Good Day to All:
We recently got back from our yearly camping trip. It amazing how quickly things becoming yearly events. We took our first camping trip last year, our second this year, and now it's a yearly event, we're already planning our third.
Now, let's start with a little history of me. My family is cheap be nature, but comfortable by design. We did camp in my childhood. I remember a pop up camper -- or tent trailer in Minnesota speak -- that followed us to Anamosa Iowa and the Black Hills of South Dakota. It also housed many poker games, mostly 5 card stud and 5 card draw where my brothers gave me money in order to for me to lose it to them.
The general theme for camping with Ives's was misery. My mom hated camping, my dad liked camping in Holiday Inns, and they only went because camping is cheap. They were not the singing around the campfire parents, they were off reading in the corner.
Of these two camping trips I remember taking with my family, one ended in a severe thunderstorm warning, the other when my aunt died and we had to come home for a funeral. Even the camping I did with the girl scouts was memorable due to disasters. Another thunderstorm, with a possible tornado for one, and a big old leach stuck to my foot for the other.
I'm not even sure how I let Ben talk me in to going camping again. I think it's because like my parents, I'm cheap. Camping, especially tent camping, is a cheap way to see the country, as long as everything fits into the car.
So Ben talked me into going camping with our neighbor's Gary and Kay Pierson. They are lovely people, enamored with Minnesota wildlife, and the perfect tour guides to the state.
We went on our first camping trip in 2007. It was a quick trip, 1 night in Duluth, 3 nights in Grand Marais. We left in mid August... you know August, hottest month of the year, sweltering heat into the 100's with humidity in the 80% range... yeah, no. The warmest day we got was the day we drove home, it hit 70. Not in the seventies, but 70... with a zero on the end. The rest of the time, we were lucky if the temperature hit 60, with nighttime temps dipping into the 40's. Luckily for me, I got some great advice from my other neighbor Emily. We grabbed stocking caps for the entire family. Tents get rather cold in the dead of summer.
It's even colder when you can't have a campfire. That summer there was drought and the day we pulled into camp was the day they put a burning ban in place for Northern Minnesota. So just imagine, 50 degrees, no fires, and sleeping in a canvass tent that leaks -- even though they haven't had rain in weeks, when we show up, they get rain. Yup.. I'm still an Ives, camping disaster follows me into adulthood.
But we had fun, lots of fun. We went to the Split Rock Lighthouse, and we climbed on Goosebery Falls. We took a drive through the boundary waters canoe area (we didn't stay, and probably never will) We visited Grand Portage and went up to the Canadian Border (wanted to go over, but I didn't have my passport and I didn't want to stay in Canada indefinitely)
So despite the fact I have pictures of my kids layered up in two sweatshirts and stocking cap in the middle of August, it was fun.
Fast forward one year, minus a month, and we're off again. This time the itinerary is longer... two days in Brainard, 4 in Ely, and then where ever the wind would take us after that.
So true to my Ives roots, what's the first thing that happens on the trip? We leave late, and why do you ask, do we leave late? Because Cole has spiked a fever. My kids, like me, don't run fevers. If they have a fever, something is very very wrong. Cole has had about 5 fevers in his lifetime, two of which got him hospitalized. So we take him up the doctor... is it strep? Well the test comes back negative. But just in case, the pediatrician gives me the prescription, chewable tablets since we're traveling, and tells me to give it to him for just a few days, to get him over the hump, then stop since we don't need anymore antibiotic resistant bacteria. (I know, and Cole too, know the problems with antibiotic resistance first hand, so we don't argue.
We take off for Brainard about 3 hours later than we wanted, but we're off. Now, picture this. A white mid-sized sedan, specifically a 1997 Toyota Camry, with four people seated inside, two adults in front and two kids in booster seats in back. Now imagine the trunk of the car with every millimeter of space has being utilized, boxes and blankets and sleeping bags all arranged so that no space is wasted. Now imagine a wall of pillows and blankets between Cole and Jared. At least they can't fight.
We get to Brainard and head to the home of Gary's parents... Joyce and Roger Pierson. They live on Love Lake, a perfectly round little thing that attaches to the Brainard Chain of Lakes via Gull Lake. We hang out there as the Pierson Brood go enjoy a little reunion of the campers that used to stay at the camp ground they used to own. Like family... kinda.
Anyway, somewhere around the time that Ben and were chatting in the 4 season porch while Cole, Sarah (Gary and Kay's 8 year old daughter), and Jared watch Disney Channel, Gary and Kay come back and we all go to the reunion. Gary mills around telling everyone that we used to stay in spot 13. I add some flourish -- the actual permanent camper was Ben's grandpa and Ben used to visit as a kid, he had long red hair then, past his shoulders. No one buys it except for one guy who keeps giving us odd looks.
The party is at a lake home on Gull Lake. The water is choppy and the sky overcast. But the weather holds out. The spread of food is incredible, but being a celiac, I choose the burger without a bun, some chips, some fruit, and some potato salad, which I don't eat because I don't like potato salad. I'm sure we gave the kids something meaningful to eat, but it seems like they both had 3 brownies and a cookie a piece.
