Dinner Up North

As explained earlier, we decided to stay two nights at Gooseberry, but our cooler held enough food for one dinner and one more lunch.  We discussed our options and decided that we would head out for dinner at a local restaurant.  We decided to go sooner rather than later because three days without a shower in the outdoors possibly equals some ripe patrons.

After driving to Two Harbors we decided on Betty's Pies as our dining spot.  Mike and I had eaten here a couple years ago when we were skiing in Lutsen and we told the kids how these pies were "world famous".  I don't know if that's totally true - but I've seen the place adverstised in a few national magazines so we possibly embellished.

Oh how I long for a zoom lens.

Anyway  - We mostly started thinking about pies before we started thinking about dinner.

And since one of Mike's and my rules when choosing a restaurant had been "it has to be local...no chains" we would have actually passed this by if we'd known they had a new restaurant in White Bear Lake.

Anyway - it's a cute little place.  We ordered pretty standard fair for food.  Burgers, mac & cheese and Mike got some walleye sandwich.  It's a busy place but the waitress was so nice and friendly.

I'm not going to say the food was the best ever.  It was okay.  But we jumped to the dessert menu pretty fast and started analyzing what the choices were. 

Scratch that.  "We" didn't start analyzing: Mike anazlyed.  He had no less than five questions about the various pies they had available that night.  Maddie, Jake and I all knew off the bat what we were ordering.  Mike's final choices were the French Blueberry Cream vs. the Toffee Cream vs. the Strawberry/Banana Cream.  And really? He's not a cream pie guy so this was very surprising.

The Strawberry/Banana Cream won out:

It was a basic Banana Cream on the bottom with sliced strawberries mixed in with a strawberry mousse type layer on top.  He said it was pretty good; interesting - so he was happy.

Maddie ordered the Mint Chocolate:

She thought it was good, but definitely had a strong mint flavor.

Jake and I ordered the same thing: 5 Layer Chocolate Cream:

We couldn't figure out the five layers.  But, we assumed they meant five chocolate layers.  Maybe they included the pie crust as one layer though. 

Jake ate his layer by layer.  Seriously:

And as I thought would happen - he couldn't finish his and I couldn't finish mine.  Honestly, I'm not a huge pie fan (I know...you are thinking, "Why Betty's Pies then, weirdo??").  I knew a couple bites would fill me up so we could have shared a piece easily.  We boxed it up for our cooler but unfortunately the ice melted before we had a chance to replenish it and Mike never got to eat the leftovers he was looking forward to.

We headed to the grocery store to fill up for our other meals and back to camp.

And I'll just show you the game of choice anytime we were in camp:

I don't think it had an actual title; I think they just said, "Let's play The Game."  But they each stood on that cement line (which was a curb overgrown with grass/mud) and...

The first one to have their foot touch grass lost.  Jake is quite a scrapper.  He came out ahead in quite a few of the games.  No matter - this provided endless minutes of entertainment while we sat at camp waiting for dark to come and the fire to be stoked up. 

The favorite activity after dark?  Sitting around the fire and getting to ask whatever question we came up with and everyone had to answer it.  "What one person would you like to meet dead or alive?"  "What language would you learn if you could and why?" "If you were given a million dollars, what would you do".  I can't even remember all the questions, but there were far better ones than those.  Maddie and Jake loved this and couldn't wait to do it again the second night.  Guess we found a new family activity instead of movie night!

Lake Superior up next!

North Shore - Day 2

Settle in...we are going to continue our tale...

By 7:30ish we were up and getting ready at Eckbeck.  We ate some breakfast and got ready for our second day.  We wanted to be back to Gooseberry by 9am to see what our chances were for staying there and it was first come first serve, starting at 9am.

We took our 30 minute drive there and arrived right before 9am.  Surprisingly Mike was the first in line closely followed by two others; he got a campsite.  Three were available at that time.  We had decided that if we could get a site, then we would stay an extra night camping and explore a little more of the area.

We headed back to Eckbeck, packed up, bid the "bathroom" a fond farewell and headed back 30 minutes to unpack and reset up our camp.  As I said, I didn't think Eckbeck had been terrible, but this...

This was like the Ritz in comparison.  There were real bathroom facilities - doors and sinks.  It was heaven.  Our campsite was fairly private and a really nice size.  It was like we had a little sleeping area and on the side a little living/dining room complete with a "fireplace".  Cozy.

