July 19, 2010 Sometimes you have to go home

And today was it. We went for a hike on river and falls trail first thing in the morning. You end up climbing about 200 feet above Lake Superior but it quite and easy trail and you don't really notice how much you have climbed until the end of the loop trail when it takes you down a steep set of rock steps.

We left the park at 0930 Central time, stopped at Rydens for fuel and crossed the border. No problems here and homeward bound. We pulled into the drive at 1227 Eastern Time. We were gone from home 29 days and covered 9442 km or 5901 miles. It was quite a trip,. Two thingsI know for sure - my blogging days are over and did the grass and weeds ever get tall in a month!

July 18, 2010 Touristy, Shopping and finally a State Park on the North Shore

A bit later start today - 0835 and northward we go. First stop Target in Red Wing, Mn. We had perused the  Target flyer at Warren and Pat's and their was a Netbook on sale for $198.00 with the 8 hour battery - you can't get that kind of price in Canada. Not sure what time they opened but there weren't very many people in the store and I think we picked up the first netbook of the sale and then Marla got a new bathing suit as well.
Continuing north on 61 we stopped in Taylor Falls - a nice little touristy town on the Mississippi - we stopped at a bakery where I continued my quest for the perfect cinnamon bun (this wasn't it) and visited a bead market and a flea market. We headed a little westward along the St. Croix River until we were north of the Twin Cities and headed over to I-35 and North Branch where we stopped and did a little Outlet Shopping. We only went to a couple of stores and had enough - didn't think it could happen but we were shopped out for this trip. We headed north on I-35 through the construction in Duluth and rejoined Hwy61 for the trek to the Canadian border. We have never been able to get a campsite at a Mn State Park on the north shore but we thought we would try as this was a Sunday night - surely they couldn't be full on a Sunday. We stopped for groceries in Two Harbors in case we did manage to get a site. We stopped at the first State Park - nope all full - the ranger checked the computer - the next one north still had one site and Temperance River had 7 or 8. We headed for Temperance River and managed to secure a site. We are less than 2 hours from home but finally a campsite in a State Park. funny thing though - it's just up the road from Lamb's Resort where we usually end up when the parks are full and we don't feel like going home just yet.
The park is actually quite small - about 80 sites but sits right beside Lake Superior with a couple of little trails to walk on.

July 17, 2010 Northbound to Minnesota

We got away by 9AM Saturday morning. Warren had tried to convince us to stay and race in there Bastille Day regatta (yes Bastille Day in the middle of Iowa!) but we didn't think our sailing skills were up to racing so off we went. We stopped for lunch at a roadside park along the Mississippi just north of Prairie du Chen. We had planned to stay in Winona Mn and explore the area as it had looked quite interesting on our way through in May of this year but when we saw the campground with trailers packed in like sardines we decided it would have to wait for another trip. We continued north on Hwy 61 to Frontenac SP just south of Red Wing MN on the Mississippi. We were lucky - there were only 3 campsites available. They let us drive in and take a look and choose which was nice. When I was registering the site another couple from Ontario took 1 of the 2 remaining sites!
It was not a bad campsite considering the lack of choice and it being a Saturday night less than 2 hours from St. Paul/Minneapolis.

July 16, 2010 Visiting and Sailing

We had a great visit with Warren and Pat. We hadn't seen Warren and Pat in three years so it was nice to catch up. Warren was in our wedding party and we have know Pat since her university days in Waterloo. On Friday morning we managed to fit in some shopping at the local malls and picked up our supplies for the rest of the trip. In the afternoon Warren took us out sailing on one of the University sailing club Hobie's. We hadn't been sailing since we sold our sailboat  so it was nice to get out on the lake. We had never been on a Hobie Cat before so this made for quite an experience.

July 15, 2010 Off to Visit Mr. Lincoln

We broke camp and left at 0720 after a miserable night of trying to sleep in the sauna. We were off to Springfield Illinois to visit the Lincoln Presindential Library. We arrived in time for opening and spent about 2 hours viewing the movies and displays. The museum makes a point of saying this is more about the real Lincoln as compared to the mythical Lincoln portrayed by the Lincoln Memorial in
Washington  DC.(which by the way is very much worth seeing as long as the other memorials in Washington). Two hours seems to be about our limit in Presidential Museums - doesn't matter how much or how little there is to see. It was interesting to see the effect this museum was having on other visitors - it was a very emotional experience for a lot of them.

We left Springfield and continued on to Iowa City/Coralville where we were stopping to visit Warren and Pat arriving at around 430PM.

July 14, 2010 Off to the Land of Lincoln

A very early day. We left Laurie and Deacon's at 0620 and were across the Bluewater Bridge into Michigan at about 0645. We wanted to get away before the construction and bridge traffic got too busy. The BWB can be very busy at times. We motored along I-69 - no sense in being touristy as we had lived in Sarnia for about 20 years.  We were hoping for some updated Illionois camping and tourist informatin but when we got to the tourist info centre just inside the Illinois border we found it closed due to budget cuts - the recession is definately not over in Illinois. So armed with our very old Illinois state map we headed SW and ended up at Weldon Springs SP for the night. It was about an hour away from Springfield where we will head tomorrow. Not much of a park and it had a boil water advisory.

This was probably the hottest night of the entire trip - almost 100 degrees and no wind at all. The Little Rascal was more like the The Little Sauna!

Intersest roadside historical marker. Maybe some science/techie type can figure it out!

July 10-13, 2010 Hanging Out in Sarnia

Saturday was a day to take it easy. We did a little shopping in the morning but mostly the rest of the day was hanging out by the pool at Laurie and Deacon's. 

Sunday Laurie and Deacon were off to Parry Sound while we stayed behind to babysit the Granddog Goose. We tried to do a little visiting with people we knew in Sarnia from when we lived but they were either away for the day or on vacation. More pool time, catching up on our laundry and bbq pork chops for dinner.

Monday Ron and Louise our friends from Courtright came up for a visit and we had another pool day. We time the bbq roast almost right in time for Laurie and Deacon to get back from their quick trip to Parry Sound.

Tuesday up early and getting ready to go to Courtright to spend a few days with Ron and Louise but this was not to be. We got a call at 8AM saying they had to go to Ottawa as their daughter had ended up in the hospital.  This caused a change of plans so we spent one more day in Sarnia