Duluth

Ahh, vacation . . . and know that I use that term VERY loosely when vacation involves our three children. Some parts of traveling as a family are a relaxing break from reality, but others are much more difficult than everyday life. I have to say it was much easier driving to Denver two years ago, which was almost twice as far. The number of children has stayed the same, but now we have three talkers--all who are most willing to express their opinions and observations. All. of. the. time. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. The departure.
We finally departed on Monday at 5pm. I had hoped to make it halfway through Minnesota the first night, but shortly after we left our house I wondered if we would even make it through the corner of North Dakota! We did eventually cross the Minnesota border--barely--and stopped in Fergus Falls for the night.
We reached Duluth late in the afternoon on Tuesday. As soon as we crested the hill that overlooked Lake Superior, Nathan delared, "This is the best vacation EVER!" We spent the rest of the week doing the following: watching ships go under the Aerial Lift bridge,

climbing Enger tower, finding real acorns, throwing rocks into Lake Superior,

watching Nathan drink out of the lake,

wishing our cabin had air conditioning, touring the William A. Irvin Ore Ship Museum,

watching "Mysteries of the Great Lakes" at the Omnimax Theatre, playing in the sand and water at Park Point Beach,



figuring out how to use the world's oldest microwave (all by myself!),

hiking and coming upon a discarded toilet in the woods, picking wild raspberries, watching carpenter ants make huge piles of sawdust, playing Polish golf, mini-golfing, eating lots of good food, touring every possible public restroom with Teresa (sometimes more than once), and building a campfire just as the rain was beginning to fall.
We still have lots left to see and do in Duluth, so we hope to return again someday!