Minnesota 2020: Old Friends, More Little House on the Prairie, and HOME

On Sunday, July 5th, we left Duluth early and headed north toward Virginia, Minnesota. Some long-time family friends - the Clarks - live and worship in Virginia, so we decided to attend church services there with them. Their daughter, Cynthia, was also in town visiting from Texas, and we were so happy with the way it worked out to see her, too. 

After worship services, the Clarks invited us to picnic in the park with them. They had bought all kinds of food, including fried chicken, chips, potato salad, pasta salad, cookies, and drinks, and we had a lovely spread for lunch. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with them!

Mr. Ed and my dad have been friends for decades, and it was so fun watching him play with the twins. He just followed them around and really enjoyed their antics. They thought he was pretty great, too!

Mr. Ed and Brooke

Brecklyn, Mr. Ed, and Brooke

Cynthia is close friends with my close friend, Tia, and even lived in Oklahoma for a while. While she lived closer to us, we would see her fairly often, but that has changed since she moved to Texas. 

Cynthia and Chelley

After our lunch and some park playtime, we said good-bye to our friends and started driving west across Minnesota toward North Dakota. The drive was mostly on two lane highways that were curvy, and the trip was slow-going. Even though we were only in the car for about five hours, that afternoon felt like the LONGEST part of our trip. We did get to see a nice sunset, however.

Finally, we arrived in North Dakota!

We spent that night in Fargo, North Dakota, then woke up the next morning and drove to South Dakota. 

As soon as we crossed the border from North Dakota into South Dakota, we stopped at a visitor's center. We were permitted to walk the perimeter of the visitor's center, but all the pamphlets in the center of the room were roped off due to COVID. There were so many COVID restrictions that were truly puzzling to us. 

South Dakota

This was the kids' first time being in South Dakota.

Our primary goal for the day was to spend some time in DeSmet, South Dakota, which is the home to another Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum and homesite. 

The first thing we did upon arriving in DeSmet was to find a place to have a picnic lunch. The town of DeSmet was so pretty and green, and we really enjoyed our picnic. It was this day that Chris and I made the decision to do more picnics on all our trips moving forward, even if restaurants are back open.

Daddy and Bren

Once we finished our picnic lunch, we headed over to the Surveyor's House, where the Ingalls family had lived for a winter. 

Brooke and Brecklyn

This property was a bit more open than the property in Minnesota, so we were able to go inside the schoolhouse and sit in the desks. 

The kids loved seeing a real covered wagon!

We didn't have time to do the entire driving tour of all the "Ingalls" things in DeSmet, but we did visit the cemetery where several members of the family are buried. It was neat to see their graves.

We also enjoyed driving by the Ingalls family home.

We also drove out to the land where the Ingalls family had lived and farmed before they moved into town. I somehow attracted a very chatty lady from Michigan while we were walking around the land, and she talked my ear off the entire time we were there. I don't know how that always seems to happen to me, haha. 

Being on the land we were reading about in the books was the coolest experience. We even saw the giant cottonwood trees Pa planted. I love how things worked out!

From DeSmet, we drove about three hours south to Souix City, Iowa for the night. Once we got settled into the hotel, Chris went out to get us dinner. He decided to go to Taco John's because we had passed a ton of them on our trip but had never eaten there. Somehow, he ended up spending $65 for fast food, and we had a ton of food, but especially nachos. I guess they kept asking him if he wanted nachos with each item he ordered, and he kept saying yes. Lol. I was tired from a long day of driving, so I found this whole situation to be hilarious. I'm not sure he agreed, haha. 

The next morning (Tuesday, July 7th), we headed south on the interstate. We drove through Nebraska (another first for the kiddos).

Then, we continued south through Kansas.

We stopped at a park in a small town in Kansas for lunch. There were some sketchy people hanging out at the park (especially for a small town!), so we ate quickly and kept trucking down the road. 

You know it's been a good trip when you have a van full of sleeping children on the way home!

Finally, at around 3:45pm, we crossed into Oklahoma. Almost home!

Chris and I briefly discussed visiting the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum in Independence, Kansas on our way home. It wouldn't have been too far out of the way, but ultimately decided that would be a little much on the last day. I'm thankful we made that decision. We were all just ready to be HOME, and getting in at 5:00pm was much better than 7:00 or 8:00pm like it would have been had we added another stop.

We grabbed El Azteca for dinner once we got home, then Grampy and G-Jo came over to see us for an hour or so. The kids were elated to see them, and couldn't wait to share their stories from the road! 

As uncomfortable as I was with the idea of traveling right now and planning a trip at the last minute, I am SO grateful that we decided to go for it. It was a great trip, and the kids have been so cute talking about all the things they experienced and enjoyed. It was such a blessing to be able to see that part of the country and God's beautiful creation!

