All right. So then it was finally time for Disney World, and it was magical. So we started off. We went to Epcot.
Speaker 1:It was magical. You're fine.
Speaker 2:I didn't think that I would like Disney, but I did like it, and being there with Dekko made me feel like a kid again and I just had a really good time. So, yeah, we went to Epcot first, and the one thing I'll say about Disney and I don't know if it has changed since COVID, but I thought or expected to see a lot of the characters just kind of walking around and being able to take pictures with them, and that was not true. Yeah, you have to like it's like almost like a ride you have to like get in line to do that. So we didn't do any of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got to wait like an hour to see it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I also was like I'm not waiting in any lines for anybody unless it's Thumper.
Speaker 1:You're going to smell Thumper Cooper.
Speaker 2:Thumper, cooper, the pooper Scooper. Why are you thumping? We're going to talk about that soon and it's on my list, ok, so then Epcot. We left Epcot at about 3 o'clock. Then we went to Magic Kingdom. Yeah, and it was very. It was my least favorite park.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was pretty.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of little kids. I think we only went on one ride there.
Speaker 1:But it was cool and it wasn't even good.
Speaker 2:It was cool to see the castle. It was kind of like that iconic Disney castle, yeah. But that was really about it. We got some hour or two it was got cold. We got some shirts there. Yeah, and then we just left and went home, went home and we got home late, isn't that the night that we ended up going out for the Italian? Yeah, it was. It was yeah, because it was so early and we were hungry. It was late.
Speaker 1:It was late. It's so bad it's not even worth it. You got to make reservations and it's still not good. Yeah, I know it's not good.
Speaker 2:The best thing I had to eat at Disney World and we went to all four parks.
Speaker 1:It was the ribs for me.
Speaker 2:It was the dole whip for me.
Speaker 1:It was ribs. The ribs are all right. Yeah, the ribs were good. The mac and cheese the mac and cheese, you got to admit it was pretty good. That meal was OK.
Speaker 2:The ribs are not mac and cheese, all right. So then we went home, we went to bed, we woke up and then we went to Hollywood Studios Dull the dole whip. So when I initially was planning our trip to Disney, I was like, ok, I only want to do Epcot and Hollywood Studios. And I'm glad we went to all of them, because, knowing what I know now, I think I would have chose Epcot and Animal Kingdom. That's my two favorites, yeah those are the best ones. Hollywood Studios was fine.
Speaker 1:It was all right.
Speaker 2:I can't really even think of anything. It was the second worst. It was fun. We were there for long enough. I can't even. There's really no highlights for me. I did get all the Starbucks cups from all the parks.
Speaker 1:Oh, my god, when we get to the last one that we went on, I got to tell my story. Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2:You can tell your story, all right. So then we probably left Hollywood Studios at like one and went to Animal Kingdom, and that was my favorite Animal.
Speaker 1:Kingdom, animal Kingdom was my favorite. The last one, yeah, that was my favorite too.
Speaker 2:We did that like Animal Safari and you got to see. I saw rhinos. I've never seen rhinos in real life. And just all the animals were like active, you were close to them. You kind of got to drive through.
Speaker 1:What are you doing here? They were so like what.
Speaker 2:But they have to be used to it. It's everyday. Yeah, they're probably going to come around Talking to your mic. You're waving it around.
Speaker 1:Oh sorry.
Speaker 2:You're right, sorry, excuse me Then. Okay, and then Animal Kingdom. We went on that Mickey and Minnie ride. That was fun.
Speaker 1:That's pretty good, that's all right.
Speaker 2:I liked that one, and then we went on like a handful of rides throughout all the parks.
Speaker 1:I was riding a ripped butt round it stunk.
Speaker 2:You were constantly a ripped butt and it stunk All right, so do you wanna? So highlights of probably the whole I mean I don't know the whole trip, but one of the huge highlights was doing that Avatar ride- oh yeah, it was so good.
Speaker 1:It was like an hour and like 30 minute wait. It was the longest thing we waited for.
Speaker 2:And I was actually impressed because I didn't think most of the lines were bad at all. And I have heard like oh you're gonna wait in line forever.
Speaker 1:That's the only thing we really waited a long time, for I know the time was like it was way more than an hour and 30 minutes.
Speaker 2:I felt like it felt long yeah but that's an hour and 35 minutes is a long time to stand in line, it is.
Speaker 1:Excuse me, but I mean it was really good. It was like so real, you like got on this thing.
Speaker 2:My anxiety was kicking up because you're like sitting on this thing. It's like kind of like a dirt bike or like a crotch, rocket, vibe and, like you're right in front of this thing.
Speaker 1:It looked like a tiny screen and it just opened up.
Speaker 2:I know what I'm like what's gonna happen, what's gonna happen. And then you're riding on like this Banshee and you just like you start out and you're just like flying and you're like going down, really like deep dives and like that dropping feeling. But you could feel like the water on your face when you would go through, like waterfalls.
Speaker 1:I know the mud though.
Speaker 2:And you could smell like the earth in. I didn't smell it. Yeah, you had other problems going on. Yeah, I did. You wanna hear it? Yeah.
Speaker 1:I had a poop really bad. Let's just say so what happened? So I had a poop so bad, I like couldn't talk, I was like clenching my butt and then we were done. I was like, oh my shit myself, I like barely got to the bathroom and it was like pushing out, it was like a water slip out and I got a toilet and just boom, I blew up that toilet bro.
Speaker 1:You ran there forever, and then, when we got back, I shit myself too. I didn't poop myself, but like I blew up the toilet again. Oh yeah, you had diarrhea, and then another day a couple days ago I also pooped, and then now I'm fine now.
Speaker 2:Now you're back to normal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was wild.
