All posts by Linda

Lodging, Restaurant, Travel

Lutsen Resort on the Superior, Lutsen, MN

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Lutsen Resort on the Superior, Lutsen, MN

We didn’t stay at the Lutsen Resort on our trek near Lake Superior, but we did stop in one evening for a meal.  I believe the resort has changed ownership since then so I do not know what has changed.

The view was great, the service was very good, but the food was odd.  The prices are on the higher side, but not extreme.  I ordered fish because we were on Lake Superior and that seemed appropriate.  I don’t know why, but Minnesotans have some sort of inability to properly cook a fish, so that it tastes good.  It is not just this restaurant.  I have had exactly one good fish the entire time I have lived in Minnesota.  I know it isn’t the fish because we used to vacation in Minnesota when I was a kid, and the fish were delicious.  Jon ordered the Swedish meatballs, again, very odd.  A lot of the other items on the menu look really good.  We may have just made the worst choices on the menu.  The flavors were just odd.

View of the Lounge at Lutsen Resort
Front door of Lutsen Resort
Dinning Hall at Lutsen Resort

After dinner we walked around the resort a bit and took in a sunset.  The views at this resort are amazing.  The placement of the resort is perfect for exploring the north shore.

View of peer on Lutsen Resort

The resort has a great beach right in front of it.  You can take your family down and put your foot into Lake Superior.  I am sure you can sun bathe on the beach during the day.

Beach in front of Lutsen Resort dining hall

Overall, I would say, if you have some money to spend, and want an extremely nice resort, on Lake Superior, that reminds you of days gone by, this is the place.  It feels like it is straight out of the fifties or earlier, when families went on a long vacation, and dressed up to go to dinner.  You play hard all day, and return to your room to get cleaned up, before heading downstairs to an elegant meal.  It really is a great atmosphere and an amazing location and view.

Parks, Sights, Travel

Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, Nerstrand, MN

Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, Nerstrand, MN

There is a hidden falls.  That is really about all there is to say about Nerstrand Big Woods State Park.  The loops are fairly small near the center.  It is easy to get to the hidden falls.  It is a good starter park.

Hidden falls at Nerstrand

There is a large area for kids to play while you prepare a picnic for the family.  You can then quickly run down and stand in the falls.

If you take some of the other trails you will see a lot of trees and some beautiful flowers.  Lots and lots of pretty flowers.

white and purple flowers

If you want to ease you family into going to a park and you live near this one check it out.  You can work your way up to the longer trails.

Parks, Sights, Travel

Itasca State Park, Park Rapids, MN

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Itasca State Park, Park Rapids, MN

Itasca State Park is probably the best park in Minnesota outside of the north shore area.  It was established in 1979, which was a great year for beginnings.  It is the location of the headwaters of the Mississippi river.  You can actually walk across the beginning of that river via the rock formation that was created or a wooden plank, or both.  There is a plaque that reads, “Here 1475 ft above the ocean the mighty Mississippi begins to flow on its winding way 2552 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.”

Crossing the great Mississippi River

Bicycling is a big thing in this park.  You can rent a bike right in the park.  The entire park is a loop, and a good portion of it is one way, which I think makes bicycling safer for those spinning their way around this park.

Chester Charles II Tour Boat

Another thing that you will want to do is take a boat ride on the Chester Charles II Tour Boat.  It is possible to go fishing on the lake.  We took a boat tour.  It was very informative.  We learned all about the wild rice growing on the lake and the history of the Indian tribes fighting over the land, until the white man came along and won the argument.

Loon, MN state bird

We saw several loons which are the state bird of Minnesota.  Their call sounds more like a wolf’s howl than a bird’s song.  You should never disturb a loon while it is nesting, not even by making its call, because it will abandon the nest, and it will only try twice in a season.  We also saw some bald eagles which were amazing.

Bald Eagle in trees

If you travel around the park there are several places to stop and see some impressive trees.  There is a white pine tree that stands 250 feet tall.

Fire tower at Itasca State Park

There is also a fire tower, Aiton Heights Fire Tower, that you will want to ascend it.  The view at the top is great.  You can see everything from up there.  It is all enclosed so you do not need to worry about falling.  None-the-less the climb can be a bit scary.  It is rather high.  I am afraid of heights so my muscles ached when I get back to the bottom.

View from the top of Aiton Heights Fire Tower

Another stop while visiting Itasca State Park should be Douglas Lodge.  There is a great little restaurant inside.  Try the wild rice soup.  There will probably be a wait, but it is something that you will want to do.  The prices aren’t bad and the food is good.

