Please Standby….

I’m clearly in the process of getting this thing migrated, I apologize for the mess. I’ll have this thing up and running soon, thanks for the patience.

Camping Trip – Day 4

The final full day of our trip was spent in Duluth. Images will be up, not until we get back.

The morning started with an ambitous plan for pancakes on the camp stove, those plans were foiled by the nefarious rain of doom. Instead we had some cheerios and rice krispie treats in the tent, then we packed up and headed north.

The rain was oppressive. We got to the Duluth area and stopped at the tourism center, and took some shots from above the city, then went in search of things to do, to find some umbrellas. It was about 12:30 before we had driven around, taking in the soggy sights and finding a few things that looked like fun, when I finally found a Walgreens. My hunch proved correct in that as soon as I’d purchased the umbrellas, the rain stopped, and against all weather forecasts, stayed stopped the rest of the day.

We found a cute little park along the shore of superior, and barring the soaking wet benches, had a lovely little picnic lunch, in the car.

Our stomachs filled, but our sense of adventure, we went off in search of something to do. I had been prepared to drop a few dollars in the tourist trap that is Duluth, but we had voted to go to the Great Lakes Aquarium, and I found that it was rather pricey for what it was. I was silly in thinking that it would logically be worth the price. That isn’t to say that it wasn’t fun, but my decision to go was based first on seeing it was there, and the on reading about the many exhibits inside on a flyer in the entry. Sadly, much of the interactive exhibits were broken, and by all appearances, had been for some time. I would have expected a few things, but we’re talking about a vast majority. Given the cost of entry, you would expect the maintainance to be a bit better. Overall, though, it wasn’t a terrible experience, and we had fun looking at all the critters.

After the aquarium, we walked a few blocks to the Willliam A. Irvin(g?), an old, decommisioned Great Lakes freighter, which used to carry iron ore. This was a much cheaper attraction, and turned out to be more interesting, in many ways it was a guided tour, given by an old guy who used to actually work on a similar vessel in younger days, which meant he was full of interesting side stories and colorful tidbits. The only dissapointment came in finding that admission to this also got us onto the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter, the Sundew, which closed about 45 minutes before our first tour ended. While a smaller ship, and shorter tour, it would have been fun to check it out as well.

By the time we got back to the car, it was almost 6:30, but there was still a little driving to do before leaving, and we out to Superior Point Park, across the lift bridge, and finally got a good look at the lake.

By the time we were heading back to the site, it was obvious that dinner would be pretty late, and when I presented the final night’s dinner option, it was met with extreme contempt. Decided that going back and setting up to cook a meal that wouldn’t be ready until nearly 8, and wouldn’t be eaten by my younger daughter, who has little interest in eating to begin with, I caved in and agreed to eat out. However, we had to stop at some place that we couldn’t eat at when back home.

We wound up at a little place in Cloquet called Family Traditions Restaurant. The name sounded pleasant enough, although the cover of the menu featured a photo of a woman that had to have been taken in the late 1800’s, which would have meant that the woman in the image would have to have been born in the mid-1700’s. The food turned out to be pretty decent and the service pleasant. One thing I love about taking trips is finding the little joints in the middle of nowhere with the best food around. For example, the best Hot Roast Beef Sandwhiches in the world can be had at a little restaurant in Ivanhoe, MN.

Anyway. We’re now mostly packed and ready to go. We will try the pancake thing in the morning and head home. We’ll likely take a more scenic route back than we did coming up, at least swinging through Hinkley to show the kids where Daddy used to visit their late Great-Great-Great-Aunt Bernice.

Goodnight world.

Camping Trip – Day 3

Today was pretty laid back, after a breakfast of bacon and eggs, we hung out at the park most of the day, only venturing out mid-day to find a bait shop. In the afternoon we rented a row boat and did a little fishing. I never even bothered to drop my own line in the water since I was so busy releasing various fish from their hooky dooms…

After watching the girls fish for a while, we rowed back in and went swimming. After swimming we hung out at the campsite for a little while before deciding that we wanted to wuss out on cooking and go to Subway, the only actual fast food I’ve found in the area.

The rest of the night will be spent relaxing and taking it easy.

Tomorrow we head to Duluth.

Day 2 – Addendum…

Well, public wifi this far north still seems pretty sporadic, so we’ll continue the smaller pieces to keep upload times for me.

Day 2, yesterday, it was a full day. We woke up at about 6:30, cold. I decided we needed more blankets, and a trip to McDonald’s for breakfast. We ran up to Cloquet to accomplish both. It’s eerie being somewhere that doesn’t have a McDonald’s every three blocks.