For those of you who don't know my kids, the next piece might sound scary. One of kids fell off the dock, into the lake. Now, for those of you who know my kids, you might assume (due to his fearless nature) that it was Jared who took the tumble. But no, it was Cole. Cole, you know, the kid running the fever, fell into the 50 degree lake water. He didn't cry, at least not after the initial shock of the freezing water. He fell in the shallows and walked out, soaked from his waist down, laughing his head off. But we had no clothes for the poor kid, having unloaded the car at the Piersons. We put an extra sweatshirt on him, and then put mine on him too, and that seemed to do the trick. From then on, he and Jared both wore life jackets.
The next day we wanted to spend on the pontoon. But the wind whipped out of the Northwest like a knife. The water was a choppy mess. Ben, Gary, Roger and I attempted it and it was like being on a ocean, the swells were so big. Instead we decided to go to Paul Bunyon land... I mean, come on we're in Brainard, we have to go see Paul.
I missed the initial reaction to Cole and Jared meeting the 100 foot tall statue. But Cole was apparently freaked out. He refused to sit on Paul's boot to get his picture taken.
The park was probably the cheesiest amusement park I've ever seen. First off, it was the only place where adults cost less than the kids. The rides consisted of carnival rides from a traveling show that were anchored into place. There was a carousel, a ferris wheel, and the tilt of whirl (which make me sick) that were typical of a carnival. The other rides were all geared at kids. There were four versions of going around in circle rides. There was a space shuttle thrill ride that swung the kids back and forth (like the galleon at Adventureland in Des Monies) There were bumper cars. There was a roller coaster, oval shaped, that went up and down little bumps of hills. There was a fun house and a scary mine.
Think the cheesiest versions of all these rides possible. That was Paul Bunyon Land. Now... that said, on a fun scale, it was an 8.5 out of 10. Cole and Jared loved it. There were absolutely no lines. If they liked a ride, they just jumped off and jumped right back on again. Cole went on the Space Shuttle six times in a row. Jared and Sarah ran through the fun house over and over again, inventing their own game in the process. We rode the ferris wheel several times and then headed over to the This Old Farm, a place that collected antique buildings and relics of the past.
We headed back that night to a wonderful Turkey dinner, complete with mashed potatoes, corn, and all the fixings for Thanksgiving dinner. It was fabulous, thanks to Joyce. Then afterward, the water had calmed enough to go on the Pontoon for a evening boat ride. It turned out to be the wildlife ride because we saw an eagle, a couple of deer, and several loons. Cole feel asleep on the ride home.
After the kids were in bed, Gary, Kay, Ben and I headed back out on the lake to look at the stars. I could identify 3 constellations and that bothered me. I later bought a book and a star chart to help me figure it all out. Ben and I got into a heated debate about star locations (and I'll admit it, he was right, I was wrong)
The next day we did a true pontoon ride with Cole and Jared hanging out of the sidewinder, me and Ben trying our hands (and knees) at knee boarding, and just having a relaxing time. We left for Ely that afternoon, after stopping to get Jared a prescription. You see, Cole fever turned out to be strep. His fever broke on Monday, but we couldn't very well be 70 miles a Walgreens if and when Jared got sick. (He didn't, which is great)
We arrived at our campsite (halfway between Babbitt and Ely) just before a huge thunderhead. We set up tents in a mad rush and then Ben sprayed it with waterproof spray. Now, if you've never been in a tent that has been recently waterproofed, let me tell you, it smells like poison gas. I refused to stay in the tent that night. Since Gary and I had been reminding Ben to take care of the tent for over 3 weeks before we left, and he never did it, Ben contritely agreed to stay in a hotel for the night. Which we did.
The next day, Gary and Kay met us in town and we ate breakfast at a cute little place with a bar attached. The bar provided early morning entertainment for the kids (they played with the cue ball at the pool table, while we finished our breakfast.) Then we headed to a wolf sanctuary where they keep 9 wild, but habituated, wolves. There were new pups, cute little things as big as a typical lab pup, but with wild hair and huge paws. We spent several hours there, looking at the pups, learning about wolves before we headed back to the camp for the night. We fished a bit, ate and had a campfire before turning in.
I woke that morning at 5:30 to the sound of loons. That and I had to go to the bathroom, which wasn't particularly close. A word about Burnett's in a tent. Our tent is a small, inaccurately named, 7 person tent. 7 people, right... it should be huge with plenty of head room and lots of room to walk. Yeah... No. Our tent fits one full size air mattress, and two kid sleeping bag/air mattress combos. But it's pointless putting up the kid's sleeping bag. They sleep on top of us. And Northern Minnesota in the summer is by no means warm at night. It probably got to 50 degrees.
So let's stop and consider... Cole is running a fever, sleeping in tent that is just above 60 degrees inside. So both kids roll over on top of us and we are a Burnett pile, with little cold hands curling around my arms in the of middle of the night.
