Mall of America

Today we visited the number one tourist attraction in Minnesota--the Mall of America.. After hearing about it for years, it was fun to finally see what the big deal is.

It is not only a giant mall, but an amusement park, as well.

Crystal, Ed and I had fun on the Orange Streak, especially since it was tame enough that none of us got sick!

Ed had to visit the Microsoft store, since the Apple store had so many more customers and that annoyed him!

After a few hours our dogs were barking and we needed to take a break!

We recharged and refueled at the Cadillac Ranch restaurant. They had the largest house salads we've ever seen. We liked it!

I got a great new pair of rain boots in the discount racks at DSW. I'm going to be the most fashionable mucker in the barn. I can't wait till I have to care for the horses on a rainy day!

Crystal bought a game called Bang. It was like play-acting a spaghetti western. There was some shooting and intrigue involved.

Ed was the Sheriff and won the game along with his deputy, John. After we surprised him with a Happy Birthday cookie he asked if we just let him win because it was his birthday. We didn't think of that! Happily, he won because he's so smart (and really lucky)!

Two Harbors and Gooseberry Falls

Our resort is just outside the cute little town of Two Harbors. Our hotel is at one of the harbors--Burlington Bay. The other is Agate Bay, where tons of taconite ore is shipped to market on a regular basis. It is a low grade iron ore and is NOT pronounced "taco night."

We started fresh this morning at Gooseberry Falls State Park.

Brittany had no problem on the short hike to Gooseberry Falls.

Amanda tested the water. It was cold, but we've felt much worse in Colorado!

The Lakeshore hike was beautiful, but steep enough that John occasionally gave Brittany a hand.

After a picnic lunch Brittany and John drove off to a viewpoint at Palisade Head, along the North Shore Highway. The rest of us went for a longer hike. It rained intermittently, but there was one point where we were all in shirtsleeves. This was a momentous occasion!

We meandered along the Goosebery River till we reached Fifth Falls. We're not sure where 4th is!

We enjoyed the view and resting up before the return hike.

The honeymooners looked great curled up in this gnarled tree along the falls.

We had a fancy dinner at the New Scenic Cafe, but saved room for dessert back at our hotel. We had some pie with our name on it in the fridge!

For lack of a firepit, we turned on the gas fireplace and sang campfire songs while it rained outside. We finished up the day with a highly contested game of Mormon Bridge our favorite card game for a  rainy day!

We'lll miss our cozy hideout when we move on to the big city tomorrow!

Temperance, Split Rock and Superior Shores

We stopped at Temperance River State Park this morning for a short hike. John was wearing shorts, but that was basically wishful thinking. We still haven't hit the 60's, but it was pleasant hiking weather!

The hike had it all: a river running under a bridge and through a narrow canyon...

...a river outlet into Lake Superior...

..and large rock formations!

We had fun trying to skim rocks in the Lake. Dad and John were superior at that!

After walking to the lake, we crossed the road and followed the river in the other direction.

We were rewarding with a beautiful view of Hidden Falls.

We had a nice picnic lunch before going into the lighthouse at Split Rock.

We took a step back in time and learned what it was like to be the family of a lighthouse keeper in the 30's.

Split Rock lighthouse was a good assignment for a lighthouse keeper, as it was on the mainland, but in the early days it was only accessible by water. Nowadays it is the most visited lighthouse in the US. We were glad today wasn't one of those highly visited days!

We followed the old tram path to the lake level for a better view.

We were not disappointed! It is a spectacular location at the top of a sheer cliff!

We checked into our new apartment at the Superior Shores Resort. Amanda and Nolan had been staying there, so we got a room upstairs from them!

We were very happy with the beautiful view of Lake Superior from our room.

We had a great dinner at the Rustic Inn down the road. We picked up a raspberry cream pie there with a meringue under-crust, as well as a strawberry rhubarb and blackberry peach pie at Betty's Pies. They'll just have to roll us home in a wheel barrow after this trip!

 We tried to work a little of it off in the pool, the hot tub and the sauna.

We wrapped up a very fun day playing Liar's Dice and Farkle, one of our favorite games.

We also played a guessing game to see who could name the most car logos. Ed wasn't in the running, as he put the game together. John had the highest score, getting 33 out of 46 correct. The rest of us need to go back to Auto University!

Brittany was able to identify this cute woodchuck for us.

We also saw a cute little squirrel.

Still searching for a moose....

Grand Tour of Grand Marais

It is fun sharing an apartment. I got to try out my new curling iron on Crystal this morning. I thought her hair looked great!

We were hoping to see some moose on this trip. This is the closest we've gotten so far!

We enjoyed exploring Grand Marais this morning. There was a nice walk along the water to a peninsula called Artists' Point.

It was beautiful, and there were lots of nice rocks for Brittany to rest on!

We sat along the water and listened to Gordon Lightfoot singing the Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald. It helped us appreciate the dangers of the harmless looking Lake Superior.

The walk through the trees almost looked like Colorado. It smelled so fresh.

One of the advantages of being up North in the pre-summer-season, is that there aren't very many people here. We had the tip of Artists' Point all to ourselves!

The Cook County Museum had a nice display of maritime items, as well as some interesting written history. There are a LOT of shipwrecks out there in the lake!

We picked up a few souvenir rocks off the beach to take home.

Crystal wanted to take advantage of our hotel's offer to provide us with paints to decorate our rocks.

Crystal, Ed and John really excelled at rock painting. Brittany and I had fun, too.

We roasted marshmallows around the fire after dinner tonight. The hotel provided all the supplies for s'mores! They're so nice to us here. We met two new friends from "the Cities." That is Minnesota-speak for Minneapolis-St. Paul. They had the fire just right for us when we arrived at the fire pit.

Despite the 50 degree temperatures, we were warm enough today. It was nice sitting close to the fire, however. Tomorrow we'll be moving a little further south, hopefully, raising the temperature a few degrees, as well.