MN Thompson's

We spent the last several days tooling around the area. Had a nice picnic on Artist’s Point, swam a few times at a nearby pool, played monopoly, watched Harry Potter, and looked at some art galleries when it drizzled just one morning of our trip. Climbed up the mostly dry river bed of the Devil Track River. Spent even longer (2+ hours?) chasing and unlodging our “boats” as they made their way downstream. The kids loved following their boats down this windy river but I didn’t realize how much work it would be to unlodge them from so many low points and crevices and tricky traps the river set for us. And of course we’ve continued to have a lot of great, fresh food…Angry Trout again (and again), My Sister’s Place, Crooked Spoon (with some friends who are up this week too), Coho Cafe, more World’s Best Donuts – yummy yummy yummy!!!

Brrrrrrr!!!

Here are our “boats” preparing to launch…Colleen’s long stick is the only one out of about 10 sticks and leafs that made it the entire way down.

We hiked the Tettegouche trails for the first time this year. It was a bit different from most of the other trails we’ve done in that you are hiking throught the woods and not directly next to a gorge or river that you can tell for most of it. 1.2 miles in you end up at two-step falls which isn’t so impressive. Christopher and I continued on another .4 miles to get the High Falls which was a pretty cool waterfall.

After 3+ miles of hiking the kids got to suck down some well-deserved oreo smoothies 🙂

We also hiked along the Temperance River again this year. This (along with Judge C. R. Magney) is one of our favorite spots to hike and take photos. The water was lower this year than past years so we were able to easily cross the river as a family. Well…let me qualify “easily cross the river” by saying that the two oldest kids crossed the river fairly easily. I was holding Megan’s hands so she would try to step from rock to rock – this sounds easier than it actually is because often you can’t tell which rocks are wobbly and her legs really had to stretch…so by the time I would get her extended onto her own rock in the middle of the water then there wouldn’t be enough room for my feet on that same rock…but we were managing ok. I won’t mention any names (yet…heh heh heh)…but from behind me all of a sudden I hear this huge commotion…sounded like bombs dropping combined with an avalanche and tumbling rocks. I turn around and almost all of the contents of the backpack which had been on Beth’s back were spread out in 5′ radius around Beth and she’s frantically trying to grab everything out of the water before it got swept away (the water was moving pretty good and there is a big waterfall 20′ away). Our good camera was in a bright yellow bag and we both see that as the farthest object from her heading downstream. I quickly jumped with Megan back to shore but Beth was quicker and completely jumped in the water with both feet to grab the yellow plastic bag with the camera. I’ll spare you the details of the camera (so far there isn’t a happy ending – unless you’re looking for a camera that clicks like it’s taking pictures when in the “off” position as soon as you put the battery in) but no one was hurt and we are still giggling every time Beth tries to explain this by saying “I don’t know what happened…the backpack just exploded!!!“. So, can anyone answer this one – why make cameras float if they aren’t going to be waterproof??? Although the camera did the fake “clicks” non-stop I was able to rescue pictures from it, such as this one (look familiar?)…

Our first full day in Grand Marais was great. A few hikes, outstanding weather, great company, and more awesome food.

Started the day with the World’s Best Donuts (duh – how else would we start the day up here) and a quick walk out to Artist’s Point (just a block or so from our condo). The kid’s love playing tag as they run on the jagged rocks with steep drop offs into the water!!! What’s great about the condo is that we can sit on our patio or balcony and watch the kids run along the water and throw rocks and chase seagulls while we just chill and read or sip a little somethin’.

Here’s Beth on the balcony as we came back from our quick morning hike. These condos are perfect – very glad we came here instead of the dumpy hotel across the street again 🙂

Then we headed to Judge C.R. Magney state park to see the infamous Devil’s Kettle! The water was very low so we got to climb on rocks up and down the river that normally are underwater. I need to figure out how I can get paid to run on rocks – I swear I could do that all day every day – wheeee! With the water so low I climbed almost to the edge of the Devil’s Kettle but we still can’t figure out where the water goes once it enters the Devil’s Kettle – or maybe I know now and I’m not telling. They say they’ve dropped dye in the water and other things and still don’t have a clue where the water goes once it drops into this deep hole.

After hiking we ate Sunday brunch at Nanny-nanny-boo-boo, stared at their funky ceiling a lot, and then played in the rocks. They’ve got a great spread on Sunday’s and we sampled everything! Mommy took a little nap on the beach…not a good idea with our kids nearby…

The day ended at the Angry Trout…lake Trout chowder, fish sandwiches, Oatmeal stout, super fresh local fruits and veggies…this place does everything right from saving the environment to supporting local everything to making delicious food. We should have stopped the perfect day right there…instead we went home, put the kids to bed, and started to watch Black Dynamite…don’t add that one to your movie list 🙁