Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Vacation ~ Part 2

Duluth! Located on the southern point of Lake Superior, it is a fabulous place to visit. Up until about 5 months ago, my BFF Julie lived there. Even though we don't get up there often it was still and added bonus to see them when we did make it up there. There is so much to do and see in Duluth. Just going down to Canal Park and watching an iron-ore boat come in under the lift bridge is always an amazing sight. We got to Duluth on Monday in the late afternoon and basically had time to check into the hotel, get settled and then go out for supper. Everyone was pretty beat because of the heat. It's usually perfect 70s temp in Duluth this time of year, but the east coast heat wave affected even MN. Our dinner out at Grandma's was forgettable, except that it was our most expensive meal on vacation. Never going there again. We also agreed to eat the rest of our lunchtime meals out and do sandwiches for dinner. With young children, eating out in the evening is more work than pleasure, or so it seems for our family.
Tuesday morning we headed up to Enger Tower which is an old observation tower. There's a nice park up there with flower gardens, trails, a great view, and lots of rocks to climb on. With 3 boys, I imagine there's going to be lots of rock climbing in my future. Elijah's so funny - he called it "Anger" tower once and "Angry" tower another time.
My handsome guys!

After that we made a random stop at Best Buy and as we were walking in I heard someone yell my name. When I turned, I was shocked to see Julie across the parking lot. As she ran up to me her hubby Steve walked out of Best Buy. They had come back "home" for the w/e and had stopped at Best Buy before making the long haul back to the wilds of Iowa. We visited for awhile and she saw Caleb for the first time. It was so great to see them and their 4 girlies - very providential! Despite the time and distance that often separate us, whenever we're together we're able to just pick things up where we left off.

After a yummy lunch at Mexican Lindo, it was off to Gooseberry Falls State Park. Elijah referred to it once after we left as "Duckberry." It was perfect and cooler by the falls. Paul and the big boys climbed around on and in the falls while Caleb and I sat in the shade and enjoyed the view and some good people watching. I heard at least four different languages: an Arabic dialect, French, Spanish, and I think Dutch.

I climbed around some too. The water felt wonderful though Caleb wasn't too thrilled.

After some more exploring and a close call with a bear in a cave, we found it supper time already.

On Wednesday, we headed down to Canal Park. There is a ton of fun shops, a free maritime museum and a path along the water to walk on. Due to the heat, we spent a lot of time watching the boys (mostly Elijah though as Ethan wasn't feeling great) run through these fountains.
It was hilarious. The people who passed us by certainly got some entertainment out of watching Elijah run through these over and over again. I've heard of splash pads but we've never been to one. All Elijah needed was this though. He probably would've stayed there all day. It was one of my favorite moments during our whole vacation.

He ended up wearing a t-shirt, boxers, and water shoes to lunch since his jean shorts were soaked. We went to a pretty nice place too with cloth napkins and champagne glasses on the table. I don't think anyone noticed. At one point in the meal, he got a whiney tone in his voice and said, "When are we gonna be there?" It was pretty funny!
Ethan continued to not feel well all day. Our last stop was a playground where Caleb enjoyed swinging for a few minutes.
Thursday was Ethan's golden birthday. Poor kid felt pretty miserable on our way home. As we left the hotel I noticed one of our monarch larva had emerged from it's chrysalis (yes, we brought them with us on vacation). That was a cool birthday gift. We released it at home later that day.
It was a good vacation. Unfortunately Ethan's been sick on and off again since we've been home. The doctor doesn't think it's strep but we're still waiting on the 24 hour throat culture.

1 comment:

The Three 22nds said...

fun, fun, fun! We love Duluth! There is nothing better for a vacation with little boys than rocks and water!