This has been a busy week for us. Alex took the week off of work and we were on a mission to fill it with family fun. We had promised Eli that we would take him to see a lighthouse this summer, so of course that was on the agenda. Our original plans included Split Rock Lighthouse, which is in a Minnesota State Park…so you can imagine how that turned out since the state was shut down. But we improvised – and had a fantastic week all the same!
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| Miller family along the North Shore. |
We headed up to Two Harbors on the Fourth and visited the Two Harbors Lighthouse to fulfill Eli’s lighthouse request. For a whopping $3 each for Alex and I (both kids were free), we were granted access to the lighthouse grounds, could go up into the tower as well as the assistant lightkeepers quarters and the helm of the Frontenac. The view from the lighthouse tower was magnificent! Eli got a little fearful due to the height of the building and refused to look out of the windows. Good thing we did not travel the additional twenty miles or so to Split Rock (which is taller than Two Harbors). Eli might not have even made it up to the light!!! After touring the lighthouse grounds, we headed out to the rocky shore where Eli enjoyed exploring the rocks and Lucy enjoyed playing in the puddles that the tide left.
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| View from the top. Two Harbors Lighthouse, Two Harbors, MN. |
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| Two Harbors Lighthouse |
From Two Harbors, we headed back to Duluth, checked in, strolled the boardwalk, visited shops, grabbed dinner, rode rides at the carnival, swam, and finally headed out to the harbor for the 4th of July fireworks. It was packed. And both Eli and Lucy loved the show. Weary from our adventures, we tucked in and rested well. Relatively speaking.
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| Exploring Lake Superior and searching for agates! |
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| How often can one say that they went to Duluth, MN and rode on a camel? |
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| Ready for the fireworks!!! |
On Tuesday we packed up and swung by The Depot to browse the Lake Superior Railroad Museum on our way out of town. Eli is kind of a train nut, so this was right up his ally. Definitely well worth the admission fee. Even Lucy appeared to enjoy herself as we explored mammoth engines, dining cars, and little red cabooses.
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| Lake Superior Railroad Museum |
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| Future train engineer, perhaps? |
We spent Wednesday at Minnehaha Falls where the sights were quite amazing due to the enormous amount of snow and rain we have had this year. The creek was high and nearly like rapids in spots. We found a nice shallow spot and let the kids dip their toes in and explore the waters.
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| Minnehaha Falls |
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| Lots to explore!!! |
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| Loving the water. |
Thursday we packed back up and headed to Wisconsin. After a quick trip to see my friend and her brand new baby, we headed on to Osseo where we had our first family camping adventure. It was luxury camping at the Stoney Creek RV grounds. Super clean bathrooms, pools, playgrounds, cement pads for the picnic tables, and of course, the pop-up make camping a lot easier than the traditional “roughing it in the woods”. Eli was absolutely in his element having wide open space to run and play and explore. He was completely “unplugged” from technology for the trip – no television, computers, video games, or talking toys – and yet he never complained once about being “bored”. How refreshing!!! Although it was not an easy trip, per say, because camping with a one year old is never easy, the only complaint I have is the mosquitos. They were ravenous and tenacious. I tried my darndest to have a “deet-free” trip, but come Friday morning the entire family was “deeted” up…and yet we still managed to get fresh bites. Maybe we just have super sweet blood. Or maybe it was that the kids were such easy, all-you-can-eat targets since they never even swatted at the nasty buggers. ; )
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| Our first camping trip as a family! And we'll always be safe as long as Eli is around to protect us! |
After a week like this, I am going to have a hard time having Alex go back to work! It was definitely a stay-cation worth remembering!!!!
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