Ok, so it wasn't quite like the book/movie, "Into the Wild"...because we don't die in the end. But we did go up into some desolate country in Northern MN this weekend. It was my folks' last weekend as the Chippewa National Forest, Norway Beach Loop resident Campground Hosts, Firewood Sellers, and Skull-Crackers. They had been up there since Memorial Day weekend. The weather finally cooled off and the mosquitoes dwindled enough for us to have an enjoyable visit. So we packed up and headed off on Thursday night, stopping in Brookings to drop off Lily with the best dog-sitter available -- Anthony! He took such good care of Lily that we didn't even have to think about her once while we were gone. Here are some pictures from the visit:
On the way home (Sun night) we stopped in Fargo and stayed overnight with Grandma Fran. It has been a few years since we last visited, so it was nice to be able to do so again. She cooked supper for us (local smoked sausage and luscious, delicious vegetables from my aunt Arlene's farm). Those vegetables were amazing. She had pulled together some pictures and we spent the entire evening and part of the next morning going through photographs and learning more about my family's history. I was surprised how much I didn't know about my extended family. She had 11 brothers and sisters (she's right in the middle). Plus, each of those had a handful (literally) or more so my mom has a bunch of cousins -- and they all look alike! It was a good thing for us to do.
We spent a lot of time sitting around the campfire. My dad had a pile of wood he wanted to burn through before they left, so we were really racing against the clock! We made good use of the fire by roasting traditional camp food -- S'mores and Hotdogs!! Delicious.
Randy, the backwoods Ax-Man. Jan, the friendly gift-shop lady.
Going-away picture in front of the "Bagel." They lived in this all summer long -- it's pretty darn spacious when you get inside of it. There's a pop-out thing on the other side that makes the living room area (well, living room, kitchen, and driving area) bigger. I can see downsizing and living out of that. It's not really that bad.
On Saturday we did our little touristing loop. The campground they "hosted" was about 15 miles south of Bemidji, MN so we had to stop and see Paul Bunyan and Babe. Apparently, there are more of these statues around the state..this one was just the closest (and they're not the talking ones). Dorky tourist pics (though I LOVE Babe's color).
This is inside the visitor's center -- I thought the props on the floor were awesome. Those are his moccassins, dice, and a mallet. All of the stuff inside the visitor's center were oversized. They even had his fingernail clippings...which were awful. Yuck. For as "themey" as South Dakota gets with its Black Hills and Mt Rushmore stuff, the area of this state was pretty much "Paul Bunyan this, Paul Bunyan that." Do they really think he was real??
The camp site. We stayed in our tent, which was fun. I like tent camping and need to do it a few times a year just to stay grounded. I like getting really dirty for a few days and then going home to clean up. Mostly because I just need a good excuse for looking disheveled.
They had several duties as Campground Hosts. First, was to make sure everyone was paid or had a tag on their camping site. My dad would get up early and make his rounds. Second, was firewood sales. They had a little shed (in the foreground) that was stocked with firewood (by someone else who cut it). They would sell it for $3 a bundle and boy, did they sell it! It was a pretty constant flow on Fri & Sat night. A third duty was to keep the peace during quiet hours (10pm-6am). Apparently my dad had to get up once or twice while we were there to shine his mega-watt, police-cruiser flashlight on a rowdy campsite. This flashlight is so huge that he told us that one time he walked up to a loud group of campers one night, turned on the light, and heard someone say, "holy shit!" under his breath. Yeah...walk softly and carry a big stick!
Another highlight of the trip was to climb the death-defying fire tower in the middle of nowhere. As we were walking to the base of this tower, I was just convinced we were going to see a foot attached to a dead body sticking out. Or bigfoot. This was that kind of forest. Anyway, Dad and I went up to the top. But I was white-knuckling it and looking straight ahead the whole way.
Where's Waldo? We weren't even to the top and you can see how small Mom & Eric were at the bottom.
Just to get an idea of how massive this thing was!
Here are some pictures my mom sent to me after I left from my visit. My folks were getting ready to go on the next leg of their trip to the west coast before they have to arrive in Yuma in November. They pull their little Miata around on the back of the 'bus' (that's what Liv calls it). It gets pretty dusty back there, so my dad was washing it before they left. Olivia loves to be outside so I'm sure any chance she can get to help and she does.
Noah has the most precious grin when he's really laughing. He's such a doll.
