Voyageurs National Park

We've spent yesterday and today in Voyageurs National Park (park #273 for us).  I didn't blog yesterday because I was too tired, but our plans changed a bit this moring making us finish up a little early today, so you get a blog!

Yesterday, we got to Voyageurs right around lunch time, so we enjoyed a picnic lunch near the Ash River Visitor's Center.  After lunch, we immediately hit the trails in the Ash River area.  We started with the Lake Kabetogama Overlook trail which is about four-tenths of a mile round-trip and pretty flat the whole way.  After that trail, we did the Sullivan Bay trail which is about a mile round-trip with a small hill at the end.  The trail ends with a pretty view of Sullivan Bay.  We ended our hikes with the four-tenths of a mile round-trip Beaver Pond Overlook trail, which does have an uphill at the end, but since it's a short trail it's really easy.  This overlooks what used to be a beaver pond, although there are no longer beavers there.  Supposedly, it is a great place to see "large mammals" according to the trail guide, but the trail guide lies.

Our picnic spot in the Ash River area

Lake Kabetogama Overlook

Sullivan's Bay

Swans just sitting around - Beaver Pond Overlook

After our hiking, we got our stamps from the other two Visitor's Centers in the park and then checked into our room at Thunderbird Lodge.  Steve found a brewpub, Loony's, in Ranier, MN that he wanted to go to for dinner.  As we pulled up to the place, I even asked Steve where he was taking me for dinner.  We pulled up to what looked like a run-down house in the middle of nowhere (but apparently a distillery and hotel are being built across the street).  We walk into the brewpub and it is filled with regulars.  I know that because our bartender knew everyone's name.  I would have felt completely out of place (and did at first) until our bartender welcomed us and was super friendly.  Same with one of the brewers who happened to be there!  We had a great conversation with the bartender and the beers were really good!  Don't get your hopes up about a big menu, because it only consists of cheese and crackers or frozen pizza.  Let me tell you something though, frozen pizza hits the spot after a day of hiking!

Beer at Loony's

While Voyageurs does have some decent hiking trails, the real heart of the park is in the water.  Because of that, we had reservations through Northern Lights Resort to rent a kayak today.  However, when we woke up this morning, it was not only chilly (52 degrees), but also windy which was not the best weather for a day of kayaking.  We were talking to one of the owners and she was willing to let us still use the kayak today, but she also said she wasn't comfortable putting us in the water either (the lake was pretty choppy!).  She asked if we'd be willing to kayak tomorrow instead because the weather would be better.  Thankfully that works with our schedule, so we took her up on the offer.  This was why we were able to finish up a little early today.  We were planning to hike in the Rainy Lake area this afternoon anyway, which we still did, but we were able to get it done sooner than anticipated.

When the kayaking plans were moved, we went back to the Beaver Pond overlook to try to find "large mammals."  We still didn't see those mammals, but we saw the same swans as yesterday with their babies and a hummingbird that would disappear from my camera view a half second before I took the picture, and a bald eagle that wouldn't get close enough for my zoom lens to pick up on it.  I would zoom the picture in on the computer, but we didn't bring my laptop on this trip, so I don't have my editing software.  If I remember, I'll add an eagle picture later.

Swans 

Click to open the picture and you may see the bald eagle in the tree

As we were driving out of the Ash River side of the park to get to lunch, we saw a black bear scurry into the woods from the side of the road.  It happened way too fast for us to get the camera ready, but it was a pretty big bear.  At least 6,000 pounds (reminder:  all bears are huge and scary to me, so please note the exaggeration on the size).

After lunch in International Falls, we went to the #1 rated thing to do:  Smokey Bear Park.  They have a 26-foot tall Smokey Bear statue here and that's about all there is to see.  After Smokey, we went to the Tilson Bogtrail, which is a flat trail, about a half-mile round trip on a boardwalk.  We were told there were owls on the trail, but the ranger lied to us.  ;-)

Smokey 

Bogtrail

We ended the afternoon hiking the Oberholtzer Trail which can be longer or shorter depending on what you want to do.  We just hiked to the two overlooks and went back, so it was about a mile round-trip for us.  Our last trail was the Rainy Lake Recreational trail which is paved and relatively flat.  This can be 1.75 miles round-trip, but we only did about half that.  We walked until you can see water and then turned around because there isn't much more to see beyond that point.  Now we are resting up before dinner.  Tomorrow we will hit the water in the park and then head over to Grand Marais as we work our way to Grand Portage National Monument.

One of the overlooks

On the Oberholtzer Trail

We Had an "Oar"-deal!

Another great day for us!  We had reservations with Riverwood Canoe & Kayak for 9:00 this morning.  On our way to Osceola to meet up with Riverwood, we stopped in town to see Cascade Falls that is just off the main road. You can see the falls from the road, but if you want a closer view, you have to take 156 steps down.  You can also continue two-tenths of a mile to get a glimpse of the St. Croix River.  After our short walk this morning, we met up with Andrew from Riverwood (who is very nice!) to be driven to the launch site to start kayaking in the St. Croix Falls National Scenic Riverway.  This was such a relaxing morning!  There weren't many people on the river this morning and the water was like glass along the way.  It was so peaceful and felt like we had the park all to ourselves.  We spent the morning floating along talking about some of our favorite National Park moments.  Along the way, we saw an eagle, an osprey, a heron, and several shy turtles (they'd jump in the water long before we got close to them).  Sadly no pictures of the wildlife since the turtles wouldn't cooperate and we used our Go Pro for pictures today (which doesn't have zoom).

