The "Gouche"

Aimee and I got back last night from our annual P.L. camping trip. This year we went up to Tettegouche state park (thanks again for reserving the campsites Petey!). Also in attenance for the trip was Pete and Anne (Fred & Josie too!), along with Kris and James (whom needs to work on his communication skills with Liz).

Saturday we met up with Pete and Anne to car train on up to Tettegouche. Our first stop was Fitger's in Duluth for lunch. I tried a couple of their microbrews and they tasted fairly good. I would recommend staying away from the Wild Fire Ale. Oh and the fish and chips were AWESOME! Pete filled up his growlers with some brew and also picked up some orange soda. After lunch we checked out some of the shopping areas inside the old brewery. Found me some Farkel! This will come in handy for our Glacier trip at the end of the month.

We arrived at Tettegouche and Kris and James were already there. They spent the night before at Crosby-Manitou state park. We all got our base camps setup and prepared for some delicious grilled meats for dinner. Some early evening showers hindered the bonfire activities for the night so we all decided to hit the hay early.

Sunday the weather was pretty nice. The wind was howling pretty good with the temps in the upper 60's. The weather seemed to change every hour. We decided to do the state park geocache activity. We hiked to each geocaching clue which brought us to many of the scenic overlooks of the park. Some of the highlights were High Falls, Nipisiquit Lake, Mic Mac Lake and a great overlook of Palisade Valley. We hiked a little over 6 miles until we found the hidden geocache along with some Best Buy 40% off coupons for a handheld GPS. The dogs did great on the hike. I couldn't believe how much energy Zoey had for hiking. She was like the Energizer Bunny. After the hike we all got together for dinner. Tonight was pizza pudgy pies! EXCELLENT!

Monday was a beautiful day! It was in the low 70's with a cool breeze off of lake Superior. We all hiked from the High Falls down to the lake. We then hung out for an hour or so at the end of the Baptism river on a rocky beach in search for agates. We soaked up the sun and enjoyed some relaxation. Then it was the hike back up to camp along the hot state park road, blah. Some showers were in order for us as we were stinky! Kris, James and I broke out the Farkel. I got owned in each game. We then started making some hobo dinners. If you don't know what a hobo dinner is then check out this link. We just got done eating before the rain came. After about an hour the rain stopped and we were able to get the bonfire going again for the night.

Tuesday we had to go home. Sad. Vacations end all to fast. Pete and Anne left before everyone so they could stop at Fitger's to fill up more growlers. We all met at Burrito Union for lunch. I personally was not too impressed by the Union. We first tried some chips and the medium salsa and it was so bland that we had to add some hot sauce that was on the table to get some flavor. The hot salsa was just as bad. I had a chicken burrito with some of the basics, rice, sour cream, beans etc. Not so good, it tasted just like their sasla, bland. But we did give it a shot and now know next time to just go to the Anchor Bar when in Duluth.


Here is a link to some pictures

I thought this was pretty cool. This first picture was taken on June 7th after 6 inches of rain. The second picture was taken July 14th. The best reference in the picture is the big boulder in the water. In the first picture you can just see the top of it sticking out of the water.

Banning State Park

Aimee & I went up to Banning State Park over the weekend (Sat-Tues). When we first made our reservations I didn't think much about this park because it wasn't a park you hear people talk about like your Gooseberry, Itasca or Jay Cooke state parks. I was pleasantly surprised by Banning. Located just off of HWY 35 it's only a hour & half from the twin cities, just north of Sandstone hugging the Kettle River. Not only do you get to see the beautiful Kettle River, you also get a history lesson about the Banning Sandstone Quarry that once inhabited the site.

There was plenty of hiking trails to keep us busy. We hiked the Wolf Creek trail that brought us to Wolf Creek Falls. This waterfall was located among the large sandstone boulders close to the Kettle River. We then hit the High Bluff trail which is a large trail that is used by snowmobiles and XC skiers in the winter. This trail is not very scenic but you can view some wildlife such as deer and birds. High Bluff trail then connects to Quarry Loop which is a self guided trail that reveals the remains of the Banning Sandstone Quarry and the town of Banning. The trail is the old rail line that took the stone out of the quarry. You can see remains of the power house, stone crusher and school house. If you look towards the Kettle River you will also see Little Banning Rapids, Dragon's Tooth & Mother's Delight. If you head down the the boat ramp you can also get close view of Blueberry Slide. You then take the Spur Trail back up to the campground. I'm betting we spent about 5 hours on Sunday & Monday hiking. We also took Zoey on all of our hikes and she was quite the adventurist always staying in front of us jumping from one rock to another.

The campground was very nice. We figured since we are staying Saturday to Tuesday that many people would be leaving on Sunday which is what we saw. We did end up getting new neighbors behind us with some annoying young kids that couldn't separate their gummy bear brains from the latest handheld video game. Luckily they went to bed very early. Monday we got a fun surprise that someone was camping in the site across the road from us. We don't know what the hell was going on over there but there was a Mom with 2 dogs and 6 teenage kids with a total of 3 cars. The Mom disappeared Monday night leaving these annoying zit picking teens behind. These were your redneck, Slayer listening, I hate my parents teens. They were riding on the hoods of their cars down the road, yelling to each other and going in to the woods knocking down the trees for fire wood (which is illegal). And all you could hear was their frickin' cell phones beeping 24/7 with text messages going back and forth to each other. I know the Host of the campground was concerned about this group but he didn't really do anything. Oh well. Nothing we could do.

It was a great trip and I can't wait to explore another MN State Park!

Here are all the pictures

Lake Bemidji State Park Trip

The P.L. gang went up to Lake Bemidji State Park for a group camping trip. Aimee and I had a great time and can't wait to do it again next year. I touched up some pictures which I have posted below. You can see them all (untouched) HERE.