I have affiliate relationships with Bookshop.org and Malaprop's Bookstore in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site. Read more on my affiliate page.
Welcome to my weekly update for July 12, 2026!
My husband had a four-day weekend for Independence Day so we drove up to International Falls, Minnesota and visited Voyageurs National Park. It’s our 57th national park out of a total of 63! We did a little hiking but this is a park that really needs to be experienced on the water so we took a couple of boat tours. We didn’t see as much wildlife as we hoped but we did see a lot of bald eagles. The lakes and islands that the park is centered around are beautiful.
Slideshow:
All images © Jennifer G. at Introverted Reader 2026
- My husband is very proud of this picture of a bald eagle! It had been feeding on a rock but finally decided it was tired of this boat full of people staring at it and took off. For those who don’t know, the bald eagle is the national bird of the United States.
- We saw this white-tailed deer and her twin fawns (only one pictured here) as we drove through town. They’re so beautiful! They were just munching away in the yard of a church.
- We loved the colorful boats docked at Thunderbird Resort. We didn’t stay there but we did eat there. The wild rice soup was amazing! Wild rice is harvested from the lakes in the area.
- Rainy Lake scenery. Voyageurs is mostly centered around Rainy Lake, Kabetogama Lake, and Crane Lake.
Posted:
Nothing.
Read:
Link goes to my review on GoodReads
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl #2) by Matt Dinniman–4 Stars
Currently Reading:
The Summer Tree (The Fionavar Tapestry #1) by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Stardust Thief (The Sandsea Trilogy #1) by Chelsea Abdullah
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins, read by Hillary Huber
What did your week look like?
Hosts:
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon and Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts Sunday Post. Kathryn at Book Date hosts It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
21 Comments
LOVE the photos! What a gorgeous location. I am woefully behind on visiting blogs. Between being out of town, my daughter being here and getting the puppy, everything else seems to have fallen by the way side (why am I not retired?!)
The puppy! I forgot that you were getting her soon! I might as well be retired since I haven’t worked since we started traveling and I still don’t have enough hours in my day! 🙂
You were in my neck of the woods. Did you pass through Duluth on your way? I’m not a camping/hiking sort and have never been to that National Park. The pictures are lovely. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
We did pass through Duluth! We stopped and grabbed a few goodies from Duluth’s Best Bread. Their macarons were fantastic. We got some sort of sticky bun too and loved it as well.
Your husband is understandably proud of that bald eagle picture! I’m impressed by your tally of park visits, too!
I hope you’re enjoying The Library at Mount Char. I like Hilary Huber as a narrator but I think I read that book in print as an ARC if I remember correctly.
The Library at Mount Char was not for me, unfortunately. I hope it was more to your taste when you read it.
Great photos! You are getting so close to completing all of the National Parks!
Sounds like you had a great time. What amazing photos! Enjoy your books!
https://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2026/07/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-mailbox_01333378973.html
Lovely photos!
I haven’t read any of these, but The Library at Mount Char is one I’ve been curious about.
Great photos, thanks for sharing! It is so cool you are taking in the national parks. Now I want to figure out how many I have visited. Hopefully it was a bit cooler that far north. It still gets hot in Minnesota though
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
Sounds like a lovely trip!
Beautiful park pictures! They definitely show the beauty of the midwest 😉 Good luck on your last few parks – what a great goal!
Wow those are great photos!! I love the one of the boats. It looks like you had a great weekend!!
Wonderful photos, thanks for sharing your week and happy reading!
That’s incredible that you have visited so many national parks! I hope you have a great week!
You are really doing well with visiting the national parks! And your husband should be proud of that eagle photo. It’s outstanding! I got some shots of two when we were in Port Townsend, but they are nothing like you husband’s photo. Wow!
I love the eagle photo! I wish my nature photos turned out that well. They always seem to be blurry. 🙂
Wow! I like all your photos this week, but the bald eagle…yes, wow! It’s so wonderful to me that you have visited so many of the national parks. I wonder how many I have visited. Dungeon Crawler Carl series is intriguing to me. I have a friend who might like to read it.
That picture of the bald eagle! It’s amazing!
Your photos are all beautiful, but the photo of the bald eagle is breath-taking. The covers on your current reads are so pretty and enticing.
Yes indeed! Very good capture of that bald eagle!!!