Vacation Wednesday

Wednesday looked like rain. Staying in a tent all day in the rain wasn't our first choice. I did however, have a plan. This would be the day we drove to Ely and explore the International Wolf Center and the North American Bear Center. The plan got extended a bit the day before. While we were at lunch the waitress talked to us about some other fun touristy things to do in Ely. She also told me the correct way to say Ely. I was pronouncing it E-lI, like the name, apparently, it is pronounced E-lEE. Beyond that though she also told us about the The Root Beer Lady. She lived on the Knife River and owned a resort there years ago. There is a museum in Ely about her life and how and why she started making root beer for her resort. It sounded interesting and come on, root beer.

Kahlen seemed excited about all three places. The drive was going to be about two hours both ways. It was about 98 miles away, but it was a long winding 98 mile long road away. That's why it took two hours.

Kahlen sat in back playing games and watching movies, on a long winding road. Do you see where I'm going with this. About 3/4 of the way there I looked back at her and she was laying against the arm rest crying. She was carsick. Her head hurt, her stomach hurt, I felt awful for her. We found a little pullover. We got her out of the car, gave her some Tylenol and an applesauce out of the cooler. She walked around a bit and started to feel better. As it turns out, this little pullover, it may have been there as part of an actual plan. Carsickness and this road must be a well known phenomenon. As we were letting Kahlen get her land legs back an older couple drove in and stopped at the pullover. They stopped and the man got out and started walking around in the fresh air. The lady looked over at Kahlen and said, "that road is awful, isn't it!" Not as bad as the Needles Highway in South Dakota, but very nausea inducing none the less.

After Kahlen started to feel better we took off again and told her to let us know if she needed to stop again. She didn't, and soon we were at the Wolf center. We got there just in time to see a presentation about how they are trying to repopulate and balance the moose and wolf populations in the National Park on Isle Royal in Lake Superior. Some of the challenges being the wolves and moose themselves. When an animal is relocated into the park they are tagged and monitored. When the lake freezes, those tagged and monitored animals may decide to leave the island in favor of returning to the mainland. If an animal decides to do this, they don't try to find them and return them again, they let the animals decide their own migration patterns. Some stay forever and some prefer to roam. They are allowed to do as nature prods them.

The wolves were out and roaming about in their habitat. They call them their ambassador wolves. There are four ambassador wolves. They seem to be able to live as they would in the wild, as much as they can in a confined area. While they have daily contact with caretakers, they are well protected from the visitors and not domesticated. They honestly seemed to not be at all impressed with the crowd of people on the other side of the glass enthralled with their every move.

Kahlen sat and watched and took pictures of the wolves. I think she could have sat there all day.

As beautiful and intriguing as the wolves were we finally had to leave them behind to get to our other destinations of the day. Kahlen seemed sad to leave them, but was excited for root beer at our next stop. But first we needed to stop for some lunch. For some strange reason, knowing we would be going to the Root Beer Lady museum,  I ordered a root beer at Dairy Queen. Yeah, I don't know why. I rarely drink pop anymore. I haven't for years. Dairy Queen for whatever reason, didn't have ice tea, I didn't want water, so I stood and stared at this strange pop dispenser. I know they've been around for a while but I've never used one. You've probably seen and used them. You pick your pop and then can add a flavored syrup to it. Well, if I was going to drink pop I was going to do it right! I got root beer with cherry syrup. It was good, but not as good as I had hoped, which of course set the root beer lady's root beer up for unreasonable expectations on my part. Would it stand up? That question would soon be answered.

The museum was a short distance from the wolf center. The root beer lady's real name was Dorothy Molter. She had gone to a resort on the Knife River as a summer job as a young woman. She fell in love with the Boundary  Waters Canoe Area Wilderness area and returned to work there permanently, and eventually came to own the resort. At some point, the government decided to make the BWCAW a national park. Dorothy did not want to give up her land and resort. As a compromise, she offered to leave the land to the park after her death as long as she could stay there until then. With the new park came new rules, and all of her supplies needed to portaged into the resort, by canoe. With the new rules came decisions. Previously, she had provided pop to her guests. Portaging meant that pop, which at that time was bottled in heavy glass bottles, was just not seen as a necessity. Portaging by canoe means at times the canoe carrying the supplies had to be picked up and carried across land for up to several miles until it can be put back into water for the next leg of the journey. She just couldn't bring herself to make workers portage pop. As a child I had to carry my mom's eight packs of Dr. Pepper, those suckers were heavy! 

