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goodOn the way up to Ely, MN we took Scenic 61, which runs along Lake Superior starting at Duluth. It was 30 minutes longer, but definitely worth it.
Gooseberry Park (Middle Falls)
Our first stop along highway 61 was at the Gooseberry Park rest stop. It's just a very short walk to these falls from the rest stop vistor's center area and not very far from Duluth. So, like most pretty things that are very easy to get to, it was very crowded. We had to park pretty far away and there were people all over the place around the falls. You can see some of the people in the picture. I still think it was worth the stop.
Flea Market
Along the highway Paul saw this flea market and decided to stop to check it out. We ended up finding a frame hiking pack priced for $30 and Paul got it down to $20! This hiking pack was in new condition! It was really great for the trip, we just repacked everything once we got to Ely. I'm glad we didn't spend $200 for the one we were looking at in REI.
Palisade Head
We also stopped at Palisade Head off of Highway 61. I knew this was here from the research I did on the internet, but it took 5 internet sites before it was even mentioned and we still almost missed the turn because the sign for where to turn was tiny! Then it was a windy uphill one-way road to get to the top. So, this was a lot more unknown and harder to get to than the waterfalls, which meant it was a lot less crowded. And it was amazing! It was basically a bunch of rock/cliff formations overlooking Lake Superior (which is a very large lake, so you can't see the land on the other side). It wasn't restricted at all either, you could walk and climb wherever you wanted, there weren't any barricades or walls. We ended up staying for about an hour exploring the area, looking out into the water and watching some of the rock climbers.
Looking down from a cliff at Palisade Head
I crawled to one of the ledges to look down and I was surprised to see the water was very clear. I also saw a lot of rocks, so not a good place to go cliff diving.
Palisade Head
Here's a view in the other direction at Palisade Head.
Start of our canoe trip
We stayed at the bunk house when we first got to Ely and started on our canoe trip the next morning.
Paul steering our canoe and others following at the start of our trip
View from our first camp site
After canoeing for a while and having to carry all of our stuff across several long, rocky, muddy, and hilly portages, we made it to our first camp site. I really liked this camp site, it had a nice breeze and wasn't too buggish (the other camp site had tons of bugs because it was near a swamp)
Hanging out under the rain tarp
It rained off and on quite a bit the next couple of days. It was weird how it would be completely sunny one minute and downpouring the next. Since there was so much rain, we stayed at the camp site for 2 days. We hung out, played games, read books and took naps. It was nice and relaxing.
Paul making fire
Paul was the fire guy for the trip. He always made sure we had a nice fire going to keep us warm. :) In northern Minnesota it's pretty cool even in the middle of summer, it got into the 40's during the night.
Paul fixing the paddle
We're not really sure how it happened, but we found one of the paddles broken, it was cracked down the middle. Paul's always looking to fix things, so he took out his pocket knife and some rope and made it work as good as new. The guys back at the bunk house were all pretty impressed with his craftsmanship, so good job Paul. :) They didn't charge us for the paddle either, they said they break pretty often.
Paul and Ryan carrying canoes
The guys did a great job carrying all the canoes across portages. I know it was really tough for them and I'm glad I didn't have to do it. :P However, I did do my part carrying all those heavy equipment bags.
Beginning of the swamp
This was the toughest canoeing I've ever had to do. It was 2.5 miles of really thick swamp and bugs swarming everywhere. It really felt horrible at the time and we just wanted to get out of there as quick as possible, so Paul and I just kept paddling pretty much non-stop the whole way. We stopped once when we realized we lost everyone, but we didn't want to wait because the bugs were swarming us. So, we just kept going, they got back fine. The bugs seemed attracted to my hair, so I put on Paul's hoodie to keep them off and Paul said the bugs were all hanging out on the hood. haha. There were also several beaver dams we had to get out and pull the boat over. One of my legs fell into one of them and got caked in mud. Anyway, we eventually got through it and man did it feel like a real accomplishment! :D
We saw quite a bit of wildlife along the way, too. :) Including...
Turtles
A bald eagle
Many beavers, beaver dams, and beaver houses...they're always so busy building stuff!
A moose
A bunny that hung out at our camp ground all night, it wasn't afraid of people at all
Paul's Aunt Cindy and Tom trying to find our way
When we started back towards the entrance we got very lost and it started downpouring and thunderstorming. The reason we got lost was because the map says there is a pass through two land masses, but it was actually a very narrow rocky stream that you would have to portage across. The map was pretty hard to read in general since it's not very detailed at all. It was just annoying having to canoe in such bad weather for two hours trying to just get started on our way. I thought it was pretty funny how when we finally found our way the sky cleared and the sun came out.
The whole group at the end of the trip (Paul's Aunt, brother, sister, brother-in-law, mom, dad, and then paul and me)
Mall of America entrance
On the way back we took a different route that went through Minneapolis. Also, 30 minutes out of the way, but worth it since his family was all flying out of Minneapolis and we got to hang out at Mall of America for a while. Once we realized there was no sales tax in Minnesota, we did quite a bit of shopping. :) We ended up staying there from 9:30 am - 5:30 pm, which meant we didn't get back to Milwaukee until midnight.
The amusement park inside is Sponge Bob themed now, it was Camp Snoopy last time I was here
For the girl who wants to wear a usb flash drive on her neck and still be stylish! :P I still wonder how much memory it has...
Legoland!
IKEA
Before we left, we stopped at IKEA. This was the first time I had ever been in an IKEA store, it was so much fun! I really liked seeing all of their model rooms and really nifty ideas for furniture. I also really liked the set up of the store where you write down the numbers and pick it up in the warehouse. There was a lot of stuff I was tempted to get, but we ended up just getting some placemats and tupperware. Maybe next time I'll actually get some furniture.
sleepy
It was a kind of cold and overcast day today. So, we went to the Domes where it's nice and warm. :)
There are three domes, as you can see from the picture above. The each dome has a different climate...
My favorite dome (and the warmest) was the tropical rain forest. It had many different types of trees and flowers from all over the world. I especially liked all of the different types of orchids.
Paul's always playing the sand when we go to the beach. There's a sphinx growing on my feet!
