Today was the day of the "big" road trip to Itasca State Park with our friend Sherrin. She had suggested doing this one day and we took her up on her idea. Since it is about a 4 to 4 1/2 hour drive from where we lived, we decided to leave at 5 am. The girls were champs about getting up early and never shut their eyes again until the very end of the day after we drove all the way back home. They handled the long drive to our destination well and even got a little crazy at times in the backseat.
Sherrin was great with the girls in the car and helped them pass the time by playing Chinese checkers and a rather unique version of tic-tac-toe ... which actually turned out to be a puzzle. Apparently two full grown adults didn't take note that the crab and star pieces were permanently cut into the base making it a rather simplistic puzzle rather than a tic-tac-toe board ... ooops!
We made great time and ended up getting to the park around 9:30 am. We checked out the welcome lodge and Sherrin treated us to a year long pass to the State Park system in Minnesota! We will definitely be putting that to good use over the next year.
There was a 10 mile scenic drive through the park that we decided would be a good way to start our adventure making pit stops along the way to check out a few trails and areas of interest. Our first stop was Peace Pipe Vista. We walked a short part of the trail down to a deck along the lake, which gave us some really beautiful views.
Before we left the Peace Pipe Vista, we found a little friend who definitely was not afraid of us being just several inches away from him! It was determined that his name was "Chip" and "Dale" was likely not with him because they had an argument. When he ran away from us a long time later, he nearly ran across my foot, which the girls thought was extremely funny when I jumped around and squealed just a little.
The next trail we stopped on was one that lead us to the tallest white pine tree in the park. It was hard to get a picture of that, but this is one that has fallen and the trunk size on it was huge!
We drove a little further until we found the trail that took us to the tallest red pine in the park. It has been steadily shrinking over the years due to damage but it was fun to walk the trail anyway! The girls also found raspberry bushes along the trail and both enjoyed picking some of the bigger, riper ones and having a little treat from nature on the path.
There was also a 100 foot high fire tower located within the park and we decided to stop at the trail that took us to that and do our best to climb it. On the 1/2 mile uphill walk to the tower, Madison found a little buddy that was named "Fozzy" who was forced to go on our hiking excursion attached to Madison's arm.
We also got to see a family of swan swimming on one of the many lakes in the park as we walked along this trail to the tower.
The tower was a little intimidating looking and there was a sign that stated only six people were allowed on the tower at a time (in hindsight that should have been a big clue for those of us afraid of heights). Daddy and Alyssa headed up first followed by myself, Madison and then Sherrin. Sadly after the first two flights of steps, Madison tripped and Fozzy left us plummeting to patch of grass below.
Daddy and the girls made it the full way to the top and were up there long enough to take these lovely photos of themselves:
I made it to above treetop level but then the tower started swaying with the wind. I decided to cautiously try one more level but then I head a sort of crash and Daddy yelling for Madison to be careful as she was falling down the stairs ... well that was enough for me to abort my climb. Sherrin made it two levels higher but aborted her climb before reaching the top as well due to Madison's clumsy departure. I stood still long enough to click two pictures above the treetops and then hastily made my way back to solid ground.
After narrowly surviving the tower experience and losing our beloved "Fozzy", we headed back to the lodge for lunch. We had a table with a beautiful view of Lake Itasca. Although lunch took quite a long time to arrive, we all enjoyed our meals. The girls were especially grateful to the waitress who got credit for the cookie that came with the kids meal!
Our after lunch adventures started with a drive to an area in the park that rented water equipment. We went there with the idea of renting a paddle boat, but they only sat four people at a time, and since our legs were sore from climbing all the stairs on the fire tower, we opted to rent a pontoon boat for an hour. We really enjoyed cruising around Lake Itasca.
The girls even got to take turns at driving the boat with daddy's assistance. After the initial zig-zag motions learning the steering wheel, they were old pros and handling the turns in a more graceful manner. As you can see from their faces, they took their job very seriously!
The views from the pontoon were beautiful. We got to see the head waters from the lake side as well as witnessed a couple of Loons diving and swimming underwater.
A little ways down the road/path from the water sports rental we found a playground and beach area. The girls spent some time on the playground, which we had to ourselves for a short while.
The beach was another must do stop for the girls. They went directly to the water and the sand and were having lots of fun ... especially when they found a snail which they quickly named "Gary" because that is the name of Sponge Bob's pet snail. Gary was a wonderful pet for the time they were all together. After a few dozen flights through the air with crash landings into the water, they girls let him go into an overgrowth of cattails in the lake ... I am betting Gary was very grateful.
After releasing Gary to the wilderness of the lake, we packed things up and headed over the head waters of the Mississippi River to see firsthand where the water source for the great river starts as well as make the big walk all the way across the river via the big rocks at the head waters. The girls and daddy crossed a few times while Sherrin and I took pictures.
From the head waters, you could take a trail back or you could actually walk down stream in the Mississippi River ... so mommy took one for the team and decided to walk with the girls down the river. Sherrin also decided to brave the river walk with us, but at the point that the water was reaching my upper thighs (about half way through the walk), she decided it was best to abort the walk and save the cameras she was carrying with her.
The head waters was our last big stop of the day but before starting the long drive back home, we stopped by the gift shop and ice cream store within the park for a little treat for the girls. They definitely chilled out for a few minutes and enjoyed the ice cream!
It was a great day with lots of activities and we all definitely thought the drive was more than worth it. We are looking forward to another visit next summer!