Speaker 2:I didn't have any issues with that. But okay, so then that was it. That was about what we did at the Animal Kingdom. We tried to do some shopping. Dick was ready to go home. It was Valentine's Day. He wanted to see his lover.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And yeah. So then that night was kind of nice. Nice, we had some time, so we sat around and chatted and it was nice. And then the next day was time to go home, so Dick will let you drive the golf cart around.
Speaker 2:When we had lunch at the golf clubhouse, it was so good. I had this yum, yum, bang bang shrimp. It was so good, so good Really. Then the air ride. So oh, also I was irritated because on the way there, you know, they like tell you like, okay, zone one, zone two, whatever get it, you know, by zone. And then by the time we got into our zone, which we were zone two and our seat was like row four and we had to put our luggage in like row 12.
Speaker 2:So then it was a bitch to get off the plane.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so on the way back home, I'm like we're getting on the plane right away, I don't. If they tell us we have to get out of the line, that's fine and they didn't, so then at least we got to put our I didn't even look at the zone, they just yeah, I'm like they don't care. But the thing about coming home from Orlando is that plane is full of screaming children.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, wham, like you couldn't even last. It didn't last like 30 minutes or so.
Speaker 2:Wham. Oh, it was less than that. I had my AirPods in. I could still hear crying. Yeah, I know, I know it was.
Speaker 1:And then we had the people behind us and we're assholes and they wouldn't. This kid wouldn't put his fucking headphones on.
Speaker 2:If you have, I'm all. If you want to put your kid in front of a screen, go for it, but we don't need to listen to what they're listening to. So if your kid can't do headphones, then they probably shouldn't do an iPad on the plane.
Speaker 1:Oh my God. And then on the plane too, I was so blue and tell them though, I mean, the lady opened the door because I didn't know how to lock it and I was thinking she was like, oh my God.
Speaker 2:I saw it. I was like kind of watching out for you, like what is he doing in there? Oh, he must have to poop.
Speaker 1:I was not a fast pooper ever and all of a sudden I saw I am. I have wait, you got way faster.
Speaker 2:I saw the flight attendant like kind of look at the bathroom door, and then she opened it and her face was like Ah, and then she shut it and she was like oh, she just on the shitter. What'd she do? Was she like yeah? And she looked at her like partner and she was like, oh God, and I just saw a kid on the shitter.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, shut kid on the shitter.
Speaker 2:Finally got home, and so something terrible happened when we were gone. And I didn't know about it because you know, I understand like Justin didn't want to ruin our trip and he didn't want to make me feel sad or make me feel like I want to come home. But my little Bella, she died.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I feel bad for him because he he sat with her while she passed away and he thinks she had a seizure and he had dug a hole for her and but Emily picked us up from the airport and she's like I have to tell you something, and so I was kind of just in shock. And then when I came home and she's not here and I feel like I didn't get to say goodbye to her, and when this podcast episode actually releases, it's her birthday on February 21st. She would have been eight. It's February 21st. She was so close, so close to her birthday. I remember even telling her before we went on our trip like, oh, belly, it's gonna be your birthday soon, we'll have all your favorite treats and she's not gonna be here. So so now Paisley is our only bunny and we've been trying to kind of get him out of his shell and get him and Bella were. They were buddies, I mean he was always they were always together.
Speaker 2:Even even when I still had Harper and Dusty, I was always Bella and Paisley. So yeah, it's sad and it's kind of hit me hard a little bit more. Yesterday I feel like I had a moment where I got pretty emotional, like everything just kind of felt like it had actually built up on me, so I was just kind of crying about some stuff, but and I don't cry easy so anyway, like last night, I brought Paisley out in the living room and had him sit on the couch with us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I saw him.
Speaker 2:He was just chilling there, and so yeah. I'm just trying to make sure that he doesn't get too depressed or lonely or anything like that. All right, do you have anything else that you want to talk about?
Speaker 1:I don't think so. Before we get to our guest. No, I don't think so All right.
Speaker 2:So today we have Melissa as our guest and she hang on. I have so many notes I just can't even keep track of everything. I was telling somebody like I'm sorry, I'm such a wreck. All right, so we have Melissa, she's our guest and she is the owner of Do North Marketing. She also is a blogger of the North Shore. She does the North Shore Explorer MN and so, yeah, explore the North Shore of Lake Superior with detailed info, itineraries and helpful hints. She posts some really great fun videos on Instagram. You can follow her at North Shore Explorer MN. And here we go. We're gonna hear from her right now.
Speaker 1:All right, let's go. ["honor Best Behavior"].
Speaker 2:You're listening to another episode of Honor Best Behavior and today I have a very special guest. She is a blogger at North Shore Explorer MN, minnesota, and publisher of the North Shore Explorer Guide. She helps us explore the North Shore of Lake Superior, minnesota, with detailed info, itineraries and helpful hints. Today I have Melissa hi, melissa.
Speaker 3:Hi Kelly.
Speaker 2:So tell us about who you are, what you do, what I missed.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so my name is Melissa and I publish the North Shore Explorer Guide, which is a visitor guide that takes you from Duluth, minnesota, all the way up to the Canadian border along Minnesota's North Shore of Lake Superior. It's a 60-page guide that takes you geographically up the shore to show you all of the best things to see and do.
Speaker 2:So where did you grow up? When did you discover the North Shore? What made you fall in love with this beautiful place? Because, if you've never been, if you've never been, I mean, it's gorgeous.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I think it's probably safe to say that the North Shore is the crown jewel of Minnesota, if not the entire Midwest, you know. I mean it's just such a beautiful, special, special place. So I actually moved here. I live in Grand Marais, minnesota, and I moved here in 2004 with my husband. I'm from Maryland, of all places. Never, you know my husband's from Minnesota. We met in Maryland and then, you know, he brought me to Minnesota and, yeah, I have never been to such a beautiful, incredible, nature-loving place. I mean it's really amazing and so kind of a funny story. Like me being from Maryland, I'm, you know, from the Baltimore area. You know the suburbs and you know even rural areas and stuff. I mean rural areas in Maryland are a little different than rural areas in Minnesota, including the North Shore, you know.
