Family Fun with the Nelsons

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Nelson Summer vacation part 3: Lutsen and Grand Portage.

Tuesday 7/16 we got up early and had our big breakfast (had a kitchen in our unit) and headed to the Alpine Slide that is at our resort we had done it during our stay 2 years ago, so were all excited to go again!!

You ride a ski chairlift up the mountain and then sled back down on a 2 mile track on a sled. Fun!

It twists and turns and you can go really fast depending on how much you brake. We did our first run, Brent and Noah went at same time down the two tracks and then I followed. I had a Great run! So did Noah. Unfortunately Brent overcompensated for one of the banked turns and tipped his sled. Skidded for a bit on his arm and knee. OUCH. He got back on course quick to get out of my way and got to the bottom. Got him cleaned up and did 2 more runs before heading back to the room. He was a good sport.

Brent took a video of one of his runs - I'll have to see if I can add it in...(not the run that he wiped out ;-)

From there, we decided on a less injury producing day. We packed lunch and headed back up to Grand Portage to check out the State Park. Supposed to be some great falls there. Noah is also collecting stamps and patches from all the State Parks. We bought him a parks Passport in 2011...fun project.

What a nice park!! Newish welcome building and they have a great 1/2 mile trail to the High Falls of the Pigeon River that borders the US and Canada. Wow! The power in those falls! Beautiful! You could feel the roar.

This is Lupine - we fell in love with it on this trip...want some at home!

On the way back we stopped at a History site at Grand Portage too that had lots of displays on the history of the area and the Ojibwa people.

We drove back, tried to find the Kingdom Hall in Grand Marais that Siri and Maps insisted was right on Hwy 61 along the way (it was NOT at the site the map said it was).

Dinner back at Papa Charlie's and more swimming and a bonfire with s'mores and Mosquitos. Here were a couple of cute visitors to the resort...just hanging out...

Wednesday 7/17 started laid back...a bit too laid back since we missed our dry opportunity for the slide one last day. As soon as Noah and I walked out the door...drip, drip drip. Rain :(

We opted to (yep you guessed it) to swim instead. The pool is half inside and half outside ( you swim under a wall to get back and forth). There wasn't really lightning so it was safe to be there watching the rain pour down.

Afterwards the gondola was open so we made one last run to the Moose Mountain for views and ice cream.

Dinner was planned for Bluefin Grille, our favorite place up there. Yummy as usual with spectacular lake view. After dinner storm clouds started rolling in which made for some cool shots too.

Chive Flowers...need some of these at home too. :)

Last night at the resort to soak up the cool mountain air! We picked a great week to escape since city temps reached around 100 degrees and we didn't get much over 80 up there. Refreshing!

To be continued...(part 3 of 4)

(Full set of Pix will eventually all be uploaded to https://nelsonpix.shutterfly.com/)

Nelson summer vacation part 2: Lutsen etc

When we left Duluth on Sunday 7/14 we headed farther north. We stopped at Gooseberry Falls to snoop in their cute shop and hike over to the famous falls. Not a sunny day, but they were still pretty!

Then we drove to Agate Beach in the same park... Love it there but didn't have time for the long hike down there and back. Built some rock towers and enjoyed the lake edge. Still super cloudy though.

Onwards to our drive up to Lutsen! It is a pretty drive and went fairly fast. We arrived to Eagle Ridge about dinner time and checked in and got our stuff to our condo. We were in 255 in Building D which is the pool building so that was convenient.

Had dinner at the restaurant on site with the lovely views. Papa Charlie's. the first evening was spent settling in and of course some swimming.

Monday 7/15 we mostly stayed around the resort during the day, it was sort of grey and drizzly. They closed the Alpine slide due to rain but we were able to do the gondola up to Moose Mountain in the afternoon. Such pretty views! And they have Bridgeman's ice cream at the chalet there at the top of the mountain by the gondola station!!

After that we were going to drive to Grand Marais to check it out and find dinner. Such a cute town. Picturesque by the water (I am obsessed by that Lake so it doesn't take much. ;). The guys found some good skipping rocks to toss too.

We decided on a whim to keep going north to Grand Portage to see the US/Canada border. An adventure for all of us. We hadn't been that far north yet.

We stopped for gas and Snacks at Grand Portage and then saw this beautiful sight of fog "ribbons" we hadn't seen anything like it before.

Noah was excited to see the border even if we couldn't cross over (hadn't brought our passports). Here is pic of welcome to MN sign (we see the one coming from Wisconsin often but this was more special). We hit a quirky local gift shop Ryden's on way back that was filled with souvineers as far as eye can see.