sunday, sept 18th - this was the start of the journey for ella, fiona, and autumn. we took the greyhound bus from st. paul to duluth. its an easy way to travel with the girls since the non-stop ride only takes 2 1/4 hours and the girls are able to move around in their seats. we sang songs, read books, and fi flirted with another 2 year old a few seats up. grandma picked us up at the bus depot in duluth and we headed out for an early dinner at taste of saigon (autumn’s favorite home town vietnamese restaurant) with dessert at hepzibah’s sweete shoppe (where autumn worked in college).
monday, sept 19th - the first full day of our vacation - and it was RAINING! (just like at the end!). the downpour didn’t stop us though. we bundled up in rain gear and went for a hike in hartley field with grandma, beckett (grandma’s dog), margie & geeves (a friend of grandma and her dog). we stomped in puddles, found pretty leaves, and were completely soaked by the time we returned to the car. when we got back, autumn gave the girls a warm bubble bath while grandma made hot cocoa. in the afternoon, the girls played indoors with fisher price little people, an old wooden train set, and dress up clothes. autumn went for a trail run with beckett in the woods behind the house. meanwhile, back in st. paul, bill was busy working and fixing stuff around the house.
tuesday, sept 20th - autumn’s 33rd birthday! a beautiful, sunny fall day. grandma volunteers to read at lighthouse for the blind on tuesdays, so we had a morning open to do something interesting. we called the hartley nature center and were told that they have a preschool nature hour on tuesdays. perfect! we hiked quickly over to the park (probably covered a couple miles - ella practically running the whole way so we wouldn’t be late). the hartley nature center is beautiful! the building was built with sustainably grown wood, is powered by solar power, and has homeschool programs. the homeschool programs are once a month during the year, so we hope to sign the girls up in a couple years (the program starts at age 4). this mornings program was open to preschoolers and younger. the girls learned about moose, took a hike down to the lake (ella said ‘we already went on a hike today!’ and she was very right!), and then came back to the center to make moose antlers to wear. grandma picked us up and we went and got bagels for lunch. in the afternoon the girls spent more time playing. they also watched a weird film version of ‘the wind in the willows’. autumn went for another trail run with beckett, losing him on the second lap since he was tired out. in the late afternoon, we went up to hawk’s ridge. it wasn’t an ideal time to see birds, but it was still a great view from up there. after driving along seven bridges road (which ella noticed actually has eight bridges), we stopped at grandma’s and then headed to sarah’s table for dinner. dinner was a little hectic since the girls had already had a long day. we had yummy blueberry bars for dessert. bill arrived at about 9pm, just in time to kiss the girls good night and give autumn two presents - a wicker basket for her 3-speed bike and a beautiful bouquet from sandy. her parents gave her a pair of nice smartwool running socks, a new fleece jacket (which is wonderful, since her old ones are now too big), and a pair of steger mukluks that she got back in december (a very early gift, but much appreciated since they came in handy last winter). more about mukluks later…
wednesday, sept 21 - happy equinox! now we’re really on vacation! the whole family is back together, including greta. after breakfast, we headed north. our first stop was gooseberry falls state park, where we hiked along the hiking club loop to find the clue (if you want to know what it is, better do the hike!). it was a great hike, with lots of rocky ups and downs, colorful leaves, and views of the river and lake. poor greta, however, cut open the pad on one of her rear paws. she is mostly recovered from her torn acl, but still gets stiff easily. add in the injured paw, and she was not able to do much hiking after this first day. after gooseberry, we stopped at split rock lighthouse and went on the tour. ella asked some very good questions of the tour guide (such as why the gears in the light mechanism moved so slowly, and why they used mercury in parts of the light). we neglected to take pictures on the tour since we were so focused on learning about the history of the lighthouse. after that, we headed up to tettegouche state park, with a quick stop in silver bay for dinner. on our way into the park, we saw a black bear running across the road. it arrived at the other side safetly, and it reminded us that we needed to be extra careful about food in camp. our site was a hike-in/cart-in overlooking lake superior. we actually used the cart to haul in our gear…and in one instance, used it to hail a sore greta in from the car. it was a pretty site, complete with a bear box, so we didn’t have to tree our food or bring it back to the car. the weather was cool and clear, so we had a great view of the stars that night. we could even see the milky way!
thursday, sept 22 - still at tettegouche. last night we heard some small creature moving around outside our tent (probably a raccoon, but there are also skunk and porcupine in the park, so who knows). went for a hike out to upper falls. part of the trail goes along the superior hiking trail. our original plan for our fall trip was to do 6 miles a day and back pack along the superior hiking trail. after greta’s hurt paw, and a tired ella after this 3 mile hike, we knew we had made the right choice scaling back to a simple camping trip. on the hike out, we caught a toad (which ella really wanted to take home), saw lots of sap suckers and other birds, saw a snake, and caught crawfish in the baptism river. at the falls, fiona stripped down to nothing and walked around in the water (which was VERY cold). ella stripped to shirt and undies and climbed around on the rocks. it was a beautiful, sunny day. after we hiked back and had a late lunch, we hiked the short way down to the shore of lake superior. greta came along too and did surprisingly well. she loves being in the water, so she was thrilled to end up near the lake. ella played with lake stones, fi explored the rocks, and we all enjoyed the cool breeze and sunshine. back at camp, the girls enjoyed watching our tettegouche camp thief - a little chipmunk. went to bed early.