Speaker 2:But and what about like coastal Maryland? Is that beautiful?
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've never been, or I've never been on the East Coast, so oh, yeah, well, I went where I went to college.
Speaker 3:Salisbury University is 30 minutes from Ocean City, maryland, which is a really popular destination. Um, beautiful in its own way. But I mean, yeah, I mean the North Shore. I mean we're talking like superior cliffs plunging into the water and wilderness forest, and you know remote locations and you know I had really never been to a location so remote. I mean, you know Grand Marais, minnesota. We are two and a half hours from Walmart.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was just up there. I was just up there in October and yeah there's. I mean we talked about like oh, it'd be so beautiful to live here and it would be so nice to just not have to deal with so many people. But then you start thinking about like okay, well, when you need groceries or you need to go to the store, like you really better, like kind of plan ahead.
Speaker 3:There's really really a lot of planning and over these past 20 years I've just become so accustomed to it. You know that it's like you just don't. It just becomes a part of what you do and you don't think about it too much. But honestly, you know if we need to go to Duluth, you know for some reason that's the closest city to us. You know it's a whole day adventure. You know it's like oh, we have dentist appointments, there's dentists up here and stuff, but we have a dentist that we go to in Duluth. We have other doctors and stuff that we might go to our other appointments, or if we're gonna go to Menards or you know someplace. It's like we take the pilgrimage down to Duluth, take the whole day off work, take the whole day off school do the thing, you know, and it's just a typical thing.
Speaker 3:You know like, oh, we're not gonna be in today because we have to go to Duluth, oh, okay, okay, you know, I mean, that's just kind of the way it is. And then, like our kids my kids in high school right now, and you know it's like you don't think about this, but the teams we play are three hours away, you know, so our kids miss a whole day of school to go play a football game or a volleyball game or you know whatever.
Speaker 3:And there's just travel and just yeah, nothing is close by and nothing is especially convenient.
Speaker 2:But everything is beautiful.
Speaker 3:That's the trade-off, right? I mean, the trade-off is that, you know, it's a small population, it's a small tight-knit community, beautiful, pristine, open spaces, you know, but it definitely has its challenges for sure.
Speaker 2:So what inspired you to start a blog about the North Shore of Lake Superior? You're from Maryland, you end up in Minnesota and now, like you, blog about the North Shore and you have a million followers on Instagram and you are doing all these Minnesota-based things and you're not from here. Like that's inspiring that you don't you know? I mean not that you don't have roots here. You've been here for a long time, but still, like when you're young and you're growing up, like you're not thinking like I'm gonna live, I'm gonna move to Grand Moray, minnesota, and I'm gonna love it and I'm gonna learn everything about it and I'm gonna teach the people who live there about it.
Speaker 3:I know, right. I mean, you just never, ever know where you're gonna end up. And you know. Just kind of a funny story relating to that is when my husband brought me here for the very first time, new Year's of 2000. So like 99 to 2000, it was that the Y2K right, everything's gonna shut down, exactly right. And I was up on a frozen. I was on a frozen lake, malax, in an ice fishing house that night for my very first time. That's not on the North Shore but that's somewhere else. But but I remember he brought me up to Lut, he brought me to the North Shore New Year's. It was like 20 degrees below zero. We went skiing at Lutzen Mountain Ski Area and I remember specifically driving down the North Shore Scenic Drive right along Lake Superior, and as we're driving by the sign that says Beaver Bay, population 208, my husband says wouldn't it be great to live here? And I was like hell, no, no way, no, I would never live here. This is just too far away. Let's make it 210.
Speaker 3:I was like absolutely not right. And then, like two years later, here we are.
Speaker 2:Life is funny like that.
Speaker 3:But so how did I get to, you know, be blogging about it and stuff like that? Well, so my, my background is actually in tourism marketing and so I started my career at the Pocono Mountains Vacation Bureau in Northeastern Pennsylvania after I graduated college. And then, you know, that's when my husband and I were together and we were starting our lives. And then, you know, we moved to Grand Marais and then, of course, you know, oh great, I'm in tourism, so this is just the perfect place to land. You know, when you're in the tourism industry, so way back when I started doing working in the marketing department with Odyssey Resorts, which back then only had two resorts and now I think they have like 10 million, but so started there. And then I worked at Lutson Mountains for 10 years. I was the assistant marketing director, and then, you know, doing everything else under the sun, like everybody. You know, when you, when you work at these places, you just you know they're small organizations and you just end up wearing so many hats, which is fantastic. You know what's just so much to do and so much excitement, and you know, and all that. But I was there for 10 years and, you know, just decided it was time to make a change. So so I took a pause on that and then, and so then I started getting to know my neighbor Her name is Nina a little bit more and she published the North Shore Visitor Guide and she actually runs the popular North Shore Visitorcom website.
Speaker 3:And so we were sitting there like having tea and just kind of chatting and getting to know each other more and more. And you know she said, well, I'm thinking about like retiring the guide, you know, and then just focusing on the website. So that kind of planted a seed with me. And you know, I got thinking about it and I was like you know, I've really always just wanted to be my own boss and have my own business and do my own thing. I'm like this is just such a great opportunity, you know. So after a few conversations and just figuring it out, we made a deal and I took over publishing the guide. And then from there and that was actually the first one I published so I started this in 2018. And the first guide that I published was 2019. So yeah, I don't just kind of branched out from there. And then I started the social media thing and I started the blog and I also do provide strategic marketing services for clients and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:So like kind of independent stuff, like people will reach out to you. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, you can, totally are your own boss.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love it. It's great. It works great for me. I love having my own schedule and working from home, and I'm doing what you love. You know, I'm just so grateful and fortunate to be able to have this opportunity honestly, so thank you, thank you to whoever sent this to me.
