July 29, 2018
The Science Center was AWESOME! We could have easily spent three or more days there.
One of John’s favorite sights was this giant astronaut. He said it reminded him of the Sta-puft Marshmallow in the first Ghostbusters movie.
Gigantic Astronaut
July 29, 2018
Mighty Mississippi
The National Park Visitor Center is located just off the lobby of the Science Center of Minnesota. It is a very small visitor center with a few displays on the uses of the river and what it means to different people. There is an exhibit where you can attempt to tie off your boat using massive ropes and a cleat as well as other interesting displays.
July 28-31, 2018
We left the North Woods of Minnesota and followed the Mississippi River south to the big city life in Minneapolis/St. Paul. We had booked a nice pull through site at Lebanon Hills Regional Park Campground for four nights, with electric. This is an important note because those hot and humid days were still following us on our travels and we were thankful we had air conditioning each night. While checking the campground out on Google Maps I realized we were right across the street from the Minneapolis Zoo… so we added that to the touring list.
July 27, 2018
Migas for breakfast – YUMMMM
You know a child is growing up when their taste changes. You are no longer restricted to Kraft Mac & Cheese and ramen soup. Chloe has been expanding her palate over the last few years but had some pretty good ruts she was still stuck in. However, she upped her culinary game massively in the last year. We let her select our breakfast place in Bemidji and she surprised us with a yuppy place, Red Stu Breakfast Bar, with weird (to us) food. Continue reading
July 26, 2018
This is what we’d looked forward to for a long time. We were at the headwaters of the Mississippi. For the next week we’d be tracking the river through Minneapolis and into northeastern Iowa. But here is where it truly begins.
For us, no visit to anywhere is complete without stopping at the visitor center. And this one was beautiful.
Mary Gibbs Mississippi Headwaters Center
July 25-28, 2018
Chillin’ in the cool gliders at the visitor center
We decided that since we were “Up North” that it would be a good time to check out the headwaters of the Mississippi River so we booked into Itasca State Park. Just listing all that Itasca has to offer would take pages of blog. I’ll try to put a snapshot here to cover what we did and maybe spark an interest in other people. Continue reading
July 24, 2018
We spent an awesome evening with about 50 black bears at Vince Shute’s.
Vince Shute’s has been and may still be controversial. Let me explain.
Vince Shute ran a lumber camp at this site for several decades. He shot many bears that raided his homestead looking for food. One day he realized, “Bears aren’t mean, just hungry.” So he began placing food outside the camp’s perimeter to keep the bears away from his cabins. Thus began a lifelong pursuit. Continue reading
July 24, 2018
Ash River was our third and final visitor center at Voyageurs National Park. When we pulled into the visitor center parking lot, Chloe spotted a car covered in corks… totally covered. Anywhere paint would be had a cork glued to it… It was cool. There was no signage on the car to explain why.
Cork Car
Ash River has a cozy cabin feel to it with a comfy gathering area by the fireplace. They have loaner adventure packs, books, displays and a small gift shop.
July 24, 2018
Our third and final boat tour was more do-it-yourself. It is their North Canoe program and we loved it! Two Rangers come out in full character dressed as Voyageurs and “recruited” us to try out for a spot on a Voyageur crew. We were asked about our ability to cook, sing, count money and paddle. Good strong muscles were a definite plus but they didn’t reject us wimpy people. We were offered proper attire which we of course accepted. John exhibited a good head for numbers so he was chosen as the money person (easy job as we were just starting out and had no money). This added duty did not reduce the other work required. EVERYBODY hauled and paddled on a voyageur crew.
Our Voyageur recruiters
John, Chloe and Holly as happy voyageurs
July 23, 2018
One Visitor Center down, two to go. We headed to International Falls and the Rainy Lake Visitor Center. This is Voyageur’s largest, fanciest visitor center. It is the only one open year round. They cut ice roads across the lake and back into the park for winter recreation so they stay open to manage that. While ice roads sound neat, we have no desire to hang in the frigid north to play on them. Continue reading
Spirit of the Woods 