Warning: Long Post

I should have maybe split this into a few posts, but the photos are uploaded, so I'll mostly let them do the talking.
Saturday 8/11:
Drove to Iowa.
Sun. 8/12:
Family reunion in Clarence. See Rob's and Dad's blogs for more details. After the reunion we took off for Minneapolis. Had dinner with Sandy.

Mon. 8/13:
Left Minneapolis, drove up to Grand Marais. Stopped for pie at Betty's. Made a couple quick stops in Grand Marais, then kept on driving up to Kemo lake where Will and Sandy have their property. Mom, Tom and Alexandra were still up there with Will. So much work had been up there since our last visit, we hardly recognized the place. Again, see Dad's blog or old posts from mine or Will's if you want to compare. Will, Pete and Tom knocked down the rest of the house that had been there. Alex entertained Henry. Will built an outdoor water-heating tub contraption. Mom cooked dinner. I'm not sure what I did. When the boys were done they celebrated with some cans of MGD. That night we slept in a tent up at Kemo. Henry had a blast. Pete didn't appreciate the flash in his face. Franklin loved the idea of sleeping bags. Me? 4 1/2 mos. pregnant and sleeping on the ground don't mix very well I guess.




Tues. 8/14:
Spent some more time at Kemo. Mom made pancakes for breakfast. Mom, Tom and Alex took off a little after noon. Henry, Pete and I drove back in to Grand Marais in the evening, just in time for pizza at Sven & Ole's, threw some rocks in the harbor, then checked in to our little cabin, #16 at Trailside. It was very tiny, about 70 years old. Had a main room with kitchen and a futon for Henry, then a little bedroom for Pete and I. Slept like a log.

Wed. 8/15:
Woke up, ate some cereal in the cabin (have you noticed those little mini boxes, that we always used to get for road trips, are bigger now?) then moseyed down to World's Best Donuts. They don't do sprinkle donuts, so Henry had sugar. Franklin posed in the Viking cut-out. Then we wandered out to Artist's Point, hiked around a little bit. Saw the inukshuk, built one of our own. Walked part way out to the lighthouse. Did some other piddling about town. Napped. Had lunch at the Crooked Spoon. Spent more time throwing rocks in the harbor. That night we built a little fire and Henry had his first s'more. It sprinkled on us a bit, but we didn't mind much.







Thurs. 8/16:
Had breakfast at South of the Border (not Mexican, South of the Canadian border. Smoky, cheap greasy-spoon) to fuel up for a hike at Judge Magney State Park. With Henry and Franklin we hiked up to the Devil's Kettle. The hike is about 1.25 miles, but with lots of ups and downs. It was quite enough for a toddler, a pregnant lady and a dog with very short legs. Devil's Kettle is this cool waterfall that goes into a hole in the rock. Local lore is that no one knows where the water comes out. An anniversary hike seems to be becoming a tradition for us. Weird.
After Henry had a nap we drove back up the Gunflint trail a bit to pick up Will. Rather than making us drive all the way back up to Kemo, he paddled across, left his canoe in the woods and hiked a bit up to the road to meet us. Saved us about and extra half-hour each way in the car. We took him back to our cabin where he and Henry played (or went on the Baton Death March if you ask Will) and gave Pete and I chance to relax and read. Then Sandy arrived from Minneapolis (she had had to go back and fly out to PA or somewhere for work) and we all walked down to the Angry Trout for dinner, where we all ordered the fried trout. Will seemed appalled at the idea of me asking the waitress to take our photo, so no shots of that. And, sadly, I didn't get any pictures of us back at the cabin enjoying the joint-anniversary celebration cake. Oh well, it was still delicious. Will and Sandy drove back up to Kemo. We stayed in our cabin one last night.



Fri. 8/17:
We picked up some donuts for everyone and drove back up to Kemo, where the temperature was considerably cooler. I helped screw down the deck while Sandy did some staining. Will and Pete worked on various other jobs, including fixing some windows and stacking lots of wood. Henry and I went out raspberry picking. He enjoyed playing 'Blueberries for Sal' and kept calling Franklin 'Little Bear'. After spaghetti dinner we all piled in one canoe and paddled over to pick up the one Will had left in the woods. Sandy, Henry and I paddled back and enjoyed watching some very energetic loons on the way. Will and Pete did some trout fishing. Henry and I were already in bed, but not yet asleep when they came back with two keepers Pete had hooked. I guess they got 6 altogether. You'll have to watch Will's blog for photos of the trout, because they couldn't find our camera and I wasn't about to get out of my sleeping bag for anything other than peeing. It got down to the mid-40's that night.




Sat. 8/18:
After a stop in Grand Marais for lunch, and a donut for dessert, we all headed back to Minneapolis. Pete supervised Will's de-boning of the fish. Will fried it up with onions and I don't know what else, but it was delicious! The two fish were more than enough for all of us to eat. Henry had a much-needed bath, then went to bed. The rest of us ate the rest of the cake (still delicious!) and looked at some photos.

Sun. 8/19:
The drive back home was long long long. I thought I was going to go crazy in the car. We did have a stop in Osseo at the Norske Nook for lunch, so that was good. We got home to a stale-smelling house around 7PM, heated up some freezer food and went to bed.

Today: Still haven't started laundry, and I don't want to disturb Henry's nap to start gathering up clothes. I did go in to school for about 4 hours, and Cari and I were able to get some stuff done. Henry played with Nancy's 4th grade son from the classroom next door, so that worked out great! Still on the agenda: laundry, grocery, catching up on email.....