You can see the entire park in a couple of days despite the fact that there really is a lot to see.  Eat at the Douglas Lodge, take the Chester Charles II boat tour, climb the Aiton Heights Fire Tower, hike some of the trails (apply bug spray), find the cabin made of massive logs, stand on the headwaters of the Mississippi, and if you want, bike around the entire park.  It is a great park and I highly recommend it.  It really is one of the best in Minnesota.

Lodging, Parks, Sights, Travel

Lake Maria State Park, Silver Creek Township, MN

Lake Maria State Park, Silver Creek Township, MN

We booked a cabin at Lake Maria State Park near Monticello, MN.  It is a short drive northwest of the cities.

We parked near the lake and started, what we thought would be, a short walk to our cabin.  Needless to say I miscalculated where we were on the map.  We walked along the lake and directly towards a marsh.  We finally stopped when it looked like the marsh might take us if we went any further.

View of the pond outside of our cabin

Eventually we wound around until we ended up at our cabin.  It was a great spot next to a little pond of it’s own.  There was a light inside that ran on a solar panel just outside of the cabin.  It would run for about half an hour before it turned off on its own.  It was really nice at night.

Outside of the cabin there was a privy off to the side, almost behind the cabin, but close.  It came with a fire pit, a couple of logs to sit on, and a picnic table.  It was perfect.

It turns out our parking space was hundreds of yards instead of over a mile.  We found it when we took a short walk around our pond.  My only other complaint was the wood heat was too much for that little cabin.  That was of course our fault.  We didn’t really need a fire inside at all.  I really liked this cabin setup.

The park was nice.  It is a great place to do some bird watching.  At least one person was there just to catch a glimpse of the larger birds in the area.  I didn’t get a clean shot, but there were some nice looking birds in the area.

This is what I would call a relaxing cabin location and park.

Lodging, Parks, Sights

Bemidji Lake State Park, Bemidji, MN

Bemidji Lake State Park, Bemidji, MN

We decided to stay a night at a cabin in Bemidji Lake State Park.  As a child my parents would occasionally take the long drive up to Lake Bemidji for our family vacation and the chance to fish.

The park is on the northeast side of the lake.  The WiFi was surprisingly strong in the park.  It is always so hard to find good WiFi inside a park.

Inside of the Bemidji State Park cabin

The cabin was very cute.  It held four beds, a table, and bench seats.  It was warm enough that we didn’t need to use the heater which looks like it was baseboard.  The bunk bed were low enough that we ended up sleeping on the top bunks in order to avoid hitting our heads.

The trail was mere steps from our cabin.  The crown jewel of this particular park is the bog walk.  It is definitely worth checking out all of the plants.  We found a carnivorous plant on our walk.

There are a lot of pretty flowers in this park.  Try to spot all of them.  If you get tired of this park you are just a short drive over to Lake Itasca State Park.  You could even go fishing.  I hear it is kind of fun.

Parks, Sights, Travel

Banning State Park, Sandstone, MN

Banning State Park, Sandstone, MN

On our way back to the cities from the Soudan Mine we decided to stop at Banning State Park and it was not a disappointment.  This park used to be a quarry along the Kettle River.

The high path is the nature path

There is a high trail and a lower trail.  The lower one is where all of the action is along the river.  If you don’t think you will walk all the way to the waterfall than take the lower path.  If you want to see as much of the park and as many of the paths as possible, take the higher path.  We of course, to the higher path down to the waterfall and the lower path on the way back.

Waterfall at the end of the path

This waterfall is interesting as it isn’t very tall.  The water behind it is very shallow.  When we arrived there was a family playing in the stream that leads to the fall.

Kettle River

It took me a while to figure this out, but this river runs brown, and reminds me of root beer.  The reason for this is the iron that is coloring the water.

I didn’t capture the cutting in the rock walls that surround the lake, but if you go you can see where they placed the explosives.  The quarry sliced away at the rock and left it scared, but beautiful at the same time.

Take the journey along the river and read the historical information along the way.  I liked this park with its waterfall and the nice stroll along the river.  The high path is a take it or leave it path.

Parks, Sights, Travel

Bear Head Lake State Park, Ely, MN

Bear Head Lake State Park, Ely, MN

I am glad I didn’t see any bears while visiting Bear Head Lake State Park.  Of course, it would be a black bear, which are small and easily scared off.  Just don’t come between them and their cubs.

We ate lunch at Bear Head Lake State Park.  There was this building which had a fireplace inside and a fire pit outside.  There was running water and a microwave.  It was all very nice.  Once we heated our food we sat out on the picnic tables next to the swimming beach.

