lake superior

Road Warriors 5. Conclusion!

June 30, 2014

August 19th 2013

So, yeah. Apparently my journal ended yesterday.

What can I say. I’m getting old. I don’t give a rat’s ass anymore. But still. It’s always just a little shocking for me to realize just how little I actually remember. I always think, “Oh, I’ll remember that.” But aside from some snippets, I remember very little. Maybe it’s a good thing. I used to argue endlessly, with anyone, about anything, because I KNEW I was right. 100% locked. I was right. They were wrong. How long do you want to argue? I can argue longer.

(And no, Mom, you don’t need to leave a comment and tell the whole world how accurate that statement is. Let’s just keep them guessing: maybe she’s exaggerating again?)

Nope. Not exaggerating. Ask Dave, Morgan, Charlie, My mom, dad, brother, former teachers, coaches, friends, ex-boyfriends. The only people who might not have an opinion would be strangers.

So anyway, this new insight into my lack of memory is actually serving me quite well. I never knew relationships and conversations could be so smooth. Why? Because I realize I might actually be wrong. So this is how the other half lives… interesting.

I am digressing because my journal is empty. I have no fun stories written down to share. So I’m using my pictures to clear the cobwebs. This is how I remember it. But should any witnesses want to flesh out the details. I won’t argue. 🙂

To conclude our trip, we drove to the “MUST SEE” falls near Thunder Bay: Kakabeka Falls. It was right near our campground, so we went early and did a quick in-and-out.

They were big, alright.

But let’s just say not quite what I expected.

Well, Dave not smiling and looking 7 day-beard-scary; that I expected. It was just the Mississippi brown color I hadn’t bargained for.

We crossed the border into the US and immediately the car fell into silence as the phones turned on and began searching for signals. And then the repeating soundtrack of Charlie: “AT&T sucks. Dad? Do you have any bars? Mom, does Dad have any bars? Do you have any bars? This sucks.”

And so on and so forth for about 75 miles.

We stopped to eat/shop in Grand Marais. Now THAT town understands traveling tourists, ay?

After hot weather, it was suddenly windy and cold!

That's Jan Koo underneath the hair and blanket — That’s Jan Koo underneath the hair and blanket

Next stop Duluth.

Koo’s got a hotel and Menke’s drove through Duluth to Jay Cooke State Park to secure a campsite. It was pretty quiet and we got a nice spot all to ourselves. We made our last batch of delicious pico quac — fresh tomatoes, avocado, cilantro and devoured it. We all took showers, too… ahhhhhhh.

On our way back to Duluth, we stopped to see the ravages from the flash flood last year, which took the old bridge out. Pretty amazing to think that lazy little brook could have been so violent.

We went back to Duluth and met up with Jan and Wes for a drink on an outside deck while the kids walked around. It’s always fun to re-enter civilization, but was especially so this year after being in Canada for so long. We just didn’t expect our trip around Superior to be so… desolate and remote feeling. We thought we’d be in the midst of cafes and restaurants the whole time. So not the case.

We ate at an amazing swank restaurant, the name of which I cannot remember and do not feel like trying to figure out. I do know it was attached to something like a sausage/dried meat place. Very gourmet. Kids were in HEAVEN.

And so was I

Every meal was a winner. But no one could be quite so happy as this one.

It was a great night and a great end to the trip.

We headed back to our little camper with plans to leave in the morning.

We got up early and stopped at Toby’s for a throw-back breakfast. Really average. How did that place get to be so famous? It had to be based entirely on the cinnamon rolls.

when it's over, it's over. — when it’s over, it’s over.

So that’s a wrap, everyone. We hope to cobble something together for this August, but with Charlie working and in soccer, Morgan living in Madison and also working, it’s going to be tough.

It could be the end of an era.

Is that a tear I see rolling down your cheek?

Road Warriors 5, day 6

June 13, 2014

Don't touch my pastie — Don’t touch my pastie

August 18th, 2013

[sadly, I have no photos from this day, so I’m just throwing some random ones in from the day before.]