Anyway, the next day we headed for the Sudan mines... a bit of a hike, maybe 45 minutes from where we camped. We stopped in Tower, little town of no consequence except for the HUGE STEAM ENGINE!!! Of course, we stopped. In this little town, there was an original Northern Minnesota homestead. A two room thickly insulated hut, where the animals lived in one side, and the man on the other. Now, I've seen these conflagrations in Iowa before. The main difference here is the length of the winter. In Tower, they can expect snow on the ground from sometime in mid November to about mid April, count it people, 5 months of winter.
We then went to Sudan, for a tour of the Hematite mine...(I will go into some boring details here due to the family members I have who are in the steel industry.) The mine at Sudan was a dry, deep, mine that only produced iron ore. They used to use open pit mining, but that was back in the 1880's and people would die from rocks falling on their heads. So they went underground at the turn of the century. They were mining the 27th level when they stopped in 1967. They were 2500 feet underground, about a half mile. They showed how the miner's lived and worked in those conditions. Apparently Sudan was the "Cadillac of mines" They only had to pump out about 2 millions gallons of water a year, the mine was temperature controlled at 50 degrees and fresh air naturally circulated due to the open pit mine above. It was hard work and a rough way to work, but they were paid well for the time.
Then Ben and I, after a trip to get some ice cream, headed back down the mine to see the physics lab that the U of M, put there. They are trying to isolated neutrinos, specific neutrinos that have been fired by Fermi labs in Chicago. They are also trying to confirm the presence of dark matter. It was totally fascinating. If you have any questions about it, let me know, I could talk about it ad nasuem.
Then we headed up to Orr to go to Vincent Shuttes Bear Sanctuary. Upon arriving at the landing to look at the seven black bears that feed here on a daily basis, Cole announced, "I'm not a bear person. Let's go back to the campsite." It didn't help that it had just rained and the mosquitoes were thick. But we stayed, despite his and then Jared's protests. Then a lady came out and did a presentation about not feeding bears. She literally talked for 15 minutes about how we shouldn't feed bears, despite the fact that they were feeding bears and we were all tourist who lived no where near bear country. Net effect... she terrified Cole. So not only is he not a bear person, he thought we needed to hang all our food from trees. At the end of the speech, Cole said, "It's time to go. After we listen to the people talk then it's time to go." We took the hint.
I haven't mentioned Gary and Kay much yet and I should. Their presence on the trip make our vacation so much better. When the kids got whinny, Gary would often distract them. Kay, ever patience, would always be willing to watch them and calm them down and distract them.
On the way home Cole fell right to sleep, it was nearly 9:30 when we headed out. Jared didn't. And then he fought us for almost an hour after we got back to the tent. Finally Ben and I realized that Jared took not one, but two naps in the car that day. I think I fell asleep before he did.
The next day, Ben and I went into Ely for a bit of shopping, while the kids did a nature program at the campground. While we were eating lunch and getting a few trinkets to take home, Cole and Jared and Sarah headed to the beach. Do you know how much more relaxing it is to be at a beach with my kids while they're in life jackets? Life is good. We got back to the camp at about 2 and then we hung out the rest of the day. Swimming, fishing, cooking and eating. It was a good time.
Next day was Friday, and time to part ways. We all headed into Ely for lunch and some more shopping. Cole and Jared got to pick out their one souvenir from the trip. Cole wanted a stuffed wolf that he spotted the first day we were there, so we grabbed that for him. Jared on the other hand, he decided he wanted a stuffed fish. It's a large mouth bass, fluffy and snuggly. Fishy is it's name. So now Jared's stuffed animal collection includes two snakes (one with two heads) and a stuffed fish.
About 1 we headed south for Duluth. We stopped at the Gooseberry Falls again and this time saw it with water flowing over top. As we drove down scenic highway 61, we saw a freighter in the waters of Superior. We pulled into Duluth, checked into the Canal Park Lodge, with a view of Lake Superior, and then headed out to a night on the town.
It was gorgeous in Duluth. The water was calm, the weather a delightful 70ish degrees. The freighter we saw out to sea came in just as we were heading down the boardwalk. It was so cool. The ship was about 700 feet long, a Canadian coal ship. The bridge in Duluth Harbor rose up to it's full height and the ship rolled into the harbor. Then we got to see another one as it left a few minutes later.
We ate dinner at Grandma's, a famous local spot known for their marathon that they sponsor and then we all collapsed into bed that night. I feel asleep long before I meant too, cuddling Jared because he was so wired.
The next day brought our last day of vacation. The day in Duluth turned 180 degrees. The weather had been calm and warm. Saturday brought huge swells and white caps on Superior. The temperature started at 70 degrees and steadily fell. We wanted to watch another ship come in or leave the harbor so we checked out of the hotel and headed back there. But it was freezing, about 58 degrees with the wind whipping. We managed to stay there long enough to see two boats leave, but we waited almost an hour to do it. Because of the fog that rolled off the water, it delayed everything.
We headed for home about 2 in the afternoon, in the pouring rain.