Eventually, Ms. Molter was looking at the collection of old pop bottles she had stored up over the years. That was when the idea of making and bottling her own root beer for her customers came about. She made her root beer from the water in the Knife River, bottled it in all of those old bottles and sold and shared it with her guests and canoers. What started out as a simple replacement for pop that had to be portaged, turned into a business. The people making it now don't use water from the river, but say they try to stay as close to Ms. Molter's recipe as possible. 

We walked around the area. Her personal cabin had been moved from the river to the town of Ely upon her death. You could walk around her cabin and read many facts and antidotes about her. It was interesting but we went through it a little quicker than I might have liked, because, you know, we had a nine year old with us. After we had toured through the area we went to the gift shop and got a six pack of the iconic root beer. It was good, very good. After we left I looked up their website to see if they sell it online, and they do. Same price as at the museum, however, shipping and handling fees, we won't be ordering it online. 

Finally, it was time to go to the North American Bear Center. I think they and the wolf center are linked, we saved a dollar on our admission to the bear center with our wolf bands. I kind of expected the same type of displaying of the bears as at the wolf center. However, it was different. At the bear center they had a behind the scenes tour where you could see the bears a little more up close. Well, at least one. They have four bears at the center. One in particular, Ted, was given to them from a family in Wisconsin who had kept him as a pet. This is legal in Wisconsin, but for whatever reason the family decided he would be better off with the center. Being a former pet, Ted is friendly and very happy to come and get treats from the caretakers. The bears know the pouches that the caretakers have for their treats. People are advised to stay behind a line out of reach of the bears, mostly because they are pick pockets looking for treats if you get too close. 

The bears seem very content in their habitat at the center. The intern giving the tour told us at one point there was a strong storm that had actually destroyed a small portion of the fencing. The bears were found just outside the fencing, but they hadn't wandered off. They happily returned to their home when their caretakers came to check on them as soon as they could get there. 

Back inside, they had a program about other animals indigenous to the area. Including snakes and turtles, both of which they had some that lived at the center. Not all of the interns are crazy about the snakes, and as a joke, the newest snake was named after one of those interns. The woman who did the program let the kids touch the snakes and let the turtle down to check out the kids. She was very good at keeping the more excited children controlled to not scare the animals, while still being friendly. And there were a couple of very bouncy, excited boys for her to deal with. 

As we left it started to rain pretty hard. The drive back was a little dreary and a little less pretty. Kahlen fell asleep through the worst of the winding road. When we got back to the highway we stopped at one of the pull overs along the lake and took some pictures before it started to pore on us again.  We even got to see a rainbow or two.

We decided to have dinner at a little cafe down the highway from the state park. It was good and filling and we didn't have to try to cook in the rain. They also had a breakfast menu, so we decided to stop there on the way to go kayaking the next morning. 

When we got back to the campsite it was muddy and buggy. Rain was still drizzling so we decided to play Yatzee in the tent. 

Kahlen got the only Yatzee, and basically kicked our butts. 

The Weather

No, this isn't about the cruddy, screaming hot weather of today. Although, what the HELL! 85 degrees at 2:00 AM! Seriously!

Anyway, after checking the weather while we were on vacation we decided to go to the Lutsen Mountain Summit Express Gondola on Tuesday. When I was looking into it on the internet I was trying to buy advanced tickets. Every time I tried it the site would switch the date to the day I was ordering the tickets. Yet, it said I needed to order tickets at least 48 hours in advance. But.... I tried.... I was confused. The more I messed with it the more frustrated I became. Since I was doing this at 3:00 am, I couldn't just call them. Finally, I gave up, and decided to call them the next day. 

After almost forgetting to call, I did finally call right before I had to go to work. The man on the other end said we didn't need to buy advanced tickets at all. He said we could just come to the resort and buy tickets on site. That made me feel better. Although, I was worried about long lines. Willie is not a fan of long lines, and an almost ten year old, (though she several times reminded me "I'm ONLY NINE!") I was just hoping for the best. However, that way we could just pick a good day to be outside. He also suggested coming around 11:00 am instead of at 10:00. The restaurant on top of the mountain would be open and it had great views of Lake Superior. 