After all that driving one of the first things we did after setting up the tent was to make a delicious lunch of soup and crackers.  Never does Campbell's soup taste so good to me as when we are camping.  The kids thought it was awesome to do dishes...

After this we headed straight to the falls for a very long, very picturesque hike!

This was the view from the top of the bridge.

This was the bridge:

This bridge was one of many sites built by the "CCC Boys".  All those stones?  Hand picked and often times hand chiseled to get them to fit into each unique spot.  This bridge is gigantic and is called "The Castle" because of the way it looks, which unfortuantely you are going to have to trust me - looked like a castle.  I didn't have pictures of the whole thing.

Afterward we walked under this to begin our tour of the falls.  I believe Maddie said there were five falls total, though I think the official designation is the "Upper", "Middle", and "Lower" falls. 

This was the first set of falls.  And can I just say: tourists were so annoying!  They were everywhere and it was hard to get any kind of decent nature shot without someone walking all around.

I'm going to be a seriously awsome "cloner" with my Photoshop by the time I'm finished with these pictures.

Anyway - we walked to the top of these and all around actually.  I'm sure we are in someone else's photos.

There were a couple "caves" formed when the lava from the area was eroded by the glaciers and the air pockets were revealed.  Maddie and Jake thought these were fun to climb into.

This is my inner "Ansel Adams" trying to break out.  I'm sure he didn't have the feet of a million tourists to deal with.

After exploring the first falls, we turned around and headed to the next set.  I thought this was a very pretty site.  It made me envious of all the people that get to wake up in this area of the world everyday.  The entire time we were up there I thought how peaceful it would be to live up here.  But I know that will never happen.  Mike detests cold.  To go further north would incite a riot in our household.

That and I didn't see a single, solitary Target.  It might not be so peaceful because the lack of that seems very stressful.

This was the middle set of falls.  I'm very excited because here I tried a new technique for picture taking.  First I shot the falls in a way that made the water very crisp and clear.

Then I shot them again to make the water seem more "fluid" - "blurry" - "misty"...I'm not sure what the term is, but I was excited to make it happen and still have the rest of the shot mostly turn out.

Hello?  Anyone still awake?

We got right up next to these falls. 

Again with the tourists!

Wait a minute...I guess I won't clone them out.

Then it was off to the lower falls.

Maddie and Jake desperately wanted to walk around in the water. Most of the water was fairly calm, but there had also been a sign stating that the water was low and leeches were more prevelant. Mike and I weren't so desperate to pick those off so we didn't allow the shoes to be removed.  Buzzkills.

 

There was a lot of area to climb around on rocks, but we were all getting pretty tired at this point so we headed back up to the visitor center and back to camp were we could put our feet up and figure out how we were going to work out an extra night of dinner from our supplies.

Part two of day two tomorrow.  At this rate this trip might take a month to get through!

Summer Vacation

We did it!  We not only managed to squeeze in a vacation the last week of summer, but we were able to get the camping in that we had talked about doing all summer!  Score one for us!

Mike and I each had last week off and we were hoping to do some fun things with the kids before they headed back to school.  We thought camping would be neat and something we could easily manage for a couple nights.  We left last Sunday. 

Generally, we are overly anal on most things.  Big trips require excel spreadsheets.  However, little trips and little outings rarely get a moment's thought.  We didn't consider this a big trip so it didn't get much planning.  We also had our neighborhood party the night before we left; we were easily up until 2am.  We hadn't done ANY packing beforehand, though Mike had thought to pull our camping gear out of the attic.

That said, we woke up Sunday, asked each other if we were really going to do this and got ready.  We had decided to head to the North Shore to see Lake Superior and try to stay at Gooseberry Falls.  We picked up our kids from my parents who graciously agree to keep our dog while we were away, we headed home, and we packed.  About an hour before leaving I started feeling really awful; bad headache, awful stomach ache.  I was suddenly exhausted and snuck in a few quick rests on the bed between packing trips.  At one point Mike said, "Geez - you look awful," and I told him I felt awful.  But we packed up and headed out and stopped at McDonalds to eat lunch on the way.  We anticipated about a 4+ hour drive and it was already pushing 1pm when we left.  I took one bite of my cheeseburger and packed it back up.  Then I realized I was going to need a plastic bag shortly and started to quickly unpack some snacks that I had thankfully put into a gallon zip-lock.  And sure enough...as Mike was driving down the road, up came everything I had eaten that day.  After the first round Jake said, "Do you feel okay, mom?"  Mike advised him to just be quiet for a little bit.  Mike veered in the direction of the gas station, I got out, threw away that bag and got back in the car where Jake said, "Well, do you at least feel better now?  I don't like to throw up, but MAN! do I feel better when I do."  I told him I actually did feel better, then I passed out and slept until we reached Duluth.  Not the best way to start a vacation.  I can only think it was a little stomach bug; the same thing had happened to Maddie two nights before.