Cascade Falls

St. Croix National Scenic Riverway

Selfie time!

After our kayak trip, we had a 4 hour drive to Itasca State Park.  This is where the Mississippi River headwaters are.  Once you get to the Visitor's Center, it's a very short walk (only 800 feet) to Lake Itasca and the headwaters.  This was a very pretty area and we spent about a half hour walking around and taking pictures.  It's so funny to see how small the headwaters are - it's only 18 feet across!  When you think of the "Mighty Mississippi," a 'stream' isn't what you think!

Lake Itasca is behind the rocks and the Mississippi starts in front of the rocks. 

Standing in the middle of the Mississippi River!

We have an incredible view tonight from our hotel room on Lake Bemidji, where we are enjoying the sound of the lake, watching baby ducks, watching the sunset, and drinking some Hunt Club.  I almost let the view keep me from blogging, so consider yourselves lucky.  :-)

Sunset on Lake Bemidji 

Duckies!

Mighty Mississippi

Today's adventures included some fun with the Mississippi River, more breweries, more card games, and more time with Tyler & Britta!  We started the day by heading to the Science Center to get information and the stamp for Mississippi National River & Recreation Area.  The ranger there recommended we go to Schaar's Bluff to view the Mississippi from an overlook.  We enjoyed a short walk around the park to the overlook and back.

Mississippi River from Schaar's Bluff

After the overlook, we met Tyler & Britta at Minnehaha Falls.  This isn't part of the park system, but it was still cool to see!  There has been recent flooding, so the waterfall and the creek were gushing!

Minnehaha Falls

The group at Minnehaha Falls

Lunch was at Surly Brewing Company

After lunch, we headed over to St. Anthony Falls to get another Mississippi NRRA stamp.  Tyler & Britta got to see first-hand a small park experience with us!  It wasn't too eventful though since the Visitor's Center was small and didn't have magnets or postcards (sorry T.R.!).

St. Anthony's Falls - the flow rate today was 23,000 cubic feet per second (to put in perspective, imagine 23,000 basketballs per second).

After the quick park trip, we headed over to Modist Brewing Company for another round of beers. Tyler was telling us that Modist is his favorite brewery in the state and it was delicious!  We ended up having a few rounds while we played one game of 99 and we taught Tyler and Britta how to play Quarters (another card game).

Beers at Modist

I already said as much in the blog about yesterday, but we had such a fun time catching up with Tyler and meeting his family!  Thanks again Tyler & Britta for a great weekend!  Steve and I are now in our hotel room in St. Croix Falls, WI.  We are headed for a kayak trip down the St. Croix River tomorrow, which is part of St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.

Llamas, and Whiskey, and Beers, Oh My!

We had THE MOST fun day yesterday!  Vacation started with a surprise from Steve.  On Friday, he stumbled upon Carlson's Llovable Llamas and he knew I would love it, but he didn't tell me what we were doing.  I was so excited once I knew!!  This was so much fun!  We basically had a llama experience.  First we learned the differences between a llama and an alpaca, then we played with baby llamas and their mamas.  Then we got to take a llama for a walk, brush a llama, feed them treats, and learn about the shearing process.  The highlight of the experience was when our guide, Kaylie, caught one of the babies for me to hold!  She was a surprisingly light baby llama given her size, and she was super soft!  I was begging Steve to let it be my therapy llama so I could take it home on the plane with us.  We took Gracie and Holly Cow for a walk around the grounds which was fun except Gracie didn't like the other llama behind us that was following too close.  Gracie spit at that one!  Gracie cut me off towards the end of our walk to grab some grass too.  Apparently she was starving, haha!

Baby llama!!!

Gracie (left) & me

Baby llama's mama - Coco

So freaking cute!!!

Steve holding baby llama (they don't name the baby llamas until the end of their summer season - the 4H kids name them).

Different Mama and baby - this one was the youngest baby (only a few weeks old)

Llama kisses (technically an alpaca though)

Llama kisses for Steve

We went over to Schram Winery & Brewery where our intention was to have lunch but the food truck wasn't set up with enough time for us to do that.  So we enjoyed a wine and beer tasting instead.  Both were really good.  The Maple Brown was one of the best beers I've ever had - it tasted like ice cream!

Schram's beer sampler

Yesterday was National Rose Day, so of course we tried a glass of their semi-sparkling rose!

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we met up with Tyler and his wife, Britta, at their house to ride over to J. Carver Distillery.  Tyler used to work for a company called Vertafore.  The company I work for uses Vertafore products and Tyler was my go-to person when I needed something.  Sadly, he left Vertafore a few months ago, but we have maintained a friendship.  He knew I liked whiskey and one time when he came to Maryland he brought us some of J. Carver's Hunt Club, which is a fantastic beverage.  We went on the tour of the distillery and of course enjoyed a few samples!  We also stopped by Waconia Brewing to grab a quick sampler.