So, Tuesday we got up early. HAHAHAHA, anyone who knows me knows getting up early is not something I do and I was readjusting to real people time. Besides, the resort was only about a 20 minute drive from our campsite. Anyway, we got up had a light breakfast and headed out. 

Going on a Tuesday was a great idea. There was only one family in line before us. I would guess there is probably quite a crowd on the weekend. We got our tickets and went right to the gondola. The man taking tickets had a little trouble getting the tickets to scan, that was the only wait we had the whole time. When the tickets finally scanned, we got on the still moving gondola. 

The views from the gondola were spectacular.  The only thing that was a little disappointing was that the windows on the gondola weren't as clean as they could be. Otherwise the ride was smooth and slow enough that you could enjoy the scenery. Willie, who has a fear of heights, felt secure and enjoyed the ride. 

Kahlen was thrilled with the ride. "This is so cool!" She took in the sites and took photos with her camera. She smiled the whole ride. 

At the top the view was as advertised. We could see for miles, except for over the lake. It was foggy over the lake that day. It looked like a cloud on the horizon. Kahlen looked through the tourist binoculars and peered over the rail. 

After having our lunch on the deck of the restaurant we got back on the gondola for the return trip over the mountain. We went through the gift shop, where Kahlen found a necklace she really liked. It was silver with mountains and a moose. I figure it was a token that she wouldn't outgrow, like a t-shirt, so we got it for her. 

On the way back to the state park we stopped at an overlook. From that overlook we found a trail to the falls. We had worn our hiking shoes just in case, and were glad we did. The hike was an easy one, some hills and steps but nothing overwhelming. The falls were beautiful, of course. Not in a grand showy way, but like a scrappy little artist looking for its first big showing. The strength of the falls couldn't be denied, its thunderous sound echoed along the path even before we could see it. The root beer colored pools glistening and foaming with each splash of water that entered. 

Other than the fog the weather was perfect. The temperature was 70. The whole week was perfect. Yes, it rained a day or two, but we found things to do inside. The natural air-conditioning provided by the lake was glorious. 

When we got back home, and stepped out of the car into the hot humid Iowa air. As I started sweating for the first time in a week, all I could think was, why do I live in a place where my face melts.

The Long, Long Drive

We decided to leave the house at about 4:30 am on a Monday morning to go pick up Kahlen. I had worked but got off early at midnight. I decided not to take a nap or sleep at all, I know how hard it is to get my butt going after even a little sleep. It just didn't make any sense. I drank some ice tea and did some laundry. I didn't want to leave my glaze splattered clothes where they might attract ants into the house.

Willie got up around 3:30 am, which really is only a half hour before he usually gets up. We finished packing up the last few things and got Bazinga ready to go to our son Josh's house. Bazinga would get to spend the week with his best girl Talula. Mia would be looked in on by a neighbor. We were out of the house on time and on our way.

We dropped off Bazinga and got to Kahlen's house at around 6:30. She was up and ready to go. Paxton was up too, trying very hard to be a good sport about being left behind, this time. His turn will  come in three years. Lots of hugs good bye, and we were on our way.

The drive up to Minnesota was long. Once we got past St. Paul the scenery started to change a little which made it go faster. We thought about stopping in Duluth to ride the train, but were too late for the 1:00 ride and didn't want to wait until 3:00 for the next one.

After stopping at Subway for lunch, we stopped at Betty's Pies. When Willie and I had visited Duluth before I wanted to go there but we didn't make it. Valerie and Joel went up to Duluth for Grandma's Marathon which Valerie ran her first full marathon. (She amazes me so much!) They went to Betty's Pies one day for lunch, and of course pie. They said how good it was, so this time we would not miss it!

Kahlen ordered cheesecake. She saw cheesecake on the menu and knew right away that was what she wanted. Willie got strawberry rhubarb, and it took me a bit to decide on the Great Lakes Crunch pie. A fruit pie with apple, blueberry, rhubarb, strawberry and raspberry, all in one pie. One bite and I knew we were going to have to stop again on the way home. It was the best pie I had ever had. Kahlen decided she needed to torment her mother a wee bit by sending her this photo of her cheesecake.



