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We had a fantastic family adventure on the north shore of Lake Superior this whole past week camping at Tettegouche State Park and exploring virtually every square foot of lake shore and waterfalls we could find. It was awesome to say the least!

After what seemed like endless packing of the gear (you try taking enough stuff for 9 people for a week including food, camping gear, bicycles and canoe gear) we finally got out the door around noon Monday (not quite the 8am we had planned), only to have a tire blow out on the trailer 15 minutes out of town.

Our first stop was Gooseberry Falls, a fun cascade of waterfalls prime for climbing, splashing, and scraping your knee. While hiking one of the trails, Jana went to point out a large birch tree she thought was pretty cool. She had incorrectly started to call it an aspen tree, and caught herself mid-sentence. So what came out of her mouth was "Look at that big asp...birch tree". Of course none of us heard the "p" in "asp" so it sounded pretty bad. We laughed our heads off and all week long we kept making fun of seeing "big asp" you-name-it. If only we could control Jana's potty mouth :-)

Tuesday was spent hiking to Two Step Falls and High Falls on the Baptism River. Within 10 steps of the hike Alexandra was complaining about being tired of walking. I threw her on my shoulders and we gave her a rousing pep talk about how awesome it was for little girls to be tough and walk all by themselves, citing a story about Rebecca doing it herself when she was little. It must have resonated well with her, because she took the challenge and asked to be put down right away. She then proceeded to hike the whole thing without a peep of complaint, including the 592 stairs (one way)

Tuesday afternoon we spent at Superior beach exploring, skipping rocks, and venturing out to “Seagull Poop Island” as the kids came to name it. Despite the cold water as soon as we arrived at the beach Abby plunged right in. She is simply fearless of any water and insisted on swimming everywhere we went. Xan started to venture out a bit on her own doing some bouldering. Everyone enjoyed the challenge of jumping from rock to rock and venturing into the “deep” to make it to Seagull Poop Island.

Tuesday evening we spent canoeing, fishing, and swimming at the mouth of the Baptism River. The temperature change between the river and the lake is impressive, as Lake Superior is FREEZING cold. Apparently it is normally 38-44 degrees, but due to the warm summer it is about 20 degrees warmer this year for which we were grateful. This was the first time for many of the girls to go fishing, and Lou caught her first fish (ok, so maybe it was more of a minnow). Xan had a blast making rock pillars, and the kids enjoyed riding the waves that splashed in from Lake Superior.

Around 4am Wednesday morning I awoke to the sound of thunder and heavy rain. From that point on it was a long noisy night of continuous rain, which managed to infiltrate the tent, soaking pretty much every sleeping bag and pillow we had. The dining fly collapsed at the weight of the rain build-up. We ended up just staying in our tents until around 10am when the rain finally stopped. As we laid there in our sleeping bags, Rebecca announced "I'm bored", to which Abby said "I'm hungry", followed by me saying "I'm wet." Without missing a beat, Xan chimed in with "I'm stupid." We all busted a gut. She's such a funny little critter.

The other funny line from that day was when Josh returned from the bathroom and Madison greeted him with “frère Jacques brother.” We got a good laugh out of that one as well. After our attempted rain clean-up, we headed to the Split Rock light house for a tour and some fun time hiking around on the rocky beach. The kids had a great time throwing rocks and making more rock pillars.

We also did a little "bouldering" - climbing some short rock cliffs about 6-7 feet tall. Madison attempted to climb one and ended up being stuck for several minutes on her belly. We all laughed at er - I mean with her, because we then all proceeded to climb up the same spot with no problem whatsoever.

Late Wednesday night we climbed to the top of a small hill by our campsite where we had a gorgeous view of the stars and watched the supposed meteor shower that was supposed to happen. We probably only saw a half dozen or so shooting stars while the kids made so much noise that it was far from a peaceful stare gazing event. We may have even kept the whole campground awake.

Thursday morning we headed to Grand Marais, which was about an hour further north of Tettegouche. Here we walked along the pier, played on rocks, and built more rock pillars.

At one of the beach areas, the kids decided to challenge each other to sit in the lake, which as I mentioned is very cold. Some of the girls sat for as long as 4 minutes before screaming and running out of the water. Even Xan was brave enough to go in up to her chest in the cold water. It took the kids some time before warming up, but I’m sure the doughnuts from the little doughnut shack that advertised “the best doughnuts in the world” helped.

On the way back we stopped and hiked up the Cascade River enjoying the sights of some beautiful waterfalls. We also stopped at the mouth of the Temperance river where we swam and fished some more. Xan's deep fear of being in the water was put to the challenge as she walked across some deep waters with a little help from her big brother.

Friday morning was spent cleaning up camp. It’s crazy how long this actually takes, but the kids all pitched in and did a great job getting everything packed up. Of course they were a little distracted by the chipmunk they named Floyd who kept coming into our dining fly.

We spent the afternoon hiking to Shovel Point. If you look closely at the picture you can see a cool arch in the rock at one of the points. Amazingly, only a week after we got home we found out that the arch collapsed. I guess I should have stopped the kids from climbing on it while we were there :-)

The last stop was in Duluth, where we arrived just in time to watch the lift bridge rise for a large ship to pass through. It was also just in time for the rain to start coming down. We enjoyed a windy, wet walk on the pier before heading to the car for the drive home.

I was glad we got out of there just in time, because the rain really started to pour. We drove back to the twin cities where we stopped at a hotel in Shoreview for Josh to participate in a Triathlon the next day. We enjoyed dinner at Olive Garden (well at least until the bill came anyway…too bad my kids are starting to order off the adult menu!), took a quick dip in the pool, and watched a little TV before retiring around midnight. We had to get up bright and early to go to the Turtle Lake Triathlon. Josh did awesome! He finished first in his age group, and even beat a few of the “elite” triathletes. Josh has his eye set on going to nationals next year, and I think he’s going to make it.

All in all, it was an awesome trip, and one I’d do again in a heartbeat.

"FRIDAY!!! FRIDAY!!! FRIDAY!!! Come and see Monster Jam at the Dodge County fair grounds! Ticket price pays for the whole seat...but you'll only need THE EDGE!!!"

Yeah, right. If you've seen one monster truck drive over a pile of dirt, you've seen them all.
It was still good for a few laughs anyway, and even brought out a little redneck in us.

What was the best part you may ask?

Was it the "exhilarating" smashing of the 6 junk cars repeatedly jumped by the monster trucks?
Could it have been the 50 foot "drag race"?
Perhaps the two teenage kids riding motorcycles back and forth doing "stunts"?
Or was it getting poked in the eye by the black and white checkered flag from the little kid sitting behind us?

No, it was in fact the Dodge Caravan flying in the air after driving over a pile of dirt. It reminded me of the good old days when we drove just such a vehicle.

Actually, the best laugh goes to the "VIP" section ($25 price instead of $17) that was worse than our seats, marked off by a full roll of caution tape, and not covered by the corrugated metal roof, so therefore soaking wet. All occupants were required to wear their "VIP tag", for which they spared no expense...it was a name tag sticker with the letters "VIP" written in sharpie. If only we'd known, we could have "upgraded" ourselves.

My only regret was that I didn't stick around to get "Bounty Hunter's" autograph. Maybe next year.