Speaker 2:Well, you did do a lot of it on your own, so you know, don't discredit yourself. Can you share some hidden gems or lesser known spots along the North Shore that you've discovered along your path?
Speaker 3:Yeah, gosh, you know, okay. So the North Shore is 150 miles from Duluth to the Canadian border and it's just a scenic drive that goes all the way up and there are so many places to explore. I mean, you know, we have cliffs plunging into Lake Superior. We have rock beaches here, by the way, we have mountains, you know, not big, huge mountains like there are out West, but these are glacially carved mountains right along the shore so you can hike up to those and get beautiful views of the forest and the lake, lake Superior. And then, if that wasn't enough, we actually are the.
Speaker 3:The Superior National Forest is right here too, which contains the boundary waters, canoe area, wilderness, and so I mean there's there's just nothing but woods and water here, you know. So there's so many places to explore and that's part of the fun of it, you know, is is going out and finding new places. But I mean, I think some, you know there's the big popular places to go, like gooseberry falls everybody knows about, you know, high falls in Grand Portrait. We have a lot of waterfalls, you know. But when you get hiking along some of the rivers here, or most of the rivers, I mean, you'll find little waterfalls and you know little treasures like that, so it's just really fun to go out and see what you can find.
Speaker 2:And I feel like Minnesota is pretty flat until you get to like cloque and then it's like it doesn't even feel like you're in Minnesota anymore, it's like everything has changed. So if you are not from Minnesota and you're like, oh, it's just boring cold and flat there, it is not Just keep going north.
Speaker 3:That's true, that is true, I know. Yeah, and it is. You know, people think, oh, you have mountains there, and or they try to discredit our mountains and say they're not really mountains and it's like, well, they are for us.
Speaker 2:Come on, we can get exactly. So how do you choose the subjects or locations that you feature in your blog posts?
Speaker 3:Well, you know it. Just I'm not like all that strategic about it. You know it's, it's as you know, because with this North Shore Explorer platform, you know it's like I'm your tour guide. You know I want to show you, you know where to go and what to expect. You know, I was always that kid that was, like you know, assigned to show the new kid around school and I was also the one that had the camera. I mean I was like documenting everything, I mean from a young, young age. I mean I always I was like the paparazzi, seriously, you know, like always taking pictures of my friends and this and that having the photo albums, you know.
Speaker 2:I was like oh, here comes Melissa with her camera again.
Speaker 3:Yes, I know, and it's like oh, can I take a picture of you? No, okay, click. I mean that.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 3:I'm much more careful now.
Speaker 2:You've learned some of the things, yeah, I'm sure along the way.
Speaker 3:But but anyway, just kind of you know, like the, you know the person that can show you around you know, and then the other thing, too is I know when people are like, when I am like, when I want to go somewhere new where I've never been, it's like Okay, well, what?
Speaker 3:is there to do and I want to plan, like the things that I want to see and the most important things. And then you know there's certain information that I'm looking for, you know, and that's the information that I want to provide to people. What's it? You know, just an easy to digest. What's it going to be like? What am I going to see, where do I park, how do I get there? What are the highlights? What do I need to know? You know that sort of information. It's more so informational than like a personal narrative. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I go, I am. I try to hit a lot of different places. You know, with my visitor guide it's a printed guide, so I actually distribute them myself all up and down the North Shore. So that gives me an opportunity like when I'm down in two harbors, for example, which is an hour and a half for me delivering guides I take that opportunity to get out and explore some different trails, some places to see, and then most of my stuff.
Speaker 3:You know I'm building a new website for the blog and I'd say most of my stuff is on social media, in Facebook and Instagram, you know. So I'm going out and I'm capturing these beautiful places that people can experience and inspiring them to come and visit or and or really just inspiring people to find the peace and positivity that you can get from the outdoors. I mean overall, in general. So you know whether, whether you're coming up to the North Shore to do that, I mean that's kind of a big ordeal, right. I mean you can find peace and positivity in the outdoors, you know, in places around you too, you know. So that's one of the themes as well.
Speaker 2:One of my I saw it not that long ago is there was a really crazy storm in Grand Marais and you're like everyone's going to avoid this, but I'm going to drive up to the beach and I am going to show you what it looks like to be on the beach in a pretty severe storm. You're just getting like pelted with sheets of rain on the water and then you're like back in your car like okay, you know, and I'm like, oh, melissa, thanks for taking one from the team, because I really wanted to see what that looked like, but I don't want to be the one putting myself out there, I know.
Speaker 3:And actually that is something I kind of enjoy doing, that you know, and I don't know if I would. Well, I don't know. See to me, okay, we have crazy weather here on the North Shore, right, I mean, I think that anybody that knows the North Shore kind of knows that Very cold, lots of snow, Lake Superior storms, huge waves. And to me, like and again, being from Maryland and not really being, like you know, subject to all this, I find it so interesting and it's just such an adventure and I love to be able to share that with people. I just think it's a lot of fun and it gets me out there and I hope that it's, you know, entertaining and, and you know, maybe funny and informative.
Speaker 2:Do you just have one kid?
Speaker 3:Just one, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So does your kid ever think like mom, you're crazy? Or do they think like, hey, can I come with?
Speaker 3:No, I am. I am the most embarrassing person in the whole world Like I'm. I'm so embarrassing. So, no, I'm usually, it's usually just me, like you know, because nobody wants. Nobody wants to play with me.