Slept like a rock!

Got up and sat on the beach again, drinking coffee. The kids came out and we talked and talked. It was beautiful.

Jan made the most delicious blueberry pancakes. Yum. And also spicy potatoes with sausage. Yum Yum.

We packed up and hit the road at 11 am, stopping for a short hike to see the Agawa pictoglyphs, which involved a dicier-than-anyone-expected traverse across slick rock holding on to chains drilled in to the rock walls while cold waves crashed at our feet. This would not be legal in the U.S.

Stopped for lunch in White River Park — a long drive in to a fairly ugly campground. We ate the last of our RIDICULOUSLY DELICIOUS grilled/smoked spare ribs that I made in lieu of fried chicken to eat in the car, grab from the cooler, etc. The ribs were a huge hit — they became a bit like the rice krispy bars (long gone, may they rest in peace). We thought by going in to the park we’d find a pretty picnic area, but instead we found a gross and uninspiring playground and boat launch where we ate things from the cooler that no one was real interested in (except aforementioned ribs). Ick.

It’s ironic our lunch spot was so dismal, because the scenery from the car over the past two hours has been jaw dropping. Just so, so beautiful. Easily the best of the trip.

Also jaw dropping is Canada’s lack of charm regarding anything — and I mean anything — man made. The towns. The houses. And most notably, the hotels and motels. They are all cold-war era Russia in appearance. It is really, really weird. Are there NO entrepreneurs in Canada? No ambitious restauranteurs who dream of living up north and catering to travelers? It’s twilight-zone material. Like a nuclear bomb killed everyone in 1961 and we are the first people passing through since.

OK, OK, I’ll stop. But really. Anyone got any insight into this? The beauty of this area in fall must be amazing…

We arrived in Thunder Bay at 7:30 pm. Did I mention the cities are ugly? Oh my gosh…

–But I was looking very forward to arriving in Thunder Bay, regardless of it’s lack of curb appeal, for one reason and one reason alone: WALMART AND THE MOONCHAIR. The thought of writing the whole saga of the quest for this chair is a bit overwhelming, but I shall try:

Background: I bought two $15 Moon Chairs on impulse several years ago while at the WalMart in Buffalo. They became the most coveted chairs of all time and the cousins often bickered over them — not to mention me, trying to muscle the kids out so that I could curl up in their cozy goodness.

Our beloved moon chairs, in better days... — Our beloved moon chairs, in better days…

Well, the chairs were not really made for hard-core camping and they finally broke last season. First, I tried relentlessly to fix them. And failed. So, for the past 10 months, I have been obsessivelysearching for them online. One day, I hit the jackpot: apparently Walmart in CANADA continued to carry them. I called the Walmart in Thunder Bay, and they had ONE LEFT. The sales associate said they were not allowed to hold them — nor could I purchase and pick up later — but that I could just look it up online and see if the chair had been sold. This, I was not happy about, but even after long debate the sales associate remained firm.

All throughout this road trip, I have been looking it up whenever Dave’s phone had service. As we got closer, and the Moon Chair continued to be available, I got more and more excited. What a coup this would be!! Dave finally dropped me off and I all but RAN to the sporting goods dept. to pick up my chair.

But of course, it was not there.

Ever wander around a Walmart looking for help? Suffice it to say, I was in Walmart far longer than the “I’ll be right back,” that I lobbed at Dave as I hopped out of the car five minutes earlier. Dave was SO mad at me. —But at least *I* couldn’t have fallen over a waterfall, ay (as they say in Canada)? Maybe he was picturing the plot from “The Vanishing” when Sandra Bullock disappeared without a trace from a gas station while vacationing with Kiefer Sutherland….

ANYWAY.

No one could find the chair. I was obsessed, I was MORE obsessed than Kiefer Sutherland in The Vanishing. Workers confirmed the chair to be in the store. But no one could tell me where. What would YOU do? I looked for it. Eventually, I gave up. I bought some chicken thighs and left. My plan was to come back the next day when the “A” squad was back at work and presumably the woman I talked to on the phone.

