It's Always an Adventure: Minnesota Edition: Up North

We headed to northern MN for the weekend because we had a Groupon for The Lodge at Giant's Ridge in Biwabik, MN. I took a chance with this when I bought the Groupon back in the spring. It was a good buy because we were pleasantly surprised at how nice the lodge was and also surprised that our room had 2 separate sleeping areas (in other words, we didn't have to share a room or bed with Jackson) and a kitchen. It is a ski lodge in the winter and we had the ski slopes right outside our window. In the summer, it offers a lake and golf course and is located along a great paved bike trail (Mesabi Trail). We didn't arrive until almost 11pm on Friday with Jackson still awake. He rode pretty well in the car thanks to the portable dvd player and the iPad except for his obsession with us going to the "airport to fly on a red plane." This request continued all weekend.

Since I wasn't able to run on Friday with travelling, so I went running Saturday morning while my boys were still in bed. So, when I moved to MN, I thought I was moving to the land of evergreens, lakes, and moose. Little did I know that Rochester was far from that and more like northern Iowa (farmland). My run was awesome because I had my evergreens and a lake so I was only missing my moose. By the way, anyone who knows me, knows that I really want to see a moose (outside of the zoo) and I have yet to find one. During our drive up, I finally saw my moose but unfortunately it was dead on the side of the road. After my run, we headed to the Mesabi Trail for a bike ride. We rode along or around 3 different lakes and up and down lots of hills (and I forgot the camera so no pics). It was supposed to rain and be overcast all day, which was how our ride started. But, within a few miles the sun was out. When we finished, we were ready to eat but we learned the only bad thing about the area is the lack of restaurants. The area is filled with small towns that each have seriously 5-10 bars a piece and only a single restaurant. Although we had little choice in where we ate, we actually had some tasty food. The only restaurant that was open in Biwabik was Alden's Restaurant, where we had Philly Steak Melts, which were awesome. The rest of Saturday was spent watching college football and swimming during the weather delay of the USF/Notre Dame game. We ventured out to Eveleth (home of the world's largest hockey stick) for dinner at Poor Gary's Pizza. Let's just say the inside of this place left something to be desired but the pizza was great.

Quarry in Virginia, MN

Sunday was supposed to be full of sunshine but instead we woke up to the 50's, wind, and dark clouds. We had planned to ride another segment of the Mesabi Trail but when we got to the trailhead I had serious doubts about the weather. Brian came up with the idea to head towards Lake Superior to find another place to ride and at the least make a trip to Betty's Pies in Two Harbors. Two Harbors is my favorite city in Minnesota, located along the shore of Lake Superior just north of Duluth. It is full of good eats and outdoor activities. It was an hour from where we were staying and I agreed that it would be worth the extra drive. We headed to Gooseberry Falls State Park where we got on the Gitchi-Gami Bike Trail and rode to Split Rock Lighthouse and back along the shore of Lake Superior. The bad weather followed us so the first half of the ride was overcast with some intermittent rain but the return trip was full of sunshine and an incredible view of the lake. Unfortunately, the ride was purely hills, which wouldn't have been so bad if Brian wasn't pulling Jackson but was still a fun ride. After our ride, we took Jackson to see Gooseberry Falls, which was a fun memory for me because I was last there with Beth and the 7 month old version of Jackson. It was finally time for Betty's Pies where we enjoyed pie shakes (a milkshake made with an entire piece of pie including the crust) while we waited for a table, tasty food, and slices of pie to go. Then it was time to head back to Rochester. Overall, it was great weekend.