But we did make it to Duluth.  We got out at a rest stop to have a look at the view and collect some information on the area.

Maddie and Jake thought this thing was awesome...

It probably would have been cooler still if we'd had any change and they could have looked through it.

Maddie took no less than five pictures of Mike and I until she felt she'd gotten a good one - but she succeeded.

There were a bunch of rocks to climb.  I think they were more for landscaping than fun, but it didn't stop Jake and he asked me to take his picture.  Aaaahhh...the days of my kids asking to take my picture - I'm sure they are dwindling.

We got back into our car and continued north.  We arrived at Gooseberry only to discover that there were no available campgrounds that night, but that we could return the next morning to see if any were opening or at least to get our name on a waiting list.  The ranger advised us to drive even further north to a campground called Eckbeck where there were probably some openings.

Eckbeck is about 30 minutes north of Gooseberry so we were getting nervous we were going to run out of light to put up the tent.  We arrived and managed to get the tent up without instructions in time to also make dinner before it got too dark.

Eckbeck is considered a "primitive" campground: there are no frills.  The toilet is a hole in the ground covered by a "throne" surrounded by a wooden box.  This is far fancier than we had when we had our canoeing outings with Tracy, Rob, and Dad a couple years ago.  But...it took a little getting used to for Maddie and Jake - especially the smell.  At night, Maddie was very happy to hear that I would stand with my back to her and the flashlight behind me so she could see.  I told her girls had to stick together in these dire situations.  All in all though, Mike and I were completely happy with these accomodations and decided that we could easily camp our two nights there if we didn't get to stay at Gooseberry the next night.

And with that the first night came to a close.  More to come...

Neighbor's Putts

To continue our tale of our neighborhood golf night...

There were four separate holes, including ours.  We meet up with different couples at each "course". 

Our first hole was titled, "Repeat Offenders".  They took the games they've played the past two years and set them both up.  They also added a third game which I thought was actually pretty fun.  It involved throwing a frisbee through two poles that were very close together (as in - closer than the width of a frisbee).  On top of each pole was a plastic cup.  The object was to get the frisbee through the poles for a certain set of points.  If you knocked the cups off, more points for you.

We all thought this would be impossible, but yours truly proved it wrong.  The frisbee went right through the poles and knocked off a cup.  The one hole that didn't have prizes!!!

Some holes dressed up as a group.  Our group dressed in Twins gear or Twins colors.  One hole dressed in matching t-shirts.  Actually the girls on that team were all dressed exactly as above.

Our next hole was insane!  The details were tops! 

First we entered the front yard to the title...

Then another sign directed us to the backyard...beware!

This was their course...

They had actually mowed and spray-painted their grass.  They had also mowed out special starting spots for men, women, and pros.  Each color was a separate point value with the little red spots worth the most.  We are all curious how long this will take to grow out.

They also had quite the food setup -

Yes - that's a chocolate fountain in the middle.  Lots of fruit to dip in there.  Luckily they also had some pretzels so I got to enjoy it as well.

And they had this machine...

This machine came into play last year and there were more than a few of us hoping it would make a reappearance this year.  It was filled with pina coladas on one side and margaritas on the other. 

I believe most of us hit the food and drinks before actually playing the golf game.

And the details - there were these tiny hula girls made by the hosts. 

They were table confetti.  Confetti.  Tiny...

Sonny said she had a hard time after glueing these together because she realized the backs of the girls were naked. 

The next round was titled "What Happens in Shakopee Stays in Shakopee".  This is the team that had matching t-shirts made with a roulette wheel on the front and the title on the back.  Very cute shirts, actually!

You had so many chances to chip your golf ball into this large rotating roulette wheel!  Each section was numbered and even carpeted!

This continually spun around on wheels found at a flea market using a chicken rotisserie.  Very clever!

Afterward everyone ended up here swimming and hanging out until about 1:30am.  There was a repeat appearance of the speedo-clad neighbor.  This year he showed up wearing a t-shirt that just barely covered the speedo and Mike found that almost more frightening than just the speedo.

A very fun night that we look forward to every year!  Now we have to start brainstorming ideas for next year's game!