Speaker 2:I do from afar in my warm like couch on the blanket and like, oh, she looks cold. I want to take a warm shower and I'm in the house, yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean, and that one you were talking about like the waves were coming up splashing, and then I was just like literally getting like pelted because I want to get like okay, I don't want to jinx myself here, but I could be that person that's taking pictures and then falls off the cliff, like I need to really be careful of that. And then like so the waves were coming up and I was taking because I want to get the picture, you know, and then I turned the camera on myself of getting just totally and it's freezing cold outside, and then so, and then you know, in the aftermath you see all of the rocks, because again, we have a rock beach and they're like these little little rocks and they're spread all over the parking lot like crazy. And I was like, oh my God, like I totally could have gotten sprayed by rocks, like yeah, okay, I need to.
Speaker 2:Well, good thing you didn't think about that, because the video was great. Oh, thank you. Thank you. I don't know if you've ever, I don't know. I don't know if you've ever seen South Park, but you reminded me of Kenny, with, like your jacket you could just see, like just your eyes, nose and mouth.
Speaker 3:Yep, yep, yeah, that would be me.
Speaker 2:So with that, I mean, I feel like that's a challenge. But what challenges do you face in capturing the essence of the North Shore in your writing, your videography and your photo in your photography? Is your? Is your? Do you use your phone? Is that waterproof?
Speaker 3:Right, well, I hope so. Challenges, yeah, I mean, I mean obviously the weather, you know, you know, but that's more not with like taking the pictures, but it's just, you know it. Just I'm sorry when it's 20 below zero. It's so beautiful and so cool to just get out there and experience it. Only if it's just for a little bit, you know, like to be in the elements, but but honestly, like it's finding the time to do it, you know, you know, because you get so like, even though it's kind of like my job or whatever, I mean part of it, but you know you find yourself like in the office and you're busy and I got to do these things and I'm, you know, just like everybody else, you know, so busy and doing all these things and, oh, I don't feel like going out in the cold and I you know you got to bundle up for it and you better make sure you peed before you get bundled up.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, you know. And then actually another thing too, is that? So you know I'm on and I think we're going to talk about this on another episode but I'm on this anti-inflammatory diet and like and all of these things. So like when I'm traveling, like even if it's just down to two harbors, which is like an hour and a half for me, you know I'm out for the entire day. You know, like I'm, I'm out, you know I'm, and I have to pack so many things, like I have to prepare my food and I have to bring my coolers and I have to have, because the other thing is is like I mean there's, there's some really great restaurants around here, but it's not like chock full of restaurants and there's no fat. I mean I don't really eat fast food anyway, but there really isn't fast food. There isn't. I mean there's, we're remote. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:There's the world's greatest donuts. Oh yes, they're good, I'm not going to. They're good, I'm a donut, I'm a donut fiend. I love them.
Speaker 3:They. They are really the world's best, honestly.
Speaker 2:They really are For sure, and like if you call yourself world's best donuts probably not no right.
Speaker 3:They got it right? No, they are, they are, and I don't, because of the aforementioned anti-inflammatory diet, I have to really hold back from there. But but challenges, I mean, yeah, the time and you know, going on these day, long adventures, you know, and all of that. And then honestly I mean this is not very exciting. But talking about challenges, it honestly like takes so much time to then not only go get the pictures and the videos because I do mostly videos to download them and file them and rename them and go through them and watch them and try to figure out, like, how am I going to put this together in a 15 second video or a 30 second video?
Speaker 2:Yeah, chop them up and edit them yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's really, really a lot of work. And then you know, when people are trying to like, do social media or whatever, they're like, oh my God, it's so much work. And it's like yes, it is, it's not just oh, I'm going to throw that up on Instagram. I mean this whole.
Speaker 2:Because people make it look so easy, because when you're just, when you're the, when you're the scroller, it's like oh, that looks easy, oh, that looks fun, oh that looks cool. You don't realize how much work goes into it.
Speaker 3:I mean like days and days sometimes, honestly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean not just for like a simple video where I'm going to show you, you know, a picture, you know like a video of like superior, but like if we're like putting together an actual story, because that's actually one thing that I'm doing a lot more of now is I'm doing feature stories for and telling people's stories up here.
Speaker 3:You know, about some of the businesses and the business owners, because they really have such interesting stories, you know, and we want to make a connection with the audience and then we really want to tell people the story of how how awesome these people are and these businesses in this place and there's just so many reasons to come, you know.
Speaker 3:And then when we're crafting a story like that you know again, this is me because, remember, I'm a marketer you know it's you know crafting the story and the messaging and then and you know, I get to help them with that, you know, and these are just like small businesses, you know, and people just like me and my friends that are here you know that I work with and that I see at the grocery store, you know, but crafting the message and then putting all those videos together, you know, in a way that tells the story again in in like a less than one minute video. You know is is kind of challenging. I love doing it and like, I wouldn't say it's like hard or whatever, but it's, it is challenging and it takes a lot of time. It's very time consuming.
Speaker 2:So how has your perspective on the North Shore changed since you started your blog? So first you come here and you're you're working like a normal working for the man job and then you're learning about the North Shore. So how, how, now that you're kind of in your doing your own thing on your own terms, the way you want to do it? Just I mean, clearly your love for the North Shore hasn't done anything but grown. But how has your perspective changed? Yeah, because you're meeting people. You're, you're part of the community. It's a tight knit. Everyone knows each other. You're learning their stories and people think like, oh, these people just live in a small town of 200, probably just the same thing every day. But, like you said, you really learn about people's story and how they started and how they got there, and it's so fascinating.