friday, sept 23 - after packing up our stuff, we headed north west towards ely, minnesota and into the superior national forest and along the edges of the boundary waters canoe area. we stopped in ely for lunch at the chocolate moose, checked out the wintergreen clothing store and steger mukluks store. we saw folks sewing the wintergreen clothes and then later, happened upon the building where they sew the mukluks. after wandering around town for a while, we stopped at the grocery store for a few extra items. with only a vague idea of where we were headed next, we headed northwest into the woods. luckily, we happened upon the right campground after only 20 minutes or so of driving. fenske lake is one of the only snf campgrounds that has online reservations (something we do as much as possible now that we are camping with the girls). the campground is small, with only a couple dozen sites. most are car camping sites, but several have a short hike in. the campground reminded of us places we’ve camped with mike and john, and the lake is supposed to have decent fishing, so we may be headed back there with company one of these days. our site was in off the road by about 100 yards, with another short hike down to the water. there is also a nice swimming beach, but it was too cold to swim for anyone but greta. we set up camp, explored the area a bit, collected leaves (the colors were much more vibrant in this area than they were along the short of lake superior), and build a fire. we had another camp thief - well, thieves - a pair of beautiful grey jays who were very interested in greta’s food. while bill made dinner, the girls and autumn went down to the shore of fenske lake and made a fairy house on a rock. the woodland fairies were very happy to have some nice soft beds made from leaves and moss, and a nice table made of rocks and drift wood. we roasted brats over the fire and then marshmallows with which we made s’mores (with the marshmallows, not the brats). the clouds rolled in a bit so it was harder to see the stars. by morning, it was raining.
saturday, sept 24 - at about 4am, the rain started. it was a light drizzle, but coupled with the cold we knew it might mean the end of our trip. as the sun rose, we got up and made warm oatmeal with cranberries and batches of coffee and hot chocolate. almost as soon as breakfast was ready, the rain started up again. we huddled under the fly of our tent to stay dry and warm. cuddling up and laughing in the rain was one of the best moments of the trip, but we knew that a whole day cooped up in the tent might lead to mutiny among the ranks. autumn went to the car to listen to the weather report and it wasn’t good - cold rain for the rest of the day, possibly lasting the whole weekend. before we had the girls, hours spent in the tent during rain wasn’t so bad. we could read, play cards, etc. camping with children however hones ones ability to cut your losses. knowing when to end the trip when weather turns foul is as important as packing flashlights. when the girls are older, we will teach them how to weather the storm…but at this stage all we would have are two kids with cabin fever climbing the walls of our small tent. it was time to head out. the rain stopped again a short while later, giving us enough time to pack up our things and get to the car. we drove back through ely, stopped at the northern grounds for coffee. we had a bail out plan in place, in case the weather was cold or wet (or in this case - both). we headed to bear head lake state park to scout it out for future trips north. located south west of ely, it is a very pretty park that is definately worth a drive north. as it was, the rain prevented us from doing more exploring, but we did find a tree frog outside one of the outhouses. after that, we went to the soudan underground mine and went on the 90 minute tour, which took us 1/2 mile underground. the girls were great. ella was very interested in the mine, having just read about a copper mine in her click magazine. the rain was still coming down as we left the north woods for duluth. it was wonderful to shower or bathe, put on warm, dry clothes, and eat fresh veggies and fruit after 4 days in the woods (even after eating out twice!). kathy and terry had neighbors coming over for dinner, so we were treated to some great food, wine, and apple crisp for dessert.
sunday, sept 25 - still at grandma and grandpa clark’s in duluth. we grazed a bit for breakfast, did laundry, and packed up. back on the road before noon, we drove for a quick stop at jay cooke state park which is quite close to where we were married (6 years ago!). fiona had fallen asleep, so bill stayed with her while autumn and ella went across the suspension bridge that spans the st. croix river. ella thought it was quite funny that the river water was the color of root beer. we also went and had the girls’ passport club books stamped. fiona earned her second state park patch - while asleep - by visiting 16 state parks. we then drove over to the pioneer cemetery. its still as spooky as it ever was, with crumbling tombstones and sunken graves. ella and bill both found it very interesting. we noticed that a couple of the graves were of infants. ella wanted to know why they had died, and we explained how there were diseases 100 years ago that would often kill children. the shots she gets at the doctor help protect her from those diseases. she declared that she hated shots and that compared to shot said ‘i really wouldn’t mind’ getting a deadly illness. hee hee. from there we headed to moose lake state park where we played fetch with greta, had a somewhat rainy picnic, and visited the agate and geology center. instead of heading straight home from there, we decided to take the long way home to check out some other parks we had never been to before to see if we would want to camp there. first we drove to father hennepin state parkalong mille lacs. the campsites there were pretty close together, so we probably wouldn’t camp there, but the park itself was very pretty. they also have a few albino deer in the park, which would be cool to see. we then drove west to mille lacs kathio. the park was beautiful, even in the rain. there were several camper cabins and some walk in sites, all of which were secluded and wooded. autumn was seriously tempted to stay the night there in one of the cabins, but it wasn’t an option since dogs are not allowed in the cabins. at this park, ella received her 32nd stamp and earned a new passport club patch AND a free night of camping for our next trip! it was rainy, cold, and we were all starting to get grouchy after so many hours in the car. we stopped at a dq for ice cream (why ice cream when were already cold?), and headed for home. just north of the cities we drove through areas that had been hard hit by a storm while we’d been gone. our neighborhood was fine, but the northern suburbs suffered lots of damage to trees and some homes. we were all very happy to finally be home. we bundled up in warm clothes, played for a while, then cuddled up for some pizza and a movie. it was wonderful sleeping in our own bed again. it was a great trip and we hope to revisit some of the parks again soon.