After eventually finding Dave, who had disappeared deep in the bowels of Walmart to save me from Jeff Bridges, we left to find our campsite. We drove 20 minutes to the campground to set up. The plan was to eat out in Thunder Bay, but let me tell you: this was not a single inviting prospect. –Even coming from 8 people who hadn’t eaten out in over a week.

We/I decided to pull green curry together for tonight (ha! I KNEW we would end up using it!) and eat out tomorrow — perhaps in Duluth, part of the good old U.S.A). Wes had begun dropping hints that they wanted to bail on our last night of camping in favor of staying at a hotel in Duluth, so dinner there just might work out.

We had a fabbie meal, had copious amounts of marshmallows (Jan & Lydie) and listened to our very loud and drunk neighbors through the woods. They partied nearly all night. Losers.

Oh well, it just makes leaving that much sweeter.

Road Warriors Five, Day Two

April 28, 2014

August 14, 2013

After a ridiculously delightful meal of Biscuits and Gravy (which I must remember to post sometime here for your own delightful pleasure), we left the comforts of the cabin at 7:45 am.

The Koos somehow (well, I know how) got about 45 minutes ahead of us. (Gas, Preparation H Moist Wipes — don’t ask, won’t tell — Potty, Coffee, Two Wrong turns later…) There were four separate stops when it was all said and done.

We met back up in Munising, MI at the visitor center after Koos had determined that finding a first-come site on the lake was futile. It seems those sites are, according to the locals, expertly jockeyed-for and never available to anyone not “in the know.” We landed, instead, at Widewaters campground in the Hiawatha National Forest — wooded, private and very nice. I have said before that Minnesotans do not need a lake for camping. Private, “pee-worthy” sites are far preferred.

So we set up camp and the group hung at the Menke site, playing “Celebrity”* and enjoying the antics of Jan: surely the lightest-weight drinker that ever lived. How fun would that be? To have one drink and be so buzzed? Think of the calories and time saved. –Not that being buzzed is the goal, of course. No, no, no. Of course not. But still.

The most memorable line of Jan from day one:

(In reference to camping in the Boundary Waters the previous summer) “The more I thought about it, the more it grossed me out. With all those people using the designated camp sites, it is inevitable that you are camping on someone’s poop.”

Ahhhh. I’ll have another gin and tonic, please…

Eventually, to Lydia’s relief, I made a move to get dinner going — Spaghetti — which was very good, despite the fact that it was much thicker than normal. And the fact that I heated it up in my über-cute, antique, sky blue, enamel cast iron pot with the — oops! — flaking enamel inside, scraping the bottom as it reheated, causing tiny squares of enamel to flake off and mix with the sauce… Kind of a bummer. Oh well. What’s a cracked crown compared to delicious spaghetti?

Added to the spaghetti was yummy cheese bread and arugula, tomato, mozzarella salad.

S’mores were brought out immediately after — where it should have ended — however, Morgan made the ridiculously fatal mistake of causally walking over to the S’more group eating one of my coveted (and carefully hidden) caramel-rice krispy bars — a H U G E indulgence/sacrifice undertaken by ME to please both Morgan and Charlie, who disagreed (as usual) about which bars to bring this year: regular rice krispy bars or Special K bars with no chocolate frosting. I decided to end the argument by making — drumroll — Aunt Rita’s Caramel Rice Krispy bars. Something that requires actual TIME and PATIENCE (virtues in short supply the day before a Road Warrior Road Trip).

Morgan arriving at the campfire, casually nibbling this delicacy was truly a pivotal moment and required lightning speed attitude readjustment and a silent self-pep talk (let’s be honest and call it a prayer) in order for me to graciously offer the bars to everyone after Lydia spied the dessert intruder with her keen eyes.

But really. It’s fine.

Sugar is a toxin, after all. And I should share the wealth.

Even with that disaster, it was a fun night.

*Celebrity: google it for the rules. Fun group game and way more fun than Charades.