Speaker 3:You know it really is and you know I'm I'm not from an area where we have like small towns and communities like this and we're just in it. Just you end up being, you know, because we are remote and we really are a community and we do kind of share in all of these challenges together. And it's funny, like when I first moved here. You know, you're kind of used to having your anonymity and I'm not talking about like I, you know I get, I'm not talking about my Instagram thing. I don't think I really have anonymity anymore because of that.
Speaker 3:But when you know, when I was 25 and I first moved, here, you know, and then, you're not used to like everybody knowing who you are and what your story is and you know and all of that kind of stuff. But then you know, you just get used to that over time you know, and then you just become a part of the community and you really get to know people. And you know other parents, you know friends of your kids and people in the school system and the people that work at the grocery store and you know and all of that you know. And then you see them, you know, and especially if you have somebody that like works a couple of different jobs, you know like you'll see them at the liquor store and then the next day they'll be at the grocery store or the gas station. You know and you just kind of get to know people. Gosh, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to think of you know what other aspect I could, how I could answer that question, yeah, so, thinking back to like when you first moved there, like what you thought and now like what you know, is there any difference? Oh my gosh, it's hard to remember like what we thought when we were 25.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I know it's so fun Like it's been 20 years like this year 2024 is 20 years, which is insane. Like that just means I'm getting old, I guess, which is fine, but it's like wow.
Speaker 2:My son turns 15 today and I'm like how did I get this old? I don't know.
Speaker 3:But yeah, like when I first came, you know it was just, you know, being so new to you know community in this area and just in the way of life, is different. You know, like I definitely I don't think I've put a pair of high heels on since I moved here. I mean, like my whole, you know my whole wardrobe, you know, had to change because you know like it's very casual here. You know it's just, and we are on trend with being more casual in general now, more, you know, in 2024 than we were in 2004. But even this is just such a casual place and you know, just getting used to that and you know, then the other thing is too is, you know, the, you get used to the wow factor. You know you just become accustomed, you know, to everything that's around you and then you kind of start taking things for granted, you know um, yeah.
Speaker 3:So it's like, oh, there's that lake again.
Speaker 2:Are there any particular seasons or times of the year that you find especially captivating? Along the North Shore? Like, you can barely book a place to stay if you're not a year ahead on the North Shore but in the same. With like fall right, everyone wants like to see the fall colors, and winter is beautiful because you know everything's just so pristine and sparkly with the snow and the ice. So what do you think Like? What is the? What is, what is the gem of the seasons in the state where we have so many?
Speaker 3:Yes, and we do. We do have the seasons here, absolutely, um, I mean, I am a summer girl all the way. I mean I love those long hours of daylight and it's just, it is so beautiful here in the summertime and the weather is usually really good and it doesn't get super hot here and it just, uh, it just fills my heart and my soul. I love that summertime, um, but honestly, I mean, you know, I just I really do think it's important to see the beauty in every season, you know, and just feel grateful. Um, you know, every season brings, you know, its own special kind of magic and its own special kind of beauty, um, and it's important to really experience that here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think for you especially to like, if you come to like Minneapolis, I think then you remember like, oh yeah, Grand Marais is great, you know. Or like, when I go to Grand Marais, I'm like why do I live in Anoka? Like it is so beautiful up there, like what could I do for work that I could just be up there all the time, because it truly is like it's not. I mean, it's built up and there's great businesses and, like you said, there's restaurants and there's things right, but it's God's country, if you will. Like it is just there's just so much like untouched, true nature of just pure beauty.
Speaker 2:And I think that, like, when I go up there, I'm like why don't I come up here every weekend? It's so beautiful, you know. But when you aren't seeing it, or you forget the beauty or, like you said, you start to take it for granted, like, oh, there's that lake again. But then when you don't see it for a long time, or you go to the city, where it's overpopulated and polluted and there's crime and problems, you're like, oh, bring me back home, get me out of here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I mean, it is, it's, it is just such a beautiful place and that's one reason why I really like doing what I do is to share that beauty with people and it keeps me appreciating it all the time. You know, just driving up and down the shore and seeing the lake and seeing the mountains and seeing the way the sunlight reflects off the lake, I mean Lake Superior is a different color. Each season has its own color of Lake Superior. Times of day it has a different color. Sometimes it has a different sheen. In the winter the light, the sun, is low in the sky, so then you get this extreme glare on the surface of the lake. In September. There's something about the angle of the sun that makes Lake Superior this extreme, like this beautiful, bright, bold blue color, and it's I just, I love looking at that and noticing that and then, you know, sharing that with people.
Speaker 2:Last time I was up there, you know we were driving up there and we were staying at Lutson and we were, you know, just so excited to see the lake. Like when you don't see it all the time, you're like, oh, I just can't wait till the road opens up and you can just see it and all this glory and beauty. And when I saw it, the, this rainbow was just like coming down right into the, into the lake, and I was like, oh, it's just so gorgeous.
Speaker 3:We get these amazing rainbows here, oh my gosh. And and I don't know if we get more rainbows than other places or if it's just easier to see them because of the lake. I mean, maybe it's a little bit of both, but yeah, I mean, that is incredible when you see a rainbow like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have some listener questions for you. Somebody wants to know where is the best spot to see the Northern Lights.
Speaker 3:Ooh, actually I have a blog about that, good yeah, and so actually, and I myself am not a Northern Lights chaser. This is a very sad story, but I have barely even ever seen the Northern Lights in person, but that's cause I'm not like, I'm not up in the middle of the night, I'm not chasing it, blah, blah, blah. But there are people that do and I learn from them and I love to see their pictures on social media. But but so there I have a contributor, hayes Scriven, who is the actually he is the lighthouse keeper at Split Rock Lighthouse and he is a fabulous photographer and he's a Northern Lights chaser and everything like that. So he shared some tips about seeing the Northern Lights on my blog, and so so I can't give you precise locations, because that's part of the fun, right?