Back in the car again we stopped a couple of times to enjoy the scenery of the lake. Each new curve brought more beautiful sites.

We got to Cascade River State Park about 5:30. We drove around trying to find our reserved spot, but couldn't find our site number. We stopped at the ranger station, bought our park pass and firewood, and got directions. Once at the site we set up the tent and started a fire to cook hot dogs for dinner. We played some Uno Attack and then got ready for bed. 

Oh, and guess who forgot to bring her camera with her? Yeah, me, thank goodness for iPhones. 

Kahlen Turns 10

My original inspiration for starting this blog was my first grandchild, Kahlen. Watching her grow from an infant to a little person. From that little person with her very distinct opinions and personality to an almost preteen. Ten, she's going to be TEN! It seems impossible but there it is, just the same.

For her tenth birthday I wanted to do something special. I mean, sure, she probably has a list of things she wants. Things that she might enjoy for a while, or clothes she would like. Let's face it though, kids out grow clothes and get bored with things.

Last September I started a new job, and started brewing up an idea for Kahlen's tenth (TENTH!) birthday present. I was working a lot of overtime, so that OT money went into savings. I talked to Willie and got a tentative OK. I thought about it for another month or two, and in December made my move. I knew if I waited much longer I might not be able to do it.

I talked to her mom, and got her and Dad's permission. I made the final decision, and decided for each of the grandchildren, the year they turn ten, Willie and I will take them on a special vacation, just them and us.  The way I see it, they are old enough to remember it, and young enough to still want to hang out with Gramma and Papa for a week. Not necessarily on their birthday, but the summer or spring break of that year. Memories last a lifetime. Everything else time takes away.

I got on the computer and started looking at places to go without a crazy amount of driving. I wanted to go somewhere Willie and I hadn't been so we could all experience the new together. I thought seriously about Yellowstone. With just the three of us we could do that fairly easily, with maybe one overnight stop in South Dakota. The more I thought about it, I decided that someplace a little closer would be better. Plus, I have been to Yellowstone, many, many moons ago, but it wouldn't be all new for me.

Willie and I had gone up to the southern tip of Lake Superior a few years ago and really enjoyed that. I started looking at state parks further up the North Shore. By December, most of the camping sites in most of the state parks along the shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota had already been booked. There were three sites left in Cascade River State Park, so I reserved one. Willie and I hadn't been that far north, and my hope was that it would be cooler the further north we went. Mid July is not one of my favorite times of the year, I hate hot weather. The idea of going north, or up in altitude to escape the heat is very appealing to me.

With the reservation at the park set, this was going to happen. The next few months I spent a lot of time on Pinterest and Google looking for fun things to do while we would be there. And, of course, saving money. I wanted this to be a lot of fun for Kahlen, and for Willie and I as well. I wanted to do new things and see new places. I wanted it to be memorable for all of us.

I looked into horseback riding, but that would have cost over $300 for a 45 minute ride. I couldn't bring myself to do that. That just seemed ridiculous. I told Kahlen way ahead of time that horseback riding was out. She was fine with it, her response being, "we can just go to Dawn's on the way back!" Dawn has horses, but Dawn lives south, we were going north, so no.

I kept looking for things to do, and thought I had found some that we all would enjoy. I found a gondola at Lutsen Mountain that went up to the top of Moose Mountain, and boasted of fabulous views of the Sawtooth Mountains and Lake Superior. (After our trip to the Rocky Mountains last year I thought I should prepare Kahlen for the fact that Minnesota mountains are not like the Rockies. It reminded me of the movie "The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain.")

I found The International Wolf Center and The North American Bear Center both in Ely, MN. I thought those would be good rainy day activities. They would be a drive, but they were close to each other and could be done in one trip.

Finally, I booked a kayak trip. Just a short one, most kayaking trips have age limits, this was the only one I found that a child under 14 could go on. Plus, I didn't know how my old arms would do with a very long trip. I had been looking at canoe trips. I figured we could all be in the same canoe that way. Then I decided, this was about new experiences. Neither Willie nor I had ever been kayaking. It was a guided tour, for beginners, so, perfect.

Either on the way up, or the way home we would try to ride on the North Shore Scenic Railroad. I decided to leave the last two days open for hiking or whatever we might find to do. Adventure awaited us.

Well, it WAS still an eight hour drive.