We got back to camp and decided for a nice, morning swim. The water is clear, so you can see the little panfish and whatnot as try mistake your toes for food. After which we went north again toward Jay Cook State Park. On the way we stopped at a little truck stop called The Oasis Junction across 35 from an enormous Casino just outside of Carlton. It’s a big, modern, eye-sore that makes no sense in its location. The food at the truck was decent, but nothing to write home about, although, to a degree I just did.

We spent a couple hours at Jay Cook, snapping photos and walking around. We saw the rapids on the St. Louis River, and crossed it on the Swinging Bridge.

After that, the girls hadn’t had enough swimming yet, so we went again, and then I made dinner, we roasted marshmallows, showered (where there was a cool frog just hamgimg out) and hit the hay.

That’s it. More details to come.

Camping Trip – Day 2

Day two on the trip has come to a close… And it’s been VERY long. An update of the days events is forthcoming, but will have to wait until tomorrow… I’m going to bed.

Daddy Daughter Camping Trip 2008 – Day 1

Well, day one of our trip is wrapping up. So far the trip has gone pretty well.

The trip up was uneventful, and we made it in good time, arriving at the camp site around 12:30. We’re staying at Moose Lake State Park, which is two hours north of the cities.

After having a quick lunch, I got the tent set up and we visited the Agate and Geological Interpretive Center, which was interesting. Then we went down to check out the swimming beach here, which is honestly a little a lackluster.

Then we went to check out the city of Moose Lake, there’s a Fire Museum from a tragic fire in 1918, which is housed in an old train station on the former Soo Line. I tried to get to the Soo Line trail, but got stuck in the loose sand with my little car, luckily, a good Samaritan passing by was able to give me a hand getting out.

After the fire museum we had to get back to the site as it was raining and I’d left a few things out. After hanging out in the tent playing Go Fish, we made hot dogs, followed by s’mores. With the damp, and a severe lack of kindling, we had trouble keeping the fire going, but it worked out alright in the end.

We wrapped up the night with showers in the always exciting camp ground public showers.

Interesting side note: if you read and saw a post from last fall, when Melissa and I went to see the fall colors and wound driving north for hours. We stopped at a little café in called Art’s Café… It turns out that was in the city of Moose Falls as I discovered driving past it today. Just an interesting happenstance.

I have to laugh…

Sometimes you hear something that’s so funny, it’s hard not to chuckle. A recent soundbite on NPR had a Cuban American woman being asked about 2 candidates she had to choose between, for congress I believe.

Her response was: "I’m torn. Can I vote for both?"

The simple answer is a resounding: Yes! It’s simple to vote for more than one candidate.

Just don’t vote.

Push Button Receive Bacon

… or "The Random Pictures One Finds on Their Phone"

I can’t exactly recall when I took this picture, but I think it was at a Target Store.

This is one of those little things I see that always makes me chuckle.

Perhaps one day bacon will actually come out of one of these things, and then I might not find it so funny anymore…

Or perhaps I’ll find it funnier still.

Let’s Go Jungle

This is one of the greatest games ever made. Melissa and I met up with Jim and Nedwards at Dave & Busters tonight, and after a reasonably priced meal (that included $10 play cards) coupled with some not so reasonably priced drinks, we played some games.

This game stands out because of it’s full force silliness. It’s a rail-shooter, but you’re given weapons ranging from guns to boat oars. Best of all, though is that it is a two-player game that focuses heavily on the romantic compatibility of the dating couple that are our heroes. The premise of them sharing a safari vacation that results in fight huge spiders and enormous frogs is hilarious, and the terrible Japanese translation adds to the fun.

We all agreed that we couldn’t wait for this game to show up on the Wii.

(posted from my phone, I’ll try and add links later)

X O – Tic Tac Toe

Yesterday, I wrote about a brilliantly designed chess board, today I’ll be talking about a brilliantly designed tic-tac-toe board. I present XO:

It is designed by Shahar Peleg of Peleg Design. It is the sort of simple elegance that makes you wonder why you didn’t think of it.

While I can’t think of what, I know that I’ve seen other mirror designs like this, but this is the first game board like this.

Of course, the problem is that even if I had one of these, I probably still wouldn’t play. Although, with the Chromatic Break, the story might be different:

Specially designed cups and a specially designed play mat means you can have a strategic coffee break. Perhaps it’s even less practical than the mirrored surface of XO, but it is certainly more unique.