Speaker 2:Like you said, it's a hobby. You got to chase it yourself.
Speaker 3:Exactly yes, and the people that go won't tell you.
Speaker 2:So that's why people, that's why people want to know.
Speaker 3:Right. But so you know you you want to go find a place like usually over the ridgeline. I mean, you can still see that you can. You know we are in a dark sky sanctuary here, so I don't know if people know that it's actually it's an international designation. This North Shore area and the Boundary Waters Canoe area wilderness is part of this very, very rare designation of international dark sky where it's like we're far enough away from artificial light to actually be able to see the sky. So this is kind of an interesting, fun fact. But yeah, to go see the Northern Lights. You know it's great to find an inland lake and for those that don't know, minnesota has lots and lots of lakes and we have lots up here and we call them inland lakes because they're inland from Lake Superior and they're usually in the Superior National Forest. So if you can find a lake that with a landing that faces north, that is a great starting place.
Speaker 2:Okay, there's your tip, there's your starting tip.
Speaker 3:You can. You can find a. Well, take a look at the blog. I can't. It's been a while since I wrote it, but there's some tips on there. There might be some locations on there, but you can find a Superior National Forest map that will have everything on there for you.
Speaker 2:Second question Where's the most likely place to see a moose?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, that's another good question. Yeah, the moose and the Northern Lights are like the two most elusive things on the North Shore. Um, yeah, okay, so up the Gunflint Trail. So the Gunflint Trail departs from Grand Marais and it goes about 60 miles into the wilderness. So that's the road that you take to get into the boundary waters and that's where the moose live. So if you go up there and you're looking, you know you want to look in swampy wetland areas. They do swim in the lake, so you'll see them in lakes and rivers.
Speaker 2:There's videos of that on the internet, like of them actually like swimming down deep. That's crazy.
Speaker 3:It's really incredible. Yeah, we were actually. We took our boat up on Gunflint Lake a couple of years ago and we had my mom and her boyfriend from Maryland with us and it was the boyfriend's first time here, so we took him out fishing on Gunflint Lake and then we went up into this little area and then there was a moose there.
Speaker 2:It was like, oh my God oh my God, you can't plan on that. That's an amazing experience for like first timers.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh. And then we told him I'm like you are so lucky, like your first time in Minnesota, your first time up here, and you see a moose, like seriously, that is so lucky, but it is a rare occurrence. Yeah, and it is a rare occurrence. I mean I know that there are a lot of people that kind of come up and expect to see one, or like they're really thinking that they are probably going to see one, and it's really not that easy. I mean, sometimes you do get lucky, but you know it's yeah, it's a special moment when you do get to see one. And same thing with the Northern Lights.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right. Last listener question what is the scariest encounter you've had with North Shore wildlife?
Speaker 3:I don't think I've ever had a scary encounter.
Speaker 2:I mean no, like scary moose coyote.
Speaker 3:No, no, never, Actually, no, and you know, like I don't know, I think they're no, never, I mean, I mean they've definitely gotten into our garbage, you know. So in the summertime we have to keep the garbage can in the garage. But no, and like, yeah, I do hear, I hear people like you know, like what about bears? And they don't want to go camping because they're afraid of bears, and I don't know, like I've never seen a bear. I have, like here in my 20 years of living here and hiking, and you know, and, and, and and.
Speaker 3:Let me, let me place a caveat on this to say that like I am not, I am just a normal outdoors person, you know what I mean, like one of those people that's always out there. You know, like I'm like a normal level of outdoors, you know. So I'm coming from that angle. But I have probably seen a bear from a distance here, like once or twice. You know I've seen wolves on the side of the road a few times. I do know they're out there, like, for example, you know, when we let our dog out, you know we, we have to be very mindful that there are wolves, you know. So we, you know, I don't usually let her out unsupervised, you know, and things like that. But I just, yeah, I've never. You know, I do make a habit of like if I'm hiking by myself, I make sure to make noise, you know let everybody know.
Speaker 3:I'm coming, I'll be.
Speaker 2:Because wildlife is like that right, Like they really don't want to deal with us, and so if they know we're coming, they're like we're out of here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, yeah, they hasn't. Yeah, it just hasn't been a problem for me. And you know, I like to whistle. I like to whistle, daisy Daisy. What is that song, Daisy Daisy? Give me your answer to. I'm half crazy. Offer the love of you.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So I was still bad going on the trail Perfect, I know here comes Melissa again.
Speaker 3:That's my favorite. That song is my favorite.
Speaker 2:I was like hey Bear, hey Bear, and you're singing the Daisy song.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but no, I mean I would say I mean you have to have an awareness that there's wildlife out there bears, coyotes, wolves, you know that kind of thing but it's. I would not ever let that, I would not be afraid of that, or I would not let that deter your adventure, because you know it's, it's not, it's not. I don't think it's anything to like be afraid of.
Speaker 2:One time I was hiking in Maple Grove, which is like the city, and I kind of got lost because my phone died and so I didn't have any GPS. You know what is that called First world problems? Yeah, all of a sudden I was like in the woods and I really don't know where I am. And all of a sudden, like I like look and I see like a bunch of deer and they're so close to me and they're so big, like you don't really realize how big deer can be until they are like right next to you. And then I was like my first reaction is I'm going to take a picture. But then I'm like if I scare them, like they could trample me they're huge. But as soon as I like lifted my phone up, they were like gone. But then I was like what if there's a bear out here, you know, and that's just in the city, like take me to Lake Superior and put me out in those woods. So that's reassuring to know that it's unlikely to happen, right, you know.