Minnesota 2020: More Duluth and Wisconsin!

After several fun-filled days of exploring Minnesota, we were looking forward to another good day. Our plan for the day was to start in Duluth by going to a few overlooks, then head to Superior, Wisconsin to give the kids a taste of Wisconsin. 

It was Saturday, July 4, so we dressed for the occasion!

Brenson, Brecklyn, Brooke, and Brianna

We started our day by heading over to Skyline Parkway. We were eager to see more views of Duluth, and we were not disappointed. What a gorgeous view on a gorgeous day!

While on Skyline Parkway, we stopped at Enger Park. This park is lush, shady, and just beautiful!

Brooke, Brianna, and Brecklyn

It has several overlooks of the city that were just spectacular.

Brecklyn and Momma

Brooke and Daddy

The thing that really attracted us to Enger Park was the overlook tower . . . we were pleasantly surprised by the beauty and serenity of the other parts of the park. 

Brianna, Brooke, Brecklyn, and Brenson

We were excited to climb the tower to get 360 degree views of the city. The views were well worth the climb, although you can't really tell in photos. Brecklyn and Brenson were both not thrilled with being in the tower, and because of that we didn't spend much time overlooking the city. The tower was also pretty busy, so it worked out.

View from the tower

These two (Brecklyn and Brenson) were happy to have their feet securely on the ground again!

By the time we made it back to the van and started toward Superior, Wisconsin, everyone was being a little cranky. I've noticed that this tends to happen on trips about day six . . . everyone is just worn out and tired of not being in a routine. I was over the crankiness, though!

However, a little crankiness doesn't scare me, so we continued on with our plan of going to Superior, Wisconsin. Upon arriving in town, we drove around the University of Wisconsin.

Then, we stopped at a park that overlooks Superior Bay. It was a pretty little area, and I decided we needed to take a family photo for Independence Day. I didn't want a family selfie, so Chris cut notches in an empty coffee cup from McDonald's to use as a makeshift tripod for my phone. Then, I used the timer to capture the photo below. Success! And yes, I appreciate how my husband humors my little whims sometimes :-).

We had packed food for lunch, but couldn't find a decent place to eat in the park we were in. Instead, we headed over to the Richard Bong Veteran's Historical Center to use the restroom and eat. There were several picnic tables at the edge of a nice playground where we chose to have lunch. 

After lunch, the kids played on the playground while enjoying the view of the lake.

We also visited the inside of the Historical Center where we were able to get some maps of the area. One of the employees advised that we should visit Wisconsin Point for a great beach and lighthouse views. We didn't really have any plans for our day, so we decided Wisconsin Point sounded like a great idea!

We were completely unprepared to visit a beach, but that didn't stop us. The views of the lake and the lighthouse were incredible!

On our walk toward the beach, a kind lady saw us trying to take a family selfie and offered to take a photo for us. We were so grateful! It felt like the olden days, haha.

I had read that Wisconsin Point was known for its shallow, sandy beaches and clear, blue water. On the day we visited, the water was more reddish than blue and wasn't too clear. However, it was still a beautiful beach, and we enjoyed watching the sailboats in the distance. Like I said above, we were completely unprepared for a beach day, but we just went with it anyway. Chris and I parked ourselves in the sand and let the children just play. 

Brenson, Brecklyn, Brooke, and Brianna

We considered walking out the lighthouse, but the pier was made of huge rocks and very narrow. We thought maybe that wasn't the best idea with kids, haha. 

Daddy and Brecks

The kids absolutely loved playing in the sand. At first, I kept trying to stop them from getting wet and sandy, but finally decided it didn't matter and to just let them PLAY.

Brianna, Brenson, Brecklyn, and Brooke

Brecklyn

Brenson

Brianna

Brooke

We spent a good two hours at the beach, and it wasn't nearly long enough! However, we had an early morning planned for the next day (Sunday), and we didn't want to be out late. We trekked back to our van with our filthy children in tow. They were all wet and covered in sand, and there weren't any bathhouses in the parking lot where we had parked. I had extra clothes for all of them, so we finally just stripped the twins down in the parking lot and changed them there. The big kids changed in the back of the van. Our van was still full of sand, but at least they weren't riding in their car seats in wet clothes. 

It took us about 45 minutes to drive back to our hotel from Wisconsin Point, and once we got back Chris went and picked up Olive Garden for us for dinner. We ate on the patio outside the hotel.

The long, cool evenings in Duluth were really nice, and we soaked up our last evening there. We thought we might hear quite a few fireworks that night, but we weren't bothered at all by them. We had really enjoyed Duluth, but it was time to head north in the morning!