Hey Dreamer: Flashback Friday: Northern Minnesota

**This post is part of a Flashback Friday series. I will be posting photos from the trips I took as a kid accompanied by the journal entries I kept while traveling**

Destination: Northern Minnesota

Friday, August 5, 2005

We left our house at about 4:00PM and drove up to Grandpa’s. We got to Grandpa’s at about 7:30 PM then we walked to the Legion to eat. I had a cheeseburger, fries, breaded mushrooms, and cheese curds. We went back to Grandpa’s and watched Numb3rs until we went to bed at about 10.

Saturday, August 6^th, 2005

We woke up at about 6:30 AM. After eating doughnuts and oatmeal for breakfast, we left at 7:30 on a 3-hour drive to Lake Itasca.

When we got to Lake Itasca, we went to the Visitor Center for about 15 minutes and watched a 5-minute video about the park. Then we drove down to the main feature of the park- Lake Itasca- where we walked across the Mississippi. The rocks were slippery and the lake went up to Isaac’s waist. We walked down the stream as well which had little fish in it.

After that we went on a very small hike but we turned around quickly because we decided it was a pathetic trail. That was when we went back to the truck to eat. We had sandwiches. I had salami, turkey, lettuce, and cheese. After we ate, we drove to Bemidji. In Bemidji, they were having “Crazy Days.” We looked at a bunch of shops. Then we left again and headed to Grand Rapids.

In Grand Rapids, they were having “Lumberjack Days.” We left our stuff and the motel and went down to look at the shops. The only thing I got was a book called, “The Killers Cousin.” They were selling old library books for a fundraiser.

After shopping we watched the Lumberjack show which was pretty funny! The two Lumberjacks- Bobby and Geno- had to do contests versus each other. First, they had to cut a log in half- Bobby won. Next, they threw axes at a target. Geno won by far- Bobby kept missing the target! Thirdly, they did a relay. They had to drag a log onto another log. then use a chainsaw to cut a disc off another log. The last part was to drag the previous log off the log they put it on. Geno won that. The next drill was to use a larger chainsaw to cut a disc off a different log. Geno won that but it was very close! His disc hit the ground by not even a millisecond! The last drill was to roll a log on water by running on it. Both lumberjacks were on the same log and had to make the other person fall off. They took turns winning that one. Bobby fell into the splits on the log! It was funny!

Then we went back to the hotel and ate supper (BLTs and Raman Noodles) and went to bed.

Sunday, August 7, 2005

When we woke up this morning we had egg McMuffins for breakfast and drove to Hibbing. There, we looked down at a mine (which I’ve already been to. It looks cool from up high!)

Then we drove to Eveleth and looked at another mine. The dump trucks they use are HUGE!

Also in Eveleth we went to the Hockey Hall of Fame! It was awesome! The old Zamboni and skates look really, really funny! I took a ton of pictures. We could shoot pucks and play box hockey there! I got a small snow globe from there as well.

Next we went to Duluth and saw a few drawbridges. We also looked at a ship museum.

After that we went to check in at our campground. We’re staying in a cabin at KOA campground. After we got there we first unpacked and then the boys went swimming. After swimming we all went back to the cabin and played around. Me and dad went to drive around.

We stopped at a grocery store and got pudding and pop tarts and stuff. When we got back to the campground we started the fire and everyone had hot dogs for supper except me. I just had cheesy pretzels and two pop tarts. After we ate we just stayed by the fire and did pretty much nothing until we went to bed.

[Edit: My journal ended there, but we had a few more days left of travel. I will post the captioned pictures below!]