Speaker 3:And then actually another thing I'll just note is I mean, I would probably like, if I saw a bear in an area like that, I'd probably be more afraid, because that probably means that somebody's feeding it around there and they're associating people with food and that's a big problem. And so, you know, I, I mean I don't advocate for anybody to feed wildlife. Really, you know one reason because of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's I mean especially down here like it's putting them in an unsafe environment. You know, it's almost like baiting them, even though you that's maybe not your intention, but you're putting them in harm's way by luring them.
Speaker 3:Sure, yeah, they're crossing streets to get there, and you know, and all that. And then again the association with oh person food, you know.
Speaker 2:Is there anything else you want to share, Melissa? Oh gosh.
Speaker 3:You know I don't, I don't, I don't think so. I mean I just you know it's, it's been so fun to be here and talk to you, kelly, and you know share the joys of the North Shore and my story and and yeah, I'm just, I'm so grateful and fortunate to be here, and so thank you to you know, everybody that follows me on Instagram and Facebook and enjoys the North Shore Explorer guide that comes out every year, and so thank you to everybody and I just I really want to be a good resource for people. You know I want to be your tour guide for the North Shore.
Speaker 2:And so where can we find you?
Speaker 3:Yes, so Facebook and Instagram is North Shore Explorer MN and my website is North Shore Explorer MNcom, and if you want a copy of the printed North Shore Explorer guide, you can order one for home delivery from my website and you do pay for that, for the shipping and stuff like that it's like less than $5. Or you can pick them up. I distribute $100,000 of these a year and so you can pick one up at any Explorer Minnesota Welcome Center around the state, other visitor centers in the area and almost any tourism hotspot in Duluth or the North Shore.
Speaker 2:Melissa, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I love talking about the North Shore. I think it is one of the most beautiful places in the United States, to be honest, and I know you're going to be back for another episode soon, so we'll look forward to that. But thank you for your time and you have a lovely night and everyone, make sure you hit up that North Shore, it's gorgeous.
Speaker 3:Oh, thank you so much, kelly, kiss, kiss. See you guys, when you get here, kiss kiss.
Speaker 2:All right, see you later. Melissa. Okay, bye-bye. She is so lovely and I'm actually really excited because I'm going to be doing another episode with Melissa and we're going to talk about Lupus Actually what's Lupus?
Speaker 2:Lupus is a anti-inflammatory disease and we're just going to kind of talk about her diagnosis and her journey with that and what it was like and kind of where she started and where she is now in a much better place. So I'm excited to talk to her about that. Okay, All right. So let's wrap this up with your driver's question, Ready Shoot.
Speaker 1:I forgot about this. It's coming up real soon I know it's going to have to lock in. All right, I'm ready.
Speaker 2:All right. You must maintain a safe distance between your vehicle and the vehicle in front of you by using the four-second rule, the one-second rule, the two-second rule or the three-second rule. Do you know what the seconds mean? So car length? So they usually say like one car length is one second, two seconds is two cars. So how many car lengths should you keep in between you and the vehicle in front of you to mean two, one, what One and two is close, it's three. Three-second rule, kind of like the floor, like if something hits the floor it's good for three seconds.
Speaker 2:Because here's the thing If there's only one second your reaction time, you don't have enough time to react. So let's say someone slams on the brake, the more distance in front of you, the more time you have to react and not smash into them. Good point, all right, do you have a, would you rather for me?
Speaker 1:Actually, yes, I do what you came prepared. Would you rather have the shotgun pistol or the shotgun pistol? I'm actually going to get into it, all right. Would you rather have an extra eye in between your other two eyes or have two noses? What would you rather have?
Speaker 2:Can I pick the placement on my nose? It's because you just said whatever, it just moved over.
Speaker 1:They could actually just come off of it. I don't like either of those.
Speaker 2:I know it sucks yeah it's miserable.
Speaker 1:They're both ugly.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:You're going to look like a monster.
Speaker 2:Either a cyclops or a four nostrils. I'm probably overthinking this. What do?
Speaker 1:you pick. I'm going to be an eyeball.
Speaker 2:An eyeball. I was leaning towards the nose, all right, why? Because cyclops is really ugly.
Speaker 1:I'm just going to cover it up With what?
Speaker 2:How are you covering it up, because?
Speaker 1:it opens up, just wear a bandana.
Speaker 2:But isn't it going to be right here, or is it up here? Yeah, it's like it up here. Oh yeah, I'm going to do that then.
Speaker 1:Really eyeball.
Speaker 2:Eyeball, if I can just cover it up. I don't know how you cover up an extra nose.
Speaker 1:This wine is weird and it's not going to be super big either. Yeah, it's going to be like your normal size eye, okay.
Speaker 2:I like the way you think I'll go with that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you were overthinking the hell out of it, I know.
Speaker 2:When you told me what it was going to be, I'm like, oh, I don't like either of those. Okay, ready for a funny joke?
Speaker 1:Yee-hee, I'm ready.
Speaker 2:Okay, pay attention, I'm ready. Why is dark spelt with a K at the end?
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:Because you can't see in the dark, get it. You don't get it. Dark C. It's not spelt D-A-R-C.
Speaker 1:Oh, because you can't see in the dark. Okay.
Speaker 2:I see I was trying to. I have some really dirty jokes. I was trying to keep it clean, so that's what you get. You can't, I don't know, I don't want to offend people.
Speaker 1:Oh, it offends people. I don't know, is it with?
Speaker 2:the J-1? No.
Speaker 1:No, no, don't even talk about that.
Speaker 2:Okay, thank you for listening to another episode of Honor Best Behavior Gosh. I think our guest next week is Exy Sands, and she was one of my favorite interviews. She's my favorite Audible book nerd. I can't talk. She is my favorite Audible narrator. Any book that she narrates I put it on my TBR list to listen to because her voice is amazing. So it was an honor to talk to her, to say the least. So, all right, have a great week.
Speaker 1:Bye guys, See you next week. Bye guys, See you next week. Bye.