Picnic table and swimming area at Bear Head Lake State Park

There were two paths around the lake and let me tell you there was one path less traveled.  On that path we came across this little guy.  This turtle was scary.  He watched us intensely as we kindly made our way around him.

Scary Turtle

The lake was really pretty, and look, stairs!  I love stairs.  No, really, they mean you can climb or descend a path without the Earth crumbling beneath you.

Stairs down to the lake

Just look at that still water.  The next day was a little windier and sunnier.  I loved looking at the reflections on the still day and the brilliance of the lake on the sunny day.

Trees reflecting on the lake
Look at those trees trying to hide that beautiful lake

Overall I would call this a great nature park.  You have the swimming area if you enjoy that.  The building with the fireplace and microwave was very convenient.  The hiking was beautiful and allowed us to see that prehistoric turtle.  That guy looked like he was straight out of history.  If you are looking for hiking or swimming I would say this is a good park for you.  It also made a nice place to eat a meal.

Parks, Sights, Travel

Lake Vermilion State Park, Soudan, MN

Lake Vermilion State Park

We sneaked onto Lake Vermilion State Park while it was still under construction.  We were greeted by the most interesting turtle, not cute, but interesting.  I tried to get a selfie with it and then we moved it off the road so that no one would hit it.

I have to say that the lake itself is beautiful.  There are a few docks and you can fish from them.  We stayed at the Vermilion Park Inn and one of the other temporary residents said that he caught a fish there.

View from on of the many docks on Lake Vermilion State Park

Like I said, the park wasn’t open when we started walking the trails.  The unfinished trail was still fairly nice.  We walked until we reached a point that we clearly couldn’t pass, or shouldn’t pass.

I think this park could be pretty much whatever you want it to be.  It is just a really pretty place to visit.

If you plan on visiting this park than you also need to make sure you stop in and see the Soudan Mine.  It really is a must see.

Parks, Sights, Travel

Soudan Underground Mine State Park, Soudan, MN

Soudan Underground Mine State Park, Soudan, MN

A miner for a day!  Ok, about an hour, maybe less, but they gave me a hard hat, and that is what I appreciate about the Soudan Mine.  I am not sure anyone over eighteen has ever been so excited about riding down an elevator shaft, deep into the ground, to take a cart further into the Earth, and walk around a hollowed out piece of rock.

Somehow it isn’t that scary.  Even though you are deep in the Earth, it’s probably one of the safest mines that you could go into.  They call it the Cadillac of mines.  The ore is high quality and there aren’t those dangerous patches of gases and such that you have to watch out for in other mines.

A look inside the Soudan Mine, it’s a dark one

The underground tour is a must see.  It is super informative.  If you have kids you should definitely take them for this educational tour.  They have small hats for the little ones.  You do have to give the hats back at the end of the tour.  You can reserve your spot so that you don’t have to wait, or at least know that you will get onto the tour.  We reserved a spot and then ended up swapping it for an earlier tour.

Once you finish the tour, or before you go, you need to explore the above ground operation at the mine.  You can observe the cable operator at work.  He is the guy that will raise or lower you into the mine.  They use a system of clicking to know how far down to send you.  The machine is amazing to watch.

Going Down?

Once you see the cable at work you can follow it outside and view the large cable that heads up over your head.  There are a few other buildings around the property that you will want to see.  You can see where they break up the ore and pile it below.

Chew them up and spit them out, Soudan Mine Grinder building

I like the machine shop sign.  It seems very appropriate.  It reads, If you are injured, no matter how little, tell your foreman, right away.  There is a little sign under it that reads, Save your eyes, wear goggles.

If you are injured sign at the Soudan Mine

There are some beautiful flowers around the property as well.  Really, head up the Soudan, MN and visit the mine.  Take the tour and enjoy.

 

Restaurant, Travel

Stony Ridge Cafe, Ely MN

Stony Ridge Cafe, 60 W Lakeview Pl, Ely, MN 55731

It was totally worth it.

I think we went the wrong way.  We headed down a road that seemed residential.  I half expected the Stony Ridge Cafe to just be someone’s personal kitchen.  The sight of a real restaurant at the end of journey allowed us to breath a sigh of relief and filled us with a tinge of excitement.

The view is pretty nice as well.  You will have to see it for yourself.

The menu is simple.  You have your choice of burgers and fries.  One of the burgers is a ridiculous size.   The regular ones are kind of ridiculous as well.  It tastes amazing and I highly recommend it to anyone.