J. Carver Distillery Tour 

Barrel room - I need a Yankee Candle for the smell of this room.  It was heavenly!!

Our samples after the tour

Waconia Brewing sampler

We ended the day with some delicious pulled pork at Tyler and Britta's house followed by an extremely fun game of Oh Hell (card game), it was extremely fun because I won!  Then we taught everyone how to play 99 - another card game.  Sadly, neither Steve or I were victorious in that game.

Intense game of 99!

Tyler & Britta - thank you so much for everything yesterday; we had an absolute blast!  We can't wait for your visit in October!  ;-)  Seriously, make it happen!

Europe Finale & Memorial Day Weekend

Yeah, it's been a while again.  I never did finish (or start really...) the last blog of the Europe trip.  So, here's the last part of that followed by our surprise trip over Memorial Day weekend.

Our last day in Prague was a paid Viking tour to Terezin.  The reason I was never motivated to write this blog was because this was the most depressing day of the entire trip.  Terezin is a hybrid concentration camp/ghetto from World War II.  This was an all day tour since Terezin is about an hour away from Prague.  We started in a museum where our tour guide pointed out different exhibits to give us an introduction to Terezin and its history.  Then we walked past the cemetery into the concentration camp.  This is where the heaviest part of the day was.  The Holocaust has always intrigued me, even though it is a very depressing time in our history.  In high school I wrote a research paper all about it.  I thought I learned a lot from doing that research paper and it is a topic that has always weighed heavy on my emotions since that paper.  Seeing a concentration camp in real life magnifies those emotions significantly.  I can't explain my feelings very well while walking through Terezin, but I realized several times that I was holding my breath throughout the tour. This is something I tend to do when I'm scared.  I'm not exaggerating - seeing it and hearing the stories were terrifying.  I can't imagine the thoughts going through someone's head while there during the war.  Sorry to kick off the blog on a depressing note, but what do I always say about depressing stops in our travels?  We learn about it so we don't repeat it.

Over 10,000 children were at Terezin.  Terezin was made to look like it was a happy-go-lucky area to outsiders, so children were allowed to draw.  A lot of the drawings on display were of life at Terezin.  Most of the children that were at Terezin died at other camps such as Dachau and Auschwitz.  Terezin was not an extermination camp. 

Cemetery

The chilling words "Work sets you free."

Bunks - further into the war, this would hold hundreds of people.

Showers - again, Terezin was not an extermination camp so this isn't a gas chamber.

We ended the tour at a brewpub to help drown away our depression after the tour.

On to something more fun!

On Friday, May 24, while driving home from work, I was talking to Steve on the phone (we have bluetooth in our car, so stop judging).  I have been pretty stressed lately...very stressed actually.  I was dying to get into a park.  I didn't care where it was, I just wanted to go somewhere.  While on the phone with Steve, I asked which park we could go to within driving distance.  Sadly (or gladly really), we've completed all the parks that are within driving distance from us. Jokingly, I ask Steve if we can fly somewhere just for the day and fly home the same night.  Steve completely shocked me and reminded me that we have a ton of Southwest points and companion pass, so we could see if there was somewhere reasonable we could go.  Three hours later, we were all booked and packed to go to Louisville, KY!  This is the first time we've ever done a spur-of-the-moment trip and it turned out to be a really fun weekend!

We started at Four Roses Distillery where we had some pretty delicious bourbon (of course I loved the most expensive bottle...).  After that, we hit our first park which is Camp Nelson National Monument.  Camp Nelson is where free African-Americans went to enlist for the Civil War.  This is a recently added site under the National Park Service and it was our last park in Kentucky.  It was super hot and we didn't have any water yet since we were making sure we went to the park before it closed.  So we only hiked out to one of the forts and then decided to move on.  Forts aren't my favorite anyway as you all know.

Camp Nelson 

A site for one of the forts

Pretty house at Camp Nelson

The next morning, we went to George Rogers Clark National Historical Park.  George Rogers Clark is the older brother to William Clark (as in Lewis & Clark).  The reason George has his own site is because he led the expedition that defeated the British in Vincennes, Indiana.  He actually managed to do this after marching his men through freezing waters in February and was outnumbered.  What made it fascinating is that he used a lot of sneaky tactics to make the British think he had more men than he actually did.  He did things like having them fire often and screaming and making a lot of noise.  The write ups in the memorial outlined everything he did which was an interesting read!

Our last park of the trip was to Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Illinois.  This was such a cool park!  The few blocks around Lincoln's home is park property so they have set it up like you are stepping back in time to Lincoln's neighborhood from the 1850's.  We had a great ranger give the tour of the house.

Our last day was spent back in Louisville.  We ended the trip by going to the Louisville Slugger Museum, a brewery, and a tour at Evan Williams.  Sorry for the lack of pictures - our camera chip was full during the tour at Lincoln's house.  I hadn't transferred the Europe pictures off it yet!  Oops!

George Rogers Clark Memorial

Mr. Clark inside the memorial

Lincoln's House

Lincoln's desk