Feel the Rhythm, Feel the Rhyme

Note: The previous 5 pages were written shortly after our return in summer of '99. As I write this, it is now the middle of summer 2001. My memory being what it is, I'm sure that the rest of this trip was not really as rosy as I'm going to describe it now.

Day 6: Duluth to Tofte

On the afternoon of Day 6, we left our wonderful hosts in Duluth and headed north into the vast unknown. Well, unknown to us. Even my parents, who have been almost everywhere, had not driven up the North Shore of Lake Superior. The interstate ends at Duluth, and beyond that is the much-quieter State Highway 61 (quieter if you don't count all the blasting from the road construction).

Heading up this way was not Plan A. Plan A was to head to Ely and spend 3 days canoeing in the Boundary Waters. The mosquitoes were the ones who inspired plan B. Bruce & Patti confirmed what we already felt -- this was a particularly bad year, mosquito-wise. So, we tossed out the itinerary (and our deposit on the canoe rental...) and decided to take an easier, more civilized route.

This is one of the most beautiful sections of planet earth. On your left are one billion trees. On your right is 10% of the world's fresh water supply. In front of you, just a few small, picturesque towns. We drove at a leisurely pace, stopping when we felt like it to skip rocks on the lake. We had no reservations anywhere, but the cellphones were still working. Mom found a place near Tofte where they could stay in the motorhome. We lucked out and found a vacancy at a very nice lodge not too far away from them.

Day 7: Lutsen Mountains

If you thought that Minnesota is 100% flat, you are only 99% correct. The northeast corner here gets downright hilly. It's not exactly Aspen, but this is where Minnesota's ski resorts are. As we explored the area on Day 7, we discovered what ski resorts do during the summer, and boy was it a blast.

Feel the Rhythm, Feel the Rhyme, at Lutsen Mountains, it's Bobsled Time! We discovered this wonderful resort, and it's famous "Alpine Slide". The kids are huge fans of the movie "Cool Runnings", so we decided that the contraptions that you ride down this slide were really bobsleds. They are one-person vehicles with one control: a brake. Pull back to slow down, push forward to let gravity do its thing. Caleb overcame some acrophobia to take the ski lift to the top of the slide, then we slid on down and went back up and did it again. Jake went so fast that he flew off the track and landed in the meadow at one point. Caleb took things at a more sensible pace. All 5 of us really enjoyed the slide. It's worth the trip up there just to experience it. I highly recommend it! After enough trips on the slide, we ate at a very nice restaurant at the resort. I had fish & chips made with fresh-caught walleye.

Day 8: Tofte to Thunder Bay

The next day we decided to leave the country altogether and head up to Canada. Since this route was not in our original plan, I had sadly done no internet research on what to do in Thunder Bay. The folks were unable to join us on this leg of the trip, having forgotten to bring passports for the dogs. They remained at their camp in Tofte while the boys and I headed ever further north in search of adventure.

The Canada part of the trip was unfortunately pretty much a bust. We got into Thunder Bay too late to do anything even if we'd known what to do (having failed to take into account that Ontario is eastern time, we lost a whole hour just crossing the border). The idea was to have a nice cross-cultural experience and buy some Canadian souvenirs. We ended up getting there just in time to eat dinner at A&W and find a hotel, where we watched a Detroit-based cable TV channel. We left the next morning after a breakfast of Canadian donuts, which tasted surprisingly similar to American donuts.

We never even found a place to buy souvenirs there. Our Canada souvenirs (T-shirts, fridge magnets, etc.) were all purchased at Ryden's in Grand Portage MN after we got back into the states. But at least the kids have now been to a foreign country and spent foreign currency (on foreign donuts), and they interacted successfully with foreign people on their own soil. Oh, I also forgot to take any pictures in Canada. I promise, we were there.

NEXT EXIT:
A Very Large Fish